The Gunslinger Read Online Free PDF Page B

asked him not to encourage Toby. To fulfill her request, he’d have to hurt Toby’s feelings and tell him that he was a nuisance. Wilder squinted into the distance. “I’m just a little tuckered out.”
    â€œOn account of you bein’ shot?” Toby asked.
    â€œYeah.”
    Toby sat next to her. Digging his bony elbows into his skinny thighs, he leaned forward with a deep sigh to watch the sunset. Lillian turned to thank Wilder for sparing Toby’s feelings. A knot formed in her chest at the raw tenderness she saw reflected in his eyes just before he averted his attention away from her brother and stared again at the horizon. The loneliness he’d mentioned to Toby earlier was wrapped around him like a shroud. What would it be like to have no home, no family? As hard as things had been growing up, she’d always had the love of her mother, and now Toby’s unfettered devotion.
    â€œIs your shoulder hurting?” she asked.
    Remaining focused on the distance, he shook his head slightly. “Aches a little.”
    â€œMaybe we should put your arm in a sling, to ease the pressure on your wound.”
    He slid his penetrating, silvered gaze over to her. “It’s best not to care, lady.”
    She turned away, allowing the silence between them to thicken, the chasm to widen. The man who wore his reputation seemed so different from the one sitting on her front porch. She had not expected tenderness from a killer or a showing of respect for her wishes. He had never harmed her or Toby, but she couldn’t overlook the fact that he had hurt others.
    â€œBeautiful sunset,” he said quietly, with reverence.
    Lillian snapped her head around, unable to keep the surprise from reflecting in her voice. “I didn’t expect you to be a man who would notice—”
    â€œI notice everything, lady. It’s what’s kept me alive.” He leaned the chair back, resting his head against the wall. “Boy, if you decide to follow the path I’ve tread, you’ll need to learn that.”
    Toby swiveled his head around. “Learn what?”
    â€œTo appreciate every minute you’re given. You never know which one will be your last.”
    Toby furrowed his young brow. “I figure the last one will come during a gunfight.”
    â€œThe last one will come when you don’t expect it, when your back isn’t against a wall.”
    â€œYou think someone would shoot you in the back?” Lillian asked.
    He shrugged.
    â€œHow can you live always expecting to die?”
    â€œIf I expect it, maybe it’ll be longer in coming.”
    â€œAnd what do you gain?”
    â€œAnother sunset.”
    She turned away, not certain what to make of this man. Then Wilder began to play the harmonica. Its lowly strains floated around her, a seductive melody echoing loneliness. She felt a strong urge to reach out to him, but he’d chosen his path. The music faded into the silence as the sun disappeared and darkness blanketed the land.
    â€œWhere did you get the mouth organ, boy?” Wilder asked.
    Toby twisted around. “It belonged to my pa. He carried it with him during the war.”
    â€œWhere is he now?”
    â€œDead.”
    Lillian wished that the night hadn’t turned Wilder into little more than a silhouette. She wanted to see his face, to know what he was thinking as he held her brother’s precious gift.
    â€œWhat about the string?”
    â€œNothing special about it. Just figured you never know when you’ll need a length of string so decided it was a good thing to carry about. But the penny is a lucky penny. I put it on a railroad track and a train ran over it.”
    â€œYou’re lucky the train didn’t run over you,” he said.
    â€œThat’s what Lil said. That’s why it’s a lucky penny.”
    Lillian heard Wilder’s low chuckle. She stared through the darkness. She had said those exact