Saving the Gunslinger

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Six

Zachary grumbled upon waking up and realizing that Samantha wasn't wrapped in his arms. He preferred mornings where he could simply breathe her in and gaze at her while slept peacefully against him. He opened his eyes and saw his woman sitting at the vanity in the corner of their hotel room. Her soft curves were wrapped in a robe and she was running a brush through her long red curls.

Pushing himself to his feet, Zachary crossed the room silently and came behind her taking the brush from her hand. She jumped a bit and looked at his face in the mirror. "You scared me...."

"I didn't mean to. You were lost in thought," he replied, taking over in the job of brushing out all that soft hair. "Just like you were most of the day yesterday. I didn't push then, and I won't push now but if you want to talk, I'm here."

She let out a sigh and leaned back on the stool she was seated upon, resting her back and head against his bare stomach and chest. "I know. It's Eleanor. She told me something yesterday and I'm worried about her... and about Tim."

Zachary sat the brush down on the vanity and laid his hands on her shoulders before dropping a kiss to her hair. "Timothy really seems to like her. And I thought after seeing them together that she liked him too."

"She does," Samantha quickly assured him, turning her head and looking up to meet his gaze. "But.. there's something he doesn't know and she just told me yesterday and... I would love to be able to tell you but she trusted me.."

Zachary smiled and stooped again, this time to press a tender kiss to her lips. "I would never ask you to betray your friends' confidence, Sam. I really hope she doesn't hurt Tim. He deserves a bit of happiness."

Samantha chewed at her lip a moment. "I know that she has no intention of hurting him. But what she has to tell him could change things."

Zachary sighed as he stood back straight. "Alright then. When it comes to dealing with our friends and their feelings, I'll let you take the reins. I think you're better suited."

"You're probably right," she teased. Then her gaze drifted down and her eyes widened when she seemed to realize for the first time that Zachary hadn't taken the time to put clothes on before approaching her. "Well, Mr. Marston... good morning."

"Good morning, ma'am."

Zachary's blood coursed hotter and harder as she turned on that stool and raised an arched brow while gazing up at him through those long lashes. "I know how I can make it an even better one."

Those fingertips seared his skin, branding him as they danced over his stomach and down his lean hips to his thighs. Damn this woman had a power over him that was terrifying. Already he was hard for her and his legs were shaking as she held him captivated in that hungry gaze.

A sudden knock on the door had Zachary growling and Samantha to leaping to her feet. She pulled her robe tighter around her nightgown. Zachary willed his cock to calm the hell down as he searched for his pants. "Who the hell is it?" he demanded when the knock sounded again.

"Tim."

The subdued tone of his friends' voice had Zachary's temper fading a bit. He finished buttoning his trousers and nodded at Samantha to open the door. Tim looked like hell. His black pants were splattered with mud, his white shirt was unbuttoned part of the way down and his red vest was hanging open. Messy blond hair fell over his brow and it was clear from the circles around his tired eyes and the pallor of his face that the man hadn't slept.