tHey Ain’t Proper

Watching them put all the items in the cart certainly helped calm her anger at them for being so stubborn and being mad at her after she was just trying to defend them. Their white button-up shirt rolled up to their elbows with a dark vest over it fit them in a flattering way, material loose and free around their torso. Their pants hugged them just right around the ass, the gun belt hanging low on their hips.

Clementine watched Lou pick up one of the nail buckets with practiced ease. Sweat gathered at the side of their head and she watched as it rolled down their neck. She sighed as Lou took their hat off and wiped their arm across their forehead. She imagined brushing her fingers along Lou’s temple where some curls had gathered, plastered against their forehead with sweat, and pushing it from their eyes. How their sweaty skin might feel against her fingers. Against her own skin.

1880s, The Wild West.

An easy, solitary life on the outskirts of Ghosthallow is all Lou Ramirez wants. They want to buy their house plans and live their quiet life far from townsfolk’s prying eyes. That plan, however, hits a bump when instead of house plans, a house wife is delivered to their door instead.

Clementine Castellanos desperately needs a way out from under her family debt, and it seems as though selling her services as a wife is the only way to do it. Expecting a rough, harsh man to be her new husband, Clementine is pleasantly surprised to instead be dropped off at the ranch of an equally surprised Lou.

Lou would rather Clementine leave them to their lonely existence, but Clementine is too charmed by the quiet and mysterious rancher to give up. She may have come into Lou’s life easily, but she certainly isn’t planning to leave that way. Undeterred by Lou’s prickly demeanor, Clementine is determined to get her reluctant spouse to open up to her.

When the past comes back to haunt the pair, the fight for their independence—and their love—may become more deadly than either of them ever expected.