Without waiting for argument, Tyler grasped her by the waist and deposited her in the saddle sideways. Even he could see the foolishness of trying to put her on properly in that getup. He tried not to think about how she would feel if she had to straddle a horse after last night. Her careful steps had raised his guilt to whole new levels.
When Tyler was certain she was grasping the horse's saddle and wouldn't fall off, he swung into his saddle and took her reins in hand.
Before they could leave, he had to say something. He'd been brought up right, even if he had fallen on evil days since then. Tyler turned around and gazed at Evie's haughty profile. She was doing her best not to look at him, and he had to smile at this response. Did she think ignoring him would make what happened go away? Knowing Evie, she probably did.
"When we find town, I'll look for a preacher. I'll make things right," he assured her.
Evie startled so badly that she nearly fell off her horse. Ignoring her reaction, he gathered up their reins and kicked his horse into motion.
"If that was a proposal, I refuse it," she replied steadfastly, her grip on the saddle left her knuckles white.
Tyler glanced back at her frozen face but as usual, he couldn't read the thoughts behind it. "Despite what you might think, my mother brought me up to be a gentleman. What I did last night was unforgivable, and I'm ready to pay the consequences. Marriage is the only way I can repay you for what I took away."
Evie compressed her lips until they almost turned as white as her knuckles. "I'll call myself Mrs. Peyton and say I'm a widow before I'll marry you, Tyler Monteigne."
"We'll see about that," he responded, turning his back on her and forcing the horses to a faster pace.
Relief swept through him that he wouldn't have to tie himself down with a wife and all the complications that ensued, but there was a certain amount of insult in her refusal. He wasn't used to women turning him down. Drunk as he'd been, he probably hadn't performed as he ought last night. She deserved better than to be the recipient of one of his worst rages. But aside from marrying her, he couldn't see any means of correcting the situation. From the sour look on her face, she certainly wouldn't be amenable to a little dalliance to show her his better talents.
Besides, she knew nothing of protecting herself, and he wasn't about to get himself caught up in that situation again. Remembering the child he had fathered when he was no more than a boy, Tyler set his jaw and proceeded onward without any further objection to her refusal. He had lost a child and a friend that last time. He'd stick to experienced women from now on.
They rode in silence except for the rumble of their empty stomachs. As the morning wore on, the sun beat mercilessly on their heads. Evie had lost her hat in yesterday's escape, but it had never been adequate for protection in the first place.
At some point, Tyler turned to check on her. A silent woman was an unnatural one in his experience. He could see the pink forming on her fair skin and cursed his own stupidity.
Stopping his horse, he waited until Evie's was beside him, then removed his hat and set it on her head. She had not attempted her usual fashionable coiffure but wore her hair in a loose chignon at the back of her neck. The hat slid over her forehead and down to the chignon, but it shaded her face.
Evie tried to give him a haughty look, but the desperation of their situation kept her from succeeding. Trying not to sound pitiful, she asked, "Do you think it is much farther?"
"Can't rightly say, but if there isn't a town soon, there's bound to be a way station where we can inquire. I need to find you a hat that fits better. That looks kind of cute on you."
Evie attempted a stiff smile and tilted the Stetson to a jaunty angle. "I suspect it looks better on you, but thank you."
Tyler felt a jolt of something electric at her bravado and quickly kicked his horse back into motion. Most women would have harangued him until he died for what he had done and was doing. He could imagine Bessie's endless complaints about the dust, the horse, the lack of food, the sun, the destruction of her clothing, and that without even the insult of the night before. Yet this female sat there looking beautiful and brave without a word against him. He didn't want to admire her. He didn't even want to like her. But he damned well wanted her in his bed again.
That was a puzzle he would have to work on. He'd liked Bessie and all the other women in his life well enough as long as they kept their places to his bed and nothing more. But Evie was a liar he couldn't trust for ten seconds, and a rebellious nuisance who demanded his entire attention. He couldn't like her, but he had bedded her.
Well, he would get her to Mineral Springs and leave her and not concern himself any longer. Except now that Ben was gone, he really had no place to go. Ben would have wanted to return to Natchez, but Tyler had no desire to return to the place of his humiliation and defeat. The card game had only offered slight revenge but hadn't changed anything. And there was still the matter of what he had done to Evie. If a child came of it, he wanted to know. He wasn't sending any more women out into this world carrying his bastard.
By the time the buildings of Mineral Springs wavered into view, Tyler was resigned to spending some time there. Waves of heat made the town into an oasis amid the desert, but as they rode on, Tyler could see the river running on the far side that provided the reason for the town's existence. It wasn't a bad-size little town, he admitted grudgingly as they rode closer. And it certainly couldn't be much worse than Under-the-Hill
"Would you like your hat back?" Evie called from behind him.
Tyler watched hope light her sunburned face as she scanned the town ahead. He still didn't know why in hell she wanted to come here, but just one look at her right now belied the story of a lost sister and her rotten husband.
"I like the outfit just the way it is," he told her. "Stay out here very long and you'll make a great lady cowboy."
The smile she threw him was devastating. He ought to be immune to them by now, but for some reason this one hit him straight in his gut. Tyler ached for the right to touch her, to seek solace in the same generous willingness she had offered before, but he had caged the beast this morning.
He didn't need anyone, would never need anyone again. He would see that Ben was found and given his last respects, he owed him that much, but he had no intention of grieving any more than that.
Evie was disappointed when he turned away, but she was resigned to his taciturnity. Tyler could be as charming as the next man when he wanted, but that charm hid a mean streak. She would do well to stay away from it—and from him.
The first person she saw when they rode into town was Daniel leaning against the rickety stagecoach office. She screamed in delight, and he dropped the stick he was whittling. With a look of wonder, relief, and joy, he ran jerkily into the street to greet them, forgetting his cane and his self-consciousness,.
"Evie! My word, they've sent search parties after you! Are you all right? Did Pecos rescue you?" At Evie's admonishing look, he covered his mouth with his hand and sent Tyler an apologetic glance. "I'm sorry, sir. We were just so worried..."
"We?" Tyler asked caustically, throwing his leg over the saddle and climbing down. His glance went around the near-empty street. A few matrons had wandered from the general store, but there didn't seem to be any outbreak of excitement.
"Ben and me. He swore you'd outride those bandits, but their horses looked awful fresh—" Daniel looked startled as Tyler halted in mid-stride.
"Ben? Ben is here? Where?" Evie gasped as Tyler caught her waist and hauled her down, even though his mind was quite evidently elsewhere.
"Upstairs in the hotel. He took a pistol ball in the side but the doc says he'll be all right if he'll just rest awhile. He rode in by himself, and we had a devil of a time persuading those bigots at the hotel that he was entitled to a room, but when I told them he worked with Pecos Martin, they came around."
Tyler barely stood still for this explanation. He was on the way to the impressive edifice with the
sign proclaiming "hotel" before Daniel had all the words out. Evie heard it, however, and she gave Daniel a fulsome look.
"Now everybody in town will know he's Pecos Martin. How are we going to explain that?"
Daniel looked defensive. "I couldn't leave Ben to sleep in the stable, and I'm not as good at making up stories as you are. What can it hurt if they know who he is?"
Because that wasn't who he was, but Evie couldn't tell Daniel that. She just prayed that Tyler Monteigne had the swiftness and accuracy with a gun that Pecos Martin was proclaimed to have. She'd read enough dime novels to know what happened to notorious gunslingers, and she threw the man walking away an anxious glance.
She really didn't want to see a showdown.
Chapter 9
By the time Daniel and Evie reached Ben's room, Tyler was already there. They could hear his shouts even as they hurried down the hall.
"Who the damn hell did you think you were? General Sherman? You could have got yourself killed back there and for what? A bunch of rednecks who can't tell the difference between a fox and a hen?"
They couldn't hear Ben's reply, but it wasn't necessary. All Evie's feathers were bristling, and she shoved into the room without invitation, nearly knocking Tyler from his feet with the swing of the door.
She didn't apologize as he jumped clear. She launched into him with all flags flying. "Ben was trying to save us and maybe even you, you stupid fool. If you can't appreciate that, then get out and leave him to someone who can."
Ben grinned and winked at Daniel. "Now, Miss Evie, lay off the boy. Anybody can see he can't be both pretty and smart. Besides, the sun always bakes his brains when he leaves his hat off."
Daniel snickered, and Evie smiled back at the man in the bed. Tyler glared at them all and stalked out. He didn't bother slamming the door, but the echo of his boots carried all the way down the stairs.
Ben stopped laughing. "You'd better go see to him Miss Evie, or he's likely to ride right out of here and not look back. He's got a burr up his rump you don't know nothin' about."
"That isn't all he's going to have up his rump if I have anything to say about it." Gathering up her sadly disheveled skirt, Evie swung out of the room with the determination of a soldier marching off to war.
She caught Tyler leading the horses to a building with a falling sign on which the word "livery" could still be distinguished. Ben had been wrong about Tyler riding out without looking back. No doubt he meant to water the horses first.
"What was the meaning of that scene?" she demanded as she caught up with him.
Tyler sent her a stony look and reappropriated his hat. Jamming it back on his head, he replied curtly, "It's none of your business."
"Well, it seems to me if we're paying you by the day to act like a donkey, we ought to be entitled to some explanation."
"Jackass. The word is jackass. Did you have to look these things up in the dictionary and memorize them?" Tyler handed the man coming out of the livery a greenback and started unfastening his saddlebags.
"I can say donkey if I choose. It's no skin off your nose if I choose to speak like a lady. And you're evading the point." Evie was aware the stable hand was giving her odd looks, but she could survive odd looks. She wasn't at all certain that she could survive Tyler Monteigne. The sight of those broad shoulders easily taking the weight of the saddlebags as he swung them over was giving her heart palpitations.
"You sound like a schoolteacher, and you're damned right I'm evading the point." Tyler headed back toward the hotel with Evie trailing right behind.
From the corner of his eye he could see a tall man walking their way, and it didn't take even his half-baked brain to figure this was the law in town. Idly, he wondered if he got Evie angry enough if she would turn him in for rape. He supposed she had that right.
"Pecos Martin?"
Evie stopped in her tracks at this question from a stranger and stepped protectively to Tyler's side.
Tyler extended his hand. "Tyler Monteigne, sir. What can I do for you?"
The man with a tarnished star dangling from his vest eyed his outstretched palm, then with a glimmer of understanding, accepted it. He looked Tyler straight in the face when he replied. "I don't hold with gunslingers in this town, but if you're staying incognito then I'll do what I can to keep trouble out of your way. This the lady the boy was raising such hell about?" He nodded in Evie's direction.
Evie was staring at both men with astonishment and didn't react immediately.
"She means to be a schoolteacher," Tyler replied maliciously.
Evie recovered her equanimity sufficiently to smile. "I'm Maryellen Peyton, sheriff I understand Mineral Springs is in need of a teacher, and I'm here to apply. Mr. Monteigne has been generous enough to escort Daniel and myself. I don't know what would have happened had he not been available when those robbers struck."
"I heard about that. I've got men out now searching for those thieves. That gang has struck once too often lately. When you've had a chance to settle in, I'd like to talk to both of you about what happened. But for now it's good to meet you, Miss Peyton. My name is Alan Powell."
"It's Mrs. Peyton, sheriff. I'm a widow. It's a pleasure to meet you, too. But if you don't mind, I simply must find a room and rest. It's been quite an ordeal."
Tyler watched as the hard-bitten sheriff melted into a puddle of butter before Evie's smallest smile. He didn't want to imagine what would have happened to the man had she turned the full force of those devastating lips on him. He could see the devilment in sloe eyes as she glanced up at him through those long lashes, and he wanted to wring her neck. Mrs. Peyton, the schoolteacher, indeed.
"I'll be back to talk to you in a bit, Powell. I'll see the lady gets settled in first." Appropriating Evie's elbow, Tyler steered her toward the comparative safety of the hotel. He was either going to have to get out of here fast or poke the eyes out of every man in the damned town. It might be easier if he just pulled a sack over Evie's head.
Once they were in the dim light of the lobby, she halted and removed her arm from his possession. She gave him a thoroughly quenching look that he took with a threatening frown.
"You may talk to the sheriff as long as you like, Mr. Monteigne, but unless you explain that scene upstairs, you're now formally off my payroll. I'll not have anything to do with a man who can treat an injured friend so callously."
In the dusky gloom she was a shimmering candle of indignation. Light from the dirty window caught on her chestnut tresses, capturing the strands of auburn he'd noticed that first day. Her sunburned cheeks glowed with ire, and there were even sparks in her eyes. Tyler found it hard to believe that she was the woman he had taken so crudely last night. She was right. He was a jackass.
"As of now, I formally offer my resignation, Miss Peyton." He swung the saddle off his shoulder and dropped it to the floor. "But if you would care to join me wherever they serve food in this godforsaken hole, then I'll be happy to enlighten you."
Evie jumped at the sound of the saddle hitting the floor. Or maybe it was at the light in Tyler's eyes as he offered this offhand invitation. She had been ignoring what had happened between them, but it was obvious he didn't mean to be gentleman enough to forget it. He would never meet the standards of an Ivanhoe.
But the hotel clerk entered then. Evie was starving, and there didn't seem to be anything else she could say while Tyler made arrangements for their rooms and learned the location of the nearest cafe. She had to eat and ladies didn't go to public places alone.
There was time to have second thoughts when the clerk led her to a room with a single large bed and she realized that she wouldn't have Daniel's protection at night. But her trunk was already in here, the warm water was tempting, and her stomach demanded satisfaction. She washed and changed and answered the door when Tyler knocked.
She could feel his eyes assessing the ecru crepe de chine skirt with the lace sacque she had chosen to wear. It was the coolest thing she could find in her
trunk, and the lace didn't wrinkle as much as some of her other bodices. As long as she had to wear long sleeves in this weather, she might as well look cool and comfortable. Besides, she liked the blue rosette at the waist and the blue sash that went with it. She gave him a haughty smile when he said nothing.
"Have you no insult to offer over my attire, Mr. Monteigne? Or would you care to throw in a few threats and curses first before we eat? Or perhaps what you need is a good game of cards and a bottle of whiskey. Shall we go in search of them?"
Since they were indoors, Tyler had been politely holding his hat in his hands. Now he jammed it on his head and offered his arm. "It's good to see you again, too, Miss Peyton. Shall we dine?"
Her hand trembled as she took his arm, and with a sigh, he relented. "I'm not wearing my gun Evie. If you so much as smile at a man while wearing that outfit, they're going to be all over you. You don' really want my blood on that pretty lace, do you?"
Evie sent him an uncertain look, but when she saw the laughter in his eyes, she relaxed. Tyler the Charmer was back. She knew how to handle charmers. It was the man behind the charm who terrified her. As long as she didn't have to deal with him, she would do all right.
"Red with blue is vulgar, sir. I'll thank you to keep your fists to yourself, if you would. And I'll more than thank you if you would just feed me. I'm about to expire of hunger."
"More than thank me? I like the sound of that. Let's go."
Laughing, chatting as if they were truly a courting couple, they made their way down the stairs and out into the hot sun. No one looking at them would realize that he was a gambler with an itchy trigger finger and a reputation for winning and that she was a liar and a bastard that no one wanted. They appeared a gentleman and a lady made for each other.
Evie realized her fashionable gown was altogether too elegant for the bare cafe where Tyler led her. A pane of flyspecked glass gave the room light. A glass pitcher of warm beer on the counter added a touch of hospitality. They took seats in wooden chairs at a bare table and were waited on by a youngster in dirty apron and bare feet. The food, however, when it came, was steaming hot and plentiful.
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