attractive, but that wasn't what she saw now when she looked at him. She saw a man as lost as she was, a man with spectacular strengths and a vast store of knowledge but lacking roots and an incentive to grow them. Or was she just seeing what every other woman of his acquaintance was seeing—a man who needed to be tied down?
She went up to him and touched one of the arms folded defiantly against his chest. "Will you be staying?" She touched the tip of her tongue to her dry lips as she sought the right words. "I'd like you to stay, but you don't have to if you don't want."
Tyler watched that enticingly pink tongue slip over kissable lips and felt his insides slipping. She still wore his coat over the gown he'd literally ripped from her back. He'd treated her like an animal, ruined her chances for a good husband, showed her what he was, and still she didn't retreat from him. Evangeline Peyton Howell was a very odd woman. And he didn't want to lose her.
He didn't accept that fact gracefully. He didn't want s house or a passel of kids. He didn't want ties of any sort. Marriage meant all those things and more. But marriage meant Evie was all his.
Tyler shrugged. "I'll be back for dinner. Save a place for me."
He walked out, leaving Evie staring after him, wondering.
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