He told me he couldn’t make me leave with him…
I told him I couldn’t make him stay…
Was this all it was? Meant to last only until we went our separate ways?
Tori, raised in a life of crime and abuse, escapes her troubled past by agreeing to impersonate Victoria, a missing girl whose father is still searching for. As she struggles to fit into this new role, glimpses of her own long-forgotten childhood resurface. She just needs a way out, but the warmth she feels in Jake’s presence makes her yearn for more…
Jake is a seasoned bounty hunter. Haunted by the loss of his family and ranch to outlaws. He has sworn revenge ever since. He needs the reward money from finding Victoria to survive and keep his quest for justice alive. His mission is clear, but as he spends time with Tori, his protective feelings over her challenge his hardened heart…
As they travel the treacherous terrain to Victoria’s father, danger is closing in and their secrets start unraveling. They must fight for their future and confront a truth that could change everything…
In the heart of the trail where the wildflowers sway,
Tori and Jake find their path amidst the bay,
Beneath a sky where the stars brightly blaze,
Their love begins in the warm, golden haze.
Texas
May 1874
Tori could feel the storekeeper’s eyes on her as she moved slowly along the shelves of dry goods until she found what she was looking for—a small can of baking powder. She knew Ed Goodwin was watching to be sure she didn’t slip something into the large pockets of her dress, and she felt a momentary stab of both guilt and pity.
Ed could watch all he wanted. She was good enough at what she did; there was no way he’d spotted the packet of buttons, the handful of walnuts, or the silver butter knife she’d already secreted in the roomy folds of her skirt. And it wasn’t like he would search her at the door—yet.
She picked up the can of baking powder and turned toward the front of the store with a bright smile.
“I think that’s all I need this time,” she said, approaching the front and dumping the items she had gathered onto the counter (minus the few that swung against her legs beneath her dress).
“You sure?” Ed asked, beginning to add up the price of the grocery items while glancing skeptically at her over his spectacles.
Once again, Tori did her best to ignore the prick of guilt, like a bee sting to her heart.
Ed had a soft heart, and she knew he felt as guilty for suspecting her of pilfering items from his shop as she felt about pilfering them.
It all comes back to Pa. The thought settled over her shoulders like the carrying pole she used to haul two heavy buckets of water from the well at the same time. If he wasn’t my pa, threatening to beat me for being unproductive, I wouldn’t steal a pin. And if Ed didn’t know he was my pa, he’d have no reason to suspect me.
She kept her smile in place as she pulled out a small wad of bills and paid for the baking powder, beans, and cornmeal. Tori was faithful in church every Sunday. She had never been caught stealing. The people of the town liked her despite her father and the pall of suspicion that hung over him and his unsavory acquaintances.
“You want a licorice to go?” Ed asked as he handed out her change, and for a moment, Tori felt her smile falter as she caught the look in his eye.
He pities me, she realized. It made her slightly sick to her stomach to acknowledge it. She kept her voice hard and bright as she said, “No, thank you kindly. I’m a bit old for candy.”
“Never too old for candy,” Ed scoffed, and he put a hand into the jar and handed her a licorice whip. “And besides,” he added as she accepted it reluctantly rather than throwing his generosity back in his face, “you’re not a bit old. Hardly over twenty, I warrant.”
“You’d be right about that,” Tori admitted, loading her purchases back into the big basket she’d brought along for carrying.
“Seems a pretty little thing like you should be married about now, though,” the storekeeper drawled, leaning his elbows on the counter. “Your pa scaring all the fellas away?”
Tori stiffened at the man’s familiar tone. Kind and harmless as Ed was, he was in no position to discuss her father or her marriage prospects with her. And at present, it was the very last thing she wanted to talk about—with anyone.
“Just haven’t found the right fella, I guess,” she replied, her smile firmly in place despite the nausea rising in her stomach. “I’ll be seeing you, Mr. Goodwin. Thanks for the licorice.”
She hurried from the store as quickly as she could without raising the man’s suspicions and paused on the boardwalk outside, taking a deep breath of the warm spring air. It was nearing seven o’clock in the evening, but the Texas sun was still beating down on the dusty streets and colorless buildings of the little town Tori had called home for as long as she could remember.
She turned west and started toward the ramshackle house on the edge of town that she shared with her father—and occasionally one or two of his numerous gang members. While her pa and his men rode out regularly to wreak havoc on the traveling wagons and other small Texas towns, they usually left her to wait them out at home, for which she was grateful. The things her father made her do around town grated on her conscience enough as it was without adding gunslinging and raids to the list.
It was one of the threats he hung over her head daily—that or sending her down to the bordello to earn her keep.
Tori shuddered, hugging her basket closer as she took slow steps toward home, paying little attention to the activity around her as other townsfolk went about their business in the golden hour.
“God, please forgive me for the stolen goods in my pocket,” she whispered under her breath. “Forgive me for deceivin’ Ed Goodwin. I know I promised to try and stop doing both those things, but I just don’t see a way to get out of it. Pa’ll beat me black and blue as it is with how little I got today.”
Unexpectedly, she felt tears prickle her eyes as she kept up her walking prayer.
“I hate this,” she whispered fiercely. “I hate it all. But if you don’t give me some kind of escape route, God, I don’t know how I’ll get out. I don’t know nothing but this little town—and it’s not like I can travel anywhere else on my own….”
Her quiet monologue broke off abruptly as a shout reached her ears, and she lifted her eyes to see two men cornering ten-year-old Johnny Makkle against the side of the livery stable. Her breath caught, and her step quickened as one of the men suddenly grabbed Johnny by the collar and lifted his feet off the ground, pinning him to the stable wall.
“I’ve got you now, you little thief,” the man said sharply.
Tori couldn’t see his face, as his hat shadowed it, but from the terror in young Johnny’s expression, she could only imagine it was a fearsome sight.
She glanced around to see if anyone else had noticed the unfolding drama or looked inclined to step in, but the few townsfolk who even glanced their way simply shook their heads and passed by.
Probably thinking Johnny deserves whatever he gets, Tori thought with rising anger.
She was hot all over with nervousness and determination.
Letting her basket drop to swing by her side, she stalked across the street and right up to the two men and the boy.
“Hey,” she snapped. “You let him go!”
Both men turned toward her in unison, and she felt her knees go weak. They were not like the rowdy, dangerous men her father kept about, but standing there side by side, both tall and broad-shouldered and firm of stance, they exuded strength. She was suddenly intensely aware of her petite, not quite five-foot stature as she tilted her chin to look the man holding Johnny in the eye.
The man’s eyes were pale, ice blue, and they struck hers with so much intensity that it was all she could do not to step backward and apologize. Swallowing the lump that had risen in her throat, she stiffened her knees and glared straight back at him.
“I said, put him down,” she declared. “Why do all you men have to be such bullies?!” The words burst out before she could stop them, and she bit her tongue. Don’t go too far. Be careful.
“We’re not bullies,” the man holding Johnny said. He did not loosen his grip on the boy’s shoulders, and as Johnny squirmed and whined, he gave him a little shake, turning his attention back to him. “And this is none of your concern.”
Tori felt a wash of hot wrath overcome her, sweeping away her trepidation.
“It is too my concern,” she cried, setting her basket down and stepping forward to grab the course material of the man’s tan jacket. “This is my town, and Johnny is a friend of my family. Now, put—him—down!”
With each word, she yanked again on the man’s sleeve, adding a sharp kick to the dusty leg closest to her when his grip on Johnny did not budge.
“Ow!”
Finally, the man dropped Johnny to the ground as he reached for his leg with one hand. He kept the other hand firmly latched onto the boy’s collar, holding him back when he tried to make a break for it.
“What in tarnation?” As he straightened back to his full height, glaring down at Tori with all the fire of those pale blue eyes, she struggled to hold onto the bravery her anger had lent her.
She also felt a shock zip down her spine as she registered how handsome the man was.
His face was long and strong, with an angular jaw shadowed by stubble and an aquiline nose. His lips, currently tight with anger, were firm and well-shaped.
Tori realized with horror that she was blushing, and she quickly stamped her foot to give her flushed face the authority of equal anger. The man’s straight eyebrows rose, and his lips softened slightly. Behind him, his companion laughed, and Tori looked over at him for the first time since approaching. The other man had a dark, neat beard and dark eyes that were starting to sparkle with humor.
“I’m sorry, miss,” the second man said. “Did you say this young scallywag was kin of yours?”
“He might as well be,” Tori replied. Then, she turned her gaze back to the pale-eyed man, whom she somehow found to be the more intimidating of the two—the one she needed to keep an eye on. “Now, are you going to let him go, or am I going to have to start kicking again?”
“He stole my wallet!” the man finally exclaimed. “Snatched it right out of my pocket and thought I wouldn’t notice.” He scowled down at Johnny, who had given up struggling and had resorted to sulking as his captor kept a firm grip on him.
“Johnny,” Tori said firmly, despite her pattering heart. “Give the man back his wallet.”
Reluctantly, the boy reached into his own pocket and removed a worn leather pocketbook, handing it over.
“There, you have your wallet,” Tori said as the man accepted it with a softening expression. “Now, why don’t you let him go? There’s no call to get the sheriff involved with a little problem of pickpocketing.”
“A little problem of pickpocketing?” the man scoffed. “This wallet holds every penny I’ve got, and I’ve little chance of getting more until we find who we’re looking for.”
As he spoke, however, he must have loosened his grip on Johnny because the boy suddenly wriggled out of his hold and bolted down the alley, disappearing around the corner.
“Let him go,” the second man said when the first made a move to follow. “We don’t have time to be chasing pickpockets, Jake. We’re not that kind of bounty hunter.”
Bounty hunters?
Tory felt a cold chill overtake her at the words, and she took a step back and picked up her basket, preparing to slip away as quickly—if slightly less headlong—as Johnny just had. But before she could disappear, the man called Jake turned back toward her—sharply, as if he had just realized something. His eyes fixed on her face, and he frowned slightly.
“Hey,” he said abruptly. “Who are you anyway?”
Tori frowned, taking another step back. “I don’t know you,” she said. “I’m not going to tell you that. Besides, my family is waiting for me to come back with these groceries. I have to go now.”
“Wait,” Jake said, and the command in his tone made Tori unwillingly hesitate as she turned to go. “Please,” he added belatedly. The immediate switch to a placatory tone aroused her curiosity.
Slowly, she turned back around, keeping a clean distance between them. The man was studying her with a startled intensity, his eyes dancing over her face before he turned to his companion.
“Sam,” he said. “Doesn’t she look like the girl?”
Tori’s eyes flicked to Sam, her heartbeat quickening with bewilderment. The bearded man frowned slightly as he, too, began to study her. Then, he reached into his pocket and came out with a wallet, similarly worn and thin as Jake’s. Opening it, he pulled out a two-by-four-inch albumen print and held it up in the slanting sunlight.
“He said auburn hair and brown eyes, right?” Jake said. He turned back to Tori. “I’m sorry,” he added, in a gentler tone than he’d used yet. “We’ve just been looking for someone, and you look just like her—or just like I imagine she would look now.”
“What do you mean?” Tori asked, her curiosity holding her in place even as her wiser instincts told her to run hard and fast.
“Well, she was only seven when she disappeared,” Sam explained.
He stepped forward, and Tori’s head whipped toward him. But he was only proffering the photo, which, after a moment of hesitation, she accepted. She gazed down at the faded, sepia image of a young girl with wide eyes and a heart-shaped face framed by thick, wavy hair.
“That was fourteen years ago,” Jake rejoined. “Which means she’d be about your age now.”
Exactly my age is more like it, Tori thought after doing some quick mental math.
She felt a sudden, strange kinship to this poor girl who had gone missing so long ago. If she had disappeared, was she even still alive? It seemed unlikely out here in the wilds of Texas.
“Why are you looking for her?” she asked.
“Her father hired us,” Sam said.
His voice held a hint of pity, and looking up, Tori saw in his eyes that he had the same doubts she did about the girl still being out there somewhere, waiting to be found. Then, she couldn’t seem to keep her eyes from turning to Jake. She found him watching her with the same intent concentration he seemed to fix everything with, and she quickly looked away to keep from blushing again and embarrassing herself.
“You really look just like her,” he said, and Tori shrugged.
“Well, I’m not her,” she said dryly, handing the photo back to Sam. “My father lives right here in town, and I live with him—unfortunately,” she added almost to herself.
She glanced up just in time to see Sam’s eyes narrow.
“Wait,” he said. “I just had an idea.”
Grabbing Jake by the sleeve, he pulled him closer, saying something too softly for Tori to overhear. Jake frowned, his pale eyes flashing to Tori and then back to Sam.
“Are you kidding me?” he asked, his voice sharp and clear.
Sam said something else, gesticulating earnestly as Jake continued to shake his head. Then, both men turned back to Tori. She wasn’t sure why she had remained during their strange aside, but she found herself waiting with bated breath for what they would say next. It was Sam who spoke first, but Jake did not dissuade him.
“Miss…whatever your name is,” he said when Tori refused to fill in the blank for him, simply raising her eyebrows questioningly. “We have a proposition for you.”
“No,” Tori said firmly. “Already no.”
“You haven’t heard it yet,” Jake interjected, his lips turning up slightly in amusement.
It was the first time Tori had seen him look anything but angry, and she found herself thinking this new emotion made him look more attractive than ever.
She quickly shook the thought out of her head.
“I’m not the kind of girl that accepts propositions from strange men in the street,” she said tightly.
“No, no, of course not,” Sam stuttered. “This is not—I mean—”
“He wants you to impersonate the girl we’re looking for and come back with us to the old man’s ranch,” Jake said forthrightly. “I think it’s a bad idea. But I also agree with him that we’re probably never going to find the real girl—and we’d rather not go back empty-handed.”
Tori stared at the bounty hunters, shock drying her mouth and momentarily stealing her voice.
“He’s a wealthy rancher,” Sam chimed back in. “The other side of Texas from here. You would live a good life. Better than the one you’re living here from the sound and look of it.”
Still speechless, Tori glared at him, and he looked properly ashamed.
“I mean, you’re the one who said something about your situation being unfortunate,” he muttered. He did not comment further on what he seemed to have been hinting about her appearance.
Tori was rarely self-conscious about the worn and faded state of most of her clothing, but something about Jake’s silent gaze suddenly made her intensely aware of the fact that what Sam had said was true—no matter how rude. Just about any life would be better than the life she was living here.
Except a life of even more dishonesty and uncertainty. No doubt the bounty hunters only wanted to collect whatever reward the man was offering for his daughter’s return. They didn’t really care about her or him.
“I’m not going to help you trick some harmless old man,” she muttered finally, as it became clear that the men were going to wait indefinitely for her answer. The patience of bounty hunters, she thought wryly. “If you were so all-fired sure you couldn’t deliver, you shouldn’t have taken the job in the first place.”
“She speaks the truth,” Jake said, a twist of humor to his mouth once again. “Come on, Sam. I want a hot bath and meal before we’re completely broke.”
Sam sighed and nodded, but he wasn’t quite ready to give up.
“If you change your mind,” he told Tori, “we’ll be staying at the hotel tonight and then picking up some supplies tomorrow. Probably won’t start out till late afternoon.”
“You start whenever you want,” Tori said. “Makes no difference to me.” She heard a snort of laughter and looked in surprise at Jake, who shook his head before tipping his hat slightly to her.
“Have a good night, miss,” he said.
Then, he turned on his heel and started off toward the hotel, Sam trailing disconsolately behind him.
Rather than watch them leave like a ninny, Tori turned with equal abruptness and continued on toward home. But where their steps had been eager, anticipating some comfort before bed, hers dragged even more slowly than before she had encountered the two strange and surprising bounty hunters. Her mind was spinning, and guilt still dragged at her heavily.
“Hi, God—I’m back,” she murmured, falling back into the divine conversation the sight of Johnny and his captors had interrupted. “And I’ve got more to ask forgiveness for: I wanted to say yes,” she whispered, “just to get away from here. I’d do almost anything, God—except more of the things I promised You I’d try to stop doing.”
She paused, debating the wisdom of issuing a challenge to the Almighty. Finally, she went for it. “Just please don’t forget Your side of the bargain,” she added. “Please make a way for me to leave here and live an honest life.”
An honest life and a safe one, she thought, dread filling her soul as she dipped a hand in her pocket to finger the lone silver knife and other small items. It’s all I’m askin’ for.
One month earlier…
April 1874
“Darlin’, fetch another bottle for these two gentlemen, won’t you?” Billy Hughes gave Tori a sickly-sweet smile as he asked, and she nodded without reply, crossing the kitchen to fetch the whiskey from his well-stocked liquor cabinet.
The only well-stocked cabinet in the house right now, Tori thought with a pit in her stomach.
She had barely been able to pull together the meal she was serving her father and two of his top-level gang members. She would have to ask about buying groceries, or Billy would bring up the missing biscuits and ask why she hadn’t made any.
Which way of bringing up the topic will make him least angry? Tori asked herself as she carried the whiskey to the table and set it at Billy’s elbow.
She felt ragged and weary with the never-ending internal juggling she did to try and avoid her father’s wrath. His mood tonight seemed jovial, but it could change like the whirling dust devils that sometimes swept along the plains outside of town.
“Don’t just leave it,” Billy said, his tone stiffening slightly as he glanced down at the bottle and then frowned at her. “Pour it out for us. We’re celebrating tonight.”
Obediently, Tori picked the whisky back up and poured a generous splash into her father’s glass, careful not to spill a drop. Her stomach knotted as she turned to Snake Wilder, her father’s second-in-command, and reached for his glass. She always dreaded when the lean, silent gunslinger was invited to the house. Something about him gave her chills—more than any of her father’s men…and that was saying something.
Tonight had already been worse than most. His serpent-green eyes had followed her around the kitchen all evening as she fetched the food to the table and started on the dishes. That, coupled with her anxiety about speaking to her father about the grocery situation, was making her jumpier by the moment.
Snake held onto his glass as she poured, forcing her to lean over him slightly to reach it. The sharp, unexpected scent of his aftershave filled her nose, and she held her breath, backing away as soon as she could. She then stepped around the table to refill Parker’s glass. Parker was an older man with only the one name—she couldn’t say if it were his first or last.
“Thank you, sweet thing,” he said. “Don’t mind if I do.”
Then, he scrubbed a finger and thumb over his whiskered bottom lip before picking up the glass and taking a long swallow. Tori was about to spin from the table and return to the refuge of the kitchen when her father’s thick hand suddenly closed around her wrist, arresting her movement.
Her heart leaped into her throat as she stopped in her tracks.
“Well, aren’t you going to ask what we’re celebrating, hon?” he asked.
“If you want to tell me, go ahead,” Tori said shortly.
It was the first time she’d spoken since the men had tromped into the house, shouting for dinner, and her voice came out husky with disuse. Billy’s face tightened at what he likely perceived as impudence, and she clenched her teeth, waiting for him to swear at her or raise a hand and slap her. He usually wasn’t shy about doing it, even when there were others in the house.
But to her surprise, her father’s scowl slid back into a smile—so smoothly, she felt her stomach turn.
What is going on here?
“It concerns you, so I think you ought to know,” he said. “See, Snake and I had a good talk the other day.” Tori caught her breath, a tremor vibrating her stomach as her father finished. “He wants to court you, Tori. Can you imagine that?”
He laughed, a loud, grating sound that made Tori jump despite herself. Her head was spinning as her breath returned, shallow and quick, making her feel faint.
“I told him to just marry you already,” Billy guffawed. “That I’d be glad to see it done so I didn’t have to worry about it no more. But he wants to woo and court you proper, so here we are.”
Tori’s eyes flashed to Snake’s, and she found they were already fixed on her, his thin lips turned up in a leering smirk. The tremor in her stomach became a full-blown shudder that she just managed to keep from visibly shaking her body.
Parker was looking from one person to another, his mouth slack and his eyes boggled with whiskey and surprise.
“Well, now,” he slurred, “if I’d known it was as simple as just asking, I’d have married Tori myself long before now.”
Without even turning his head, Billy released Tori’s wrist to reach out and whack the other man on the back of the head—hard. Tori flinched as Parker hollered, and Snake let out a quiet snort of laughter.
“It’s not as simple as anything,” Billy growled. “She’s my only daughter, Park. You think I’d just marry her off to the first man that came along? Why do you think I’ve waited till she’s twenty-one years old, huh?”
“What makes Snake the right man, then?” Parker muttered, his bristly eyebrows furrowed and his lips thrust out in an expression that managed to look both abashed and offended at the same time.
Tori had taken a tiny step back from the table, out of her father’s easy reach, but she didn’t dare take off running like every muscle in her body was screaming for her to do.
You gotta be careful, she reminded herself. Be smart about this. Otherwise, things are just gonna get worse. If that’s even possible.
The marriage wasn’t a sure thing yet. Maybe she could convince her father—or even Snake—that it was a bad idea before things got that far.
As if he had read her thoughts about how things could possibly get worse, her father answered Parker with a sidelong glance in her direction.
“Snake’s and my goals and plans align with one another,” he said. “That’s why he’s my second-in-command. Once you two are married,” he continued, addressing Tori, “Snake will move in here with us, and everything will go on just as usual. I won’t be losing a daughter,” he finished with dramatic intonation. “I’ll be gaining a son.”
Once more, Snake laughed that quiet huff of laughter.
Tori felt as if a great black pit had just opened inside her.
She clenched her hands to keep their trembling from being too obvious and took another tiny step backward.
Everything will go on just as usual, he had said.
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I liked what I read but I think I’d change the prologue to chapter one and put chapter one as the prologue, instead of starting chapter one (a month earlier.).
That’s such a great idea!!! Thanks so much for your feedback!💖💖