The Lantern Light

by C.L. Beaumont

Eighteenth-century cowboys and twenty-first-century drag queens simply aren’t supposed to meet.

So thinks Peter Johnson when he touches down for his annual visit to his small hometown, Big Timber, Montana. Adopted from China as a baby, he’s found freedom transforming into Phoenix di Milo every night in San Francisco. He shouldn’t be sitting here among cowboy hats and the horses he’s always feared, keeping up the life-long lie about who he really is.

And he definitely shouldn’t be sneaking out of his house on Christmas morning, trekking through the snow in search of a mysterious light in the woods, like something is missing.

“Mad Amos,” they call him. A recluse hiding on his ranch with only his beloved horse, far away from the people of Big Timber and their venomous stares. The Civil War veteran is horrified when the railroad comes to town. But when Lin Wei arrives with it, his elegant hands rough with labor, Amos Walker has never wanted someone’s company more. A friendship that the righteous Pastor is hellbent to run out of his town.

When Peter Johnson suddenly waltzes into Amos’s cabin, and he’s the spitting image of Lin Wei, Peter and Amos find themselves on the lam from the town mob. Could their Christmas reunion be only a brief fluke of time?

Two hearts, too far apart, with only a lantern light to guide them back to a second chance.

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About C.L. Beaumont

C. L. Beaumont received his B.A. in South Asian Linguistics and Art History from the University of California, Berkeley, and now volunteers as a crisis line counselor while he delves into his true love: writing. When he isn't hiking or checking another National Park off his list, he enjoys devouring crime fiction, cooking new vegetarian recipes, and working on way too many cross stitch projects at once. C. L. Beaumont lives in Montana with his gorgeous partner and their chickens.