At the stroke of midnight, rogues, drunkards, thieves and cattle rustlers crept through Holy Toledo. But among them, running on her heels, was the fair daughter of the general store owner May Gossamer. She braved death or an even worse fate to be out at this hour.
The teenage girl took after her mother, Loreena in looks and size. Some rude folks at the tavern would describe her as dumpy and frumpy. She was a bookish, bespectacled girl with a round face, and rounder glasses. A pair of pigtails hung outside her bonnet as she bounced along in her simple purple dress.
It wasn't a casual stroll she was taking, it was a midnight rendezvous. To meet a man.
A very important man. A man who would sweep her off her feet and take her away from this dire town.
The only lights in the street came from candlelight in nearby saloon windows. Otherwise, the entire town was coated in a murky blackness. And being near sighted, poor May felt like she was a mole in a coal mine.
Still, her heart sang so strongly, guiding her on the tips of her toes. She would brave night time blindness for her sweet man. Max Millions, the illustrious millionaire playboy was the only one who offered her, not only, the time of day, but the time of night too.
Just to be safe, however, she had borrowed her mummy's pistol in case she was attacked. Her pudgy finger casually wrapped around the trigger because between cattle rustlers and untamed savages in the wilderness, anyone could be hidden in the veil of darkness.
As she puffed and panted, running into the center of town, her heart did a triple thump. Standing across from her was the Texan stud himself!
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Complete with a saddled horse and a ten gallon hat, he was tall, dark and handsome...literally. (After all, she couldn't see his face in the shadows of night.)
A trailing overcoat fluttered in the breeze and he cast a manly silhouette through the center of the town.
Now her heart practically somersaulted in her chest. It was just like Romeo of the Rodeo: Midnight Rendezvous, her favorite romance novel.
In it, the plain-jane heroine rode off in the midnight sun with a handsome broad shouldered cowboy. Together, they'd live on the range, free of society and the laws that restricted women so much.
Her nose oozed snot in the cool air and she snorted happily. "I know why you brought a horse," she gushed in her surprisingly deep voice. "But you're free to ride me anytime afterwards, cowboy!"
She pushed her fingers together and started giving some equally husky chuckles.
The cowboy was quiet, quieter than a town at high noon before a shootout.
"I didn't know you were the strong silent type," May snorted again. "That just adds an extra hubba to your hubba hubba!"
There was a click and the man raised his pistol to the supposed woman he loved.
Suddenly, May wasn't so frisky. In fact, she gasped in fear. "What in tarnation are you doing…lover boy?"
She gulped so loudly it was like she ingested a whole gold bar.
But she raised her gun too. "Don't…shoot…honey," she pleaded, tears running from her eyes.
A pistol shot rang through the night, followed by a second one. Then a third.
May screamed bloody murder as the man dropped and his horse brayed loudly before running off.
She immediately dropped her gun and ran as fast as she could to the dead figure. Even in the chill desert night, she was sweating profusely. She took one look at the man, realizing who he was. The rosy cheeked girl turned whiter than a mortal man bitten by a rattlesnake.
With a loud blubbering cry, she dashed off as fast as she could.
She had just killed someone in cold blood. And worst of all, he wasn't who she thought he was. It was someone she didn't know at all.