B.J. Daniels - Shotgun Bride

Jud Corbett wasn’t about to tell his brothers, but he’d known this was coming. He was working on a film just to the north in Canada and had overheard Kate and his father discussing the family meeting on one of his visits.

At first he’d told himself that his brothers wouldn’t go along with any crazy marriage pact, but that was before he heard about the letters from their mother. While none of the brothers would want to disappoint the old man, ignoring wishes of the mother they’d heard about their whole lives would be impossible.

Jud had known that this whole situation would be a train wreck. That was why he had immediately started looking for the perfect girl-next-door to bring home. He knew his father and Kate would only approve of a woman unlike the kind he normally dated.

He’d found her on a local online dating service’s Web site. The moment he’d seen Maddie Cavanaugh’s face, he’d known she was perfect.

Imagine his disappointment when he’d found out that the woman’s photo and personal profile had been put up on the site by accident. According to Arlene Evans, who ran the service, Maddie Cavanaugh wasn’t even in the area anymore.

But a few days ago, Jud had seen Maddie coming out of the Whitehorse Drugstore. Her photo on the Web site hadn’t done her justice.

Her long blond hair was pulled up in a ponytail. A pair of silver loops dangled from each earlobe. She wore no makeup. Freckles were sprinkled across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose like tiny stars in a Montana night sky.

Her slim figure was clad in a Western shirt, jeans and boots, which looked at home on her. She had pushed her sunglasses up into her hair to glance down at the book she was holding. When she raised her head, she’d looked right at him with a pair of wondrous big blue eyes, which held an innocence that took his breath away.

Jud was within a few feet of her when she glanced at her watch and then took off toward her pickup, which was parked across the street. He watched her go, chuckling to himself.

He knew he was considered the wildest of the Corbett brothers. Earning his reputation had taken hard work since his four older brothers had sown more than their share of wild oats.

But as he stared after Maddie Cavanaugh, Jud knew he had found the perfect bride.

AT A GAS STATION on her way north, Jerilyn was in the process of digging in her large shoulder bag, looking for what was left of Earl Ray’s money when she found it.

“What’s this?” Frowning, she pulled out a small black notebook. The leather was worn, and she gingerly peeked between the covers, wondering how it had gotten into her bag.

Inside were names, numbers and dates. Her stomach roiled as she recognized some of the names, names from the news. She dropped the book onto the car seat as if the pages had scorched her fingers and covered her mouth to keep from screaming.

For a few minutes, Jerilyn couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything but panic. While she had no idea what exactly the names and numbers meant, she had to get this book back to Earl Ray.

Otherwise…

She swallowed and looked down the long highway she’d just driven and reassured herself that Earl Ray didn’t have a clue where she was going.

She knew, now more than ever, that he wouldn’t go to the cops because they were the last people he wanted seeing this little notebook. No, the book was worth much more to those members of organized crime who’d been in the news. This book would put them behind bars for life. No wonder she and Earl Ray had been living in dumpy motels under assumed names for weeks.

She hadn’t believed him when he kept saying his ship was about to come in and that they’d be eating lobster tail and living in penthouses.

But now that she’d found this book, she realized Earl Ray had just been waiting around for the right buyer. How had he gotten his hands on this?

Jerilyn felt herself growing calmer as she realized that she not only had something that Earl Ray wanted—she had something worth a bunch of money. This book could be her backup plan. If things didn’t work out with Maddie’s family, she could always make a deal with Earl Ray.

Of course, any negotiations with Earl Ray would be dangerous—much more dangerous than meeting her daughter’s family and convincing them to help her financially.

Jerilyn tucked the book back into her bag. Once she got to Montana, she’d have to find a safe place to hide it until she decided what to do.

MADDIE WAS LATE. It wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last. She’d picked up a novel in the drugstore, started reading and couldn’t put it down. The next thing she knew she’d lost track of time.

As she sped down the street toward the restaurant, she hoped her cousin Laci wouldn’t be angry with her. Maddie felt terrible about being late to her own welcome-home party. She’d stopped by the drugstore to buy a nice card to thank Laci for throwing her the party and ended up in the fiction section. She should have known better.

When she pulled up across the street from Northern Lights, the restaurant co-owned by Laci and her husband, Bridger Duvall, she saw all the cars.

She felt a wave of panic. All of her friends and neighbors and family from around Whitehorse were here. These people all knew about her broken engagement to Bo Evans, and for a moment Maddie thought about driving on past. How could she face everyone?

For years now, she’d been away at college and had avoided coming back. But she’d missed her cousins Laci and Laney, along with this part of Montana. Not to mention her horse, which her cousins had been boarding for her.

Maddie wished she’d never agreed to this party, though. But Laci was very persuasive; she loved cooking and throwing parties. As Maddie pulled into a parking spot, she tried to talk herself out of running away.

Just then Laney appeared at her side window. One look in her cousin’s eyes and Maddie saw that she understood her fears.

Maddie cut the engine and rolled down the window. “I’m such a coward.”

“No, you’re not,” Laney said, giving her a sympathetic smile. “All those people in there have missed you. They love you, Maddie, and are so excited to have you home.”

Maddie’s eyes brimmed with tears as her cousin opened the pickup door.

“Laci and I will be right there with you. I promise you will have a good time.”

Maddie nodded and bolstered her courage by reminding herself that Bo Evans had left town. She knew, though, that he wasn’t the only reason she hadn’t returned for so long. No, the real reason she’d fled Old Town Whitehorse was a secret she prayed would never come out.

JUD KNEW he had to act quickly. His brothers could stand around arguing about their mother’s motives for forcing marriage on them, but it seemed pretty transparent to Jud that the old man wanted his sons to settle in Montana or he would have never told them about the letters.

If there were even any letters left from their mother to be read on each of their wedding days. Maybe her dying wish really hadn’t been that her sons find wives.

None of that really mattered to Jud.

He was doing this for his father. Come hell or high water, Jud intended to give the old man what he wanted—a wedding. Just not the wedding everyone was expecting.

In a town the size of Whitehorse, it didn’t take Jud but a matter of minutes to find out where Maddie Cavanaugh had gone. Crashing the welcome-home party had been child’s play, since most everyone in town had been invited.

Seeing her again reinforced his belief that she was exactly what he was looking for, and yet he hesitated. Unlike the other women he’d been with, Maddie didn’t have obvious sexual appeal. She was understated. That’s what she was. Sweet-looking. Real.