Texas Rose TH2 (40 page)

Tyler bounced Maria in his arms. "There isn't much I can tell you. I overheard some men talking about drawing out Pecos Martin and using the kids for shields. They found Manuel and Jose before I could. You need to talk to the boys about that part of it. I saw them carry the kids out to the street, so I slipped up to the hotel. It's the best lookout in town. You know the rest."

Powell didn't look appeased. "I told you I didn't want any gunfighting in this town, Monteigne, or Martin, or whoever you are. I want to know who those men are and why they were looking for you and if I can expect any more of this kind of riffraff around here. I'll have to ask you to leave, if so. I've never seen shooting like that in my life, and I'm not willing to see it happen again. You near killed those men from a distance and at an angle that most men would never try. You could have killed those kids just as easily."

"No, he wouldn't. He saved us." Manuel placed his fists belligerently at his waist and glared at the sheriff.

Tyler grinned and ruffled the boy's hair. Manuel dodged the show of affection, but he didn't move far from Tyler's side.

"I'd like to know who they were, too, but you'll have to ask the brats here or the one the doc is tending to. The one I killed was one of your escapees. Maybe he resented being caught. But I'd like to know who told them I was Pecos Martin." Tyler turned an accusing look to the sheriff.

"Half the town heard the boy there tell Phil that Pecos Martin was coming to town and that Ben was your friend. Word spreads. And if you're not Martin, how did you learn to shoot like that?"

"The war, Sheriff, same as you and a lot of other people. I'm just better at it than some." Tyler glanced to Manuel. "Have you ever seen those men before?"

Manuel shrugged. "There's always strangers at the livery. I don't notice them none."

Tyler frowned. The boy was as tense and nervous as a high-strung yearling, but he couldn't force the boy. Not yet. He turned back to the sheriff. "You'd better talk to your patient, Powell. And let me know what you find out. My wife has a hankering to stay in this town, but if the law can't keep her and the children safe, we'll have to be thinking about moving on."

The word "wife" caused the children to grow wide-eyed, but they remained properly silent while the adults conversed.

Powell turned his gaze Evie in the rocking chair with the child in her arms. She returned his look with an innocent smile. Tyler knew the frustration the man felt. A man couldn't yell at a woman for explanations.

"You haven't explained why you've allowed your wife to pose as a widow yet." The sheriff tried a new tactic.

Tyler deposited Maria in Carmen's arms and moved toward the door. "And I don't intend to, not yet. It has no bearing on the matter at hand. If you have any other questions, Sheriff, feel free to come by." Gently, but firmly, he edged Powell to the door.

When the sheriff was gone, the room erupted in an explosion of questions. Tyler held up his hand and waited for silence, then pointed at Manuel for the first question.

"If you and Miz Peyton are married and all, does that mean you're going to stay here? Will you be working at the Double H? Can we go see the horses?"

Tyler heard Evie's faint chuckle behind him. He'd done this to himself. The last time he'd lost control like that, he'd wound up in prison for three years. That should have been enough lesson for any man. But no, now he'd shackled himself for a lifetime, and not just to a wife. He didn't think there was a chance in hell that Evie would give up these kids, even for him.

"The horses at the Double H aren't anything to see. They're half-broke mustangs. And I wasn't exactly working out there, so I'm not promising anything."

Tyler could see the disappointment already spreading across the boys' faces. He wasn't meant to be a family man. He wasn't any good at it. He wasn't good at much at all but playing cards, shooting guns, and winning women. Helplessly, he turned to Evie.

She set Jose back down on the floor. "Go get wood for the stove. We need to start dinner. And don't you dare go sneaking back to that livery. I don't want you anywhere near that place ever again." She stood up and shook out her skirt and answered the children's unspoken questions. "We don't any of us know what we'll do until we hear from your uncle. California is a long, long way away. So you might as well be patient."

"He didn't answer my telegram," Carmen pointed out reasonably.

"Maybe he didn't get it. Things like that get lost all the time. We'll send another one tomorrow." Evie tried not to think about Hale's declaration that the uncle was dead. If he were dead, shouldn't somebody have wired back with that information? She would believe the best until informed otherwise.

She saw Tyler standing helplessly by the door, and her stomach did strange little flip-flops as she watched him there. Her husband. It seemed impossible to conceive. She knew he was incredibly attractive, but that wasn't what she saw now when she looked at him. She saw a man as lost as she was, a man with spectacular strengths and a vast store of knowledge but lacking roots and an incentive to grow them. Or was she just seeing what every other woman of his acquaintance was seeing—a man who needed to be tied down?

She went up to him and touched one of the arms folded defiantly against his chest. "Will you be staying?" She touched the tip of her tongue to her dry lips as she sought the right words. "I'd like you to stay, but you don't have to if you don't want."

Tyler watched that enticingly pink tongue slip over kissable lips and felt his insides slipping. She still wore his coat over the gown he'd literally ripped from her back. He'd treated her like an animal, ruined her chances for a good husband, showed her what he was, and still she didn't retreat from him. Evangeline Peyton Howell was a very odd woman. And he didn't want to lose her.

He didn't accept that fact gracefully. He didn't want s house or a passel of kids. He didn't want ties of any sort. Marriage meant all those things and more. But marriage meant Evie was all his.

Tyler shrugged. "I'll be back for dinner. Save a place for me."

He walked out, leaving Evie staring after him, wondering.

Chapter 31

"You fool! You incompetent, bumble-headed, pea-brained fool! Why did you have to go dragging those kids into this? Didn't I tell you I didn't want anybody hurt? I just wanted that gambler out of here."

The man sitting in the shadows of Hale's office glanced disinterestedly at his dirty boots. "You didn't specify how you wanted him out of here, and the boys were getting a little nervous about those kids poking around all the time. They thought they'd take care of two birds with one stone."

"They thought? That's the trouble with the lot of you—you don't think! That's what you have me for. Unless you want to go to jail for a real long time, you'd better start paying attention. You'll have to sell that livery and set up elsewhere. That will take care of the damned kids."

The man in the corner gave the lawyer's irate expression a considering look. "I haven't got the money to start over again, and it looks to me like you'll not be getting it anytime soon. It appears the widow is already taken."

Hale's face turned even redder with fury. "She's lying to protect him. I don't know what he has on her, and I haven't the time to find out. I've got the Hardings out of the running with that story about first cousins, but the gambler has to go before she starts telling people who she really is."

"You'd think the whole damned town would have figured that out by now, the way she's moved in with those Rodriguez kids."

"The whole damned town thinks Elizabeth Howell was a saint. And it's been twenty years. People don't remember old stories that long. Hell, even I was too young to pay attention back then."

"I wasn't," the livery owner said with a shrug. "Logan wasn't. He's been hanging around, haven't you noticed? He's dumb, but even he smells something' fishy."

"He just plain out and out smells." Hale wrinkled his nose in distaste. "It won't be easy, but nothing worth having is. Just take the gambler out of the picture for me. I'll do the rest."

The man in the corner shrugged and unfolded from the chair. "You keep those kids out of my hair, then. They know too damned much already."

Hale nodded absently. His mind was already elsewhere.

* * *

"Come with me back to the hotel. Ben can stay here and look out for the kids." Tyler pulled Evie into the shadows by the door as the children readied themselves for bed.

She looked up at him uncertainly. "I'm not certain this is the right thing to do, Tyler. I'm not even certain we're really married."

"We're married if we say we are. I'll get you a ring that fits in the morning. The old biddies will be looking for one."

"Tomorrow is Sunday," she whispered back. "You can't buy a ring on Sunday. We'll have to get up and go to church. Can you imagine what people are going to think when we walk in there after spending the night in the hotel?"

"They'll think I'm finally doing my duty. Damn it, Evie, there isn't any other woman in this damned town for me. Now that it's respectable, I want you in my bed." Frustration laced Tyler's words. He took her hands in his and rubbed them.

"But you don't want to be married and you don't want babies and you don't want to settle down. That's not marriage, Tyler." Evie pulled her hands away. Temptation was close enough without adding to it. The possibility of spending the night in Tyler's bed caused rivers of anticipation to flood through her. She remembered her wedding night very clearly. She wanted that closeness again. But Tyler had had that closeness with other women, and he'd not settled down because of it.

"We exchanged vows, Evie. You're my wife. I'm willing to face up to that. I know it's not fair to you. I'll make a rotten husband and a worse father, but what's done is done. If we get a divorce now, you'll have to make it public. They'll run you out of town then. They won't let a divorced woman teach their kids. And every man in town will look at you as easy pickings. I won't let that happen, Evie."

He was right, of course. She had tried not to face it when he'd made their marriage public. She wasn't at all certain why he had done that. Surely they could have lied their way out of that little episode. People would gossip, but she could lead an exemplary life and the gossip would go away. But now he was standing here saying he wanted her to be his wife. How much of that could she believe?

"There will be babies," she answered sadly, crossing her arms beneath her breasts to protect herself from the hurt. "We can't give them a proper home. You can't even promise to be a proper father. I never wanted that."

Tyler fought the despair washing over him. With any other woman he could have given her a peck on the cheek and walked out. But not with Evie. Evie had gnawed a hole into his middle and burrowed there, and he couldn't get her out. He was growing comfortable carrying her around inside of him. Maybe that was all he needed, one woman who could tame the beast.

"We'll use Starr's suggestions and not make babies," he whispered desperately. "I've got some cash saved up. Maybe I can buy a herd and lease some land. Maybe I can learn to settle down. Just come back with me, Evie. I want you in my bed tonight."

She didn't know what swayed her. She wanted babies, so it certainly wasn't that. Perhaps it was knowing that he wanted her enough to actually think about settling down. Or perhaps it was just the fact that the womanizing gambler had finally offered to make the final commitment. He was actually pleading with her to be his wife. It was an occasion of sorts.

Tyler certainly hadn't mentioned anything about love. He wanted a woman in his bed, and she was that woman. She wasn't exactly flattered. But there was a certain ring of truth to his arguments. He wanted her, and she wanted him. They were married. Why shouldn't they go to bed together?

Feeling a panic much like the one of their wedding night, Evie met Tyler's anxious gaze. He really did want her. That could be enough. It was more than she'd ever had before.

Throwing an anxious glance to Daniel who was politely keeping his head buried in a book, Evie nodded. "All right, but we have to come back here in the morning to get the children ready for church."

He would have sung the "Hallelujah" chorus if she'd asked it of him. He didn't want to go back to that empty hotel room without her tonight. There were too many fiends in the dark, too many ghosts from the past. Evie's presence would chase them away.