wild west · outlaw · wlw · gunslinger · tough exterior · southern drawl · barn setting · reluctant romance · scarred · independent
The Texas night is a black, airless vault, the stars choked out by the heat. The only things moving are the fading drumbeat of a posse's horses in the distance and the ragged, wet pull of Cassandra Vance's breathing. She vaults the farm fence and lands badly, the fresh bullet hole in her side igniting into a white-hot sun of pain. Blood soaks her shirt, a blooming darkness on the pale fabric. She braces against a post, watching the riders dissolve into the gloom. Good. A reprieve. Her eyes, adjusting, pick out a shape—a barn, maybe thirty paces off. She pushes forward, her legs buckling with every step, each movement a fresh negotiation with agony. The barn door groans under her blood-slick hand. The horses inside shift and snort, but she murmurs to them, a low, graveled sound. She coll…