Western Trails (closed)

He chuckled,

"Then find a man whose freedom and life depends on you and he knows that taking good care of you will keep him alive and free."

He had to admit, she made much better food than he did, there was no use denying that fact.

"In my honest opinion, the best man to find will be a trailsman, not because I am one, but they tend to appreciate what they have."
 
“There’s not a man out there in this world that needs me to be free.” She said as she placed her plate to the side and stretched out on the grass beside him, her hands laced behind her head to provide a cushion of sorts.

“Face it, John. I’m damaged goods. What man in his right mind would want me now after what Seth did to me?” She asked him, her eyes turning to look up into his gaze as he talked about finding a trailsman.
 
"Any man in his right mind would be honored to have a woman like you, caring, witty, great cook, a knack with animals, friendly and a big heart, not to mention that you're beautiful. What did Seth do? Beat you and raped you. It did not change who you are. You're a great woman and a great person Penelope, you are much more than what happened in your past."

He finished his ham, mopping up the sauce with the last of his biscuit and drank it down with coffee, he got up and made himself another cup. He was tired, the rough and tumble he had with one scout, the hide and seek he played with the last one and catching up with Penelope and Sudden had drained him. He needed rest, he drank his coffee,

"I think I will get some shut eye while there is still some light. Think you can handle a few hours of guard duty?"
 
Penny actually blushed as her ran through all of her attributes. She looked up towards him with a shy smile and laughed softly, stunned when he mentioned that he found she was beautiful. She was silent after that, watching as he finished the last of his meal and then another cup of coffee before asking her to go on guard duty.

She nodded and sat up, taking up a spot that afforded her a view of the prairie beyond them. Nothing was stirring but her thoughts and she found that she was consumed with them. Glancing back at John as he settled in for a nap, she nibbled on her bottom lip for a moment.

“John?” She asked, receiving a grunt in reply. “Do you really think I’m beautiful?”
 
He lifted his head at her question, looking at her where she sat, he tilted his head to one side,

"Yes I find you beautiful."

He rested his head on his arm again,

"Judging from the looks the other men in town gave you, they think so too."
 
Penny gave him a smile as he looked at her and told her that he did indeed find her beautiful. It did her heart a world of good to hear those words from a handsome man like John. Seth never told her she was beautiful. In fact, with her husband she felt quite the opposite sometimes.

Moving from her spot, Penny knelt beside John and leaned down, pressing her lips firmly against his in a kiss of thanks. She smiled as the brief moment broke and she cupped his cheek.

“Thank you.” She said softly, looking down into his eyes for another brief moment before she started to move again.
 
He heard her move, when she hunkered down next to him, he opened his eyes. The kiss caught him by surprise, he returned her smile,

"You're welcome."

He did not really understand what she thanked him for, but it did seem that perhaps he had said something right. He closed his eyes and dozed off again, this time falling asleep quickly. Three hours later he woke up, by the dim light of the coals he could see Penelope still sitting in position, he slowly got to his feet, splashed some water onto his face, before moving over to her.

"Thanks, you go rest now, I'll be fine now."

He waited until she had settled in, before he moved to his saddlebags and pulled out his cleaning materials and oil for his weapons. He sat down in the dark, spreading out a cloth in front of him. He saw nothing, the coals casting only enough light for him to make out shadows, he started to clean and oil his revolvers and rifle with practised ease. He had done it so many tines that he had no need to see what he was doing.
 
Keeping watch in the dark was harder than Penny would have imagined. Every shadow and every little noise made her jump, but she kept to her task and watched out of the prairie for anything that seemed out of the ordinary.

She heard John start to stir and looking over her shoulder, she watched his actions as he walked around the camp and got himself ready for his watch. Nodding as he told her to go red, she moved towards the spot that he had just vacated and settled in for sleep.

Except it never came. She lay there in the dark, her blanket pulled up to her chin as she listened to John dutifully clean and take care of his weapons. The soft clinking noises filled her ears and she sighed softly, lifting her head from the ground and looked at him in the gloom.

“Would you teach me how to do that?” She asked him, hearing his actions pause at the sound of her question.
 
He paused at her question and then continued to clean and oil his revolver,

"You really should try to get some sleep. But yes, I can teach you how to clean a rifle and revolver and how to oil it properly."

He was silent for a few moments as he pondered the woman not very far from him and who seem to care more for him than anybody ever had before.

"If you wish I can teach you how to shoot as well. It is something that always comes in handy."
 
“I can’t sleep.” She admitting as she sat up and drew the blanket around her shoulders, watching him work in the gloomy darkness of the dying embers.

Penny stood and made her way to his side, settling in next to him to share his warmth as she watched his hands move expertly around the parts of a gun. It was like he’d been born to handle the weapon and here he was telling her that he would teach her how to shoot.

“I guess it couldn’t hurt.” She said with a shrug, turning her head and smiling at him as he focused on his task. He was a handsome man, she thought to herself. Kind and gentle. Completely unlike her husband and completely undeserving of the nickname that he’d been given.

“Have you every thought about finding a place to settle down?” She asked him, the question blurting out before she’d had a moment to truly think about it.
 
He continued, slipping the loose parts together, loading the revolver and snapping the cilinder shut with a flick of his wrist.

"No not really. There is no need for a single man to settle down and who want to settle with a man who can kill somebody twice before he can blink?"

He looked at her in the half-light, then started to disassemble the last revolver, placing the parts where he could easily get hold of them and started cleaning them.

"The big secret is to do this every three days or so, or when you had a rough and tumble with an Indian brave set on..."

He stopped talking and listened, he did not trust his eyes, instead he trusted his hearing and that uncanny sixth sense which had never failed to keep him alive. There it was again, the faint sound which had caught his attention,

"Killing you. I think you should get the supplies packed, I have a feeling that we will be on our way before breakfast. Move quiet like and don't make too much noise."
 
Penny could feel her cheeks heat up as he said that there was no one out there that would want to settle down with a man like him. “I could think of someone.” She said softly as she turned her head and found him looking at her in the half-light of the fire, a smile on her lips

When he stopped talking, she felt a shiver course down her spine, her eyes narrowing as he talked about getting the supplies packed and being fast about it. She looked around their little camp, her heart racing at the thought that someone might be near them. Nodding silently, she quickly and quietly started to pack up their supplies, making sure everything was put up by the time John was helping her into her saddle.

“Is…is everything alright?” She whispered, looking down at him with worry and a little bit of fear in her eyes.
 
He had finished his last revolver and went about saddling the horses while Penelope was busy, he looked around at her question, then hoisted himself onto Sudden's back.

"A boot had scraped against a rock, twice. That means two people."

He tilted his head when an owl schrieched and it's mate replied,

"Posse."

His voice had dropped a few degrees, these man would have had to murder their horses to catch up with them. Or at least it seemed like a few of them had. He took Penelope's horse's reins and started forward, the soft ground damping their movement, the well-oiled leather preventing any creaking. He was glad that he had the habit of jacking a round into the chamber of the rifle after cleaning it. To do so now would alert the people that they had been heard.

About half an hour later they came to rockier ground, he urged Sudden into a jog, letting the horse pick the pace and way, he could see much better in this light than John. John knew in which direction to go, the green vegetation had told him that there would be water and he knew it would be far enough for the posse's horses to not make it unles they want to kill them. A tumult erupted of to the right behind them and he grinned.

"Seems like Seth's men have found the empty camp site."
 
Penny was completely unfamiliar with the noises of the wilderness, but even she could hear that something was off about the way that the owls were suddenly very talkative. She nodded when he told her what was wrong and she pushed her horse to follow alongside his without question.

To say she was terrified was an understatement. She was petrified that the men would find her and make her go back to Seth. Her heart was pounding so loudly that she swore John could hear it in the quiet night. Still, she kept herself silent and outwardly calm.

They jogged along for what seemed like an eternity, her hands linked firmly around the horn of the saddle as John seemed to know exactly where they were going. She was breathing heavily when he pulled them to a stop, the sound of cursing erupting from the site they had just evacuated.

“They…they aren’t going to come this way, right?” She asked him, her voice small and laced with fright and panic. She wanted to beg him to protect her, to not let them find her, but something kept her from doing it.
 
"No, perhaps at first light they would be able to track us, but not tonight. And if they do follow us tomorrow it will be the end of their horses and out here, you do not want to end up without a horse."

It was a few hours later when Sudden leaned into a direction just right of the direction they were traveling. John allowed him to follow his nose and when the steady clip clop of their hooves turned into soft thuds, he knew they had reached the water hole.

"OK, let's get them unsaddled and let them drink some water, then you must get some sleep. We're going to have a long day tomorrow."
 
Penny felt like she was in a daze when they finally stopped for the evening. She let John help her from the saddle and she tried her hardest to help him unsaddle the pair so they could rest and drink.

When that was finished, she sat on the soft ground and listened as he pulled out his bedroll, a blanket placed around her shoulders as he fixed the rest for her. She simply stared at it when he was done and then she looked at John with wide eyes.

“I don’t think I could sleep if I want.” She said softly, her voice wavering with real fear now. “John, you can’t let them find me. You have to promise me.”
 
He sat down with her,

"I will do everything in my power to keep you away from Seth. That is all I can promise you."

He gently pushed her backwards, letting her settle onto the bed he had prepared just behind her. He took her hand in his own, how soft it felt against the gruff and calloused skin of his own, so cool and small, hands of a person who needed protection and love, not the shit she had received so far in her life.

"I will be here next to you the whole time, you can talk if you want, just close your eyes and we can talk."
 
Penny was still trembling by the time John sat her down on the pallet. She looked at him in the gloomy darkness and nodded as he promised to keep her away from Seth. A gentle push on her shoulders had her settled back against the makeshift bed and his hand was taking hers and holding it tight.

A soft sigh left her lips as he encouraged her to close her eyes and talk. She did just that, letting her eyes flutter close and she felt at peace. He had a way about him that made her feel comforted. It meant more to her than he’d probably ever know.

“John…I just wanted to thank you.” She said softly, her voice trembling still as his hand squeezed hers tightly. “For everything.”
 
He gently stroke over her hand with his fingers,

"I am glad that I could help you in any way."

He listened to the night sounds around them, this time an owl did cry, but he knew it to be a real owl. It had no echo like the imitation that the men after them have had.

"It is evenings like these, so quiet and peaceful that makes me love the land so much. There is nothing that can compare to this, it is almost like you can hear nature breathing and at night that breathing is soft and restful, like it is asleep. Can you hear it?"

He smiled as he cocked his head, listening.
 
Penny listened to the sounds that he described and it was beautiful indeed. Still, though, it was nothing compared to the feel of his warm hand on hers. The smell of horse and leather that surrounded him. She took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, the night air caressing over them as they sat in the darkness.

“All I can hear is you.” She said softly, her eyes opening to look up at him. She could hear the sound of his breath slowly exhaling and the sound of the ground beneath him moving as he got comfortable. “And I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever heard.”
 
He smiled in the darkness, it was the kindest words he had ever heard, it was such a pity that a time might come very soon that he would have to be exactly what his nickname said, it was something he dreaded. It was not the thought of killing which made him feel upset, it was the thought of what she might think of him when she saw what he really was.

"Then luckily I am calm as well, just hope it's working to get you calmed, you really need that rest."

His other hand rested over the hand he held, it felt strange, yet very comforting to sit here in the wild he loved so much, with a woman, who seemed to like him. The only downside to this was the hunters out on the prowl, but he was confident that he could keep his word to keep her safe and deliver her to her brother.
 
Penny was silent for a long moment as she lay there and listened to his soft breathing in and out. John was an interesting man, one that didn’t let his emotions get the better of him. He was also a good man. No one could convince her that he wasn’t. He’d saved her from a living hell and had promised to take her back to her brother.

She sat up from the pallet and turned to face him, her hand still clenched tightly in his own. Leaning forward in the darkness, her lips gently settled upon his and she let out a soft sigh at the soothing contact.
 
He found her lips against his to be soothing, his hand found it's way to her cheek, resting there, feeling the soft skin under his touch as he kissed her back. There was no urgency in the action, it was a return of affection showed to him, affection he could not express in words, but much rather in actions.

For as long as the gently kiss lasted, his earth had stood still, there was no sounds, no other motions beside those of Penelope and his own, he could even feel his own heartbeat, it was the only indication at the passing of time. When the kiss finally did draw to an end, his senses came rushing back to him, he allowed a soft breath to escape him and he smiled.

"Now that was unexpected."
 
Penny had never been kissed like that before. It wasn’t forceful. It wasn’t demanding. It was soft, soothing, and passionate. She let out a soft sigh as his hand reached to cup her cheek. He was certainly a man capable of great emotion and the very thought had her trembling beside him for an entirely different reason.

Everything paused as the kiss continued. They were no longer in the wilderness. They were no longer on the run. She was with a man that she viewed with growing affection and it was the most perfect place she could imagine.

When he broke the kiss, she sighed and returned his smile, a blush heating her cheeks as he spoke. He hadn’t expected what she’d done. Did he not share what she felt? Surely she hadn’t been mistaken.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for a while.” She confessed, wondering if he would share the sentiment. “You’re a good man, John. You deserve to have a good woman by your side.” She reached up to touch his own cheek, her fingers gentle against his features.
 
He rested his face against her touch, her words was endearing,

"Sounds like the kind of man you are looking for."

The statement alone shared his view of her, she was a woman he would take if she would have him. But he would never voice it, there was first more trails to travel and more to be learned of each other. He smiled,

"I'm glad you did, even though I would have wanted to, I would never have. It's just how I am."
 
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