Love Her Softly

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"I'm not sure I want to," Emma admitted as she stared at the piece of iron and wood resting in Liam's hand.

A gun.

Guns were dangerous and deadly and Emma wanted nothing to do with taking someone's life.

Liam shook his head. "Whether you want to or not, you need to. What if I hadn't been around when that mountain lion attacked you yesterday? What if it had come earlier on the trail before you'd gotten to the cabin?"

Emma sighed. "I know, Liam. I know that it could have killed me..." She bit her lip. "But guns kill, Liam.. I couldn't kill a person..."

Emma saw Liam's eyes turn haunted just before he opened the cylinder of his revolver and check the rounds inside. "You'd be surprised just what you'll do when it comes right down to it, Emma. And I'm not saying you need to learn to shoot so you can kill every person you ever meet. I just want to know you can protect yourself against critters like that lion."

Emma was still nervous, still uncertain and still uncomfortable. But, she could tell just how important this was to Liam. She knew he blamed himself for the incident with Shade. She knew that if anything else ever happened to her—or even almost happened to her—Liam would blame himself.

If teaching her to shoot a gun gave him a bit of comfort and assurance than Emma would let him. After all he'd done for her, it certainly wasn't too much to ask.

"Okay. But you'll have to tell me exactly what to do. I've never used a gun before."

Liam beamed, clearly happy she'd come around. He showed her the gun. "First rule is, always treat a gun like it's loaded, even if you aren't sure it is. Never point a gun at anything or anyone unless you want to shoot that target. And you don't ever touch that trigger until you're ready to fire a bullet. Too many people get trigger itch and pull it too soon—that's how bad accidents tend to happen."

Emma swallowed hard and nodded. This lesson certainly wasn't making her feel any more comfortable about using a gun.

Next, Liam went through the steps of teaching her to load the weapon. When Emma was fairly capable of doing that, he turned her attention to a stump in the yard with a scrap of fur tied tight around it.

"There's your critter, Emma. Time to learn how to shoot it."

Liam stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He placed his arms over hers and guided her as she tried to take aim.

"You want to line those sights there up with the target. You should be able to see the front sight between the back ones... take your time. Take a deep breath in, let it out real slow and squeeze the trigger—don't pull it real hard or your shot will jump."

Emma attempted to remember all that as she held the gun. She had it aimed at the target and so she slowly breathed out before pulling the trigger.

The gun jumped in her hand and the sound of the bullet ricocheted loudly in her ears. Quickly, she turned her head to look at Liam. "Did I hit it?"

He had a proud smile on his face as a chuckle rumbled from his chest, vibrating against her back. "No. But you got close." He must have noticed her disappointment because he kissed her hair. "Don't feel bad, love. Nobody hits the target the first time. I have boxes and boxes of ammunition and we have all day. You'll be shooting just as good as me in no time."