Wilder Hearts- A Western Hearts Novel (Book 2)

By Lilly Gayle

Writing about the outlaw, Jake the Snake, could be the opportunity of a lifetime—if it doesn’t get her killed.

When Ellie Wilder takes her sister from their grandfather's home, she's determined to put her family back together and write of their adventures. Then she runs into Jacob Harper, a man who resembles Jake the Snake, a notorious outlaw who once rode with Billy the Kid. Is it possible the outlaw who escaped justice has mended his ways? Or is the handsome Mr. Harper now murdering servant girls in Austin? Finding out the truth could be the journalistic opportunity of a lifetime.

Former Texas Ranger Jake Harper has returned to Texas to help solve the Servant Girl Annihilator murders. But when a similar murder occurs in Harmony, Texas, Jake goes undercover as Jake the Snake to find a connection between the series of brutal murders. Then Ellie Wilder shows up. Her snooping could blow his cover and get her killed, but Ellie soon becomes a bigger threat to his heart than his investigation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lilly Gayle
• Release date: May 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310875816

Lilly Gayle

Lilly Gayle is a wife, mother of two grown daughters, a grandmother, and a breast cancer survivor. She lives in North Carolina with her husband. When not working as an x-ray technologist and mammographer, Lilly writes paranormal and historical romances. She has eight books in print and is the VP of Communications for her local RWA chapter as well as the editor of her chapter’s newsletter.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

January 1886

Did the porter get our trunks loaded? Ellie Wilder stood behind a tanker car near the loading platform at Petroleum Center, watching passengers as they boarded the Oil Creek Railroad.

Jimmy Jacks looked over his shoulder and smiled. At fifteen, he was three years younger than she was, but he looked like a grown man.

Yep. I also got you and the kid seats in the last passenger car. He nodded to the little girl standing at Ellie's elbow. The child looked up, her eyes bright with anger.

I want to go home, she demanded.

Guilt made Ellie feel a bit nauseated, but she smiled and pulled the child closer. Not yet. I'm going to take you on that train ride I promised.

Will Paw Paw be on the train?

No. He couldn't come with us today. And if Ellie's luck held, he wouldn't find the note she'd left until they were out of Pennsylvania.

I hope you know what you're doing. Jimmy grunted. He'd been against Ellie's plan from the beginning, but that hadn't stopped him from taking her money or helping her execute it. Meticulous timing was the key, and so far, things were going precisely as planned.

If only my life could be so well managed.

All aboard! The shrill blast of a train whistle followed the conductor's shout. Ellie's pulse quickened.

Well, this is it, Jimmy. Biting her bottom lip, she stiffened her spine and firmed her resolve. She was finally getting out of Columbia Farm. She wasn't going to Philadelphia to attend medical school as she'd once dreamed of doing, but there were other dreams. Other opportunities. And getting out of Pennsylvania with Ida Louise would give her the opportunity to pursue those other dreams.

She gave Jimmy a quick hug and made a dash for the train, pulling the grumbling child behind her. Unfortunately, the trip wasn't as uneventful as Ellie had hoped, nor was the experience of traveling with an eight-year-old as easy as she'd anticipated.

The first leg of the journey entailed a lot of jostling and jolting, a lot of sparks and noise, and no view. Ida Louise was quick to voice her displeasure. The train didn't have a dining car or a sleeper, so Ellie and Ida Louise squeezed together in a bunk-lined berth for the night. Near dawn, the train arrived in Chicago, and Ellie purchased tickets for The Great Western Line bound for St. Louis.

They had seats by the window this time, but it was an eight-hour ride, and Ida Louise was growing suspicious. Ellie distracted her with stories from Pluck and Luck and the Wide Awake Library. Fortunately, the child enjoyed the adventure stories as much as Ellie did, and she soon stopped complaining.

Who won the Lincoln County War? Ida Louise asked when Ellie finished a particularly entertaining story featuring Billy the Kid.

It wasn't really a war. It was a feud between rival businessmen and ranchers. John Tunstall hired The Regulators to do his dirty work, and Mr. Dolan of the Dolan Company hired The Boys to do his. But they were all just a bunch of outlaws.

But if Billy the Kid and Jake the Snake were both Regulators, what happened to The Snake after The Kid got himself killed? Ida Louise asked.

A jury had convicted Billy the Kid of murdering Sheriff Bill Brady, but he escaped before his hanging. Sheriff Pat Garrett eventually tracked him down and shot him, but most of the other Regulators were either acquitted or pardoned. Jake the Snake never went to trial.

He escaped justice, she said, but secretly, she hoped he'd turned away from his life of crime to start a new life for himself.

She looked down at her book to study a sketch of The Snake. His eyes stared back from the drawing, dark and brooding, his hat pulled low over light hair.

How could such a handsome, young man be a cold-blooded killer?

"But what do you think happened to him?" Ida Louise persisted.

I don't know, but this is the last known picture of him. The sketch was about five years old. Was he even still alive?

Ida Louise puckered her blonde brows. He don't look like no killer. Ellie didn't think so either. His eyes were hard, but his expression was sad. Or perhaps, the artist had only drawn him that way.

He was never actually indicted for murder, but he's still an outlaw. How could there be any good in such a man? Ellie firmed her lips. He killed a bounty hunter in Texas five years ago. At least, that's what Ellie had read in one of her dime novels.

Ida Louise stared at the picture, wide-eyed and frightened. I hope we don't run into no outlaws on our adventure.

So do I, Ellie opened another book and read to the child until they arrived in St. Louis and disembarked.

A bitter January wind blew in from the west. So, Ellie dragged Ida Louise into a darkened corner at Union Station and waited in the shadows. She watched the ticket window until a man in a brown beaver hat purchased his tickets and left the station. Once he stepped outside, Ellie dragged Ida Louise out of the shadows and approached the ticket agent's window. Two tickets for wherever the gentleman in the brown hat was headed.

The old man held out an arthritic hand. Seven dollars for tickets to Austin.

Ellie paid the fee and shoved the tickets into her traveling bag.

Are we going to Texas? Ida Louise asked once they were away from the ticket counter. Her voice rang with excitement.

Ellie tugged her closer and looked down. Yes. Now keep quiet. Then she looked up and nearly collided with the man in the brown beaver hat. Her heart sank.

Daddy!

Clay Wilder looked from Ida Louise to Ellie and back again. My God, Ellie, what have you done?

Anger, fear, and desperation rendered Ellie mute. Couldn't anything ever go as planned?

Her father glared. What are you doing here, girl? And why did you drag your little sister into whatever scheme you've hatched?

Ellie straightened to her full height, which wasn't very tall, but it made her feel better to show some backbone. She met her father's hard gray gaze and raised her chin. I'm trying to keep this family together.

His eyes wavered. So did his voice. That's what I'm trying to do.

No, you're not. You're running away again, just like you did when Mama died. Tears swam in Ellie's eyes, but she refused to shed them.

I'm not running, Daddy protested, but his shoulders sagged, and his gaze sought the floor. I'm trying to make something of myself so I can get my family back, and I can't do that if I have to look after the two of you.

Her father was a good man, and he wasn't intentionally abandoning his family. Before marrying Josephine Riggs and becoming assistant field supervisor for Samuel Riggs, Clay Wilder had drilled for Columbia Oil. He'd made several trips to Texas over the years, and he believed there was an abundance of oil beneath the Texas soil just waiting for the right driller to bring it to the surface. Yet despite his experience, his father-in-law--Ellie's grandfather--had convinced the company's investors there wasn't enough oil west of the Mississippi to fill a washtub.

Disillusioned, Daddy had continued working for Paw Paw--until Mama died. Then Paw Paw claimed his daughter might still be alive if Daddy hadn't been off chasing pipe dreams in the early days of her pregnancy. Daddy never denied the charge, and he never protested when Sam Riggs fired him.

Daddy had let Paw Paw take Ida Louise too, but Ellie wasn't about to let him abandon them permanently. Leaving them in the hands of his father-in-law when they were little made sense. He couldn't raise the money he needed to go to Texas and drill for oil if he had two daughters to raise, but Ellie was no longer a child.

She notched up her chin. I may be short, but I'm a grown woman, and I can take care of myself. I can also take care of you and Ida Louise.

You and Ida Louise are my children, and I love you both, but I can't just drag you to Texas when I don't even have a place to live. His face looked pained, but his words were firm. Unwavering.

He doesn't want us. A knot formed in Ellie's throat. She swallowed hard, determined not to cry--determined to prove she wasn't a child.

We need to stay together. If Daddy didn't let them stay, Paw Paw would take Ida Louise away. Her little sister was the spitting image of Mama, but Ellie reminded him of Daddy. He might not want her back. Then where would she go? Please, Daddy. Don't leave us again.

Daddy looked down at Ida Louise. What about school?

I go to school in Oil City, she said.

Ellie ground her teeth in frustration. Daddy was supposed to have taken his children back to Columbia Farm to live when Ida Louise reached school age, but Paw Paw wouldn't let her go, and Daddy hadn't protested. He'd been too busy trying to find investors for his drilling operation in Texas. Ellie had been miserable living in Oil City with her grandfather, but she'd stayed to be with her little sister. No more. She would put her family back together, even if she had to chase her father halfway across the globe.

She looked down at her sister and ground her teeth. Ida Louise can go to school in Texas. Then she raised her chin and met her father's gaze. His entire face softened.

I wasn't talking about Ida Louise. I was talking about you, Ellie. What about your plans to become a doctor?

Daddy didn't have the money to send her to medical school, even if that had still been her dream, and Paw Paw didn't think women needed an education. If she stayed in Oil City, she would be forced to marry, or she'd be sent away to live as a governess. Paw Paw had made that quite clear, telling her in no uncertain terms that she was too old to be living under his roof.

She snorted. I haven't wanted to be a doctor since I was a child.

Daddy smiled, as if he still thought of her as a child. Ellie bristled. But then Daddy's smile faded. He glanced down at his dusty boots, his face falling along with his voice. "Then what about crime solving? I remember you saying at one time that you wanted to investigate crimes like the detectives in the Policeman's Gazette. You might could do that if you stayed in Pennsylvania."

Was he trying to get rid of her? Or indulge a child's fantasies?

Daddy didn't always listen or keep up with her ever-changing dreams, but God bless him, he'd never discouraged her just because she was a girl either.

She forced a laugh to hold back the emotional tears clogging her throat, but it came out sounding like another sarcastic snort.

I was just a kid then, too. And she'd grown up enough to know a woman could never be a detective. No police department in the world would hire a female investigator. Besides, she added, I've decided to become a writer. I can keep a journal of my experiences out west and sell my stories to a magazine back east using a man's name. It's the perfect solution.

If Daddy didn't send her home.

Her father sighed and raked his hat off his salt-sprinkled, wavy brown hair. What about Sam? He'll be worried.

I left him a note. This wouldn't relieve the old man's anxiety. Sam Riggs adored Ida Louise, but he wasn't fond of his oldest granddaughter. She was nothing like angelic Ida Louise or their tall, blonde, statuesque mother. Ellie had brown hair like her father, and she was short and tiny, except for her chest, which had developed to a woman's size despite her petite height. Paw Paw apparently didn't like that either. Not that she could help the size of her chest, but he'd actually told her to bind herself so she didn't look cheap.

It was Daddy's turn to snort, and Ellie realized she sounded just like him. No wonder Paw Paw hated her. He hated her father.

I'm sure a note will fix everything, he said, his voice ripe with sarcasm. Sam Riggs paid fancy lawyers so he could keep my kids eight years ago, and he ain't gonna give Ida Louise up without a fight now because you left him a damn note. That ain't real smart thinking, girl.

Anger, hurt, and embarrassment burned Ellie's cheeks. She dashed a lone tear from her lashes and glared. He took your kids because you let him. You didn't even fight back.

I did what I thought best at the time. He hunched one shoulder upward in a half-shrug. Wilders love with all their hearts, Ellie, and when your mama died, it nearly killed me. I couldn't take care of myself back then, let alone a young daughter and an infant. And Sam had maids who could take better care of you than I could.

Paw Paw's maids hadn't taken very good care of Mama. She'd lost several babies between Ellie and Ida Louise, and when it looked as if she'd lose another, Daddy had carried her to Paw Paw's house. Mama hadn't lost that baby, but two days after Ida Louise was born, Mama died of childbirth fever. Two weeks later, Daddy returned to Columbia Farm. Alone. He left his children with a man who loved only one of them.

The memory still had the power to twist Ellie's stomach into painful knots.

Of course, Daddy had visited on weekends and holidays, but how often would he visit if he moved to Texas without them?

She wasn't about to find out.

"You are not going to leave us. Not again." This time, she wasn't a powerless child left standing in the doorway of a cold, loveless, house with a man who didn't want her.

And you won't have to look after me, Ida Louise added, taking up her sister's cause. Ellie can do it. She's taken good care of me on this trip, and I like spending time with her.

Gratitude washed through Ellie's veins like a warm tide, filling her heart with love. Sam Riggs had done his best to keep Ida Louise away from her, and until now, Ellie hadn't known how her little sister felt. Her throat constricted.

Don't break up the family, Daddy, she whispered hoarsely. Not again.

He scrubbed a hand over his whisker-roughened cheeks and sighed. His eyes were suspiciously moist. Drilling for oil is hard work, and I won't have much time to spend with you. Life won't be as easy as it was with your grandfather. I can't afford cooks and maids. We'll be lucky if I can afford a house the first year.

We don't care about a house, Ida Louise exclaimed, her voice ringing with the conviction of innocence.

We won't be any trouble, Ellie added, though she knew it was most likely wishful thinking on her part. She'd already caused trouble for her father. Possibly even legal trouble.

Daddy looked down at Ida Louise, his face tense, his eyes serious. Once you get on that train, there ain't no turning back. I won't let Sam take you from me again. I think it would kill me.

I won't let him, Ida Louise vowed, and Ellie's hopes soared. Her prayers had been answered. They were going to be a family, and nothing on this earth would ever come between them again.

CHAPTER TWO

Wait here with your sister while I get the trunks, Clay said when they reached Austin.

He shoved Ida Louise's hand into Ellie's and stepped off the sidewalk, leaving his daughters under a metal awning outside the train station. Ellie followed his departure with worried eyes.

He'll need help with our luggage. She nervously chewed her bottom lip. Would Daddy regret not sending them back? Besides the trunk filled with clothes for Ida Louise and herself, Ellie had packed another with books. He won't be able to get all those trunks to the hotel without assistance.

Ida Louise looked up, wrinkling her delicate blonde brow. Won't the train people help him?

Not without charging a fee for their services. And Ellie didn't know how much money their father had. Guilt gnawed at her gut.

When planning this trip, he'd only himself to consider. Now, he had to pay room and board for two other people, and he couldn't stay in just any old boarding house or hotel. He now had to worry about the welfare of his daughters.

Ellie studied what she could of the town from the relative safety of the train depot. From everything she'd read, the western half of the country was supposed to be wild and untamed, but Austin looked nothing like the rough cattle towns they'd passed through earlier. The streets were wide, and the buildings were made of brick and mortar rather than clapboard or tin. It looked safe and clean, but cities had their own dangers.

Had she inadvertently caused their father more problems by chasing after him? Would Daddy have to spend half his time looking after her and Ida Louise instead of drilling for oil?

She looked at her sister and then strained her neck, trying to see around a delivery wagon as it slowly moved down the road on its way to the loading platform behind the station. It's not Philadelphia, but Austin certainly looks civilized.

There's some what call it the Athens of the West, a short, barrel-chested man said, drawing her attention away from her limited perusal of the city. He leaned against a fluted iron post smoking a cigar.

Ellie nodded politely but tightened her grip on Ida Louise's hand. I hadn't expected to find such a modern metropolitan city this far West.

She held the tattered issue of The Wide Awake Library close to her chest, as if the flimsy paperback could shield her and her sister from danger.

The old man wheezed out a laugh and nodded to the magazine. You like reading about murder and mayhem, do you girl?

"I am not a girl! She straightened to her full five-feet, one-inch height and glared. I'm a grown woman." The messy brown knot on top of her head teetered precariously, but without a maid, Ellie had no choice but to style it herself. And she wasn't very good at it. Her cheeks warmed.

The stranger nodded to Ida Louise. And I suppose that young'un is your kid.

Ida Louise cowered behind Ellie's skirts, and Ellie pulled her closer. She's my sister.

The old man smiled, exposing more gaps than teeth. That's right. You keep that girl close. Austin might be the Paradise of Texas, but it ain't safe no more. There's a killer on the loose.

A frisson of unease skittered down Ellie's spine, but an injudicious fascination with criminal investigations piqued her curiosity. She lowered her voice. I heard on the train that two women were killed on Christmas Eve.

The man dropped his cigar to the dirt and ground it out with a worn boot heel. The Servant Girl Annihilator has kilt seven women and a man since last December.

Ellie's pulse quickened. Was the man a detective? Did he track the villain down and wind up with a belly full of lead?

The old man wheezed out another laugh, as if amused by her colorful language, but Ellie wasn't trying to be funny. She was repeating a few lines from The Wide Awake Library, testing them on her tongue to see how they'd sound in her own stories.

Excitement replaced fear. She could write about the unsolved murders in Austin. Then she'd have real stories to write about and sell to magazines back east. And she could use whatever money she earned to help daddy buy the equipment he needed to drill for oil.

Nah. He won't no detective. Orange Washington was one of them servant girl's boyfriends. He must of got in the way of the women folk the Annihilator was after.

Are we gonna get killed? Ida Louise asked, and Ellie cringed.

No, sweetheart. We're perfectly safe. She shouldn't be talking about such things in front of a child. What kind of big sister was she?

The kind who entertains an eight-year-old with stories of murder and mayhem.

Humph, the man said before dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. Ain't no one safe from the Annihilator.

Ellie leaned closer and lowered her voice to match his, hoping Ida Louise's lesser height would prevent her from overhearing the grizzly details. What happened?

I can't write exciting stories if I don't investigate, now can I?

Bloody work. That's what. It started with a Negro servant girl last December. Before then, there won't no crime in Austin, 'cept for the usual fights in Guy Town. That be where the bars and... eh...that be on Fourth and Colorado, the old man added quickly.

Ellie dropped her chin and felt her cheeks flush with heat. Guy Town was probably where the brothels were, but young girls weren't supposed to know of such things.

Then in May, he added, another servant girl was kilt. She was outraged after she died.

Oh my! Ellie's hand flew to her throat. Rape was nearly as horrible a crime as murder, and to be outraged after death was unheard of--or at least Ellie had never heard of a woman being raped after she was dead. Then again, why would she? Women were supposed to remain ignorant of such things.

Maybe Jake the Snake did it--or wild Indians, Ida Louise suggested, and Ellie wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

No wonder Paw Paw thought her a bad influence. Look at the horrible example she had set for her own sister. No proper young lady would stand on the street corner discussing such unladylike topics with a stranger--especially not in the company of a child.

Heat crawled up her neck and settled in her cheeks. Church had obviously done her little good. Maybe she did need to go to a nunnery to curve her wild ways as her grandfather had once suggested.

Perhaps we should put an end to this conversation, Mr...

Montrose, the man said, doffing his dusty hat. It was tall and brown--like the hats cowboys wore--and nothing like the felt hats men wore back east. Ezekiel Montrose. I keep the streets outside the station clean. Been doing it for years. I sweep the sidewalks and keep the road out front cleared of horse dung.

Perhaps that explained his smell...

Ellie nodded and forced a smile. Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you, sir, but perhaps we've heard enough.

I should never have engaged the man in conversation to begin with.

I want to hear about the bloody work, Ida Louise protested. It don't scare me none.

It should scare ya, Mr. Montrose said with a chilling chuckle. Because the Annihilator don't spare little girls. One of his victims was only eleven. He dragged Mary Ramey from her bed to the wash house outback. He stabbed her through the ear with an iron rod, and then he violated her.

Ellie dropped her book and covered Ida Louise's ears with her palms. That's quite enough, Mr. Montrose!

Ida Louise shook off Ellie's hands and stepped back. I ain't scared, Ellie. His stories are like the ones you read me. And I like 'em--even if Paw Paw says they ain't fit for a lady's ears. 'Sides, Daddy says Mama watches over me and keeps me safe, so I ain't worried 'bout no nigh-later killing me.

Mama might well be watching over both her girls, but that didn't make them impervious to evil. Even the Lord will wash his hands of a fool, Ellie snapped. And stop saying ain't!

I ain't--I'm not a fool. I'm smart. Like you, Ida Louise added, and Ellie's heart melted. Somehow, she'd earned her sister's respect in spite of their grandfather calling Ellie an irresponsible dreamer with fluff for brains.

Mr. Montrose shook his head. Smart don't matter none with the Annihilator. Now white folks is getting killed. Moses Hancock found his wife murdered in the backyard on Christmas Eve. Her head was cleaved open, and a metal rod was sticking out her brain--just like with that little Negro girl.

Oh my! Ellie's heart thumped, and her stomach churned.

I bet it was wild Indians what done it, Ida Louise whispered.

Done what? Daddy asked, and Ellie jumped. She'd been so engrossed in Mr. Montrose's tale that she hadn't noticed his approach.

The murders, Daddy, Ida Louise whispered. It was bloody work.

Clay's eyes snapped up to meet Ellie's. What in tarnation have you been telling this child?

Ellie dropped her head in shame, staring at the toes of her sturdy leather slippers. She likes adventure stories.

Mr. Montrose cackled. "Them's some feisty daughters you got there, Mister. I was telling them about the local