Trusting Her Innocent Heart (Preview)

Chapter One

“I can’t say that I’ve heard of a church event without any preaching, but I’m definitely looking forward to it,” Anise Dale said, leaning against the sofa in the sitting room of her father’s ranch.

Her younger sister, Lila, was a bundle of excitement.

“Me too. Even if it’s not a church service, it will be a perfect time of fellowship and seeing people. I’m sure that everyone is going to be edified,” Lila said.

“Edified? The only edification you are hoping for is an acknowledgment from the Sheriff,” Anise teased.

Lila blushed but did not deny the statement.

Anise had watched as Lila’s feelings had become so obvious over time. Sheriff Jeremiah Sparks was a good man and certainly young for his position, but he was still older than Lila, who was barely old enough to marry as it was.

“You know, he is a good bit older than you,” Anise warned, although she did not wish to discourage her sister completely.

“I know that. And I think it would be hard to get his attention because of it. You know, I really do like him, but I don’t expect anything to ever come of that,” Lila said.

Anise nodded, glad that Lila had realistic expectations. Still, she thought the Sheriff was a good man and would have been thrilled to see him marry her sister.

The sisters had always been very close, and not just in appearance with their brown hair and blue eyes that were very nearly identical. Although, people typically thought that Anise was the younger thanks to her slight frame. After having been ill for her first few years of life, she remained quite petite.

But the closeness between the sisters had a lot more to do with their care and affection for one another than their resemblance. They were the best of friends. They were oftentimes the only one that the other had.

Since they had lost their mother, they had grown even closer.

“I think if you just show the Sheriff your maturity, he will be smitten with you in an instant you know,” Anise said.

“In an instant? Is that all it’s going to take? I’m quite all right with that, then,” Lila said with a laugh.

“I’ll bet you are. But you had better be ready to show him who you really are,” Anise said.

“Oh, I know all of that. I want him to know the real me anyway. If he does, maybe he will be prepared for everything I can throw at him,” Lila said, laughing.

“You are far more mature than many of the young women who would be after him, you just need to show him that,” Anise said again.

Lila appeared to be considering this, and Anise wanted to support her.

“How can I do that?” Lila asked.

“Don’t ask me. Do I look like I’ve found a man who wants to marry me?” Anise asked in reply.

The two giggled together. Lila was always such a comfort to Anise.

“Oh well, this is just life, I suppose,” Lila said, a throwaway comment that burrowed into Anise’s chest.

Yes, this was their life. This was the simple, easy life that they had in their town with their father at their ranch.

Anise liked that simple life. She liked the life that everyone saw they had. It was normal and uncomplicated. Just a rancher and his two daughters. She could enjoy her days, lazing away with Lila, doing the cooking and cleaning, and seeing friends now and then.

Anise wished it could stay that way forever. But she knew the truth. She knew that everything was bound to come apart.

“What should we make for the meal?” Lila asked, returning the subject to the event at the church.

Anise sighed, considering.

“That is a very good question. Maybe we can bake something?” she answered.

“Maybe. Unless you think Father might allow us—”

“Don’t even dream about it. You think Father is going to give one of his cattle for us to cook up for church? He can’t afford to do that,” Anise said, a thought gnawing in the back of her mind.

“Well, I guess we are going to have to bake something then,” Lila said with resignation.

“Yeah, anyway, we still have a couple days to think about it. Regardless, we will need to make sure that it is something we can cook a great deal of. I imagine there will be fifty people or more,” Anise said.

“Do you think Macy Deerbourne will be there?” Lila asked, her face contorted with dread.

“I am certain that she will be and you, like always, will be perfectly nice to her. She may not be the kind of girl that we would spend our time with, and I know you think she is after the Sheriff, but you had best be kind to her anyway,” Anise said.

“I will, I promise. Even if she isn’t our sort, I promise that I will be kind to her,” Lila said.

“I’m glad to hear it. I want to be proud of you. We all do,” Anise said.

“You mean you and dad?” Lila asked.

“Yes,” she said. “Me and dad. Now, onto the more important topic of what you plan to wear to the event in order to catch the sheriff’s eye.” Anise asked.

Lila grinned.

“I like the dress with the grayish red stripes, you know? The alternating darker then lighter,” Lila said.

“Yes, I like that one as well. But it doesn’t bring out your eyes so much. What if you wear the blue one?” Anise suggested.

Lila considered and then shrugged.

“All right, that sounds just as well. I like that one and I know you’re right, it looks better for my eyes,” Lila said.

Anise was glad they had come to a decision on it. She could hardly wait to see her sister show up at the event, looking as beautiful as ever. The sheriff would have to notice her. He would be a fool not to.

“Anyway, what else? What about you? What will you wear?” Lila asked.

Anise hadn’t really thought about it. She didn’t have anyone to impress, and she knew that most of her dresses were fairly worn as it was. It had been a long time since she had managed to afford anything new, and she was just stitching holes here and there as needed.

But she did still have a light lavender dress that had some life in it. She would certainly try to make the dress last another year, if she could.

She knew that they didn’t have to struggle. There was money coming in, but Anise had made sure that every penny had gone towards the ranch.

Her father had worked this ranch for many years, but the neighboring ranch was larger and was tough competition. Anise wondered if they would ever manage to afford to compete with any hope. She wondered if her father would ever taste the fruits of all of his efforts.

“Anise?” Lila prodded.

“Hmm?”

“Where did you go?” her sister asked with a laugh.

“What do you mean?” Anise asked.

“I asked you a question. What are you going to wear for the church gathering?” Lila repeated.

“Oh, right! Sorry, I was thinking about dresses, and I guess my thoughts strayed a fair bit. Well, I figure I’ll wear the lavender,” Anise said.

Lila looked less than impressed; Anise could tell by the way her upper lip twitched ever so slightly.

“What?” Anise asked.

“Well…it’s just that you wear the lavender to every important event. You really need a new dress,” Lila said.

“Yes, well, that would be wonderful. But you know as well as I do that a new dress isn’t something that I can just go and buy whenever I want to. And think about it. If I go and buy a new dress now, then I will just wear that to everything. I might as well get a little more life out of this one,” Anise reasoned.

“I am sure that Father would let you. He wants you to look nice. He cares about how we present ourselves. He also wants you to get married, you know that. So why not try?” Lila asked.

Anise shrugged and looked resigned.

“I’m fine with the lavender for now,” she said, pushing aside the awareness that Lila was correct, and she knew that her father would find the money for her.
But for now, it didn’t matter. Her family was what mattered. This ranch was what mattered. There had already been so many sacrifices made for the sake of the ranch succeeding, and she was not going to see all of that go to waste over a dress.

In the middle of her thoughts, Anise’s father came through the front door and into the living room.

“Papa, are you wanting us to get dinner ready?” Anise asked.

“That sounds good. I’ll go get cleaned up while you cook,” he replied.

Her father, Lawrence Dale, was a large, tough man. His hands were thick with callouses, and his broad shoulders were strong and meaty from years of hard work and good food. But he was always dirty, covered in a sheen of sweat and dust after his long days.

Every evening, when he was finished, he would come inside and tell the girls he was ready for them to prepare dinner. Anise would watch him leave so that he could wash up, and she knew that he relished the chance to be clean in the evenings. Sometimes she wondered if he let himself get extra dirty just for the relief that it was to him when he washed away all of that muck.

“Anything you want?” Anise asked him, just in case he had a preference for dinner.

“You always manage something good, I’ll take whatever we have,” he replied, as he always did when given a choice.

Anise nodded and made her way to the kitchen, followed by Lila. Her sister washed the vegetables before Anise chopped each one and then reached for the salted meat that was very nearly ready to be cooked.

As they worked, Anise continued to think about all of the things that were going on around her. In the town, there was bustling and excitement over the church event and the fact that there was a wedding coming up for one of the young ladies. On the ranch, they were enjoying all of the young calves around the land and trying to pick out the strongest bulls for the next mating season.

But in their kitchen, it was just Anise and Lila. The two of them, making food for their father, who had been raising them for the past few years all on his own.

They missed their mother. They wished that she was still with them. But Anise knew that there was nothing to be done about that now.

“Is that enough potatoes?” Lila asked.

Anise looked at her sister, broken from her thoughts, and then scanned the bowl of chopped potatoes to estimate if there were enough.

“Sure, that looks good. Carrots, though. We need carrots,” she said.

Lila nodded and got to work washing the carrots while Anise put the potatoes in to boil before chopping what her sister handed to her.

Yes, they had a simple life. An easy life.

But it wouldn’t be that way forever. And although Anise did not know when things would change, she was confident that it would not be far in the future.

Things always changed, and truths always came to light. Whatever their family had faced, whatever they had been through, it was not so simple as the outside appeared – and it was not so easy as Anise would have everyone believe.

Those worries were for another day.

For today, she would make dinner and be with her father and sister and ignore the foreboding in the back of her mind.

Chapter Two

“Sheridan, Wyoming,” Charlie Fount said, pulling the reins of his horse so that the beast stood still and gave Charlie the opportunity to scan across the main street.

He needed to get to Jeremiah’s place, the Sheriff’s office.

Charlie scratched at the full beard that matched the blonde of his shaggy hair. He didn’t keep it cut as short as the style typically was, but he preferred it this way. Sometimes it was the best way to shield his eyes from the heat of the sun when he was riding over dry, cracked land for days at a time.

He wore his hat frequently, but he didn’t like it. It was a necessity, not a preference. More often than not, Charlie wanted to shed the hat, the cowhide vest; all of it.

But although he often felt suffocated by the layers, he knew that they were necessary and he did his best to accept that.

Charlie’s muscles went taut with determination. Sheridan, Wyoming, was where he would find his bounty.

Henry Simple was here. He knew it.

Urging his horse onward again, Charlie made his way to the Sheriff’s office and dismounted, tying up his horse before heading inside.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Charlie Fount,” Jeremiah said, standing and making his way over to greet Charlie.

“Good to see you,” Charlie replied, smacking Jeremiah on the back.

“I haven’t seen you in such a long time. What have you been up to? What brings you to Wyoming?” Jeremiah asked.

Charlie let out a low whistle.

“Well, you know me. I’m always on the move and always looking for the next bounty. As it happens I’ve been hired to find a bank robber, and I believe he’s right here in your little town,” Charlie said.

“Here? In Sheridan?” Jeremiah asked, his face appearing surprised and distressed.

“That’s the rub. Last he was spotted, this was the direction in which he was headed,” Charlie said.

“Who’s this bank robber? What do you know about him? Do we need to be securing things here?” Jeremiah asked.

“I would recommend it. Give your bankers a heads up and be on the alert for anyone who looks suspicious. You never know when he might strike,” Charlie said.

Jeremiah shook his head, not liking the sound of things.

“The man’s name is Henry Simple. At least, that’s what he shouted at the banker of the last place he robbed. Probably heard that I was looking for him and figured he’d give a name. Told the banker that Henry Simple wasn’t going to stop anytime soon,” Charlie continued to explain.

“What’s he look like? I want to make sure we put the word out,” Jeremiah said.

“Well, that there is one of the big problems that I’ve been having so far. You see, Henry Simple always wears a hat and a black bandana over his face, just under the eyes. He’s good on a horse, and no one ever caught him yet,” Charlie said.

“Well, I’ll be. How many banks has he robbed?” Jeremiah asked.

“Far as I know? It sounds like he’s been robbing a bank in every town he passes through, and the count is up to thirty-six by now,” Charlie said.

“Thirty-six?” Jeremiah repeated, his voice loud with disbelief.

“Thirty-six. Most of them out west of here, but some north and south and never too far away,” Charlie said.

“Is that why you think he’s from here? Is this the center of it all?” Jeremiah asked.

“Well, it might not be Sheridan, necessarily. But he’s definitely staying near enough to Wyoming, and this is one of the towns central to his hits. Plus, when I was in Canton, they said he was seen riding this way. So maybe Sheridan is just the next place to get hit or maybe this is where he’s from. I really couldn’t say,” Charlie confessed.

“Well, we definitely don’t have any men by the name of Henry Simple here in town. I don’t know who he is, but I doubt he’s from here. Most of the people in Sheridan are good, decent, and hardworking. Not to mention the fact that they rarely get out of town,” Jeremiah said.

“Well, this one does. And I hope he’s not one of yours, but if he is, you know that means I’m going to be a very busy man,” Charlie said.

“Yeah, you will be. But I know that you can handle that. You’re a good man, even when busy. Of course, you’re a man who doesn’t know how to settle, and that’s just too bad for all of us but it is what it is,” Jeremiah said with a laugh.

“Why would I want to settle when there is a whole world out there, and I have an opportunity to get rid of the bad guys in it?” Charlie asked.

“If you want to get rid of the deviants, settle down and become a Sheriff. Men like you could have a grand opportunity in a small town or even a bigger one. You would know where to look, how to find the criminals,” Jeremiah said.

“Tell me, Jeremiah. How much do you actually find yourself working? How often are you solving a crime and finding a criminal?” Charlie asked.

Jeremiah shrugged.

“Not often. We don’t have a whole lot of crime in Sheridan,” Jeremiah said.

Charlie raised an eyebrow and gave a knowing look.

“You see? That’s just the problem. I can’t bear the thought of just sitting by and waiting for the next crime to come so that I can solve it. I need to be on the move, catching criminals. It’s what I was born for, and it’s the very thing that I need to be doing at all times,” Charlie said.

He meant it. The thought of doing anything different was hardly exciting to him.

But Charlie couldn’t deny that he had been feeling as though something was…off…lately. There was something missing. Something that he had been asking the Lord about.

“What is it?” Jeremiah asked.

“Hmm?” Charlie replied.

“I can see from your expression that there is something working in your thoughts. So what is it? What is going on in there that has you distracted?” Jeremiah asked further.

“Well, I guess there are a few downsides to my life of traveling and going all over the place. I love roaming without ever stopping and making a home for myself,” Charlie said.

“Ah, I understand. You’re starting to think about a wife?” Jeremiah asked, waggling his eyebrows.

Charlie winced, wishing that he hadn’t said anything at all.

“I don’t know, maybe,” he replied, trying to sound nonchalant.

“There’s no maybe about it. Is that what you want?” Jeremiah asked.

Charlie considered his years as a bounty hunter. He loved being on the go at all times, but Jeremiah was right. He might have to settle down. If he wanted a wife, he would certainly have to settle down. There weren’t the same options for following scoundrels when a man married.

It was a frightening thought. Should he leave? Should he keep trying to chase away the men responsible for crime, or should he stay and find a wife? Not that it mattered where he found her. Just so long as he found her.

“I guess it’s what I want. Who knows? I can’t say that it has always been a priority, but now I’m starting to think about it more and more,” Charlie said.

“I understand. I have been thinking about it an awful lot lately as well,” Jeremiah confessed.

“And? Has anyone caught your eyes?” Charlie asked.

Jeremiah mused for a moment.

“Perhaps. I am not sure about her just yet. I’m afraid that it is just me wanting her, and I do not know if she would be a wise choice,” he finally said.

“Well, you will surely have to show me the young woman. I want to make sure that she’s the right kind of girl for you,” Charlie said.

Jeremiah smiled to himself, and Charlie recognized in his eyes the fact that Jeremiah had already made up his mind. He liked this girl. He wanted her to be his wife. Whatever reason was holding him back, Charlie was sure that it would be short-lived.

“Anyway, I have an idea. There is a church event tomorrow evening. I think you ought to come,” Jeremiah said.

“A church event? I would like that. It would give me a good opportunity to scan the people of the town and try to figure out if one of them is the man that I’m looking for,” Charlie said.

Jeremiah winced.

“That was not exactly my reason for inviting you,” he said.

“Then what was?” Charlie asked.

“I meant so that you could spend some time in the town, understand what it is like for those of us who stay in one place. There will also be a number of beautiful young women there. Many of them are unmarried,” Jeremiah said.

Charlie nodded, understanding Jeremiah’s reasoning now. But it still didn’t change the fact that he intended to try to learn whatever he could regarding Henry Simple. He didn’t need to find a wife just now. He needed to find his bounty.

“Charlie?” Jeremiah prodded.

Charlie knew exactly what Jeremiah wanted from him, so he nodded.

Sure. That sounds like a mighty fine idea,” he said.

“I’m glad you think so. I know how stubborn you can be,” Jeremiah said.

“Yeah, well, I guess I am a mite. But what’s it matter? I’ll go, and if you can find me a wife, that sounds decent enough,” Charlie said, although he didn’t for a moment expect that he would miraculously find a wife among the town’s ladies at the church event.

Nevertheless, he wanted to appease Jeremiah so he agreed. And he would spend the whole time searching for anyone who appeared suspicious that he might be able to identify as the man responsible for robbing all of those banks.

And for taking what belonged to him.

“So anyway, where are you staying while you’re in town?” Jeremiah asked.

“Quinn’s Room and Board,” he replied.

“Oh, you’ll like it there. They’ve got great food, and old Selma Quinn is just about the best hostess you can find around here. She’s known for it,” Jeremiah said.

Charlie was glad. He had dropped his things off that morning, and Mrs. Quinn had been perfectly hospitable. A widow with a good heart and a love of taking care of people, Charlie was confident that Selma was just the right person for running a boarding house.

“I’m glad to hear it. Anyway, I should probably head out and get something to eat. You up for a bite?” Charlie asked.

Jeremiah looked around the office for a moment.

“Can’t see as though it would hurt. Things have been awful quiet around here lately, and I am pretty sure that we have more than enough time to go out for a while,” he said.

“You certain? I don’t want you missing anything,” Charlie said.

“I’m certain. Bill should be back soon anyway. He had to run home real quick, but I’m confident he’s going to be back soon. And I know you think there’s a bank robber here in town, but I’ll tell you, I’m just not too sure,” Jeremiah said.

Charlie shrugged. He still felt confident in his suspicion, but he had no desire to push his thoughts on Jeremiah at that moment.

They needed to eat, and that couldn’t stop just because there was some nasty bank robber out there. Being in the middle of town would give them an advantage to catching Henry Simple if he chose to strike in the middle of the day.

But he had never done that before.

Henry Simple liked to steal first thing in the morning. And that was what Charlie was counting on.

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“Trusting Her Innocent Heart” is an Amazon Best-Selling novel, check it out here!

Anise Dale lives on her family’s struggling farm. Keeping in mind that she must soon find a husband, she is very concerned that a single mistake could bring the whole family crashing down. Her principles are above everything else in her life until the moment that Charlie arrives and perplexes everything. Will she stay loyal to her family or will her sense of justice overwhelm her? How will she protect her secret when she finds herself in a tight spot?

Charlie Fount is a bounty hunter looking for the outlaw who stole his late mother’s wedding ring. Desperate to discover the truth and having a strong desire for hitting the road, the last thing he expects to find is a reason to stay in Sheridan. How will Anise upset Charlie’s life and eventually win his heart? Is he ready to walk out on his lifelong mission to find meaningful happiness instead?

The stakes are high for Anise and Charlie who are determined to keep a distance from one another, even if they feel an undeniable connection that keeps pulling them together. The question, however, remains; is their affection strong enough to overpass any hurdle? How will the mystery that lingers around almost destroy their romance and happiness?

“Trusting Her Innocent Heart” is a historical western romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Get your copy from Amazon!