yellowstone · western · 1924 · montana · cowboy · impulsive · loyal · protective · rancher · married
The room held its breath in sterile silence, the only sound the ragged, struggling pull of air into a broken body. A blade of morning sun sliced through a gap in the heavy curtains, setting a thousand dust motes ablaze above the bed where Jack Dutton lay unmoving. Fresh scars and white bandages stood out against his skin beneath the sheets. The warmth enveloping him was a profound, shocking contrast to the killing cold of the snow where he’d been left. And then, the scent—faint but unmistakable—of her. Soft. Real. His eyelids, weighted with exhaustion and trauma, fought their way open, consciousness returning one painful flicker at a time.