Texas Rose

chapter 38

A coyote howled in the distance, and though the night was warm, Evie shivered and wrapped her mantle around her.

"How soon until we be there?" Nervous, she turned to the man driving the horse at an unseemly pace.

"The Harding ranch covers thousands of acres. And they're surrounded by thousands more of government land. I've been telling them they need to buy that land, but they laugh. There's so much land out here, nobody needs to buy it. But the day is coming when they'll regret it."

That wasn't what she had asked. Evie stared out over the flat prairie. An occasional shrub tree silhouetted against the night sky was the only landmark she could distinguish. She hadn't seen any sign of human habitation for what seemed like miles.

"I don't see how Dorset can have us arrested all the way out here." This was musing aloud more than an attempt to strike up a discussion. Hale hadn't spent much time listening to her.

"You fell into bad company with Tyler Monteigne. I warned you of that earlier. I'll explain it to the judge, and everything will be all right."

He kept telling her that, as if saying the words was a magic incantation that would indeed make everything all right. Evie had some confidence in the power of words, but action usually worked better. She didn't like being separated from friends and family. She wanted to go home.

"I think we ought to go back, Mr. Hale. I don't feel right leaving Tyler to face the judge alone. And I'm worried about the boys. I just don't like running away. It doesn't solve anything. I've made a mistake. Won't you turn around and take me home?"

A muffled explosion in the distance rumbled the ground and made the horse edgy. Evie threw a worried look around the carriage hood but could see nothing untoward.

Hale bit his lip and concentrated on keeping his control over the horse.

She could jump. The carriage had a roof and sides, but it was open in front and had only a low-slung door. But they were moving so fast she feared she would break her leg. And they were so far out in the middle of nowhere, that she wasn't sure she could find her way back. Besides, there was nowhere to hide. And no reason to hide that she knew of, yet.

"Mr. Hale." His silence induced a measure of panic. "We have to go back. Something dreadful is happening. I know it."

A log and frame cabin loomed on the horizon. With the horse under control again, Hale increased the pace. "Miss Howell, I've always had your best interests in mind. We'll be there shortly. Just be patient."

"Why do you keep addressing me as Miss Howell?" Nervously, Evie twisted at her fingers. She wished she had found her gloves before leaving.

Hale gave her an impatient glance. "Because your marriage to Monteigne is not legal. I told you that."

"Everyone else calls me Mrs. Peyton." Now that she had actually produced a response from him, Evie pushed for more.

"Everyone else doesn't know who you are, but I do," Hale replied impatiently. "I don't know why you insist on this charade, but there's no further point in it. It doesn't matter who your father is, but your mother was Elizabeth Howell Harding. That's a matter of some importance in this town."

"She's dead, but my father's not. That's a matter of some importance to me. I want to go home."

The carriage hit a deep rut in the road and creaked ominously. Hale slowed the horse just outside the cabin.

"I'd better check the wheel. I wouldn't want to be stranded out here."

Evie glanced nervously at the house. There weren't any lights. She was certain it was abandoned.

Hale climbed down and inspected the wheels, making clicking noises with his tongue as he did so. She didn't like the sound of that. She liked it even less when he came around to her side and held out his hand to help her down.

"The axle is almost gone. We'd better stop here where there's shelter. It's perfectly safe, I assure you. No one will find you here."

Evie crossed her hands in her lap and stayed where she was. "I'm not going in that house with you, Mr. Hale. It isn't proper. I'll sit right here, if you please."

That didn't seem to annoy him. He merely began unfastening his horse from the carriage. "You're quite correct. It isn't proper. I'll see to it that the situation is remedied when they find us. You must believe me, Miss Howell, I truly have your best interests in mind."

He was beginning to sound like a parrot. Seriously annoyed as well as increasingly frightened, Evie glared down at him. "I beg your pardon, Mr. Hale, but I don't feel the least bit safe. There could be rattlesnakes and wild Indians out here. Surely we can't be much farther from the Harding place. Perhaps we could walk the distance?"

"I assure you, we cannot. It would no doubt be dawn before we reached the ranch by walking, and your reputation would be ruined."

"I don't give a darn about my reputation, Mr. Hale it's my life I'm worried about. What do I know about surviving out here?" Irritated, Evie climbed down from the carriage herself. For good measure, she checked the axle, but she couldn't tell a thing in the dark.

"There will be a lantern and water and food in there, Miss Howell. We only need wait until someone discovers us." He held out his hand to lead her into the house.

There wasn't much else she could do. If she knew how to ride, she'd steal the horse. The cabin seemed less frightening than that alternative. Ignoring his out-stretched hand, Evie lifted her skirt from the dust and started toward the house.

It was far superior to the shack that Tyler had taken her to. When Hale located the lantern and lit it, she could see that it had several rooms and real pieces of furniture. The dust had been disturbed, as if someone had been there lately. The furniture was of heavy Spanish origin, and Evie ran her finger wonderingly over the old ebony table. She had seen nothing like it in Texas. Actually, she had seen nothing like it anywhere. The French influence in St. Louis had been stronger than the Spanish.

The massive bed in the first room was of the same heavy quality. The mattress on it didn't look as if it fit, and she couldn't help but look at it warily. A mattress left abandoned for any length of time would become the home for rodents, but this one seemed relatively intact.

"As you can see, the accommodations are crude, but comfortable. You will be perfectly safe here, Miss Howell." Hale held the lantern up so she could examine the evidence of his words.

She didn't like it. She didn't like it at all. The place looked abandoned; the layers of dust were proof of that. But why was the mattress intact? She turned to examine the shelves in the main room that would have served as parlor and kitchen. As Hale had said, there were assorted boxes and bags and cans there, a veritable larder. Why?

"I won't stay, Mr. Hale. I will take my chances with the prairie." Even as she said it, she knew she couldn't. Another coyote was howling somewhere outside, and she was well aware of the snakes and other creatures inhabiting this vast land. She had read enough of Daniel's Westerns to know all the dangers.

"That would be extremely foolish. You are a wealthy young woman, and it would be a sin to throw yourself away on unreasonable fears. You must learn to rely on me. I will take care of you." So saying, Hale set the lantern on the table and took a flame to the tinder in the fireplace. "I'm sure we won't need the heat, but sometimes a nice fire provides company."

Evie didn't like the way he said that. She didn't like anything at all about this situation. Giving the lawyer's back a contemplative look as he bent over the fire, she swung on her heel and headed for the bedroom. She wasn't a fool, but she liked her creatures comfort, and she didn't like Hale. She slammed the bedroom door and snapped a bar closed behind it.

Hale looked up, but his expression was one of smug satisfaction, not disappointment.

* * *

Tyler tied his horse behind the lawyer's office and ran up the back stairs. Knowing the kids were safe was a relief, but he didn't trust that damned lawyer one bit. As before, Hale's door was unlocked. He didn't need a light to know where to look. Picking up the blotter, he grabbed the file, bending it and shoving it into his coat pocket. Then he gathered up the clutter on the top of the desk and took it to the window to see if any of it pertained to Evie.

He could barely discern the handwriting in the dim light. The scribbles looked meaningless, but he shoved them in his pocket anyway. Judging by his previous explorations, Hale kept all his current notes on hand. If he were innocent, he'd have every right to scream bloody murder at this ransacking, but Tyler didn't think Hale was that innocent. Hale would have to keep his mouth shut if any of the documents were incriminating.

He knew the one horse thief who had been up here the day of the shooting was still a patient at the doctor's office. The other man Tyler suspected of being here was over at the saloon drowning his sorrows. Those were the only two men he could associate with the lawyer. He would begin with them.

By the time Tyler spurred his horse out of town, dawn was breaking. A long night of questioning had given him the information he sought, but he didn't like the answers. He hadn't felt this terrified in years. He'd never wanted to feel like this again. But his heart was pounding in a frantic rhythm to accompany his fears, and he pushed his horse at an unmerciful pace.

It was different this time, he told himself. He was a man now and not a scared little boy. There wasn't a war on. He just had to battle a greedy lawyer. But that wasn't the real problem, and Tyler knew it.

The real problem was Evie. The farther he rode, the more that fact ground into his soul. He didn't want to lose Evie. These last two weeks had been like being back in that Yankee prison camp again, a mindless blur of nothingness with no hope on the other side. Tyler thought he'd killed all emotion in that camp, but it certainly wasn't reasoning logic pumping through him now. It was terror and longing for Evie.

He repeated familiar refrains. He refused to be reduced to a lump of quivering pudding for a woman. It wasn't worth it. She had as much as told him that she didn't need him any more. She had sent him away. She had not once come looking for him since he'd left. She'd had those damned papers served on him. And now she was out riding the countryside with that damned lawyer. She wasn't worth the effort.

But the old, tattered refrains no longer reassured. Tyler spurred his horse faster. Pictures of Evie flashed through his mind: Evie smiling and laughing with a room full of crude men as she calmly cheated the cheater; Evie standing on a riverboat with sunlight sparkling off her hair; Evie behind a line of children singing, a light of welcome in her eyes; Evie, naked and rosy and wrapped in his arms in the middle of the day.

The last image defeated him. She had come to him that day. She had given herself to him without reservation, without expectation of anything but to comfort his grief and guilt. He would be a long time finding another woman like that.

And so as he galloped his horse across the miles, Tyler allowed the knowledge of Evie to slowly sink into his bones and become part of him. Wherever he went, whatever he did next, Evie would be with him. It was a terrifying thought, but he was man enough to handle it now.

* * *

Unfolding from the uncomfortable chair in the cabin's front room, Hale stretched his aching back and looked out on a rosy dawn. He had just spent his first night with a woman. It wasn't as he had hoped it would be, but he had learned to be practical a long time ago. He could have bought a night of Starr's time anytime he wanted, but he liked to keep his money for better uses.

Perhaps he hadn't actually slept in the same bed with Evangeline Howell, but the effect would be the same for all intents and purposes. In a few hours, he would have the right to sleep with her every night of his life. He would appreciate some gratitude from her for saving her not only from that degenerate gambler but from the stain this night would leave on her reputation. However, he never got his hopes up, particularly where women were concerned. Perhaps Tom was right, and he should have forced her, but he just wasn't that kind of man.

He had expected Tom and his boys to be here by now with the preacher. Glancing at the horizon where no sign of rescue approached, Hale crept to the bedroom door. He hadn't heard a sound from there all night: no crying or bewailing her fate, just silence. He knocked.

"Miss Howell, are you all right?"

"Is Tyler here yet?" she called in dulcet tones.

The thought made Hale cringe. "He's in jail, Miss Howell. I have it under good authority that a warrant will be signed against him for murder. Gunslingers like Pecos Martin always have a trail of warrants after them."

Her laughter chimed clearly through the heavy oak door. "Tell me when Tyler gets here, Mr. Hale."

She didn't even have to add a warning. He heard it in her laughter, in the assurance of her words. This wasn't at all what he had planned. She was supposed to be weeping and near hysterics and agreeable to anything. They certainly didn't make women like they used to. His mother had been the last truly good woman he'd known.

Perhaps he needed to change his tactics. Tom should have been here by now. Something must have gone wrong. He would have to take matters into his own hands, as usual.

Hale wasn't very good at the shotgun tactics that Tom would have used. He didn't think he could force the preacher to marry them, and it certainly didn't look like the lady meant to cooperate without some incentive. Somehow, he would have to provide that incentive.

"Now that it's light out, will you feel safe while I fetch help? My horse doesn't have a saddle, so it may take me awhile."

"Take all the time you like, Mr. Hale," she practically sang. "Leave me some fresh water, will you? I'd like to freshen up some while you're away."

That made Hale feel a little better. Maybe she was beginning to understand her predicament. She was an unmarried woman, a schoolteacher, and she had spent the night unchaperoned with a man. Harding would have to fire her. And the good moral ladies of town would demand that he do the right thing by her, or she would be consigned to the level of women like Starr.

"Miss Howell," he called tentatively. "I'll bring the preacher back. Everything will be all right."

"You do that, Mr. Hale. You just go and take care of everything."

Somehow, that didn't sound as encouraging as he would have liked, but she'd barred the door, so there wasn't any way of patting her hand and offering reassurance. Frowning, he straightened his tie and went to fetch the water as directed. When she still didn't emerge, Hale saddled his horse and rode out to fetch the preacher himself.

* * *

Tyler had second and third thoughts about Evie and her place in his life when he reached the cabin he'd forced the damned thieves to tell him about. He smelled smoke from the chimney and saw the abandoned carriage out front. Light flickered in the front window, and he had the picture of a cozy little love nest with Evie cuddled up in the arms of her fancy lawyer. Tyler's fingers itched on the handle of his gun as he circled the house.

The place was built like a fortress. There was only one entrance and high, narrow slits for windows. He wished for some of the explosives Ben and Daniel had set off. He'd blow some ventilation into the place.

Pulling his gun, Tyler tested the door. Warped by decades of exposure to the elements, the old oak protested loudly at the pressure. Tyler cursed and stepped back into the shadows. He preferred surprise for his entrance.

No one came running to investigate the noise. Were they so engrossed in what they were doing that they couldn't be bothered? Livid, Tyler returned to the side of the house and the largest of the windows. They were designed primarily as air vents and contained no glass. Digging his boots into the deteriorating clay filler to find a foothold on the timbers beneath, Tyler pulled himself up until he could see in. He could see only the outline of a bed and a glimmer of light from the room beyond.

If he was walking in on some unsuspecting family, he was asking to get his head blown off. But the image of Evie in Hale's arms kept him from rational thought. Carefully, Tyler crawled through the opening. The scratch and thump of crumbling patches of clay falling to the ground gave the only warning of his approach.

He lowered himself to the wooden floor inside and kept to the shadows along the wall while he listened for any evidence that he had been heard. From the other room came the sounds of soft humming.

Humming. If it was Evie in there, she didn't sound in the least frightened. After what she had put him through, Tyler meant to correct that. But he didn't mean to terrify some innocent stranger. Keeping his gun raised, he crept across the darkened bedroom to the doorway.

The sight in the other room nearly paralyzed him.

Hair piled in a tumble of chestnut curls on top of her head, Evie stood naked in a small tub of water, soaping herself with a cloth while firelight danced a pattern of shadows and light across her glistening skin.

Tyler felt all his fears fall into a lump in his stomach while the rest of him began to tingle with a desire that would soon become a raging inferno if he didn't act quickly. He didn't know what in hell she thought she was doing, but he sure enough was going to find out. Holstering his pistol, he stepped into the parlor.

"Mind if I join you?"

Evie swirled around, her hair tumbling loose to her shoulders as she attempted to cover herself with her hands. Blinded by the firelight, her eyes took a moment to recover before they could see into the shadows. But Evie didn't really need to see to know who stood there, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the door frame.

"Tyler!" She grabbed the towel on the chair, wrapped it around her, and stepped from the tub. Forgetting that he was supposed to be in jail, she asked eagerly, "Have you come to take me home?"

Tyler could feel the effect of her beauty shattering the lump in his middle. Or perhaps it was the eager light in her eyes that jolted his insides alive again. He'd known many beautiful women. None of them had made him feel like this. He wanted to wrap her in his arms, kiss her until she melted, and carry her off into the sunset.

But she didn't necessarily want the same things as he did. Sighing, Tyler refrained from reaching out for her. "Not necessarily. Looks to me like you've got a right cozy little place here." He gave a glance to the far corners of the room, noted another doorway, and strode over to inspect this possible hiding place.

Finding only another empty bedroom, one without the advantage of a mattress, Tyler faced Evie again. She was hastily tugging on her chemise without having toweled herself completely dry. The thin cotton clung to the moisture on her skin, leaving her nearly as naked as if she had not worn it at all. Silhouetted in the fire's light, her lovely figure made a tempting shadow beneath the garment, and Tyler caught his breath as his gaze found the outline of her legs and their juncture.

His fingers instinctively reached for the fastening of his gun belt. Principles flew out the window when confronted with the temptation of Evie in nearly nothing in the absolute privacy of this hideaway. Fear didn't enter those lovely dark eyes of hers as he lowered the belt to the nearest chair.

"Do you have any idea how long it's been since we've been alone together?" Tyler started across the floor toward her.

Evie clutched the open neck of her chemise and stared as Tyler approached. She wasn't prepared for this. Nothing could prepare her for the burning hunger she found in his eyes. Her skin was aflame even before he could reach for her. She felt consumed, reduced to cinders, and incapable of independent motion beneath that stare. A sudden breeze might blow her ashes across the floor, but nothing else would move her from this spot.

But as his hand cupped her elbow, he ignited a flame that restored her and caught her up in its raging glory. Evie slid her arms around Tyler's neck and arched her body against his, and he swept her into an embrace that threatened to consume them both.

Their mouths met and meshed and clung and devoured until they discovered that their starvation could not be satisfied with just this one contact. Evie shivered as Tyler carried her into the darkened bedroom, but she refused to release him after he lay her against the bare mattress. She clung to his shoulders and pulled him down until he was sprawled over her, his heavy weight pushing her back into the feather down.

"My God, Evie, I don't want to rape you. Give me time..."

But her warm hands were already inside his shirt, stroking, touching, making him feel like a warrior god as he jerked his shirt and coat free and started on his trouser buttons. If he didn't release them, they would almost certainly pop open of their own accord.

She was so soft and enticing beneath him. Tyler felt rough and grimy and completely undeserving of the scented silk and warmth of her, but her eager hands pulled at his clothing, and he had no intention of stopping.

He cursed at the tangled confinement of his trousers and his drawers and finally forced himself to sit up and remove his boots and clothing before returning to her. In his absence, Evie had flung off her chemise, and Tyler reveled in his unobstructed access to her breasts. He felt her arch off the bed as he took one nipple in his mouth, and it took all his self-control not to come into her then. He wanted it so bad that he ached.

"Tyler, please, now," she whispered in his ear as her hands rode down his back, their motion giving meaning to her words.

He had wanted to take time, to love her slowly, to show her how he felt, but after a night like this past one, they were both raging out of control. The brush of those soft thighs he had just seen silhouetted in the firelight flamed along his hips as Tyler dipped his tongue one more time into the recesses of her mouth. His hand caressed her breast, and when she gasped and arched into him, he couldn't stop.

Evie gave a wild cry of triumph as Tyler plunged into her, filling her, stretching her, forcing her to follow him in his mad ride as he withdrew only to surge into her again. She didn't think about what she was doing. She only knew she was in Tyler's arms again, that he had come for her, and that she would never let him go. The violent joining of their bodies was testimony to that. Nothing could ever put them asunder again.

She cried out her ecstasy as Tyler delved deeper and carried her with him into regions hitherto unexplored. She was lost now, running through a mindless landscape with only Tyler for guide. And as her body slammed into an unseen mountain, she shattered in his arms, and knew the joy of his echoing shout.

Still throbbing, they lay together afterward, their skins soaked with sweat. Evie had never felt more alive in her life, and she stretched her thighs to wrap around him.

"Lord, Evie." Tyler felt himself stirring again, as if dying and coming back to life once wasn't enough. "We're going to kill each other if we keep this up."

"If this is the way to heaven, then I'll gladly go," she whispered in his ear.

"I don't know if it's heaven or hell where we're headed, but we're getting there fast." Tyler finally summoned the energy to roll over to keep from crushing her, but he pulled her with him, keeping her trapped in a tangle of legs and arms so he could feel her along the length of him.

"I love you," she murmured against his skin.

Tyler pretended not to hear, but his arm tightened around her. "We've got some problems, Evie," he reminded her.

"You came for me." Evie stretched out along his length.

"I have half a mind to paddle your behind for running." Tyler ran his hand down her back to cup that soft part of her anatomy. He could feel the heat build in his loins as he stroked her there. Holding a naked Evie wasn't conducive to logical thought.

"I didn't think I would be much help to you if I was behind bars, too," she reminded him. "And I thought the Hardings might help. I wasn't running away, I was running to."

"The Harding ranch is west, not east. You'd better start learning directions, sweetheart. Hale wasn't taking you to the Double H. He was taking you here."

That brought Evie out of her moonstruck lethargy. She pushed up on her elbow and stared down at him. "Why would he do that? The carriage axle broke. He'd just gone back to get help. He'll be back shortly." At that thought, Evie swung toward the edge of the bed.

Tyler caught her waist and pulled her back. Without any of the restraint that Evie had shown, he closed his mouth over her breast and suckled until she cried out and melted into his arms again. Then he raised his head and kissed her mouth. When she was firmly back in place, he leaned over her.

"I think it would be beneficial to his health if he realized that you're truly my wife. What better way to show him?" he asked tauntingly.

"Tyler!" At this indication of his intention, Evie wriggled beneath him. "If the preacher wasn't really a preacher, I'm not your wife. Besides, that would be embarrassing. Let's get out of here now."

Tyler pinned her shoulders to the pillow and held her still. "You are my wife, and what better place could we go but your father's house? We've not had this much privacy since we married. And he assured me we could have the use of the place for as long as we liked."

"My father's house? This house belongs to my father?" Evie stared up at him.

"I'm certain your Mr. Hale had a reason for choosing this as his headquarters. Why don't we ask him when he returns? In the meantime, what better place could we be? I'm in no hurry to go anywhere. My only concern is that Ben and Daniel and your cousins may blow the whole damned town up while we're gone."

He was distracting her deliberately. Evie knew she shouldn't be here, doing this with him. They weren't really married, and they weren't doing anything to prevent babies. And she didn't really care. That shocked her, but she wasn't fighting it. It felt right to be lying in bed with Tyler practically on top of her. She wanted to see the taut planes of his muscles as the sun rose in the window behind them. She wanted to see his eyes dancing with laughter or darkening with desire. She wrapped one leg around his to keep him from moving.

"I thought I heard something last night. Ben and Daniel made that explosion?" She shouldn't encourage him, but she would.

"That's what it looked like to me, but I didn't stay around long enough to inquire." Tyler brushed a kiss along the side of her mouth when he felt her tense. "Don't worry, they're all in one piece. The town isn't, though. It's got a gully right down the middle."

"Tyler, what are we going to do?"

Reluctantly, Tyler shifted to a less-tempting position. He knew what he wanted to do, but he'd already created enough problems by doing that once already. He would have to proceed at a more logical pace.

He leaned back on his elbows and stared at the dying embers of the fire in the next room. "Why did you have those papers served on me?"

"What papers?" Sitting up, Evie shoved a handful of curls over her shoulder.

That gesture was almost Tyler's undoing. If Evie had eyes at all, she had to see what she was doing to him. There wasn't any way he could hide his body's reaction to her. But she was staring pensively at the fire in the other room and ignoring him. Gritting his teeth, Tyler swung his legs over the opposite side of the bed and searched for his pants.

"The papers ordering me to keep away from you. What did you think I was going to do? Rape you in front of the children?"

Evie smacked his back. "Of course not. I don't know what you're talking about."

Locating his trousers and resisting the relief of that love tap, Tyler got dressed. He hadn't really thought Evie would serve those papers on him. She might smile him into oblivion, but she would never use the courts to keep him away. It was ridiculously comforting to know that if Evie ever decided to tell him to get lost, it would be with lavish smiles and a flurry of lies.

"Hale gave me papers signed by a judge ordering me to keep away from you. I figured if you really wanted to see me, you knew where to find me, but you didn't come. Am I to take it that you don't need me around anymore?"

Evie continued to sit in the middle of the bed, naked, staring at him. "Tyler Monteigne, have you been drinking?"

Tyler ignored the insane surge of hope rushing through him. "Answer the question, Evie. You know who your parents are. I'll give you the rest of the information in Hale's possession. Do you want me to leave so you can be the town belle or whatever it is you want to be?"

Evie wanted to throw something at him. She wondered what Jane Eyre or Elizabeth Bennet might do in this situation, but those ladies would never find themselves in such a fix. She really would have to get her hands on a copy of Fanny Hill.

With a sigh of exasperation and as much dignity as she could muster while naked, Evie raised up on her knees and swung her right hand and struck Tyler as soundly as she could manage across his handsome jaw.