distance and at an angle that most men would never try. You could have killed those kids just as easily."
"No, he wouldn't. He saved us." Manuel placed his fists belligerently at his waist and glared at the sheriff.
Tyler grinned and ruffled the boy's hair. Manuel dodged the show of affection, but he didn't move far from Tyler's side.
"I'd like to know who they were, too, but you'll have to ask the brats here or the one the doc is tending to. The one I killed was one of your escapees. Maybe he resented being caught. But I'd like to know who told them I was Pecos Martin." Tyler turned an accusing look to the sheriff.
"Half the town heard the boy there tell Phil that Pecos Martin was coming to town and that Ben was your friend. Word spreads. And if you're not Martin, how did you learn to shoot like that?"
"The war, Sheriff, same as you and a lot of other people. I'm just better at it than some." Tyler glanced to Manuel. "Have you ever seen those men before?"
Manuel shrugged. "There's always strangers at the livery. I don't notice them none."
Tyler frowned. The boy was as tense and nervous as a high-strung yearling, but he couldn't force the boy. Not yet. He turned back to the sheriff. "You'd better talk to your patient, Powell. And let me know what you find out. My wife has a hankering to stay in this town, but if the law can't keep her and the children safe, we'll have to be thinking about moving on."
The word "wife" caused the children to grow wide-eyed, but they remained properly silent while the adults conversed.
Powell turned his gaze Evie in the rocking chair with the child in her arms. She returned his look with an innocent smile. Tyler knew the frustration the man felt. A man couldn't yell at a woman for explanations.
"You haven't explained why you've allowed your wife to pose as a widow yet." The sheriff tried a new tactic.
Tyler deposited Maria in Carmen's arms and moved toward the door. "And I don't intend to, not yet. It has no bearing on the matter at hand. If you have any other questions, Sheriff, feel free to come by." Gently, but firmly, he edged Powell to the door.
When the sheriff was gone, the room erupted in an explosion of questions. Tyler held up his hand and waited for silence, then pointed at Manuel for the first question.
"If you and Miz Peyton are married and all, does that mean you're going to stay here? Will you be working at the Double H? Can we go see the horses?"
Tyler heard Evie's faint chuckle behind him. He'd done this to himself. The last time he'd lost control like that, he'd wound up in prison for three years. That should have been enough lesson for any man. But no, now he'd shackled himself for a lifetime, and not just to a wife. He didn't think there was a chance in hell that Evie would give up these kids, even for him.
"The horses at the Double H aren't anything to see. They're half-broke mustangs. And I wasn't exactly working out there, so I'm not promising anything."
Tyler could see the disappointment already spreading across the boys' faces. He wasn't meant to be a family man. He wasn't any good at it. He wasn't good at much at all but playing cards, shooting guns, and winning women. Helplessly, he turned to Evie.
She set Jose back down on the floor. "Go get wood for the stove. We need to start dinner. And don't you dare go sneaking back to that livery. I don't want you anywhere near that place ever again." She stood up and shook out her skirt and answered the children's unspoken questions. "We don't any of us know what we'll do until we hear from your uncle. California is a long, long way away. So you might as well be patient."
"He didn't answer my telegram," Carmen pointed out reasonably.
"Maybe he didn't get it. Things like that get lost all the time. We'll send another one tomorrow." Evie tried not to think about Hale's declaration that the uncle was dead. If he were dead, shouldn't somebody have wired back with that information? She would believe the best until informed otherwise.
She saw Tyler standing helplessly by the door, and her stomach did strange little flip-flops as she watched him there. Her husband. It seemed impossible to conceive. She knew he was incredibly