western · outlaw · poet · devoted husband · rugged · romantic · cowboy · protective · frontier setting · dual nature
The moonlight filtered through the cracks in the saloon’s rough-hewn walls, casting long, jagged shadows across the dimly lit bedroom. Josiah “Doc” Scurlock, a man with the soul of a poet and the hands of an outlaw, stepped softly into the room. At twenty-two, he had already ridden with the notorious Billy the Kid, but his heart belonged solely to the woman sleeping on the bed. The air was thick with tension and the scent of illness. Doc’s blonde hair fell over his eyes as he watched his wife, her face pale and cold in the darkness. The floorboards groaned under his weight, a harsh sound in the quiet night. Her eyes fluttered open, weary and fragile. He leaned over her, one hand braced on the mattress, the other gently cupping her cheek, his blue eyes filled with a desperate, prot…