Texas Rose

chapter 17

It was nearing dawn and they lay entangled in sweaty sheets. Evie couldn't move if she wanted to, and she didn't have enough energy left to know what she wanted. She liked the slick sheen of Tyler's hair-roughened leg against hers. She couldn't imagine her breast without his strong fingers wrapped around it. Idly, drifting in and out of sleep, she tried to imagine him lifting his hand away from her, and all she could envision was cold and loneliness.

Whatever they had just done was better than cold and loneliness. She was vaguely aware that she was sore. Tyler was large, she was inexperienced, and they had done "that" more times than she could count. Once they had just lain joined, too exhausted to do more, until their bodies had rebelled and rocked them together and exploded within minutes of their first movement. Another time they had woken from sound slumber and rolled into each other's arms, and instead of sliding back to sleep, had found themselves rolling across the bed again. Where they should have been oil and water, they were fire and kindling. Evie definitely didn't feel cold or lonely anymore.

Or not cold, anyway. With the coming of dawn, the loneliness began to form like ice around her heart. She couldn't remember the first time she had felt its sting. She supposed when she was very little she had just assumed that Nanny was her mother and never questioned her lack of father. It was only later that she questioned why Nanny wasn't called Mama and asked why she didn't have a father like the other girls had. Nanny hadn't told the whole truth, but she'd never lied.

But Evie did. When she was fourteen, she had told her friends that her father was a railroad baron who spent all his time riding the rails, seeing that his trains ran properly. She had her mother dying of some romantic illness that made him incapable of ever loving again.

By the time she was eighteen, she had become a little more subtle. Her wealth was obvious, so she made Nanny into her maiden aunt and invented a story of her wealthy father's enemies wanting to harm him through her, so he had to hide her. The romantic illness served just as well this time around.

But Nanny never lied, so all the neighbors knew Evie and Daniel were "adopted." That was a polite euphemism for saying they had no parents who would claim them, and Nanny was being paid to do so. There weren't many reasons why parents didn't claim their children. Everyone could see why Daniel's parents hadn't wanted him. He was a cripple, lame for life, and when he was born, it was thought he would never walk upright. Evie had only been two years old when they'd brought Daniel to Nanny's house. She didn't remember his parents, but she remembered his infant screams. He had screamed night and day for months.

Although Evie had always kept the hidden dream that her parents would claim her someday, the realization that they were paying Nanny to keep her away had shattered that image. Lying there wrapped in Tyler's arms, Evie tried to imagine how to tell her husband that even her parents didn't want her. It was much easier to say they were dead.

But that wouldn't explain why she was here.

Rain clattered against the roof again. The gray light of dawn was erasing the darkness. Evie wondered if she had the courage to turn over and really look at her husband. She knew what he felt like. His hand on her breast was long-fingered, not callused, and stronger than she had ever imagined. The broad chest pressed against her back had a light mat of hair that tickled and made he want to touch him there. The man part of him made her curious, but she was uncertain as to whether she wished to explore that curiosity any further.

The hand on her breast began to move, the thumb scraping lightly up the side while her traitorous nipple hardened and surged against his palm. Evie could feel Tyler's warm length all down her back and wrapped around her legs. He was very definitely awake. Defiantly, she turned on her back to look at him.

The rain pounded overhead as she studied the man hovering over her. In the shadows of dawn, she could discern the rough stubble of beard on his lean jaw, the tousled curl of golden hair as it fell over his face, and the faint lines drawn by years of pain along the sides of his mouth. He wasn't as shining handsome as he could be when he put on his happy face, but he was more real this way, more man than she was prepared to encounter.

"Did you know you have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen in my life?" Tyler murmured, looking down at her as she stared up at him.

The compliment startled her. She had received enough flattery in her lifetime to start a book of poetry, but none quite like this. Tyler had already had what he wanted of her, and still he took the time to say something nice. That ought to count for something. She was ready to build a life out of any small thing he handed her.

"Did you know you have the most silver tongue of any man I have ever known?" she replied wickedly, not yet ready to give him more than that. He had too much control in his hands. She would retain what she could.

Tyler grinned and applied his silver tongue where it would do the most good. When Evie finally gasped for air, he relented and returned to resting on one arm while he studied her.

He cupped his hand around her breast as if to test its weight and flicked the rosy tip with his fingers, watching with growing hunger as it responded to his touch. Evie watched him warily through shadowed eyes, however, and he satisfied himself with kissing her there.

"If you're too sore, just tell me, Evie. A man and wife ought to be able to tell each other these things."

She found little relief in his words. How did she tell him she didn't know what she wanted? Yes, she was sore, but that didn't stop her from aching for more now that he'd aroused her again. Biting her tongue, she studied him. The bare arm resting above her was rounded at the top with an alarming amount of muscle. If she'd seen men with their shirts off, she didn't recall them to any extent. But she would remember this one. The hair on Tyler's chest was little more than a light brown fuzz that arrowed down to his narrow waist, but the sheet rested there and she couldn't see farther. She could feel, however. He was as aroused as she was.

Evie wasn't timid by nature. She reached out to scrape her fingers across Tyler's beard, liking the texture. "It's sort of like being handed a box of chocolates and knowing you'll be sick if you eat them all but not knowing when to stop, isn't it?"

Tyler grinned and slid his arms around her and rolled over on his back, pulling Evie with him. Her hair cascaded in a waterfall around them. He pulled the mass over her shoulder. "I've no taste for chocolates before breakfast. A sweet juicy orange is more what I had in mind. I've never got sick on oranges yet."

Evie gasped as Tyler suckled at her breast. She should have known what was coming, but ii hadn't occurred to her that they could do "that" in this position. But he was making it very obvious that they could. One large hand pressed at her hip, guiding her downward, and just the thought of what was waiting there made her ready.

A pounding on the door overrode their sweet murmurs. Evie jumped at the noise, but Tyler wasn't so swift to allow the intrusion. Holding her still, he continued to ply his tongue and teeth in little nips along her throat.

"The whole damned river's coming out of its banks! We've got to get to the horses." Ben's voice was peremptory and accompanied by staccato curses and continued pounding.

Tyler grimaced. "That's what happens when you treat them as equals. No courtesy at all. I expect better from you, woman."

Frightened by Ben's words, frustrated by the interruption, Evie remained frozen until she heard this crack. Tyler's humor belonged on the gallows. Pinching him in a soft place beneath his arm, she slid away, rolling up in the sheet as she did so.

"Expect to be disappointed then." She pulled the sheet defiantly over her breasts. She wasn't about to do what he had in mind with Ben standing outside the door, pounding it like a bass drum.

"I like a little sauce in the mornings." Tyler grinned, grabbed the sheet, and tugged as he swung his legs over the bed. "Ben, stop that infernal pounding before I come out there and throw you over the rail," he shouted at the door. "I'll be there shortly."

Evie scurried for cover as Tyler pulled the sheet around him, leaving her naked, but not before he got a good glimpse of hips and buttocks before she covered herself with a blanket.

"There's no sense in getting dressed," he reminded her as he stepped behind the dressing screen to pull on his pants. "It won't take long to get the horses to high ground. Ben's just an old worry wart. I'll bring up some coffee and biscuits when I come back."

Evie wasn't paying him any mind as she wandered to the window with the blanket around her. She had every intention of going next door to see how Daniel fared. If Tyler Monteigne expected an obedient wife who bowed to his every whim, he'd certainly taken on the wrong woman.

Her gasp as she looked out the window brought Tyler to her side. He looked over her shoulder, cursed, and leaving his shirt unbuttoned, fell down in the chair and began tugging on his boots. "That river was only a trickle the other day. Where the hell did that come from?"

Stunned by the immensity of the rapidly spreading waters, Evie could only stare outside as Tyler finished dressing. The nearly dry riverbed she had noticed when they arrived in town was now filled to overflowing. Water poured down the streets, lapping at the boardwalk, and seemed to rise even as she watched. Bales of cotton floated down the alley below. An empty crate bumped against a post by the sheriffs office. Men were loading up wagons with goods from the various businesses up and down the street, and the water was halfway up the wheels.

"Tyler, be careful out there. That current seems awful strong." Evie turned just as Tyler rose from the chair, fastening the rest of his shirt and shoving it into his pants. She didn't know why she should feel concerned about this man who had stolen her independence, but it seemed the natural thing to do.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead and started for the door. "That coffee might be a little later than I promised. I'll see what I can do."

He walked out, leaving Evie wrapped in her blanket staring after him. When she realized what she was doing she glanced down and shivered with horror. She was standing here with nothing but a blanket on while she discussed floods and coffee with a man she barely knew.

And the memory of that man between her sheets and gazing down at her sent a hot flood of heat to her cheeks She had never considered herself a wanton before, but it was all too obvious that Tyler Monteigne had made her into one. She was more than certain that ladies simply didn't do those kind of things. Or maybe wantonness ran in the family and her mother wasn't really a lady.

Deliberately turning off those thoughts, Evie washed in the cold water from last night and looked for the most stiffly correct gown that she possessed. Unfortunately she didn't possess many, and she'd been wearing them to school these last weeks. Not one of them seemed suitable for the day after her wedding.

She had to keep the proper gowns clean a little while longer, until she had enough money to have them laundered. It wasn't exactly with resignation that she donned the white Swiss muslin with sprigs of green on the ruffled overskirt and green ribbons at the heart-shaped neck. She liked pretty things, and the schoolteacher clothes had been a trifle depressing.

Evie didn't attempt an elaborate coiffure but twisted her hair in several loops, pinned it, and covered it with an old-fashioned net until she could do more. She had to see how Daniel fared.

He was lying propped against his pillows, throwing wads of paper against the windowpane when she entered. She glanced at the Pecos Martin book in his lap and saw the jagged tears of pages ripped from the seam. She wasn't going to question that particular piece of rebellion.

"The water's up to door fronts now. It's a good thing we're on the third floor." Evie lifted her skirt from the unswept floor and went to the window to check the flood's progress.

Daniel studied her turned back sullenly. "I suppose Monteigne is out there making a hero of himself."

Evie raised her eyebrows as she turned around. "He and Ben are moving the horses to high ground. What on earth is wrong with you this morning? If your leg is giving you pain, I'll fetch you some medicine."

"I don't want any damned laudanum." Daniel picked up a book from the bedside table. "Ben said he'd bring up breakfast when he got the horses out. You don't have to wait on me."

"Daniel Mulloney, I do believe you're jealous!" Evie threw herself down in the overstuffed chair and watched the dust fly up. The discovery of Daniel's feelings had floored her, but she didn't intend to let him know that.

"I am not!" Red-eared, Daniel slammed his book down against the covers and glared at her. "I just don't see any reason why you had to go and get yourself married like that. And I don't believe for a minute that you're..." He stumbled over the word and turned even redder.

"Pregnant? With child? Enceinte? I'm not sure I believe it, either." It would be easier to lie, but Evie didn't like lying about this, not to Daniel. He deserved better than that. But her words sounded cruel even to her ears. Heaven help her, what was she going to do with a child?

Daniel relaxed as the subject came out in the open. He looked at her with curiosity. "You said you didn't think you'd ever get married. I didn't think you even liked men. You flirt all the time, but you never get serious."

Evie examined her nails. "Well, things happen, I guess." She didn't want to say that she didn't have much choice. There was no sense in Daniel hating Tyler. They would have to learn to live together somehow and Daniel needed a man in his life. She wouldn't have chosen Tyler had she been given a choice, but beggars couldn't be choosers. "At least Tyler is a little more fun than most." Remembering what they had done in bed, Evie didn't think "fun" was the correct word, but she let it slide.

Daniel didn't say anything, and Evie suspected his mind had followed the same path as hers. They were closer than brother and sister, but the topic of sex had never been discussed between them, and probably never would. That was one reason Daniel needed Tyler.

He finally ended the silence with an awkward question. "Is he going to find you a house? I wouldn't mind living somewhere besides a hotel for a change. I'm starving right now."

"We haven't discussed it. I'm of the impression that Tyler doesn't have much more money than we do. I suspect we'd better keep on looking for our checks and waiting for that lawyer to turn up."

Evie rose and checked the window again. The water lapped at the windows of several buildings already. She couldn't see Tyler from this angle. Daniel's room overlooked the livery and the tiny house attached to the rear, not the front entrance where Tyler would be. She hoped whoever lived in the house had moved everything into the stable lofts. It looked as if that back alley behind the hotel and past the house was a valley where all the water from the streets congregated. It rushed along like a river of its own.

She swirled around at a knock on the door, and gave a cry of relief as Ben sauntered in with a tray of coffee and some covered dishes that smelled mighty good. Tyler came in behind him, swiping his dripping hat from his head and leaving it on the floor, discarding his long coat on top of it.

Daniel sent Evie's new husband a suspicious glare, but the smell of food was more overpowering than jealousy. He struggled into a better position as Ben set the tray down beside the bed.

"Flapjacks, folks, and sorghum syrup. Don't eat too fast, it may be all you get the rest of the day. John's packing up his kitchen and moving for higher ground as we speak."

Evie turned a worried gaze to Tyler. "Should we be moving out, too? How long can the water stay this way?"

Tyler's gaze rested on her wholly inappropriate gown before rising to meet her eyes. His smile was gentle as he answered. "We won't let you starve. This is one of the safest places in town, and John is moving his supplies up here. It might not be the best fare, but there will be something to eat in those cans and barrels."

Evie nodded a trifle uneasily beneath the odd glow in Tyler's eyes. She didn't know what he was thinking when he looked at her like that. It wasn't the same look as when he wanted to bed her. She recognized that one well enough. This look came closer to the one he'd had in his eyes that day he'd first proposed marriage. It was almost a haunted look, and she didn't like it.

Evie ate a flapjack without tasting it, sipped at her coffee, and tried to pretend everything was normal. She and Tyler had not once discussed their plans for the future. She had no idea if she would have a house to live in, a place to raise a child, or where the money would come from. Until these last few months she'd never had to worry about such problems, and now they seemed overpowering. She wanted to think Tyler would take care of them all, but she had this nagging feeling that he was as scared as she was. It didn't add to her sense of well-being.

Setting aside her coffee, Evie wandered back to the window. Water rushed like a river through the alley. A crate slammed against the side of the hotel, narrowly missing the top of a first-floor window. A rooster sat dripping and bedraggled on the livery roof. Her gaze drifted idly to the little house in back, and she screamed.

"Tyler! There are children out there. On the roof. They're going to drown!"

As she gathered up her skirts and ran for the door, Tyler jumped up and grabbed her by the arm, shoving her back to the chair.

"Don't leave this room. The place is filled with rats, both the four-legged and two-legged kind. Daniel, keep her here." He glared pointedly at the boy in the bed. "Ben and I will see what we can do."

Ben was already checking the window and whistling a dubious note, but like Tyler, he grabbed his hat and headed for the door.