One day, he’d tell her everything. He’d tell her about Beth and what had happened to him at Prayers End years ago. He’d tell her how, when he’d thought she was dead, he hadn’t felt life was worth living anymore. That he’d only survived because he had not been able to accept her death.

And he’d tell her that he had another child, one he felt an obligation to assure his life was all it could be. Would she understand? With her fierce mother’s heart, would Ginny accept the knowledge that he’d created a son with Beth Cady?

Damn him for being a coward, he just couldn’t tell her about it now, not when she still seemed so fragile.

38

“Before we leave here, you’ll learn to shoot well, Ginny. I’ll give you a pistol, and you can learn to use it as expertly as you do your knife.”

“With practice, I’m sure I can.”

Steve spent three days working with her until he was satisfied that she could at least hit a target. Gunfire sent birds screeching into the air of the small, rocky valley at the bottom of the falls as Ginny aimed at pieces of wood.

One after the other, the chips Steve hung from a tree branch were shattered, bullets smashing them to splinters. The Colt he’d given her was heavy, so that she had to use both hands to hold it steady. Steve, his swift draw so graceful and easy—and deadly—could put two bullets into a wood chip in the time it took her to put one. But she was accurate enough.

“If you don’t kill ’em you’ll sure as hell scare ’em to death,” he said, spinning the chamber of his revolver and loading it with quick efficiency. A black brow cocked, and there was a glint in his dark-blue eyes as he surveyed her. “Just hope you get the drop on a man, because by the time you get the pistol out of the holster, he’d have you so full of lead you could be used as an anchor.”

“Your faith in me is touching.” Disgruntled, she arched a brow and smiled. “But you might keep that in mind the next time you get the notion to intimidate me again.”

“Ginny, your arrogance never disappoints me!”

Too soon, Steve said they were to leave the valley. She met his gaze with a steady stare that refused to yield.

“I still have some unfinished business to attend in San Antonio. Paco should have been able to report Luna’s death as an accident by now—an unexpected fire in his room.”

She remembered the fierce glow on the horizon, a hazy memory of that night, and understood now what it was. She nodded. “Yes. I’m sure any inquiries have been settled by now. Steve, don’t leave me behind. Take me with you.”