Texas Rose

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.

Tyler reached for her shawl and pulled it around her as he spoke to Daniel. "I'm taking Evie with me tonight. You and Carmen behave yourselves. I'm sending Ben over to keep an eye on things. We'll be back in the morning in time for church."

Daniel peered over the top of his glasses, but he didn't raise his head. Evie's on-again, off-again marriage contained embarrassing elements that he wasn't prepared to acknowledge. He just watched her go.

Outside, Evie felt deliriously free, as if she were indulging in an illicit affair as Tyler led her toward the hotel across the alley. It was rather like a Gothic tale where the heroine sneaks into the forbidden tower at night. She had always wondered about the "fate worse than death" that the heroines feared in those novels. Now she knew what it was.

By the time they reached the top of the stairs, they were practically running. As Tyler had expected, Ben was waiting for him. But Ben had only to take one look at the two of them before reaching for his coat.

"Stay over at the house and keep an eye on the kids. We'll be back in the morning."

Ben nodded his head, gave Evie's flushed cheeks a wicked look, and departed without a word. They heard him clambering down the stairs as they closed the door.

Suddenly inexplicably shy, Evie couldn't look Tyler in the eye as he took her shawl. She looked down at the gown she had changed into and realized Tyler was looking there, too. She had worn one of her more daring dinner dresses, and without the shawl, she suddenly felt very exposed.

"This time, I want to see all of you, Evie." Tyler tipped her chin up with his finger until she met his eyes. "Are you having second thoughts?"

Evie shook her head. She could easily drown in the tenderness of Tyler's eyes right now. Maybe he did love her, just a little. That wasn't just lust reflected there; she was sure of it. She raised her fingers to the tie he had donned before coming to dinner.

"I'm your wife. I want to be a good one." She undid the tie and reached for his collar button.

Her reply wasn't what Tyler wanted to hear. He didn't know what he wanted to hear; he just knew a vague disappointment. But she wasn't arguing, that should be enough. If she was just playing another one of her roles, that shouldn't trouble him. He would take her any way he could get her.

They undressed each other slowly, exchanging tentative kisses at first, then growing more greedy as need overcame propriety. Evie felt the rush of cool night as Tyler lifted her out of the puddle of her petticoats and gown, but it was as nothing to what she felt when he removed the rest of her undergarments.

She stood there in nothing, with even her stockings and garters at her feet, while Tyler looked his fill. The single lamp threw shadows over the walls. Tyler touched her breast, and she sucked in her breath, but she didn't retreat.

"There isn't an angle or plane on you. You're all curves," he murmured wonderingly, exploring the circle of her breast before dipping lower, to the inward curve of her waist.

He still wore his trousers. Evie didn't think that quite fair, but she was willing to be patient. She wanted to be able to paint Tyler just like he was now. She wasn't certain she could do justice to the way the light glinted off the golden-brown hairs on his chest, or if she could manage the ridge of muscles beneath, but she wanted to try. It would be much safer to paint just the upper half of him. She didn't think she dared even think about the lower half.

As if he had followed the path of her thoughts, Tyler pulled off his belt. "I'm ready anytime you are."

Evie cast a quick look downward, then back up again. He was smiling at her embarrassment, but his fingers continued to work at his trouser buttons. She backed toward the bed. "Tyler." She licked her lips nervously. Every nerve in her body was tingling with the need to have him touching her again, but they had a lot of unfinished business. "I don't have..." She hesitated, no knowing how to say what she needed. "Starr said I'd need..."

Tyler backed her toward the bed. "I don't keep vinegar and sponges in my room, Evie. We'll find those another day. I'll take care of myself this time." He pulled something out of his trouser pocket before he stripped the trousers off.

Evie wasn't paying any attention to what was in his hand. She had never really seen Tyler in an aroused state before, and her eyes widened into saucers. She knew it was possible. He had shown her it was possible. But she never would have believed it otherwise. He seemed to grow bigger as she watched.

Tyler caught her by the waist and lifted her to the bed. "Have you ever read Tom Jones, Evie?" When she shook her head, he lay down beside her and leaned over her. "I'll have to find a copy for you. There's a scene in there where the hero..." And he leaned over and whispered in her ear.

"That's in a book?" she asked incredulously, but the question was strictly rhetorical. Tyler was already showing her what he wanted. She felt the faint rasp of his whiskers against her flesh as he took her breast into his mouth, and she lifted herself completely into his embrace.

"Perhaps I'll find a copy of Fanny Hill for you, too," he murmured against her. "I can remember they tried a variety of interesting places besides a bed. What do you think, Evie? Shall we try a couch next? How about on a ship?"

She didn't know whether it was Tyler's words or the sound of his voice that acted on her like an aphrodisiac. She was on fire all over. The brush of his hair-roughened legs between her thighs made her quiver with excitement The touch of his hand as he flattened it over the mound between her legs drew her attention downward. She knew he was watching her, but she couldn't look away as he covered himself with something and began to probe gently where his fingers played.

And then the feeling swelled and rose up in her, and Evie jerked her head back to meet Tyler's gaze as he entered her. She saw the look of possession in his eyes, the determination, and her heart nearly leapt from her chest. He lifted her hips and slid deeper, and she was beyond awareness of anything at all but thundering earthquakes in her blood.

Tyler took his time. He had been too quick earlier, too savage, and he wanted to savor the sweetness now. He plundered her mouth, paid homage to her breasts, and moved slowly until he felt her breathing quicken again. Then he rocked against her until she cried out and raised her legs of her own accord, taking him deeper, until he could go no more. He set the rhythm then, finding it in his own desperate need, wanting the release and the comfort and the ecstasy only she could offer.

Tyler took Evie's cries into his mouth and drowned them with his own. As his body exploded into hers, it wasn't enough. He knew it wasn't enough. But it was better than anything he had ever known before. He kissed away a tear rolling down her cheek, and let the perspiration between their bodies oil the friction of their skin as he covered her with his weight. He didn't want to move off of her. He didn't want to leave her. But he had to.

Evie moaned a little as he moved away and discarded the sack that had protected her from his seed, but she didn't seem aware of what he was doing. Tyler pulled her into his arms and brushed her hair down over her breast.

"Do you think we can borrow the couch in the lobby next time?" he whispered in her ear.

Evie giggled but didn't reply. She snuggled closer, laying her leg across his.

"Evie, I'm not Ivanhoe," he murmured, more to himself than to her.

"Who did Fanny Hill have?" she asked sleepily.

"A lover who left her to make her own way in the world for the better part of her wicked life." Tyler stared up at the ceiling. The lamp was flickering low and would soon be out. He didn't feel called upon to rise and blow it out.

"Well, when it comes to that, I suppose that's what we all have to do." With dreamy philosophy, Evie curled up against his shoulder and went to sleep.

Tyler lay there a little while longer, his stomach tightening into knots of fear. He had a wife now, and he didn't know what he was going to do with her. He didn't even know if he could protect her. He had made a dismal failure of protecting his loved ones earlier. How much had he improved in years of playing at gambling tables?

Not enough, he feared.