Stacy Henrie - The Outlaw's Secret

Lawman in Disguise

Getting taken hostage by a gang of train robbers wasn’t in dime novelist Essie Vanderfair’s plans, but interviewing these men could make her career soar. Especially since the gang includes legendary outlaw Tex Beckett, better known as the Texas Titan. Tex is famed for his protection of women and children, so she’ll be fine...right?

Keeping the gang in line was hard enough before a stubborn, beautiful writer interfered. Now Tex is scrambling to keep Essie safe, to gather evidence against the gang and most of all to hide his dangerous secrets. First, that he’s a detective working undercover. And second, that he’s not the Texas Titan at all, but Tex’s twin brother, Tate Beckett.

Tate Beckett’s jaw was clenched so tight he thought it might snap.

If he wasn’t careful, this woman, with all her probing questions, would figure out he wasn’t the Texas Titan after all. Then his covert work, posing as his outlaw twin brother, would be finished.

No. He wouldn’t let her ruin his plans. Not when he was on the most important case of his career.

“If she comes,” Tate announced, “she rides with me.”

Fletcher shrugged. “Fine. The three of you will head northwest. Silas and Clem know the way to the camp.”

“Where are they going?” Essie asked, her eyes following the other two men.

“We’re splitting up. No one will suspect two or three men riding together, when they’re looking for five.”

“Ah. Very clever.”

He reached a hand down to help her up, frustration churning in his gut. His focus would have to be divided between paying attention to the trail to the gang’s hideout and playing nursemaid.

“Thank you,” she said brightly as he pulled her onto the horse. As she situated herself behind him, she managed to jab him with the handle of her valise—twice.

It was going to be a long ride.

Dear Reader,

I find the stories of Old West outlaws fascinating, including that of my state’s most famous bandit, Butch Cassidy. He and his gang were known to have used the valley at Hole-in-the-Wall in Johnson County, Wyoming, as one of their hideouts. This hideout was easy to defend because the outlaws could spot anyone trying to enter the valley. Legend has it that no lawmen were ever able to infiltrate the hideout. And while these outlaws appeared to have lived adventurous, carefree lives, they nearly all experienced tragedies in their pasts.

The Grand Central Hotel in Casper, Wyoming, appears to have been in existence by at least 1893. For the sake of the story, though, I have it existing the year before. There were also likely two banks operating in Casper in the year 1892, but for the purposes of this story, I didn’t distinguish which bank the men rob.

The Occidental Hotel in Buffalo, Wyoming, is another actual building, founded in 1880, and is still in operation today. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid reportedly stayed at this hotel.

I’ve very much enjoyed introducing readers to the Beckett brothers in this book, and I’m thrilled to share the story of Tex, Tate’s identical twin brother, later this year. It was also lots of fun to give Essie, this optimistic and fearless dime novelist, her own story and share some of the melodrama of these bygone novels through her.

My hope with this book is that readers will identify with what Tate and Essie come to learn: the importance of being ourselves, our unchangeable and infinite worth in the eyes of God, and the reality that we are only stewards of our own choices. I also hope readers will enjoy the fun adventure of this outlaw-in-disguise story!

I love hearing from readers. You can contact me through my website at www.stacyhenrie.com.

All the best,

Stacy

STACY HENRIE has always had a love for history, fiction and chocolate. She earned her BA in public relations before turning her attentions to raising a family and writing inspirational historical romances. The wife of an entrepreneur husband and a mother to three, Stacy loves to live out history through her fictional characters. In addition to author, she is also a reader, a road trip enthusiast and a novice interior decorator.

The Outlaw’s Secret

Stacy Henrie

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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God giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength...

—Isaiah 40:29

For M.

I hope you know, as Essie comes to, that your optimistic, bright nature is a beautiful gift.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Near Medicine Bow, Wyoming, 1892

The squeal of the train wheels jerked Essie Vanderfair’s attention from the doodles and half-formed thoughts scribbled inside her notebook to the window beside her. Nothing but hills of sagebrush and late-morning sunshine met her curious gaze. They shouldn’t be stopping yet. But even as the thought entered her mind, the locomotive shuddered to a halt.

Impatience brought a frown to her lips. She still had hours to go before she reached her room at the boardinghouse in Evanston, where she planned to stay sequestered until her next brilliant dime-novel idea presented itself. Most of what she had in her notebook wouldn’t create the successful novel her publisher wanted.

“I wonder why we’ve stopped,” her seatmate remarked, bouncing her drooling baby on her lap.

The little boy was every bit as handsome as his mother was beautiful. Her lovely chestnut hair and sky-colored eyes reminded Essie of her three older sisters. She looked nothing like them with her blond hair and muddy-green eyes.

A twinge of envy wound its way around her heart at the lovely picture the mother and babe made. That might have been her, if Harrison hadn’t decided she wasn’t serious enough or committed enough to make a suitable wife.

Not serious enough about life. How many times had she heard those words? Not just from Harrison but from her own family, too. But Essie had gotten revenge as far as her old beau was concerned. The villain in her last dime novel had sported the name Harris and the same pointy nose and mustache as the man she’d once fancied herself in love with.

Movement out the window caught her eye and she leaned closer to the glass. Five riders with bandannas over their mouths and noses rode toward the stalled train.

Her heart galloped as she realized who they must be. “It appears...” She wet her dry lips. “That we are being accosted by train robbers.”

She hadn’t spoken loudly, but the man in front of them clearly heard her anyway. “Train robbers,” he bellowed. Panicked murmurs swept through the passenger car.