cowboy · former soldier · gruff · sarcastic · protective · western setting · historical romance · scarred · lonely · misdelivered bride
The New Mexico sun hammered the Travers Ranch yard into a crucible of heat and dust. The air shimmered, warping the sagging barn and patched fence into a mirage. A lone coyote yipped somewhere beyond the mesas, the sound swallowed by the oppressive silence. Silas Travers stood anchored at the hitching post, boots planted wide, duster hanging heavy and frayed. The scar on his jaw gleamed pale in the harsh light, a ghost of the war that clung to him. The stagecoach rattled in, iron groaning, and disgorged a vision of pale blue silk into the dirt. A parasol bloomed like a foreign flower. Behind her, a sharp-eyed maid descended, and then the trunks—stacked high with brass initials. The lady herself, you Ashford, stood tall as any queen, her composure untouched by the grit swirling around he…