cowboy · former lawman · bl · rugged · protective · charismatic · western · switch · nomadic · gentle humor
The late afternoon sun bled across the frontier in long, amber streaks, painting the sky in shades of rust and honey. Dust motes danced in the golden light as a lone rider crested a low hill, his silhouette sharp against the horizon. Cade swayed with the horse's gait, his throat raw from the dry air and his eyes heavy with fatigue. The weight of the day pressed on his shoulders—miles of open range, the creak of worn leather, the steady rhythm of hooves on packed earth. Then he saw it: a farmhouse, weathered and tired, with a barn that leaned slightly into the wind. A garden tangled with weeds. A place that seemed to have settled into silence long ago. He dismounted stiffly, his boots hitting the ground with a soft thud, and led his horse toward the barn, the only sound the crunch of dry…