Hoofbeats as Heartbeats - Clean Historical Western Romance

By Rachel J. Moore

She was a lady, and he was not a gentleman. That's all there was to it, in the eyes of Grace. She had followed her family to America, in the hopes of success and striking it rich. And yet, things weren't quite as easy as they seemed. Gone were the frills they were accustomed to, traded in for leather boots. Horses, too, were a part of the equation, but as adorable as they were, they were turning into quite the problem. 

Cookie wouldn't cooperate, and at the risk of potentially losing her sister's horse, Grace set out to look for a horse trainer, without much hope. But then she met Smoky, and he had stepped in and offered his help. And, in the words of her sister Jo, her mother, and father, he'd turned out better than they'd all expected. And though she had been dubious at the start, Grace couldn't help but find herself slowly roped in to the carefree, happy-go-lucky cowboy more and more.

A Standalone Short Story with no cliffhanger! 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clean & Wholesome Romance Club
• Release date: Nov 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386341345

Book preview

Hoofbeats as Heartbeats

Chapter 1

Dusty was not strong enough a word to accurately describe exactly what Grace Edens thought of the place the first time they had set foot in the West. It had taken many many months, to get to the far western side of the New World. If she had thought the trip from Europe by sea had been unbearable, it seemed the gods were determined to show her exactly how miserable a journey across by land could be.

They had traveled by wagon train, with a large band of people, and though they grew to be closer than even family, the journey had not been without its struggles. Water supply often ran slow, sparking an intense debate about what was significant to leave behind or not, and exactly how much to ration. Food, though practical, wasn’t the least bit tasty, and all too often Grace found herself peering unhappily at the bottom of a barrel filled with sad, dried apples and hardened loaves of bread.

And the journey itself had been long and arduous. Miles and miles of walking, so much walking that even the horses got completely spent. They would have continued walking in the hopes of getting to what seemed to be their promised land faster, but exhaustion spent their efforts and hopes. So many times, Grace had wondered if her family would simply give up and drop dead from the effort of traveling so far.

She had seen it happen before. So many families had given up and stopped following the caravan of wagons. It had been terrifying to see, watching as the family disappeared slowly from their sights, getting smaller and smaller as they approached the horizon before disappearing completely.

Yes, the Wild West was dangerous. Bad news, her relatives in Europe had scolded them all thoroughly, warning against bandits and gunfights and the deadly nature of the land.

Still, they had come. And still, they had traveled and beaten all of the above that had been thrown at them. Well, Grace conceded, all but for the outlaws. Bandits, they had come across. Gunfights were not new. And the land was all around them.

But even with the dry dust and sandstorms and pouring rain and prickly pears, Grace still secretly preferred the land. It wasn’t all that terrible, she supposed. The flowers that bloomed on the cacti were wonderfully pink and