Book Excerpt – Outlaw Hearts
Blaze trotted along the trail, and a shot rang out over the ridge. Elle yanked the reins back and cocked an ear in the direction of the sound. Loud voices carried on the wind.
“Must be trouble,” Raven said.
Shorty dismounted and hustled to a small overlook. “We got a hold up,” he whispered to the gang. He peered back at the scene below. “Looks like the Watson gang got themselves a fancy coach.”
Elle gritted her teeth. The Watson gang was a nasty bit of business. Their leader, Jed Watson, was meaner than a cornered rattlesnake and answered to no one, taking what he wanted when he wanted. He managed to get himself run out of Helena, one of the most lawless towns in Texas. Rumor was he shot the local smithy for having the audacity of telling Jed to wait his turn. Elle had run-ins with Jed in Loma Parda, mostly over cards, but he didn’t dare cause trouble there because Rose would put a bullet between his eyes if he so much as cursed at Elle.
They quietly slid to the ground and joined Shorty at his perch. They were close enough to get a good view of the action.
The scene below was familiar, and one they’d often been a part of. Five desperados surrounded a coach and the four horses in front. The coach was sleek and large. It looked new and had to have cost a pretty penny. Elle had a pang of regret at not being the one who pilfered its occupants.
Jed Watson, unmistakable with his wispy whiskers and scraggly black hair that hung below his collar, surveyed the scene. Even from far away, the hatred and ugliness packed into his wiry frame was palpable. His signature bowler hat sat askew atop his head. He didn’t bother to cover his face.
The driver of the coach had his hands in the air while a bandit aimed a rifle at his heart. One man, with blood seeping from his chest, already lay on the ground unmoving.
“Damn. They killed someone. Bastards,” Raven said.
One of the bandits opened the coach door and pointed his revolver at the occupants. “Git out!”
After a second, a man poked his head out and the bandit grabbed him by his lapel and threw him to the ground. As others slowly followed, the bandit yelled, “Git your hands up or I’ll shoot you!”
Two men and an older woman with gray hair stumbled out. Two of the outlaws frisked them, grabbing revolvers and anything that could be used as a weapon. After their search, they pushed the prisoners to their knees.
“Hands on your head or you’re dead,” one man said. He chuckled. “Hey, that’s like a poem.”
Jed glowered at him. “Shut up, Bobby.”
Bobby lifted his lip in a huff and mumbled, “You shut up.”
Jed pointed his gun at him. “What’d you say?”
Bobby’s shoulders sunk low, and his chin touched his chest. “Nuthin’.”
“Better say nuthin’.”
“We got one more in here,” the outlaw at the coach door said. “Out! Now!”
A woman with blond tresses piled below her feathered hat stepped down and stood with her chin held high. Her light blue dress flowed around her, and a rose-colored belt cinched the dress around her tiny waist.
Elle felt mildly intrigued.
Jed dismounted and rambled over. “Well, well, well, looky here, fellas. We got ourselves a proper lady.” With a leer, he lifted a curl that hung next to her cheek and rubbed it between his grimy fingers.
What happened next was a blur. The woman lifted her reticule and whacked an unsuspecting Jed in the head, knocking his bowler off. He rubbed at his newly-formed probable lump and cursed. She didn’t stop the assault. She hit him again across the face and stamped on his foot with the heel of her shoe. “Don’t you touch me you filthy man!”
Elle and the gang snickered from their look-out and their voices remained hushed.
“Damn,” Raven said. “She hit ‘em in the face with that bag. Hit ‘em again, girl.”
“Jed ain’t used to a woman hittin’ back,” Shorty said.
Elle managed a wry smile at the woman’s feisty spirit, but it would not bode well for her once Jed stopped hopping around in pain. In fact, it would become downright dangerous.
Jed growled in anger. “Tie that bitch up!”
Bobby and one of the other men approached the woman and she swung the reticule around. Bobby made a grab for her arm, and she connected with his nose. With a howl he fell to the ground and blood seeped between his fingertips.
“Sweet Jesus, what’s she got in that purse?” Willy asked with wide eyes.
“Maybe a brick or something,” Raven answered.
The woman stood her ground and the other man backed off.
One of the prisoners, a man dressed in a fine, dark blue suit, cleared his throat, and in a heavy southern accent, drawled, “Sir, I would seriously reconsider your actions.”
Jed wiped a spot of blood from his mouth with the back of his hand and approached the gentleman. “Now why’s that?”
The man looked him dead in the eye. “Because this coach belongs to J. Beauregard Jackson.” He let the words sink in.
Elle and her gang tensed. Things just became a whole lot more interesting. JB was a powerful man.
Raven sucked in a breath. “Damn, Jackson’s gonna be pissed.”
“Maybe Jed finally met his match,” mumbled Shorty.
An unimpressed Jed snorted with contempt. He grabbed the man’s hair and yanked his head back. “I ain’t afraid of J. B. Jackson,” he snarled and let him go.
“Sir, this is his bride-to-be, and if a hair on her head is harmed, he will hunt you down and kill you.”
Elle gave the suited man his due, faced with possible death, he continued to antagonize Jed. She pursed her lips. It’s only a matter of time now.
Sure enough, Jed cold cocked him in the head with the butt of his revolver. The man slumped to the ground bleeding from his temple. “If this is his bride,” Jed said, “then I bet he’d pay a pretty penny to get her back. Course, he may not want her back after I get done with her.” He guffawed at his own joke, and glanced at his men, who quickly laughed along with him. He waved at Bobby. “Give me your rope.”
Bobby tossed it to him.
Jed waved it in a circle around his head and threw it at the woman, pulling back hard when it settled around her chest. She landed with a thump in the dirt. “Now tie her up.”
With her hands now trapped to her sides, she was unable to defend herself and they made quick work of it. Jed yanked her to her feet and leaned close to her ear. “I gotta feeling you and me are gonna get to know each other real good.”
When he pulled back, she spit into his face.
Elle sucked in her breath and waited for the retaliation from Jed, but he surprised her by laughing.
“Oh, we gonna have fun, you and me.” He pushed her to the ground and wiped the spittle from his face with his sleeve before addressing his gang. “All right boys, let’s clean up.”
They spent the next few minutes stealing anything of value from the coach occupants. Next, they dumped the travel trunks all over the ground and took what they wanted.
Shorty nudged Elle’s shoulder. “We need to skedaddle.”
“Yeah, boss. Let’s go,” Raven said.
Elle’s blood boiled at the mistreatment of an innocent woman. “What about her?”
“Nothing we can do,” Raven said. “I don’t wanna get into a fight with that lot.”
Shorty nodded. “She’s right. It’s their take.”
Elle tried to tamp down her anger, to no avail. Her nerve endings craved action. And violence. This woman was innocent and didn’t deserve what Jed would do to her.
“Let’s go.” Raven slid down and walked off.
Elle stood, her mind made up. She would not allow the woman to be harmed. If the gang gave her pushback, she’d go it alone. When they got back to the horses she said, “We’ll follow them.”
“What?” Shorty asked.
“We’re gonna follow them. Make sure they don’t hurt that woman.”
“C’mon. It’s none of our business,” Raven pleaded.
“It’s my business now. If you don’t like it, ride on. I’ll catch up.”
They looked amongst themselves and shuffled their feet. They’d never split up on the trail, so this was something new, and confusion clouded their features.
Raven quoted from their favorite book. “What happened to one for all and all for one?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” Elle said.
After a few seconds of neck rubbing and dirt toeing, they made their decision.
“Nobody goes it alone,” Shorty said.
Raven nodded and mounted up. “We stay together.”
Elle exhaled. She was more than willing to do this by herself, but it would be safer with everyone. She gave them a grateful smile. “All for one, one for all.”
