Joker's Wild

by Ginny Sterling

  Joker’s Wild

  Border Brides

  Ginny Sterling

  Copyright © 2020 by Ginny Sterling

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Afterword

  Blessings of Love

  Change of Heart

  Lightning Strikes Twice

  Hopefully Matched

  An Agent for Clementine

  About the Author

  Introduction

  Rosemary Weaver is keeping a secret that’s driving her away from everyone and everything she’s ever known. She needs protection, a place to hide, and a way to disappear from the men who are chasing her. When she hears of an outlandish opportunity to serve as a Pinkerton Agent in the wilds of Texas, it’s the perfect solution — until she realizes her new husband will be the notorious quick-draw, known as the Joker.

  Agent Joaquin “Joker” Hillard knows what his peers say about him. They think he’s reckless, a prankster, wild, and unpredictable. But those are the very traits that make it no trouble to play along with an elaborate plan to capture a dangerous outlaw who’s managed to evade the authorities so far. He is highly intrigued at the opportunity to pick out a new partner via a mail-order bride company, that is, until he lays eyes on the stunning creature.

  How is he supposed to work with someone who appears as soft and gentle as Rosemary? Her plan to use herself as bait to draw out the criminal worries him, but her secret — once revealed — utterly terrifies him on behalf of her safety. Can these two turn the tables on a horrific enemy, or will this case require more than Rosemary’s wildcard of a husband can deliver?

  Praise for Ginny Sterling

  What can I say except I absolutely loved this story, I laughed out loud and I shed emotional tears.” – Amazon Reviewer (Lawfully Gifted)

  “This series has quickly become one my favorites. Love the storyline, love the characters, love the back stories and love the sweet romance between each couple.” – Amazon Reviewer (Remember Love)

  “What an amazing start to a new series, Healing Hearts, a clean contemporary and extremely emotional tale. I loved the characters, the angst, and the honest discussions, along with the chemistry and interactions. The people are broken, but with encouragement, friendship, and the added benefit of animals, it is the beginnings for healing.” – Amazon Reviewer (Remember Hope)

  Chapter 1

  “Rosie?” a voice called out in the darkness, causing Rosemary to clench up her slight body into a tight ball as she hid inside the cupboard at the back of the room. Her body shuddered and she hoped it didn’t rattle the doors open from where she was tucked away. Every step on the wooden plank floor sounded like a massive boom, echoing in her ears.

  “Rosie-Posey? I know you are hiding from me…” the man called out again, making her skin crawl with dread. She’d gotten herself into this mess and would be the only one to extract herself from it. There was no more brushing off the red flags that kept waving in her mind, no more sweeping Martin’s mistakes under the rug.

  Martin Espinoza was a truly despicable man.

  Rosemary was a fool.

  Every word from his mouth was a lie, and she’d fallen for every bit of his sweet words, wishing for the best. He’d promised to provide for her, protect her, and treat her like the princesa that he claimed she was-in that sensual, heavily accented voice that drove her nuts.

  Now it made her want to scream in denial.

  She knew now that he’d found a young woman who was looking for a miracle and had taken it, twisted it to suit his needs, and trapped her in a hellish nightmare that would be near impossible to free herself from. She was on a ranch outside of Amarillo in the middle of nowhere with no other buildings around. At first, when he’d proclaimed he would take care of her, she’d foolishly believed that he would marry her after she confided that she’d travelled there to become a mail-order bride.

  Martin claimed to have placed the ad.

  She’d been a fool and believed him.

  Instead… Martin was looking for another victim and she fell into his trap, blindly. She’d agreed to follow him out to the ranch, thinking they would exchange vows in the form of a handfasting.

  Her naïve young heart thought it would be so romantic, so sweet, to have someone say words of love to her. She didn’t love Martin and understood that—but according to her spinster aunt who raised her before she’d run away to Texas, love wasn’t necessary in a marriage. They had arrived at the ranch, only to have the words of love turn into orders that boggled her mind.

  Rosemary was thrown into a room with several women already within it. They scuttled quickly to the corner when the door was opened, making her wonder at how long they had been imprisoned there. The floor wasn’t wooden, but rather muddy, her boots creating a disgusting sucking sound as she stumbled forward into the darkened room. Slight beams of light illuminated certain areas, and the women huddled in shadowed corners.

  “I don’t understand, Martin?” she whispered painfully, turning back towards the door. His laughter as he slammed it shut was his only acknowledgement that she spoke.

  It was three terrible days before anyone else arrived. In that time, Rosemary had found out the women who were in the room when she arrived had been beaten, tortured, raped, and maimed horribly. One woman had her tongue removed for talking back to the man she’d once thought she was getting to know. Instead, she had narrowly escaped marrying the devil!

  She was just a small-town girl that had obviously misjudged her knowledge of the world and how evil it could be… and that landed her here. Rosemary sat silently in the shadows, alone, in the stuffy room, afraid of what would happen next. Hours passed as she waited, and eventually she got up to investigate her surroundings. Wrapping her arms around her chest, she hugged herself, as if to comfort herself from this nightmarish realm they’d trapped her in. They barred the door from the outside. The room seemed to slope towards the center where all the mud was located, and the women were avoiding her completely. As she would step around the room, they would skitter away in clusters quickly, as if just being near her would cause them more pain.

  The door opened, and a woman was dragged inside the room. Rosemary immediately backed away into the shadows, watching the horrific scene unfold before her. The angry woman was yelling at one of Martin’s men, as her feet slipped. She looked utterly shocked to have her bound wrists hooked on the butcher’s hook that was mounted high on a wall. Turning to the women huddled in the corner, she nodded at them the moment the door was closed.

  “Pssssst,” the newcomer whispered, “come help me down.”

  “No,” one of the older women said immediately, and the others looked to her. Rosemary felt bad for her because she knew the others wouldn’t help. She’d tried to say hello herself and they’d ignored her.

  “Please, I’m slipping and these hurt so much.”

  “No, I’m sorry, but we can’t move you or they will hurt us again,” she said flatly. The woman’s crestfallen expression nearly mirrored her own.

  At least they were talking to the newcomer, Rosemary mused sadly. This would just not do and the men were up to no good, obviously. She would snoop at the door when they were asleep this evening to see if she could hear anything. While th
e women were away, the muffled whimpering and movement made it hard to hear the faint whispers.

  “How long have you been here? Where are you from?”

  “Shhh or they’ll be back.”

  “They can’t expect us to sit here silently forever and just take whatever cards they deal us, can they? I mean, that’s incomprehensible that they would believe…”

  “Believe it; now hush or you’ll end up like Mabel.”

  The other woman opened her mouth and only a guttural sound emerged. The newcomer winced as she saw the raw wound on her tongue. The butcher, Martin, had taken it to keep her silent.

  “I’m sorry, Mabel. We’ll get you to a doctor when we get out of here.”

  “Mhhaphh,” she uttered painfully, as if to say that it wouldn’t matter.

  “Who are you?” Rosemary asked quietly from the shadows.

  “Who’s there?”

  “Another victim,” Rosemary said bitterly.

  “My name is Meghan,” she said, dangling there and twisting to look over her shoulder to where Rosemary stood. “Can you help me off this dang thing? My hands are going terribly numb.”

  The door opened, and Martin appeared.

  “Come little Rosie,” he said as his men filled the room. The women in the corner shuffled away, screaming and yelling as they dragged her away from the others. Rosemary met Meghan’s gaze just as they slammed the door, shutting them away in the darkness again. At first she was taken aback at how aggressive the men were. Their fingers bit into the soft part of her upper arm, but they put her in a small bedroom with a tub filled with steaming water.

  Martin walked in and Rosemary backed away warily.

  “Come, come, querida…” he crooned softly, making her skin crawl. The moustache she’d once thought distinguished and debonair, now made him look oily and repulsive. “I thought you wanted to be my bride, eh?”

  “That’s before I knew better,” she whispered angrily, putting the small wooden chair that was beside her, directly in front of her. Like that would stop him from doing anything...

  “Rest, relax, and eat, princesa… there is plenty of time for that,” he said smugly, before laughing and leaving the room. She stared at the bath enviously, but she had no intention of cleaning up or preparing herself to be mauled or pawed by a man that now disgusted her. She’d been such an idiot to believe his smooth words.

  She had to get out of here and get them all help!

  As the door latched behind Martin, she immediately began checking around the room for any way out. They’d nailed the window on the far wall shut. The small bedframe took up little room, and she shivered with disgust at the idea of what acts they had committed there prior to her arrival. There was something obviously heinous, immoral, and illegal going on here, but what it was, she couldn’t put her finger on.

  Frantic, she pulled at the window frame once again with all her might. Turning, she pressed her back to the wall and tried to keep the panic from overwhelming her. A bed, a small end table, and a cupboard that had blankets hidden within, were the only contents within the room—other than the small bathtub.

  Stepping forward, she felt the board give beneath her footing, causing a loud squeaking sound. The panel was about three feet long and easily a foot wide. Lifting it up, she could see dirt below and a faint glow of light, meaning there was exposure to the outside at some point. She tried to yank the other board beside it up and it wouldn’t give. Pulling fretfully, she tugged with all her might, only to have it stay put. Angry, frustrated tears burned her eyes. She wasn’t about to stay here and become another victim. She’d heard all the fantastical stories of women becoming independent, owning their own laundry shops, becoming seamstresses, or even more mind-blowing… Pinkerton agents. It was scandalous to think a woman could become a representative of the law, but times were changing—and she wanted to change with them.

  Wincing at Martin’s despicable laugh, she glanced down at the opening and sighed. Her frame was slight, but it would be a tight squeeze. What if she got stuck? She was terrified of spiders and other varmints too. There was no telling what was under the ranch house. Getting up, she got a quilt out of the cupboard and spread it on the bedding neatly, leaving the board where it was… and hid.

  Let him think she snuck out!

  She waited, curled up painfully, afraid to move. Her body ached, and for once she was grateful for her short stature. If she was any taller, she might not have fit in the cupboard. Her knees were to her chin as it was. Rosemary held her breath painfully as she heard Martin enter the room and spot the missing plank in the flooring. A string of curses, both in English and in Spanish, flew from his mouth, making her teeth chatter painfully from fear. She bit down hard on her cheeks to keep from whimpering or crying out. If he found her, she was dead!

  Hiding in here was the stupidest idea she’d had, by far!

  Stomping out, he angrily muttered several phrases in Spanish and she wished she knew the language a little better. Rosemary heard screaming, and her panic was becoming a full-blown episode. It was like when she was little and found a rattlesnake in the kitchen. She was terrified, and when she reached that state; she shut down mentally.

  “HEY!” a woman screamed angrily. “HEY! GET ME DOWN FROM HERE NOW OR I’LL REALLY START SCREAMING!”

  That was Meghan’s voice! Rosemary realized, starting to pant with fear as she heard Mabel whimpering and moaning indecipherable sounds. The other women were wailing and crying out in fear. Something was going to happen, and it would not be good!

  “You! Is this your idea of keeping your chattel healthy? By having my hands injured to the point they’ll need to be amputated, or is the injured, bloody lip a good selling point for you?”

  “SILENCIO!” Martin screamed back, making Rosemary jolt, and immediately she cracked her head on the panel above her painfully. She immediately grew still, wondering if someone heard the loud thud that made her nearly see stars.

  “I don’t think so,” Meghan’s voice carried. “I want down. I want some water, and I want my husband… not necessarily in that order, but I will get all three really soon—and you’ll be a dead man.”

  “Get her down,” Espinoza said in a flat, calm manner.

  Rosemary froze, her eyes wide and unable to move.

  Was he talking about Meghan or her hiding point?

  Her heart hammered in her chest and she knew she was panting in fear now. The level of panic was uncontrollable now, and it was taking everything in her to keep from kicking open the cupboard door and trying to make a run for it. Mabel whimpered raggedly in the distance. She heard scuttling noises, several footsteps, and a door opening in the distance.

  Opening the cupboard ever so slowly, she extended her body silently and stretched. As she got to her feet, she edged forward, looking for anything to use as a weapon. Creeping, she peered around the door frame to see that the primary room was empty and the room that held the other women was barricaded once again. Glancing out the window, she looked up to see Meghan in the distance beside a tree that held a noose.

  Oh, my sweet Lord in Heaven, Rosemary thought painfully, crossing herself and picking up a knife off the table nearby. It was dull, but she would give her best effort to save the woman if she didn’t get killed first. It wasn’t in her to watch someone die before her very eyes. Just as she was getting ready to expose her hiding place, she glanced over to the doorway. Removing the barricade, she set it to the side so the other women could escape—creating a distraction.

  …Until another distraction jumped out of the tall grass, brandishing his pistol, from where he was hiding!

  What in heaven’s name…?

  Chapter 2

  Stunned, Rosemary watched as a gorgeous man leapt from the tall grass, waving a gun up in the air like it was nothing. He hopped to his feet, gleefully. A smile lit up his face and he actually looked completely thrilled to be engaging the enemy before him.

  “Hey-a fellas,” the man cried out happily in gr
eeting, firing buckshot towards the men emerging from near the house. Rosemary immediately ducked down from her spot by the window. She had no idea there were Martin’s men stationed so close to her! She could have been captured again. The gorgeous man let out a whoop and actually ran towards them, slinging his rifle like a scythe and hitting them in the knees.

  She slapped her hands over her mouth, giggling at the sight of the surrounding craziness. The handsome blond man was swinging the butt of the rifle like crazy right into the knees of the men instead of shooting them. It was like this was all a game to him—and he was winning!

  Rosemary glanced back to Meghan and felt the blood drain from her face as she steadied herself. Meghan was standing with the rope around her neck, her wide eyes frightened. Another man swung his arms upward, aiming at Martin Espinoza, and pulled the triggers at once… only to hear the painful click that his guns were out of bullets. She saw the horror in his face as he looked at Meghan. This had to be her husband.

  Rosemary felt a tear slide down her cheek for the man’s loss.

  The man rushed to her, yanking his knife out of his pocket. It felt like everything was moving in slow motion as she saw Martin kick the stool out from under her. The coward turned tail and ran…

  Rosemary closed her eyes shut, pinching them hard. She would never make it to the other woman in time to save her—and couldn’t watch her hang. She heard screaming and felt her knees give, a rush of nausea slamming into her as she bent over to wretch carelessly onto the floor.