Addie pulled back and met Clara’s warm dark eyes. “I’m sorry we didn’t even give you a heads-up. My grandfather was so sick. We were afraid he wouldn’t make it...”
“No apologies necessary,” Clara insisted. Then she asked hopefully, “But he’s doing well now?”
“Much better, yes. Thank you.”
By then, they were surrounded by Bravos. Addie got lots of hugs and a very warm welcome from each of James’s siblings and half siblings. And from his cousin Rory McKellan and her husband, Walker, as well.
Rory grabbed Addie’s hand and pulled her over to the upstairs bar. Addie ordered a club soda with lime and thanked Rory for taking such good care of her dog and her horses.
Best of all, when she offered scarecrows and fresh vegetables as a sort of thank-you gift, Rory said she would love a scarecrow. Rory’s garden at the Bar N was fenced, but that didn’t keep the occasional hungry crow away from the corn. “Plus,” she added with a musical laugh, “scarecrows are hot right now, aren’t they?”
“Very,” Addie agreed. “And that’s why I need to make you one. All you have to do is describe to me the scarecrow of your dreams.”
“How about a lady scarecrow?” Rory asked. “With a big straw hat and an old-school gingham dress?”
“You want it country, you mean?”
Rory nodded. “Oh, yes, I do.”
“I can so do country. I’ll drop it by as soon as it’s finished. A week, maybe. Two at the most...”
In the corner, a DJ was hard at work over a pair of turntables. Dance music filled the brick-walled party room. Addie got only one sip from her club soda before James was grabbing her hand and pulling her out onto the small square of dance floor. They danced several fast ones in a row. When there was finally a slow one, he pulled her close and they swayed in place, other couples pressing close.
“Hungry?” he asked her when the slow song was through.
“Of course.” The past week or so, her morning sickness seemed to have vanished. Now she was hungry all the time.
He led her to the buffet table set up along the wall across from the stairs. They each loaded a plate and found seats at a table with his sister Elise and Elise’s best friend, Tracy Winham.
Both women asked after Addie’s grandfather and teased James because he’d finally settled down when everyone in the family had begun to wonder if he ever would. The two women tried to keep it light and easy, but Addie saw they were both under stress in the aftermath of the fire that had taken pretty much everything they owned. There were lines of strain on Elise’s face and a faraway look in Tracy’s eyes.
James asked what they planned to do about their catering business.
Elise replied, “As soon as the insurance pays off, we’ll be looking for a new space so we can reopen.”
Tracy jumped up as if someone had pinched her. “I could use another drink.” And she made a beeline for the bar.
Elise, shoulders drooping, watched Tracy go with a bewildered expression on her face. Then she turned to James. “I don’t want you to worry. We’ll be out of your hair by the first of May.”
He reached out and clasped her shoulder. “What did I tell you? I don’t need the condo. Stay as long as you want to.”
Elise’s eyes turned steely as she hitched up her chin. “You’ve been a lifesaver. And we’ll find our own place by May first.” She bent close and kissed his cheek, a quick kiss—and final. Then she got up and followed after Tracy.
James leaned close to Addie. “Elise has always been way too proud for her own good.”
It seemed to Addie that there was more going on with Elise and her friend than too much pride and a burned-down building. She said, “It must be awful, losing everything that way.”
Before James could answer, Clara and her husband, Dalton Ames, president of Ames Bank and Trust, claimed the chairs Tracy and Elise had just abandoned. The four of them sat together for a while, talking casually about Clara and Dalton’s eleven-month-old daughter, Kiera, about Levi’s improving health and how much he liked his nurse Lola. As it turned out, Clara had been the one to hire Lola after Great-aunt Agnes’s hip surgery.
James said, “I think Levi’s got a crush on Lola.”
Clara laughed. “I think I’ve got a crush on Lola. She’s amazing.”
Addie agreed. “What’s not to love? She’s a dream with my grandfather. She knows when to push him and when to indulge him. Without her, I’m pretty sure I would have strangled him by now.”
Dalton said wryly, “So I guess that makes her a lifesaver in more ways than one.”
By then, Addie had cleaned her plate. James asked her if she wanted to make another run on the buffet.
“Maybe later.” She excused herself to find the ladies’ room.
The small one upstairs was in use, so she went down to the main floor to try that one.
Triumph! She got in and found an empty stall just in time. Once that was handled, she washed her hands, ran a quick comb through her hair and hurried to rejoin the party upstairs.
She was almost to the stairs when a voice she knew too well said, “Addie Kenwright. Well, what do you know?”
Her stomach lurched. Keep going. Don’t even glance back.
But then again, why run away from him? Why give him the satisfaction of thinking he mattered that much? He didn’t. Not anymore, anyway. He was just proof, and that was all that he was. Proof that she didn’t have what it took to make a real and lasting relationship with a man.
She stopped, spun on her pretty black high heel and gave Donnie Jacobs a big, fat smile. “Hello, Donnie.”
He wore dress Wranglers and a shiny trophy buckle on his heavily tooled belt. “You are looking very hot, Addie Anne.” He tipped his black Resistol at her and whistled slow and low.
She couldn’t believe this. He was such a jerk. How could she ever have imagined herself in love with him? “Really, Donnie. I’m not the least interested, so don’t even start.” She forced a brittle smile. “You have a nice night now.”
“Hold on a minute, babe.” He grabbed her wrist. “Don’t be mean now, sweet Addie. We both know you’ve missed me...” About then, he spotted her wedding ring. “Whoa, what’s this?”
“Let her go. Do it now.” James. He was coming down the stairs toward them, moving fast.
Addie whipped her hand free. “That’s my husband, James,” she said to Donnie with a lot more pleasure than she should have let herself feel. “He doesn’t look too happy. You’d better get lost.”
Donnie made a low sound—a kind of worried sound. He was lean and fit. But James was bigger. And the expression on James’s face said he did not appreciate anyone manhandling his bride.
James came right to Addie. He wrapped his arm around her. “You okay?”
She looked up into his handsome face and wished with her whole heart that she could keep him all the way past May and into forever. But she couldn’t keep him. She didn’t have whatever it took to make forever work. And she would remember that this time. “I am fine. This is Donnie Jacobs. He was just leaving.”
Donnie tipped his hat so fast, he almost dropped it. “Uh. Congratulations, man. I, er, hope you’ll be very happy.”
James just looked at him. He didn’t say a word.
Donnie muttered, “Addie. You take care.” And then he was turning, striding away.
James pulled her closer, pressed a kiss into her hair. “You want me to have a private talk with him?”
“I do not. But thank you for offering.”
“It would be my pleasure.”
She held his gaze. “No. I mean it.”
“What did he do?”
She glanced up to the top of the stairs where one of his half sisters, the gorgeous one, Nell, leaned on the railing gazing down at them. “I
t’s not the time or the place. Let’s go back to the party.”
He smoothed her hair, ran a finger down the side of her neck, a caress that reminded her acutely of how much she loved it every time he touched her. “You sure you’re all right?”
She went on tiptoe and kissed him. “I am just fine, I promise you. Especially now that you’re here.”
* * *
James waited most of the night to ask her about Donnie Jacobs.
When they finally climbed into bed at quarter of three, he went for it. “So, what’s the story with the douche bag in the black hat?”
Instead of answering, she rolled over good and close to him. He gathered her closer still. She wore tiny panties and a silky bit of nothing on top. He wanted to get them off her.
But he wanted her to talk to him more. “Addie?”
“Mmm?” She pressed a kiss against his shoulder.
“Remember what I told you about Vicki? About how I came out of that marriage sure I was never getting married again?”
“I remember. James, it’s clear to me that your first wife was a piece of work. All those rules. You must have felt like you were living in a prison. And she didn’t like your family. I mean, what’s not to like about your family? That was just wrong of her, to try to keep you away from everyone you care about.”
He ran his hand down her arm, loving the silky feel of her skin, thinking he would never get enough of having his hands on her. “By the time it was over, I was pretty messed up.”
“And I am not the least surprised.”
“My point is it took me several years after the divorce to start figuring out that every woman isn’t Vicki. Is it possible you have some idea that every guy is like that Donnie guy?”
She sighed and pushed away from him.
“Get back here,” he whispered. She resisted, but only for a second. Then she let him draw her close once more. He rolled to his back. Restless, she tried to roll away from him. He kept his arm around her. Finally, she settled her head on his chest. The silence stretched out. He kissed the top of her head. “Talk to me.”
She lifted up enough to meet his eyes. “Well, the truth is my track record is just not good. I’m like my mother. She never could find a man to love her and stay with her. I’m not... I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like I’ve got a part missing. The part that knows how to be in a relationship. Every time I finally give in and take a chance on a guy, he changes and can’t wait to get away from me. Somehow I always end up with a broken heart.”
“So you’re saying that guy tonight broke your heart?”
“He’s not the only one.”
James waited for her to elaborate. When she didn’t, he prompted, “Who else, then?”
There was more sighing. Over on the rug by the door, Moose’s tags clinked together as he rolled over in his sleep. Addie rested her arm on James’s chest and then braced her chin on it. “You’ll think I’m such a loser.”
He shook his head at her. “Those fools who hurt you, they’re the losers.”
She smiled then, a sad little smile. “My high school boyfriend, Eddie Bolanger, and I were supposed to get married. He bought me a ring and we started planning the wedding. And then Eddie went out on me. I should have thrown his ring in his face. But no, I tried to understand, tried to talk with him about why he would do that to me, to us. He said he did it because I was too clingy and needy and he couldn’t take it anymore. He dumped me.”
“Bastard.” He lifted his head off the pillow and pressed a kiss to the center of her forehead.
“I sure thought so. Then he married the girl he dumped me for.”
“SOB. No doubt about it.”
“I swore off men forever.”
“Forever is a long, long time.”
“Yeah, I know. And swearing off men didn’t work anyway.”
“Did you seriously think that it would?”
She made a cute little humphing sound and then went on. “For a while, it was fine. I hung with Brandon and my high school girlfriends in my free time and stayed away from temptation.”
“But...?”
“Randy Pettier happened. I met him the night I turned twenty-one. Brandon and I went to Alicia’s to celebrate.” Alicia’s was a roadhouse out on the state highway about five miles from town. “Randy tended bar at Alicia’s. He gave me free birthday drinks and told me I was the girl of his dreams. I resisted falling for him for months. Brandon tried to warn me that I was doing it all over again, losing my heart to some guy who would only hurt me. But I kept going back to Alicia’s and Randy kept coming on to me. One night I kissed him. And then I did more than kiss him. We lasted a little over a month, Randy and me. I was just gone on him, so sure that I’d found true love at last. Finally, one night at his place, I told him that I loved him. He didn’t say it back. A week later, he decided he was tired of Colorado. He said he needed to ‘move on.’ He packed up his pickup and left. Never saw him again.”
“Good riddance.”
“True. But I didn’t see that then. I cried myself to sleep night after night. Finally, I pulled it together and reaffirmed my vow never to fall in love again.”
“And then you met that Donnie character?”
“Yeah. Donnie’s a cowboy. He works the local ranches, wherever he can find a job. And he loves the rodeo.”
“I noticed the prize buckle.”
“He means for people to notice it. He competes across several events. Including bull riding. That’s where I first saw him. Riding a bull at the Justice Creek Summer Daze Rodeo. The guy is at his best with seventeen hundred pounds of bucking beef between his legs.”
James laughed. “I take it you were impressed.”
“Yes, I was. And I saw him in the beer garden later and he asked me to dance. For once, I showed a little backbone and said no. But then, suddenly, Donnie was everywhere. He got work on the Fitzgerald place. It borders Red Hill. And then PawPaw hired him to mend fences. Just seemed like I couldn’t turn around without finding Donnie standing right in front of me. Over a period of about a year, I weakened. He asked me out a bunch of times before I ever said yes. But then I did say yes. Yes to dinner and a movie. Yes to spending every Friday night with him.
“I kissed him and fooled around with him. But somehow I kept myself from ending up in bed with him—or I did, until I finally decided that he was different and I needed to stop being so skittish and take a chance on him. One night he cooked me dinner out at this little cabin he was renting about ten miles from here. After dinner, we sat on the step and looked at the stars. He took my hand and gazed in my eyes and said he was in love with me. That did it. I confessed I loved him, too. We spent the night together...” Her voice trailed off. She laid her head down on his chest again.
James stroked her hair, rubbed a hand down her back. The room was way too quiet.
Finally, she drew in a slow, shaky breath. “In the morning, he cooked me breakfast. Then I drove back home with the radio on full blast, singing along to one corny country love song after another. I was so happy, James. I thought it had finally happened, that I’d found true love at last.”
He rubbed her shoulder, ran his hand down the silky skin of her arm until he reached her hand and could weave his fingers with hers. “But...?”
“After that night, he stopped calling me and he never once answered the phone when I called him. I left him message after message. He never returned a one. I never ran into him out riding anymore. I tried to find him at the cabin. It was empty. If he was working for any of my neighbors, I never knew about it. By then it was summer again. So I went to the Summer Daze Rodeo and followed him to the beer garden between events. I walked right up to him and asked him what had happened, what went wrong. He said he’d never meant for things to get so serious and that we needed to take a break from eac
h other for a while, start seeing other people.”
James squeezed her hand. “I really should have decked that jerk.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. You were wonderful and calm just like you always are. He took one look at you and knew he couldn’t take you. So he turned tail and ran. Totally worked for me.”
“So that was it, then, with him, when you found him in the beer garden and he said he wanted to see other people?”
“Yep. Tonight’s the first time I’ve set eyes on him since then. And if I never see his smug face again, it’ll be way too soon.”
James completely understood now why she’d kept him at a distance for all those months before Levi stepped in with his shotgun. She had no faith in her own judgment when it came to men. “So, then, after the bull rider...?”
“I swore off men for the third and final time—well, except for you.”
He almost started to feel hopeful.
Until she continued. “But you are a special circumstance. I mean, if we have to be married until PawPaw recovers, at least we deserve a little fun in the bargain.”
James said nothing. He was trying to figure out why he felt hurt. They were having fun. It was nothing like with Vicki. He was loving every minute of being Addie’s short-term husband. Days, he looked forward to coming home to her. And the nights? Well, he and Vicki had had a lot of problems, but sex wasn’t one of them. In fact, he’d never found a woman to match his ex in bed.
Until Addie. And Addie was so much more than just amazing in bed. She was also sweet and funny and tender. And she could be tough if you messed with her. He liked that about her, too. Her toughness and her sharp tongue kept things edgy and interesting. He was an easygoing guy at heart and he needed the kind of woman who kept him on his toes.
And maybe that was his problem here.
She’d figured out what she wanted in her life, had a baby on the way and no inclination to try again long-term with any guy. When Levi had threatened to give up and die if she didn’t marry James, she’d done what she had to do. And then turned right around and made the best of the situation. The way she saw it, they were simply enjoying themselves for as long as the marriage needed to last.
James Bravo's Shotgun Bride Page 14
