Chapter Twenty

Zachary was confused. Samantha had been leading him in random directions for over an hour. Not a word had been spoken between them. What was going on in that woman's mind? He had been so damn sure she would be terrified of him—so sure that she would realize she deserved better than a man with his past—but instead she had readied both their horses and angrily shoved Blaze's reins in his hands and demanded he ride with her before taking off and giving him no choice but to follow her.

Zachary had a feeling that was simply his life now. No matter where that woman led him, his heart was going to leave him no other choice but to follow her.

He regretted his actions in the saloon. Zachary normally had fairly good control of his temper and actions but learning that Thomas had cornered Samantha in that alley had filled him with protective rage. And then to hear that because Thomas had thought Zachary was out of town, he planned to get his hands on Samantha and put her back in that brothel.... that had been the last straw.

Thomas had placed too many bruises on that woman's pale skin. Had nearly caused her to be violated. Had done everything in his power to force her to work for him as a whore. Thomas had proven he was a threat to Samantha's safety—a threat to her life. Zachary would do anything to protect that woman. But he was damned glad that Timothy had stopped him from slitting the man's throat. If Timothy hadn't been there, Zachary would have been hanged for murder and any future he'd been hoping to build with Samantha would have been gone.

It might still be gone. Samantha had acted damn angry with him. Maybe this ride was her way of telling him goodbye? Zachary's hands were shaking as he folded them on his saddle horn.

"Sam? Where are we going?"

Without a word, Samantha pulled up on Athena's reins, bringing the mare to a stop. Zachary mirrored her movement, though he stayed behind her and simply studied her closely. The afternoon sun was shimmering off her wild red curls as she sat tall and proud in that saddle.

Zachary's heart yearned to hold her. His body yearned to feel her. His hands yearned to touch her. His lips yearned to taste her. Damn, that woman made him ache.

"I have no idea where we're going," her gentle voice finally responded, filling the quiet which had moments ago been filled only with the sounds of birds and the breeze. "I've been lost and simply wandering since shortly after we left town."

Zachary saw some small trees and shrubs in the distance. "We could head over there and rest in the shade a while. If you want to that is."

Without saying another word or looking his way, Samantha began to guide Athena toward their new destination. Zachary sighed and followed her. He was angry with himself. Angry that he had ruined such a perfect day. A day where Samantha had been talking with him about a future and he had been free to hold her hand, caress her face, kiss her lips...

When they reached the shade, Samantha slid from Athena's back and walked to the tallest of the small trees. She leaned her back against the rough bark and simply stood there, crossing her arms around herself in a gesture he had come to recognize. It was something she did whenever she was unsure or afraid. Maybe he had been right when he'd looked in her eyes in that saloon. Maybe she was afraid of him.

Zachary slowly dismounted Blaze and simply stood beside the gelding, wondering what he was supposed to say or do. "Sam....?"

"Is there a reason I had to force your hand to come out here with me?"

Zachary was caught off guard by the question. "You didn't have to force my hand, Samantha. I reckon I'd follow you anywhere."

Those green eyes turned in his direction and Zachary quickly lowered his gaze. He didn't want to see her fear of him—it hurt too bad.

"Look at me, Zachary."

"Samantha, we should head back."

"Why won't you look at me?"

Her question took Zachary by surprise. He spared a quick glance her way before returning his gaze to his boots. His first instinct was to scoff or lie. Those walls he had spent so long building up around himself were strong—but his feelings for Samantha were stronger and she gave him the courage he needed to be open and honest in her presence. "I saw your face in the saloon. You were afraid. You're afraid of me and I don't want to see that in your eyes again. Once was enough."

Silence followed his statement for several long moments. A rustling in the grass and her quiet footsteps signaled her approach. "Zachary, I'm not afraid."

"You were," he countered quickly. "You thought I might hurt you."

A sigh escaped Samantha's lips and Zachary felt those gentle hands on his shirt. She splayed her palms across his chest and Zachary found his eyes draw to her. Swallowing hard, Zachary let himself meet her gaze and what he saw in those deep green eyes had his legs weakening.

There was no fear there. There was want and longing and.... Love? Or was he only fooling himself?

"I can assure you right now, Zachary Marston, that never for one moment was I afraid of you or worried you would harm me."

His fingertips itched to dance across her cheek so he let them. "I would never lay an angry hand on you," he vowed without hesitation. "But there was fear in your eyes, Samantha..."

She leaned into his touch and smiled. "I was afraid you were going to kill a man and be hanged for it. I was afraid that I was going to lose you."

He let his hand drop. "You ran away," he reminded her.

Her gaze went skyward a moment, and despite his tangled emotions, Zachary felt his lips twitch as she looked to the sky for patience. "Yes, I ran away to get our horses. I knew you would want to get away from town and have some time to calm down."

He wondered how the woman seemed to know him so well. "And you're not the least bit worried now that you've seen what I'm capable of? I saw the way Eleanor and Caroline looked at you and at me. They didn't want you coming out here alone. Aren't you bothered to see proof that I'm a killer?"

"You're no killer, Zachary Marston."

"I am."

"You're not." Her voice was stern and had his jaw snapping shut. "If you were a killer you wouldn't have stopped killing and come back to Hackney to start a ranch and be a farmer. There were plenty more men out there for you to satisfy murderous urges on if that was all you wanted to do."

Zachary moved away from her. He went to the tree and stood against, leaning his back on the bark and staring out over the horizon. Baring his soul was something he wasn't well practiced in but being near Samantha made it seem almost natural. "Killing takes its toll on a man. You start to see faces in your sleep and be haunted by the lives you've taken. I had never killed a man until I started chasing Clinton. When I took a bullet and nearly died a few months ago, I'd had enough. I couldn't live that life anymore." He rolled his aching shoulder. "I have killed, Samantha. And I'll kill again to protect you without hesitation. If Thomas corners you in any more alley's, if he puts his hands on you again, I'll end his life, Sam. I'll just be a bit smarter about the where and the how next time."

Samantha was quiet a moment as she remained standing where he had left her. Zachary wanted nothing more than to hold her in his arms, but he wanted to make sure she knew who exactly who was holding her.

After several long, quiet moments, Samantha approached him and ran her fingertips along his knuckles. Zachary was quick to take her hand in his and entwine their fingers—he loved the intimacy of holding her hand this way. Samantha's voice was soft when she spoke. "You're a good man. You are a good man who was forced to chase bad men and take the law into your own hands because the men wearing badges refused to help. And as far as Thomas goes, that man is a monster. If not for you I would have already been raped, brutalized, and very possibly murdered because of him." Her eyes closed as she shivered and Zachary felt his fists clench and his jaw tense at the images her words stirred in his head. Her gaze rose back up to meet his. "You had warned him more than once to stay away and still he threatened me—your actions today were simply those of a man trying to protect and defend his woman."

Zachary felt a slow smile curve his lips. Damn, this conversation was certainly going better than he'd imagined it would. "My woman?"

"Of course, I'm your woman." She winked. "You did just buy me a house."

Zachary's hand went to her hip and pulled her closer to him. "People will talk if you're with me, Samantha. Especially after today..."

Samantha rose on her toes and pressed a tender kiss to his jaw, causing his grip on her to tighten as his heart began to pound against his ribcage. "I've told you already I don't care about the opinion of others. I am your woman and you are my man, Zachary Marston. My protective, strong, dangerous, bristly, attentive, affectionate, gentle, contradiction of a man and I will be nothing but proud to walk down any road anywhere with you."

His heart swelled with the love he felt for the strong, gentle woman in front of him. Dropping both hands to her hips, he pulled her body against his and dropped his forehead down, resting it against her brow. "I don't know about the rest of what you just said but there is one part of that I know for sure you got right. I am yours, Samantha."

They remained just like that. Eyes closed, heads together, bodies flush, breathing the same air and simply enjoying the closeness and the quiet.

"Zachary?" she finally whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I..." She paused and he heard her swallow hard. "I want you."

Oh hell. Those words, and the way she had spoken them, could only mean one thing. Zachary should refuse her. He was not yet her husband. Samantha was innocent. She was a lady. She deserved a wedding vow and a real bed to lose her innocence in. Zachary had every intention of doing the right thing and telling her love making would have to wait—he truly did—until those full, soft lips suddenly danced across his throat.

Damn. What was it they said about the road to hell and good intentions? Zachary let out a growl, swooped down and captured those lips beneath his own. Zachary turned them around so that it was Samantha's back against the tree. He placed one hand behind her head to cushion her from the bark. His other hand slid up from her hip, dancing across her waist before brushing against her full breast.

A moan left the back of Samantha's throat. Zachary felt as if the very blood in his veins had caught fire as he deepened that kiss, warring for dominance that Samantha eagerly submitted to. Her back arched from the tree as Zachary's thumb found her hardening nipple.

Samantha knocked his hat from his head as her hands buried themselves in his dark hair. Zachary continued to devour her, never breaking the contact of their lips as he moved both hands to the buttons of her blouse. Undoing them swiftly, he pushed it from her shoulders and only then did he remove his lips from Samantha's. Brushing his mouth across her jaw, Zachary cock hardened painfully when her soft voice whispered his name and her body trembled against him.

Lower still his mouth continued on its path, nibbling at her ear, caressing the hollows of her throat, tasting the smooth, freckled skin of her shoulder. "Perfection woman. You are goddamn perfection," he moaned against her as he tossed her shirt aside and saw her hardened nipples highlighted beneath the white fabric of the chemise she wore. That thin bit of cotton was all that stood between his hungry mouth and her skin.

Bending low, Zachary let his teeth graze against her nipple, drawing a cry from Samantha's lips as her legs nearly buckled. Fueled by her eager reactions, Zachary showed the same attention to her other nipple as his hands undid her skirt and let it fall down her legs, pooling around her feet.

Grabbing her hands, Zachary held her wrists in one calloused hand and put them above her head. His lips once again found Samantha's and he kissed her. Hard. She was panting as he pulled away. Those full lips red from his assault on them, her cheeks flushed beneath her dusting of freckles, and those green eyes as dark as emeralds with her want.

"Zachary..." she whimpered, straining to get her body as close to his as she could. "Please... I need...I need you..."

Oh, how wrong the woman was. She didn't need him. He needed her. All of her. Now and forever. "Don't worry, Sam. I'm gonna take care of you," he vowed.

He placed one more long, slow, tender kiss to her lips before taking a step back. Slipping off his rifle and bandolier, Zachary tossed the weapons aside. He wasn't worried about anyone sneaking up on them out here. They were in the middle of nowhere, secluded amongst the bushes and trees—and Blaze was close. If anyone came within sight or scent of the loyal horse, he would let Zachary know.

Zachary was free to focus on nothing but the beautiful, frustrated, aroused woman in front of him.

He stepped closer to her once again and let his mouth lead him where it wanted to go. Her throat, her collarbones, her breasts. Zachary dropped to his knees and hooked her underclothes with his finger. He glanced up at her, seeking permission, and found her watching him with so much hunger in her eyes, it nearly had him self-combusting then and there.

Sliding those underclothes down her legs, Zachary lifted her feet to help her step out of them and tossed them aside. Lifting the bottom hem of her chemise Zachary bit his lip at the sight of those red curls between her thighs. Damn, he felt like a man who'd been lost in the desert far too long and he was gonna drink his fill from this oasis.

Samantha cried out his name when Zachary buried his face between her legs. Her hand went to his hair, clutching at the strands. Her legs buckled but Zachary kept one hand on her stomach to offer her support as she clung to him.

Goddamn, she tasted like heaven—and every bit as sweet as he'd imagined. Teasing her with his tongue, Zachary took his time taking her higher and higher. As her moans grew more urgent, her hips bucked against him. Zachary knew she was close. He slid a finger into her wet folds that had never before known the touch of a man and after several quick thrusts and a hungry growl from his throat, Samantha was sent careening over the edge.

Never had his name sounded as erotic as it did when it flew from her lips as her body shook and trembled with the force of her release. The grip she kept on his hair was painful but Zachary offered no complaints as he drank down more of her sweetness before rising to his feet once more.

Seeing her there in nothing but her white cotton chemise with her curls a wild mess on her head, her legs trembling, one hand still resting on the bark above her head and her other hand resting against her own breast was the most arousing sight Zachary had ever seen in his life.

Wasting no time, he removed his gun belt and undid the knives from his legs. Tugging off his boots, Zachary tossed them aside as well and his fingers were moving to the buttons on his vest when Samantha recovered enough to step forward.

"Let me," she whispered.

Zachary swallowed hard, let his arms fall, clenched his fists and nodded. His body shook with restraint as Samantha's trembling hands undid his vest and slid it from him before going to the buttons of his shirt and quickly relieved him of it as well.

When those smooth fingertips danced across the newly exposed skin of his torso, Zachary hissed. Damn, her touched burned him, branded him. Those lips were soon dancing across his skin and Zachary struggled to remember how to breathe. She paused suddenly, her fingertips tracing the worst of his bullet scars—the one on his shoulder that had nearly taken his life with the fever that followed it.

For a moment, he was worried she would begin to ask about the scars he was covered in. Scars from bullets, knives, burns, and even mountain lion claws. Zachary didn't want to think about any of them just now. Just now he only wanted to focus on the woman in front of him—his woman.

Samantha surprised him when instead of speaking, she pressed her lips to that scar on his shoulder, then to another on his side. Slowly she circled around him, those gentle hands and that hot little mouth caressing his skin. Zachary swallowed hard and fought to control himself. Damn, she had no idea what she did to him.

"Sam, I need you...." He whispered, his voice hoarse and desperate.

She let her breasts brush against his back before she came to stand before him once again. A blush covered her cheeks as she began to undo his pants. Sliding out of them and the long johns he wore beneath, Zachary prayed like hell Samantha wouldn't be frightened away when she saw proof of just how badly he wanted her.

Zachary hadn't been this hard in his entire life—it was the most arousing pain he had ever experienced. He was about to speak, to comfort her, to assure her that he wouldn't hurt her. He was sure she would be shy and unsure. What he didn't expect was for Samantha to look up at him through her long lashes, flash a coy smile and drop to her knee. When that wet, pink tongue ran across his tip, Zachary let out a string of curses that would have made the devil himself blush.

Soon he found himself completely enveloped in Samantha's perfect mouth. He buried his hands in her soft red curls and found his hips thrusting in time with her movements. She clung to his legs as she pleasured him, hearty moans leaving the back of her throat and sending shockwaves up his length.

After only a few minutes, Zachary knew he had to stop her. If he didn't, this was going to be over before he had buried himself between her legs—and Zachary wanted nothing more than to bury himself between her legs.

Placing his hands on her cheeks, Zachary pulled her off him and she stood slowly, placing her hands on his chest for balance. Swooping low, his lips found hers and he kissed her long and slow, lapping lazily at her tongue as he moved them both back to the tree. Gripping the bottom hem of her shift, Zachary pulled back and raised it.

Lifting her arms in the air, Samantha allowed him to remove the last barrier between their bodies. His eyes feasted on her high, full breasts, small pink nipples, and tiny waist, flaring out into rounded hips. Reaching around her, Zachary gripped her deliciously rounded backside and pulled her close.

His other hand went to that haven between her legs, his finger sliding into those wet folds, drawing a long moan from her throat as Samantha threw her head back. He could feel her trembling with want and knew that she would feel him as well.

Zachary moved his lips to her ear, nipping gently. "Tell me you want me, Sam."

She turned her head, catching his lips in a hard kiss. "I want you."

Zachary braced his back against the tree, took her by the waist and lifted her up. Samantha's legs instantly went around his hips. Slowly he lowered her down on his aching arousal. Inch by painstaking inch, he slid inside her, felt the barrier of her innocence and pushed through, catching her cry of shock with his lips.

"I'm sorry," he whispered against her skin. "It only hurts the first time."

Zachary was sure his heart would pound straight through his rib cage as he fully slid himself inside her and simply stood there motionless for several long moments. Samantha had buried her face in his neck and her grip on his shoulders was tense.

"Zachary?" she whispered.

"Yeah?" he somehow managed to grunt through his clenched jaws.

"Aren't you supposed to be moving?"

Zachary nearly chuckled even as a jolt of lust shot through him like a lightning bolt. "Yes ma'am."

Samantha threw her head back as Zachary thrust into her again and again. Her hips met his and moved in unison. Zachary lowered his mouth to her breasts, feasting on them. Her whimpers and moans filled the early evening air and Zachary had never heard anything so damn erotic in his life.

He felt her body tensing as her moans grew more urgent. Her fingernails dug into his shoulders as she let out a loud cry and her entire body began to shake with the force of the release that suddenly tore through her. Feeling those tight walls clench around him was the last bit of pleasure Zachary could stand.

Her name left his mouth along with a string of curses as he poured himself inside her. As the aftershocks of his release continued to course through him, Zachary laid his head on her freckled shoulder. Her fingertips moved a bit of sweaty black hair from his brow before she rested her cheek on his head.

"We... we should probably get dressed," Samantha whispered after several long moments. "Someone could come by."

Zachary shook his head. He was in no hurry to move just now. His legs were weak and Samantha felt too damn good in his arms, those long legs wrapped around him and her bare body flush to his. "Let's just say right like this forever," he countered, pressing a kiss to her collarbone.

He felt her tremble. "Sounds good to me."

As an evening breeze blew across their bare bodies, Zachary held her tighter. He wasn't sure what he'd done to deserve the woman in his arms but one thing was certain, he wasn't ever going to lose her. 

A/N: Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter! Plenty more story left to come. We have a house to build and a ranch to get going! Thank you all for the support you've shown so far! Comment, vote, make me feel good about myself HA! Love ya!!