Free Tame a Wild Bride, a Western Romance by Cynthia Woolf

time he turned back to her, she demurely held her hands together in front of her, no smile on her face.
    “Who would teach me?”
    “I will, of course.”
    “I didn’t think you’d want to take that much time out of your day.   After all it might be difficult for me to learn.”
    He patted her on the back.   “You can do it.   You’ve learned everything else easily; this won’t be a problem for you.”
    “All right.   If you insist.”
    “I do.   It’s important for a woman out here to protect herself.   Take Catherine, for instance.   She can use a gun almost as well as Duncan and has had to do it.   There was some trouble, years ago before they were married and she had to protect herself from a very bad man.   She was able to do it because she could use a gun and they knew it.”
    They walked out behind the barn.   Tom carried a shot gun and had his pistol in its holster, strapped to his leg.   Rosie figured he was going to teach her how to fire both weapons.   She smiled.
    “Alright,” he said when they were at the targets.   He’d set up several cans on the hillside for her to practice on.   He took his pistol out of its holster.   “This is a Colt .45.   It can shoot six times without reloading.”   He handed it to her.
    She nearly dropped the darn thing and had to grasp it with both hands.   “It’s much heavier than it looks.”
    “It is.”   He came to her side.   “Now pull the hammer back to cock it.”
    Rosie pulled the hammer back with her thumb.
    “That’s right.   Now bring the gun back up and use the site at the end of the barrel to aim your bullet.   Got it?”
    She nodded.
    “Now gently squeeze the trigger.”
    It seemed to take forever.   She squeezed and closed her eyes, opening them in time to see the dirt fly below the targets.
    “Rosie, you have to keep your eyes open.   Here let me help you.”   He came behind her and put his arms around her, holding her hands up.   “Now squeeze again and keep your eyes open.   You can’t hit a target you can’t see.”
    She took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger.   The bullet hit to the right of the center can.
    “Better.   Let’s try that again.”
    Tom moved closer to her.   She felt his erection press into her back.   He really wasn’t immune to her.   How long was he going to hold out?   Did he really plan on never making love to her?   Based on the current state of affairs, she didn’t think he’d be able to hold out much longer.   She wiggled her butt against him and corrected her stance.   She heard his sharp intake of breath and smiled.
    She fired again and again missed the target.   This time to the left of the can.
    “I’m getting closer.”
    “Yes, you are,” he breathed into her ear.   “Very close.”
    “Tom I….”
    He stepped away and cleared his throat.   “You’ve got the idea now.   Try it again.”
    Rosie fired and this time hit the can.   A little low, it went flying into the air.   Frustrated, she said “Give me the shotgun.”
    “We haven’t gotten there yet.”
    “And at this rate we never will.   Just give me the shotgun.”
    He handed it to her.   She grasped it, put it snug against her shoulder and fired at the cans.   The one on the left went flying.   She cocked it and fired again.   This time the right one went flying into the air.
    “I thought you couldn’t shoot.”
    “I never said that.   I’ve never shot a pistol but I’m damn good with a shotgun.   We used to shoot clay pigeons at Robert’s club.
    “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “Why didn’t you ask?”
    He shook his head, turned and walked away, muttering, “Women.”
    Rosie chuckled to herself.   That’ll show him not to take her for granted.

    *****

    Every day rolled into the other, without much change.   She was too tired to even think about seducing Tom.   Didn’t have the strength to put any effort into it.   She bathed in the evening before going to bed.