The Cold, Cold Ground

A Civil War sharpshooter. A mail-order bride running from grief. A love that could get them both killed.

Birdy Johnson has survived the battlefield-and the hate that followed him home.

A sharpshooter in a Colored regiment fighting for the Union, Birdy has killed men up close and lived to carry the ghosts. Now he makes his living as a cowboy and horse whisperer, drifting from town to town, never staying long enough to want anyone... or lose them.

Until he takes a job at a remote Texas homestead.

Emry Holladay-the proud, educated gentleman who hired him-expects Birdy to prepare the land for his incoming mail-order bride. But the homestead is already falling apart, and Emry is too stubborn to admit he's in over his head.

Then Marta König arrives.

A grieving Amish widow with callused hands and a spine made of iron, Marta didn't come west for romance. She came west to survive. Competent, strong-willed, and heartbreakingly alone, she's exactly the kind of woman Birdy should leave behind.

Instead, he stays.

Working side by side, they build something sturdier than the homestead-something neither of them can afford. Because in the West, loving the wrong person isn't just forbidden.

It's dangerous.

When Emry's recklessness draws armed outlaws to the homestead-men who want money, whiskey, and a night with the beautiful new bride-Birdy is forced to become what he swore he'd never be again.

A killer.

Some men ride away.
Birdy Johnson loads his gun.

Tropes & Themes:
Civil War veteran hero (Union sharpshooter)
Isolated homestead / cabin in the wilderness
Mail-order bride
Forbidden attraction
Forced proximity
Slow burn, high tension
Protective hero / "touch her and die" energy
Found family (built, not born)
Frontier survival
Outlaws & violence
Gothic Western atmosphere
Frontier noir romance
Interracial romance