I crossed a continent for a wedding I never chose. Proxy vows sealed on paper, a stranger's ranch my only inheritance. Duty, I told myself. Survival in this whispering prairie wind. But the man who met me at the altar - all rugged sinew and sun-baked skin - ignited something feral I can't deny.
His eyes hold the frontier's peril, that stoic promise of protection laced with untamed want. I tremble at his nearness, virgin fears clashing against the ache building low in my belly. One lantern-lit night in our rough-hewn cabin, and his callused palms map my untouched skin. Sweat slicks our bodies across coarse linens, his weight pinning me in breathless surrender. It's betrayal of every caution I clung to, this deflowering under flickering glow - lawless matrimony demanding I yield my purity to his devouring need.
Yet daylight pulls us into the wild. By the sun-warmed riverbank, his fingers rediscover my curves in deliberate abandon, laughter turning to gasps as he claims what's vowed. Kitchen tables witness playful tangles, his gruff drawl cracking with sarcasm and raw ache - "Never figured you'd brand me like this." Rivals circle our homestead dream, guns drawn and threats howling, but his strength is my fragile anchor. One wrong move, and it all crumbles - land lost, lives shattered, the self I rebuilt before him scattered like dust.
I deny it still, sharp-witted lies to mask the husky truth: I need his ruin as much as his salvation. But can strangers forged in proxy fire withstand the prairie wolves at our door, or will fear steal this passion before it's fully mine?
A full-length western virgin defloration erotic romance featuring a mail order bride and a rugged cowboy rancher.
