didn't know where Tyler was, but he needed her. She could feel the need welling up inside her. His cries echoed in her ears with their silence. He should be down there now, giving explanations to the sheriff, reassuring the boys, holding her. But he wasn't. He was hiding somewhere in this hotel, avoiding what he had done. That wasn't the Tyler she knew. Something was wrong.
She knocked on his door and got a muffled curse in reply. He was in there. Setting her jaw, Evie threw open the door.
Tyler was sitting on the bed, calmly cleaning his rifle. When he looked at her, his eyes were perfectly blank. That terrified her more than anything else he could have done. Tyler's eyes always danced with mischief and laughter or darkened with fury and anguish. They never stared blankly.
Heart plummeting to her stomach, Evie closed the door behind her and moved into the room.
"You'd better leave, Mrs. Peyton." Tyler snapped the rifle shut and began to wipe down the outside with a rag.
"Why? Will you shoot me if I don't?"
That brought a thread of fury to his eyes. His gaze hardened as it drifted over Evie's schoolmarmish gown. She had quit wearing her fancy silks and laces in preference for the practicality of cotton, but the high-necked gown did nothing to disguise her figure. Tyler's knowing gaze reminded her of things she didn't want to remember.
"If you mean to stay, I can think of better things to do with you than shoot." He set the rifle aside and stood up.
Evie supposed she was supposed to feel threatened. She didn't. Perhaps she was mad, after all. She stepped closer to meet him.
Tyler's fingers tightened into fists. "Don't, Evie. Get out of here while you can."
"I won't." She was close enough to smell the sweat on him. On other men, it might be unpleasant, but not on Tyler. She inhaled the masculine musk with the scent of his shaving soap, and she wanted to peel his shirt off and get closer. Her fingers itched to touch his skin. She clenched them as he was clenching his.
"We have an agreement, Evie. Don't make me break it." Tyler's muscles tensed with the effort to keep from reaching for her.
She didn't even have to think about her response. A lifetime of reading novels made it instantaneous. When the one you loved was hurting, you reached out for him. She had never been given that opportunity in her life. She grabbed it now.
Evie slid her arms around his waist and hugged Tyler until he clutched her close and she could lean her head against his chest and hear his heart beat. She heard his muffled groan, sensed his rejection, but still she clung. She wasn't letting him go until she was inside his skin.
Tyler held her as if she were a lifeline. His arms wrapped around her shoulders and waist and pressed her body into his until there wasn't an inch of space between them. Along with the cinnamon and roses of her bathing soap, he could smell the vanilla on her hands from her baking and the heated woman scent of her as their bodies ignited. He held himself stiff and straight as he stared at the wall, but he couldn't let her go.
"Evie, you have to get out. I don't want you to see that side of me again. I don't want you hurt."
"I wasn't hurt last time, Tyler. You didn't hurt me. Tell me what's wrong. Talk to me, Tyler." Evie dug her fingers into his shirt as if she would start to bare his soul by baring his body.
"What do you want me to say that you haven't just seen? I'm a killer, Evie. I kill people. I'm very good at it, if you didn't notice. I've been practicing since I was a boy. Ben says some people have a talent for writing or painting or riding horses. I've got a talent for hitting targets. I could shoot better than my brothers before I was ten. I used to amuse myself by shooting peaches off of trees and letting Ben catch them. And then I grew up and went to war and learned to shoot people."
Evie did find a button with her teeth then. She jerked it open and found the salt of his skin beneath her lips . Tyler shuddered as she kissed him there, but he didn't release his rigid stance.