Page 66 of Beehives and Broken Heroes

Deputy Danny and Deputy Ethan came running out from behind the balloons then. Jo had nearly reached her.

“Let go of my sister!” Jo yelled.

Brandon came riding around the hubbub of horses and men then, like some cowboy hero from those Louis L’Amour books her dad had always loved, followed by Maverick and Hunter Westbrook and Andy Phelps. He’d brought a whole posse to save her! And was he on Titan? That horse never let anyone but her dad ride him. Oh man, could Brandon be any dreamier?

With one look at Brandon, everything that was happening now, everything that happened the last week, didn’t matter anymore. She loved him. She loved him deep within herself, so deep she’d never find the bottom of it. And oh, how her dad would’ve loved him too. The thought filled her with joy.

She opened her mouth to yell “about time!” but the words were lost when the hand on her arm, belonging to the bad guy right beside her, yanked her in front of him and jammed something cold and hard against her throat and up under her chin.

The gun.

“Come any closer and she’s dead!” Mr. Scowl yelled.

“No!” Jo screamed and came to an abrupt halt.

Chapter 21

Brandon pulled up a few yards away from Grant and Allie and was off Titan in a flash, hands raised. Grant’s face was red and bleeding—he guessed from the branch that lay at his feet and a hard swing to the head. Brandon took in the scene in a glance. Jo and Jessie stood to the side—Jo in Allie’s hunter-green jacket with a bright pink top poking out the top. At Allie’s feet was a blue bandanna tied like it’d been in her hair. She’d given her coat to her sister and covered her hair.

She’d run over four miles to the fairgrounds without getting caught. She’d outsmarted them and outrun them with her sister. And when that hadn’t worked, she’d fought. And she’d fought hard. Just like he’d known she would.

He was going to marry that woman and spend the rest of his life with her.

In his peripheral, Deputy Morrison led the way back toward the fairgrounds—he must not have seen or heard what was happening over here with Allie—and toward the sheriff’s office on the other side of them, with Swayzie right behind him, dragging the guy she’d roped. Brandon recognized him but couldn’t put a name to him. He guessed that the man had had something to do with the evidence that had gone missing eight years ago that had almost let Grant go free. Flanking the roped man on their horses were Lucky, Wyatt, and Judd.

The music from the concert pumped loudly over the fairgrounds.

Brandon moved slowly closer to Grant as the man’s eyes darted between him and the group behind Brandon. “Tobias, you don’t want to do this. You’re surrounded, and there will be no getting out of here. The only choice you have now is whether to walk out of here alive or not.”

“I don’t know about that,” Grant said. “I have myself a mighty fine hostage here—and you don’t even have a gun.”

Deputy Danny jogged over, stopping at Brandon’s side, gun up and aimed. “But I have a gun, and I’m a mighty good aim.”

Where was the sheriff?

Allie sucked in a breath but said nothing, and Brandon prayed she’d continue to say nothing. He didn’t need her sticking her foot in it and getting herself shot. It’d be hard to marry her if she was dead. A shudder ran down his spine at the thought.

Grant’s eyes darted between the two.

Andy came up beside Brandon. “There’s escaping, Tobias. Let the girl go.”

“Trust me,” Allie said, “you don’t want to shoot me. If you thought just having Brandon and Andy coming down on you was hard, trying having all of Harvest Ranch after you.”

He tried to make eye contact with Allie, but she was looking up at Grant.Please, please don’t get smart.

“She’s right,” Deputy Danny said. “I haven’t been here that long, and even I know these people take care of their own.”

“Let her go,” Brandon soothed like he was talking to one of his horses. “There’s a lot of folks in this town.”

Grant’s gun hand drooped a little.

Allie saw the movement, and Brandon watched in horror as she threw her elbow back into his stomach. She dropped down, and the gun went up and off, the report blasting, then vanishing in the loud music. Allie bounded to her feet and over to Jo as Brandon plowed into Grant.

* * *

Allie watched in horrified fascination as Brandon knocked Mr. Scowl—or Tobias, or whoever the heck he was—back and away from his gun. Mr. Scowl didn’t lose his footing from Brandon’s powerful blow, though, and even worse, he landed a hard punch in Brandon’s kidney, and another to the gut. Tobias was smaller and faster, but Brandon barely scowled recognition of the pain and moved in fast, landing several fast jabs to Mr. Scowl’s side.

Tobias’s face turned red. He raised his arm high and brought it down hard, but Brandon blocked it with his arm and went in with an uppercut to the man’s jaw that sent him flying back and to the ground.

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