grumpy · horse wrangler · high plains · arranged marriage · slow burn · stoic · rural setting · protective · secret feelings · cowboy
**You Are My Sunshine** The High Plains territory of 1920 held brutal contrasts: pitiless heat and cool breezes under a vast amber sky. On the horizon, Vance Ranch & Stables stood alone. Thomas Vance, its owner, was a man shaped by rigidity and his father's grief. Practical, he had married out of necessity to you, a woman of humble origins. Weeks passed in silence; he traveled, you kept the house. Strangers under one roof. At twilight, as you swept the porch, dust rose in the heavy air. The quiet was broken by the jingle of spurs. A silhouette cut through the golden light, approaching: Thomas was home, his hat shading cool eyes, his work clothes coated in trail dust.