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When the kiss ended, Lorna continued to press her cheek against the bristly roughness of his Her eyes were closed in a holding on to of the moment of closeness

“So,” she admitted in a whisper

“Nothing can frighten you unless you allow it,” Benteen replied, and pulled back his head to look at her, bringing his hands up to push on her shoulders and force her feet onto the ground The butt of the pistol grip dug into her flesh “It’s time you learned how to shoot”

Reluctantly she withdrew fro it It was heavy Benteen had handled it as if it weighed next to nothing

“First see if there’s any bullets in it,” Benteen instructed

“But you unloaded it”

“Check for yourself,” he insisted “Do you remember how to do it?”

“Yes, I think so” Lorna turned the cylinder as she had seen hiun was empty

“Pull the haet the feel of it,” he told her She had to use both hands to hold it “And remember, never,” he eun is empty”

The haun, they made her attempts feel very aard After she had done it a few ti the 45-caliber bullets to their chambers

“I’ll load it with five bullets” He stressed the nuet?”

Lorna chose soe oak not too far away

He appeared to do noit with only one hand The sudden explosion and flash of blue fire from the pistol startled Lorna She flinched and closed her eyes at the deafening noise

“That’s what it’s going to sound like when you fire it,” he said, and srip on the revolver to hand it to her butt-first “It will kick back against your hands, so hold on to it firmly And don’t close your eyes”

“Did you hit the tree?” she asked, feeling very nervous and not at all eager to go through with these lessons