Texas Rose TH2 (20 page)

"I'm getting rid of your child, and you can't stop me."

The violence that had built to the point that could have crushed her shoulder suddenly dissipated, leaving Tyler limp and inert. His fingers fell away as he scanned her face. "You would do that? You would kill an innocent child?"

The pain in his voice was even worse than the anger she had instigated earlier. It struck directly to the place in her heart that had been wounded the worst. Evie held her anger around her like a thorny shield, but she knew he had already breached it. "The child will suffer less this way. I know what it is to be an unwanted bastard."

She almost made it two steps past him before Tyler grabbed her arm. He spun her around, and silhouetted against the lights from the saloon, he was the image of a vengeful angel with his long coat flaring out behind him in the rain and his hat pulled down like a fallen halo.

"The child won't be a bastard. I'll marry you. You can do whatever the hell you like after the child is born, but the child is mine. I won't have you kill him."

And gripping her arm firmly, Tyler dragged her back in the direction of the hotel.

Chapter 15

The door slamming as Tyler threw Evie into the room woke Daniel. Wiping his eyes of a laudanum-induced haze, he watched in amazement as the usually charming gambler practically shook Evie before pushing her into a chair. Daniel almost pretended he was still asleep when Tyler glared down at him.

"What in hell happened to you?" he demanded, sending his gaze over Daniel's heavily bandaged and propped leg.

"Broke it," Daniel answered succinctly. He was glad the question needed only a simple answer. He wasn't quite ready for a more complicated one.

Tyler threw off his hat and drew his hand through his hair. "Hell," he muttered, before rounding on Evie as she crept from the chair and sidled toward the door. "Get back in that chair. You're not going anywhere until I get the preacher."

"Preacher?" Daniel mouthed the word more than uttered it.

Ignoring Tyler's command, Evie laid a cool hand against Daniel's forehead. Raindrops sparkled in her hair, and he could smell the freshness of the outdoors on her. He caught her hand and held it, ignoring the pain that was creeping up on him.

"Tyler has apparently suffered sunstroke or cracked his head on something. Just bear with him for a little while until Ben comes." She threw Tyler a cross look. "Where is Ben, anyway? Have you already driven him away?"

As if the wind had carried his name, a light knock sounded, and Benjamin stuck his head around the door without waiting for a reply "Heard 'bout the fall. How you doin', boy?"

Before Daniel could muster an answer, Tyler gripped Ben's collar and hauled him into the room. "Keep her here until I get back. Use your gun, if you have to. A bullet in the leg should slow her down."

He gestured his head in Evie's direction to indicate who he was talking about, as if she weren't the only woman in the room. She smiled sweetly at him, and Tyler scowled and stamped out.

Ben crossed his arms over his chest. "You got him mighty riled about something. What happened, boy? Did Miss Evie throw you down the stairs?"

"We've just had a minor disagreement over something perfectly frivolous," Evie purred, doing her best Miss Nightingale routine as she straightened Daniel's cover and offered him a sip of water. She had always admired Miss Nightingale's work. Perhaps she ought to study to be a nurse. "You needn't bother staying. It's Friday night, and I'm certain you have other plans."

Ben grinned and planted himself against the door. "My plans include staying alive, and I won't be that for long if I'm not here when Tyler comes back. How's that leg feel, boy? Should we be hollering for someone to fetch you a beer?"

Evie smoldered. She wasn't going to let Tyler get away with this. Marriage was forever. She meant to marry a man who would give her a good solid house and who would love her no matter who she was and who would have a steady job and come home to her every night. She wanted security and respectability. She didn't want Tyler Monteigne.

She wished the pain in her midsection would go away. It would be much easier saying no if she wasn't constantly reminded of why Tyler was doing this. He was taking away her reason to get rid of the child. With Tyler's plan, the child wouldn't have to be a bastard. But would having a rambling, gambling father be much better?

She didn't know. She just didn't know. She was too tired and confused and desperate to know what to think.

She needed time, and Tyler wasn't giving her any. She didn't want a baby. She had never thought about having babies. She had scarcely thought about having a husband. She wanted to know who her parents were. She didn't even know who she was until she knew that, and now Tyler wanted to make her a wife.

No, he really didn't want to make her his wife. He didn't want a wife any more than she wanted a husband. She remembered very clearly the relief in his eyes when she had refused him that first time. She knew perfectly well that the only reason Tyler had agreed to accompany them to Texas was to get away from two women who wanted to shackle him. So he wasn't doing this for her sake. He was doing it for some mistaken ideal of what a gentleman was supposed to do.

Daniel was watching her worriedly, and Evie tried to smile and be reassuring. She would take Tyler into another room and speak to him quietly. She would make him see that her way was better for all concerned. But she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that Tyler wasn't open to reason on that point.

Well, if she had to have the child, that child was going to have a father. She would make certain clear on that point. Mr. Tyler Monteigne was going to have to settle down and get a job and be a proper respectable husband and father if he meant to go through with this. That ought to scare the pants off him.

She didn't want to think about Tyler with his pants off. Her face felt like fire already. She took a hasty sip of the water beside Daniel's bed. That was another aspect of this marriage business that she didn't want to face.

But the alternative was even more grim. Discovering her hand was shaking on the glass, Evie set it down and went to the window.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to, Evie." Daniel was the first to speak. "Ben can move me over to the newspaper office. I'll be up and about shortly, and I can read and write lying on the floor for all that matters. And something could come in the mail any day."

A ghost of a smile lifted Evie's lips as she stared at her reflection in the rain-drenched window. She wondered if Tyler had considered that he would be supporting Daniel as well as herself and a child. That much responsibility ought to drive the man berserk.

"You're not getting out of that bed until the doctor says you can. You could ruin your whole life if you got up too soon. And if you exercise the way he tells you, maybe your leg will be even better than before. Think what you could do if you could throw away that cane." Evie turned and gave him a smile. She was good at hiding her heart. Daniel was worth hiding it for.

"I could take care of you then, Evie," he replied eagerly. "I could own my own newspaper someday. Do you really think my leg could get better?"

"Not unless you take care of it." She unfastened her jacket and threw it over the chair. She wished she could open the window. It was growing warm in here. "How's the pain? Should I give you more laudanum?"

Daniel set his jaw stubbornly. "I'll wait until Tyler gets back."

Ben hummed and fished around in his pockets. Finding what he was looking for, he threw it in Daniel's direction. "Reckon you could use a bite to eat, but I can't fetch you nothing until Tyler gets here. Try some of that. It's like chewing rope, but it's got some flavor."

Daniel tried the beef jerky with curiosity. It gave his mouth something to do while Evie paced the floor.

"I need to change clothes," she decided firmly, in her best schoolteacher manner. She looked up at Ben as if daring him to defy her.

He did. He glanced over her white shirtwaist with its frilled sleeves and the gray skirt showing a telltale trace of mud at the hem and shook his head. "You look just fine. We'll wait for Tyler."

"I can't be married in a walking suit. I'm just going next door. It's not as if I could go anywhere else on a night like this." Evie stood defiantly in front of the tall black man, who looked down at her with bemusement.

The mention of marriage had both men staring at her, but Evie didn't dare let the knowledge scare her. She was shaking like a leaf on the inside, but she wouldn't let anyone know that.

"I don't reckon Tyler can produce a wedding at this hour of night. You'll have plenty of time to dress fancy when he gets back." Ben remained where he was, although his face showed a trace of discomfort now instead of amusement.

The room was so fraught with tension that none of the occupants noticed the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs until they walked on by. Evie breathed a sigh of relief and returned her concentration to her brother's reaction.

"You're going to marry Tyler?" Daniel asked with incredulity. "Why? He isn't a lawyer or a banker or any of those other things you said you wanted. He doesn't even have a house."

Ben grunted, and Evie sensed his disapproval. She turned her back on him and faced Daniel. "Well, you just tell him that when he gets back. It doesn't seem to make any difference to Tyler."

The man in question shoved against the door, sending Ben stumbling into the room. He carried with him the heavy humidity of the night as he shook out his hat and threw his canvas coat over Evie's. He also brought with him a man they all knew as the recently arrived circuit preacher.

Evie stared at the bearded stranger with dismay. She hadn't really thought Tyler would go through with this. She didn't think he would actually be able to carry this out so quickly. She thought there would be time to talk, to come to some other solution.

The bearded stranger took off his black homburg and made a polite bow as Tyler made curt introductions. "It's an honor and a pleasure, Mrs. Peyton. I've heard you've worked wonders with the children. I trust your young man's hasty change of plans doesn't mean you will be leaving this lovely town?"

Evie sent Tyler a nervous look. He wasn't wearing the light linen suit she had first seen him in, but he still managed to look the part of gambler in a dark frock coat and string tie and a slight ruffle on his shirt front. Gold glittered on his cuffs and in the embroidery of his waistcoat. Raindrops glittered on the gold of his hair. He was handsome enough to take her breath away. She wished she owned a gun.

"Our plans aren't certain yet. I've been looking into the cattle business. We might settle here, if the atmosphere is congenial," Tyler answered smoothly for her. Catching Evie's waist, he pulled her closer to his side, his gaze drifting possessively over the curve of her bosom beneath the lace-edged shirtwaist before coming to rest on the fury in her eyes. "If you'll say the words, Mr. Cleveland, I'd like to get this over with. She doesn't believe I'm a marrying man, and I intend to prove her wrong."

"This is all very improper," the preacher murmured with a show of distress. "I like to have a chance to talk with the bride and groom before the wedding. These things ought to be gone into with much consideration and planning, not with haste. I'm sure Mrs. Peyton agrees with me. Why don't we set the time as Sunday after church? Then I'd feel as if you'd had time—"

Tyler rudely cut him off. "Reverend, I don't mean to be impolite to a man of the cloth, but we want to be married now. Can you do that or do I need to find the judge?"

"Tyler!" Evie hissed. She turned to the red-faced preacher. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like a moment to freshen myself. Perhaps Ben could fetch something for you to drink?"

Tyler caught her waist tighter. "You can freshen yourself later, after the reverend says his piece. Then we can all have a drink."

"Tyler," Evie looked up at him pleadingly. She couldn't think, not with him standing so close. That night returned to her with sudden clarity, and she remembered the solidity of his muscles as he held her. She remembered other things, too, and her cheeks flushed with color as she realized Tyler was thinking along much the same lines. His fingers dug into her corset, and his other hand came up to touch her cheek.