TinyTim72
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The first time Billy the Kid came knocking on her door, he was bleeding.
Lucianna Mae Ondrella lived a quiet life in the middle of nowhere, tucked away in a little stone cottage with her grandparents, surrounded by horses, wildflowers, and enough land to make the rest of the world feel a lifetime away. It was quiet, it was safe, it was home.
She knew nothing of Billy the Kid.
At least, that's what she let him believe.
He was only meant to stay long enough for her to patch him up. A few days, perhaps. Then he'd be gone, back to the roads, the bullets, and the horses.
The life of an outlaw.
But a few days became weeks.
And somewhere between moonlit conversations on the porch, dusty horseback rides, and mornings spent working side by side, Billy found something he'd never expected to want-a reason to stay.
He was scared of such thing. Something worth settling for. Surviving for.
Then, just as quietly as he'd arrived, he disappeared.
Because outlaws don't belong in cottages.
But for once, he pulled the trigger after ducking from the bullets firing. He never used to fear not coming home
Years later, Billy returns to the little house at the edge of nowhere, expecting to find the same girl waiting behind the door.
Instead, he finds Della.
Older. Harder. And no longer willing to pretend his leaving didn't hurt.
But Billy isn't the only one carrying secrets.
Because Della Mae Ondrella isn't her real name.
Her grandparents didn't raise an innocent country girl.
They raised the last surviving daughter of one of the most infamous outlaw families in the West-and they've spent years making sure nobody discovers who she really is.
Especially Billy.
He thought he was the dangerous one.
He never imagined the girl he left behind had a past just as bloody, a name just as feared, and a reason of her own for running from the life he could never escape.
He came back for the girl he remembered.
He wasn't prepared to meet the wom