Texas Rose

chapter 25

Daniel and Carmen looked up in surprise as both the front and back doors simultaneously burst open. They were huddled together on the pallet that served as Daniel's couch in the front room, their heads bent over a book. They jumped apart with guilty looks when Ben and Tyler rushed into the room.

Tyler wiped the back of his forehead with his sleeve and regarded the two with amusement. "Lord, when I didn't see anyone in here, I thought we were all in trouble. First thing tomorrow, I'm buying you proper furniture. That way I'll at least be able to see what you're up to from the window."

Daniel grimaced and regarded the pulled guns with interest. "Were you planning on shooting us if we were up to no good?"

Ben laughed and shouldered his rifle while Tyler tucked away his gun. "No, but your sister might. We'd better go round her up."

Tyler started for the door. "Are all the others in their beds?"

Carmen nodded. "Manuel just came in and went straight to bed. The others are asleep."

A cry echoed down the alley, a slight cry, but magnified in Tyler's imagination. He started, and hand on his gun, threw open the door. The torch at the end of the alley was gone.

His curse sent Ben running after him. Daniel grabbed for his walking stick and struggled to his feet with Carmen's assistance. Behind them, Manuel crept into the front room, still fully dressed.

Evie wasn't where he'd left her. Tyler knew she wasn't there. He cursed every word he knew and some he hadn't known he knew as he stumbled over the torch in the alley. He grabbed it and held it like a cudgel as he glanced around.

The darkness was against him, but the light scrap of material that was Evie's hat stood out in the pitch-black of night. He and Ben both saw it at the same time, and Ben grabbed for the door above it. Silently, he swung it open and slipped in, gesturing at Tyler to go around.

If Evie was inside that door, Tyler wanted to be there, and he cursed Ben for taking the part of older brother as usual. The damned man had never known how to be a servant. Still cursing, Tyler ran to the front of the hotel and entered through the lobby.

Phil was at the front desk counting the night's receipts. He glanced up with disinterest at Tyler's entrance, then jumped when Tyler slammed the torch across the desk.

"Who's come through here in the last five minutes?"

Phil stared at him as if he were crazed. Nervously, he shrugged. "Just Hale going up to talk to a client. Tom from the livery was here a bit ago. There's a drummer out of Houston came in drunk as a skunk." Realization suddenly dawned. "If you're looking for those jailbreakers, they didn't come through here. The posse's already tracking them."

The side door apparently went up the back steps. Phil couldn't see it from the lobby. Tyler glanced toward the wide staircase leading to the upper rooms. All evidence of the flood had been carefully polished away but boards that had been too warped to repair had recently been replaced. The new treads were a different color. There was an outline of mud on one of the lighter treads. Mud, in a town as dry as dust. He started for the stairs.

A crash and a thud echoed from overhead, and Tyler took the stairs two at a time, with Phil following close behind.

Ben was already there, ramming the door with his shoulder. Tyler could hear Evie's irate screams as she ranted at someone, but she didn't sound hurt. He almost grinned as the words "you demented son of a female dog" floated from the room. And then the door abruptly opened before Ben could hit it, and he fell through, sprawling at Evie's feet.

Choking on laughter, Tyler stepped over his friend's long form, blocking Evie from the sight of the curious crowd beginning to form in the hallway. The room was empty of anyone but Evie. With a few curt words, he ordered Phil to close the door and go find what remained of the law in this town.

Tyler caught Evie and looked her over. She was slightly disheveled, her usually orderly curls falling lopsidedly over her face, and one of her flounces was badly torn, but fire and not fear burned in her eyes. He pulled her close and planted a kiss on her lips. He deserved that much reward for causing his wildly pounding heart.

Evie allowed it for a few minutes. Tyler could feel her collapsing into his embrace, turning to him for reassurance, welcoming his kiss with parted lips and arms that clung to his shoulders. He held her tighter, concentrating on the taste of her and not what had led him here. He didn't want to think about the fear racing in his heart. She wasn't his to lose, and that's the way he wanted it

But as if sensing Tyler's inner thoughts, Evie shoved away from him a moment later.

"Unhand me and go after that cad! I want him strung up by the neck. So help me, if he ever lays another hand on me..."

Tyler placed his hand over her mouth and glanced at Ben who was checking out the window.

"Went out this way, all right. There's a bit of a roof down there, over the back door. He just jumped down and slid to the ground, I reckon. Must have had a horse waiting. I don't see nothin'."

Someone pounded on the door. Tyler waited until he was certain Evie had silenced, then released her mouth. She glared at him but held her tongue.

"Good girl. Did you get a look at him?"

Evie wanted to smack Tyler's face for that patronizing tone, but she was too glad of his arm around her to do anything that would cause him to release her. She glanced down at her lovely gown and tried to shove the flounce at her neckline back where it belonged.

"No, he had a gunny sack over his head. I don't think I've ever seen him before." Her voice shook, and she hated that. The pounding on the door increased.

"Better let them in." Tyler put his gun back in the holster and gently pushed Evie into a chair while Ben went to let in whoever Phil had fetched in the name of the law.

The scrawny youngster didn't look any older than Evie, but he wore a badge and a gun and a certain familiarity to the rest of the Powells. He frowned, as if that was expected of him, but his eyes lit with admiration as his gaze fell on Evie.

"Miz Peyton, ma'am! Are you all right?"

"Of course she's not all right. She's been abducted and dragged up here like a sack of corn, and she's half scared out of her mind. Why don't you just stand there and listen instead of asking stupid questions?" Tyler was getting damned tired of seeing that look in men's eyes when they saw Evie. But he blamed his irritation on the scrawny lawman and not the fear of these last few minutes.

Evie sent him an admonishing look. Holding her flounce, she turned back to the boy. "I don't suppose you have a pin on you? I must look a complete disaster."

Tyler thought he would strangle her. The boy was patting his pockets as if he were in the habit of carrying straight pins, and his eyes were wider than saucers as they noted the place where the gown was torn. To Evie's credit, she wasn't wearing one of her low-cut evening gowns—she'd probably sold all those—but the respectable walking gown still had a less than modest neckline that would reveal more than was necessary should she remove her hand. Tyler shrugged off his coat and threw it around her shoulders.

"Tell us what happened, E—" He corrected himself and finished, "Mrs. Peyton."

Evie pulled the coat around her, let her gaze flicker over the men pushing through the bedroom door, and waited.

Tyler sighed, gestured at Ben, and between the two of them, they shoved the sightseers back out into the hall and slammed the door.

"The children are waiting, Mrs. Peyton, if you could hurry?" Tyler prompted politely.

That did the trick. Evie was on her feet and heading for the door. "Some donkey grabbed me in the alley, covered my mouth with his nasty hand, stuck a rag in it, and dragged me up here. I couldn't see his face. Like I said, he had it covered with a sack, and there weren't any lights. He smelled like horse manure." She stopped to pull Tyler's coat over her arms and around her torn bodice, then turned to look at the men waiting for the rest of the tale.

"He told me if I behaved, everything would be all right. I didn't recognize his voice. I'd say he was a head taller than me, maybe not much bigger than Tyler. He wore gloves and boots. When he got me up here, he had to set me down to get that rope." She nodded at the rope no one had noticed lying on the bed. "I knocked over the lantern, kicked the chair, took out the gag"—she nodded at the handkerchief on the floor—"and then you were pounding at the door. He ran for the window and was gone before I could stop him."

Evie reached for the door, then remembering the crowd behind it, turned back to the room. "Tyler?"

Tyler looked at the scrawny boy who was standing, still dazed, in the center of the room. "Go back to the office and write all that down. I'll come back and tell you more if she remembers it."

With that, he caught Evie's arm, gestured at Ben, and holding her protectively to the side nearest the wall, he eased her out the door while Ben pushed the sightseers out of the way.

Evie went without a word. Tyler in shirtsleeves and waistcoat was still an impressive sight to see. Only one person questioned his right to lead her away. Jonathan Hale stepped out of the crowd to confront them.

"Mrs. Peyton, I came running as soon as I heard the screams, but apparently your friend here was quicker." He sent Tyler a look of mixed irritation and suspicion before turning back to Evie. "Are you sure you're all right? I could arrange for your security. It is difficult to trust anyone in times like these. I hope you realize you can rely on me."

Evie looked down at the lawyer's hand grasping hers and wondered what in heaven's name he was talking about.

Tyler disengaged her hand and half carried her past the irate lawyer without a word.

Gratefully, Evie followed Tyler down the back stairs that she had just been dragged up, not protesting his strong arm at her back. She could hear Ben clattering behind them, but her thoughts drifted to the children and Daniel.

She tried not to think of the man holding her. As they popped through the back door into the alley, she asked the question uppermost in her mind. "Do you think he was one of the thieves who escaped?"

It was the same thought Tyler had been chasing around in his head. She wasn't going to like his conclusion. "Maybe we better get back to the house before we talk."

Evie accepted that. She was suddenly very tired. Her arm ached where it had been yanked behind her. Since she had left St. Louis, she had been subjected to more overt hostility than she had ever suffered in her life. If this was what real life was like, she wanted her Nanny back. She would take her adventures from between the covers of a book from now on.

Before they reached the house, Tyler was nearly carrying her. Ben grabbed the door to let them in. Evie looked up to see Daniel and Carmen safe and waiting with terrified expressions, and she started for the bedroom to check on Maria.

Tyler caught Evie's arm, removed his coat from her shoulders, swung her into his arms, and carried her into the bedroom. Maria was already sound asleep in the big bed. Tyler laid Evie beside her, brushing a kiss across her forehead.

"I'd take your clothes off, but I'd shock the children. Get some rest. I'll be right outside until morning, so you don't have to worry about a thing."

He was saying words Evie wanted to hear. She closed her eyes and nodded. Tyler would take care of everything. He would make certain Manuel and Jose were in their beds, keep away the goblins, and explain everything to Daniel. She could just lie here and pretend she was back home in St. Louis.

Except she wasn't in St. Louis. As she lay there, inert, Evie could hear the low rumble of Tyler's voice in the next room. She wanted that voice whispering in her ear again. She wanted his arms around her waist. She wanted his body in the bed next to her, holding her, keeping her warm, making her feel good again.

Just the thought brought a flush from her head to her toes. She wanted Tyler naked next to her. Would he know she thought things like that? The idea didn't bear considering. Her imagination had gone completely out of hand to think such things.

In the next room, Tyler heard the sound of Evie rising from the bed, her shoes falling to the floor, her bare feet pattering across the old wood as she took off her gown. He kept his explanations to Daniel and Carmen brief. He didn't think he could concentrate for long on what he was saying while he listened to Evie undressing.

Tyler watched the two youngsters go off to their respective rooms and breathed a sigh of relief. Daniel found the one they called Manuel hiding around the corner and dragged him off by the back of his shirt. Tyler hid a weary grin, threw his hat on the table, and waited for Ben to speak.

"I'm goin' to mosey 'round the hotel awhile. Mind if I borrow your room?"

"Someone might as well get my money's worth out of it." Tyler handed him the key.

Ben looked him up and down carefully, then shook his head. "You a mess, boy. That woman got you by the back hairs. You better get on out or start accepting it."

Tyler scowled and removed his tie. "I'll be back at the ranch on Monday. Just you mind your own business."

Ben gave a sour chuckle and walked out shaking his head. Tyler growled and contemplated going after him, but he had promised Evie he would stay. Sitting down on the pallet and pulling off his boots, he wondered what in hell he'd got himself into this time.

He was almost positive that Evie's abductor wasn't one of the escaped thieves. They wouldn't have hung around or bothered dragging a woman to a hotel room.

Someone was after Evie.

* * *

Back at the hotel, Hale listened sympathetically as Phil ranted about the room's destruction and the fact that since it hadn't been rented to anyone, he had no one to pay the damages. Suggesting that Phil start changing his locks, the lawyer departed on that piece of free advice.

Returning his hat to his head as he reached the street, Hale turned his feet toward the dreary rooms he called home. He showed no surprise as Tom slipped out of the livery to join him.

"Some hero you make," the larger man sneered as he fell in step. "You were right there and still couldn't get to her in time."

"Some criminal you make," Hale replied mockingly. "Your man let her go. Where do you find the stupid bastards?"

"You get what you pay for," Tom replied with unconcern. "That was a damned stupid idea anyway. Women don't look twice at heroes. They like their men strong and mean to keep them in line. Take her out in the woods and put it to her, and she'll be so grateful you won't even have to ask. When you get her back to town, she'll be thoroughly compromised and begging you to marry her."

Hale gave this crudity a look of disgust. "You want to see me shot, don't you? With the likes of that gunfighter hanging around, I'd have a bullet through my middle before I opened my mouth."

Tom pulled thoughtfully at his long cigar. "Sheriff don't cotton to gunfighters. And the bastard's riled a few of my friends. He shot the brother of one of them. Why don't I see what I can do about eliminating your competition?"

Ignoring his roughneck client, Hale took the steps to his room two at a time.

Below him, the red glow of a cigar lingered for a few minutes more, before disappearing in the direction of the saloon.

* * *

The next morning, Evie wasn't quite prepared to accept Tyler's conclusions when he gave them, but her own conscience worked against her. As she readied the children for church, she tried to think what she could have said to whom to give herself away, but the lawyer seemed the only logical suspect, and second consideration didn't even make that thought logical. It hadn't been the namby-pamby Mr. Hale who had dragged her up those stairs. And he thought she was just a friend of Evangeline Howell's.

Logan was a little more logical suspect. He'd already been caught once sneaking around the house. Perhaps he hadn't believed her story. She should never have used her middle name. She was beginning to think that it was the cause of all her trouble.

Tyler went back to the hotel to change his clothes, but he was back in time to escort them to church. Evie supposed she ought to be worrying about her reputation, but her mind was on more important things.

Letting the children get farther ahead, she tugged on Tyler's arm and whispered, "Have you told anyone about where I come from or anything?"

Tyler lifted a golden brow and looked down on her. "What is there to tell? I know about as much as anyone around here."

"You know my name is Evie," she pointed out.

"I know you call yourself Evie upon occasion," he agreed, "but I haven't mentioned the fact to anyone. Why?"

She tried a different tactic. "Have you heard anyone mention a family named Howell?"

The children were already in the church. Tyler nodded at the people standing around the church door. Through his smiles, he whispered back, "I remember Jace saying his mother's maiden name was Howell."

Evie's face went pale. "Oh, hell."

A sudden silence fell around them, and she looked up to discover they were standing in the church doorway, and every face in the place was turned toward her.

The acoustics in here were very good.