Love And Gunpowder – Valeska Delsol

She wasn’t built for softness. She wasn’t built for anything lasting. And Eleanor? Eleanor laid back on the cool grass long after Cass had gone, eyes fixed on the sky, chest still rising and falling with shallow, uneven breaths. Her lips tingled with the ghost of a kiss that hadn’t happened, but might as well have. Cass had ignited something inside her.

It wasn’t just lust, though the pull between them was enough to steal her breath. It was more. She ached, not with sadness, but with longing—for more moments like that, for more of Cass’s guarded heart, for the kind of life that felt entirely her own. And even though Cass had pulled away, Eleanor could feel the heat left behind like an ember in her chest, flickering steady and unrelenting. Cass found the old fencepost by the edge of camp and leaned into it, pressing her forehead to the sun-warmed wood, trying to center herself.

Everything inside her was tangled—fear, want, guilt. Eleanor made her reckless, made her feel like the version of herself she’d locked away a long time ago. The one who used to believe in something better. And that scared the hell out of her. She didn’t know how to be loved without eventually being hated. Didn’t know how to love without destroying. She wasn’t ready. Or maybe she was, but she’d never admit it out loud. All she knew for certain was that Eleanor Montgomery had already gotten under her skin, and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop it.

She took out her small, leather-bound journal out of her vest, and began unraveling everything that was so turbulent inside of her, turning the muddy puddles in her mind into a clear, flowing river. I try to deny you both body and soul. I try not to act like the one thing I want in this world is to consume you, Or for you to consume me.

Chapter 1: Old World New World The year was 1894, and the West was growing quieter. Where once the open plains were wild and untamed, now they bore the scars of the human hand. Railroads cut across the plains, stretching far and fast, turning once remote places into stops on a schedule.

Telegraph wires carried messages in seconds that once took weeks to deliver. The world was shrinking, and the dream of freedom that the frontier once promised was fading, one acre at a time. Small towns were changing too. Dirt streets that had once been churned to mud by wagon wheels and horse hooves were slowly giving way to cobblestones and boardwalks.

Brick buildings replaced old wooden shacks, standing tall and proper, built by people dreaming of something greater. Storefronts showed off goods from faraway cities like Chicago and New York—silk dresses, shiny watches, and things that once felt out of reach. Even the people looked different. Farmers and ranchers still roamed the streets in their dusty work clothes, but they now shared space with businessmen in tailored suits and women in wide-brimmed hats adorned with feathers and lace.

The sound of horses and wagons was joined by the clank of new machines and the distant whistle of trains. The wild frontier was being boxed in, piece by piece. For women like Cassidy Blackwell, the world was changing too quickly. The days of outlaws—of men who lived by instinct, by their guns, and by the rules they made for themselves—were almost over.

Banks and trains were no longer easy targets. Guards with rifles stood watch, and a single telegraph could bring the law running in minutes, and Pinkerton agents tracked down outlaws like bloodhounds. Outlaws had always lived in the shadows. But now, it seemed, there was no shadow left to hide in. The law was everywhere. And it didn’t sleep. Cass leaned against the worn post of an old barn, watching from a distance as simple folks went about their lives. The wind carried the scent of damp wood and wildflowers.

She lit a cigarette, the flame casting a flicker across her tired face and sharp eyes.Her horse stood tethered a few feet away, stamping restlessly as the shadows lengthened.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 262093814f31ba97
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 871,119 bytes (0.831 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 244
• Language: English (en)

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• Estimated Reading Time: 400.42 minutes
• Total Words: 80,084
• Total Characters: 453,832
• Average Words per Page: 328.21
• Average Characters per Page: 1859.97

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