Saving the Gunslinger

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Zachary had never in his life been so grateful to see a sun-soaked morning as he was when Sunday dawned brightly. The last two days had been stressful to say the least which made today all the more peaceful.

No crews were coming to the ranch to work today. No meetings needed to be had in town. He had a full day ahead of him with nothing but the open landscape and Samantha—who was currently laying sound asleep in his arms.

Holding her tenderly against him, Zachary thought back over the last two days. So much had happened and changed. Thomas Williamson was gone and no longer a threat to Sam or any of the women who worked at the brothel—a brothel which was now owned and being run by Caroline. That pathetic coward Leonard Oxley was gone. Zachary had tossed his ass on the stagecoach himself. He thought back to the party and the sight of that gun aimed at Samantha's chest and felt his blood freeze and boil simultaneously. If Leonard had pulled that trigger....

He shivered and buried his face in those red curls, breathing in the scent of lavender and reassuring himself that the woman he loved was alive and well.

His mind drifted again. Hackney no longer had a lawman—not that they'd had any real lawman in Leonard Oxley. He grumbled under his breath when he recalled Roland's suggestion that Zachary become lawman. That would be a cold day in hell. Zachary had enough of his own worries without adding an entire town full of worries to them. And he hadn't been lying when he'd said he didn't care enough about ninety percent of those people to risk not only his life but his sanity on their issues and complaints. Then there was Samantha and the life and family they were building. Zachary had to worry about that and making sure he was around to be a part of it—he wouldn't go putting a big shiny tin target on his chest for folks to shoot at. The townsfolk would figure it out—they could hold a meeting and if no one volunteered for the job they could post a listing in the newspapers. Someone would be interested in pinning on a badge and the authority that came with it.

Thinking on things that had happened at the party, Zach found himself going back to Timothy and Eleanor. Tim had found him at the stagecoach office just after putting Leonard on his ride out of town and had told him that they were indeed engaged. Zachary was happy for his best friend. Eleanor seemed like a decent woman, quiet and reserved perhaps, but that was okay—Tim would talk enough for both of them.

Speaking of marriages....

Zachary felt Samantha stir against him as she slept. She turned slightly and his gaze drifted down to the emerald resting against her pale breast. He was ready for Samantha to be his wife. There was no real reason behind their delay in getting married—it just seemed that there was always something happening in their lives and the lives of their friends and they'd been focusing on that. In another week the house would be built. It would need exterior paint, interior decorating, and furniture before it could be a home, but the hardest part would be done.

A trip north to Anberina was sounding like a good idea for then. There would be someone there who could officiate their wedding—because there was no way in hell that Zachary would allow Reverend Channing to be the one to marry them. They could spend a few days away from Hackney and the work at the ranch and simply focus on each other, become husband and wife, and come back to make their finished house into a home.

That sounded good to him. They could use this week to finish up the house, order furniture, pick out the paint and wall paper and all the finishing touches the home needed, spend the weekend gone to Anberina, and come back as husband and wife to a home ready to be filled with their lives.

Peace filled Zachary. For so long life had been so damned hard but it seemed those days were over. While the threat from Clinton Matthews was always a lingering worry in the back of his mind, it didn't consume him any longer. The man was becoming a distant memory as more time went by. Finally, after spending so long as a wandering gunslinger facing death day after day, Zachary was settling down.