her again, this time near the corner of her mouth. She turned and caught his lips with her own before he could get away.
It would have been nice to dally here awhile longer, but he'd made promises and he would try to keep them. He was hard and eager for her when his hand caressed her breast, but the hour was late. Reluctantly releasing her, Tyler reached for the cover and pulled it around his waist as he climbed from the bed.
Evie lay sprawled wantonly across the sheets. She was even more beautiful in the sunlight, like some exotic cat stretching in feline pleasure. There was no shyness in her now as she wiped at those dangerous sloe eyes and considered him openly. Ruby lips smiled as she flexed her legs and turned on her side.
So much for taming the beast. Tyler felt a bolt of overpowering need strike through him, and in seconds, he was kneeling over her on the bed, and the lateness of the hour grew later.
* * *
"I feel like I ought to have a scarlet letter A branded on my forehead," Evie giggled as she held Tyler's arm and hurried after the children on the way to church.
"F would be more appropriate," Tyler muttered. He could think of a damned number of other things he would rather be doing than rushing around getting a passel of children ready for church and then spending hours listening to a preacher rant and rail. Most of those things had to do with getting the woman next to him naked again.
"F?" Her eyes widened as his meaning came clear. "For fornicate?"
"Fornicate?" Tyler choked back a grin at this ingenuous translation of his intended vulgarity. "Fornicate, of course," he agreed. "Or frigging." His lips curled upward as he searched for a few more equally adequate substitutes for the subject he had in mind.
Evie laughed. She had been as cheerful as a chirping bird all morning. Married life suited her. Tyler allowed himself a degree of satisfaction for that, but he didn't let her see it. She would only chirp and twitter some more.
He loved hearing her chirp and twitter, if he would admit it, but he wouldn't. He didn't want to love anyone or anything. Love was a painful business that he was better off avoiding. Good sex was an entirely different proposition. That's what he and Evie had—good sex.
Caught up in his selfish thoughts, Tyler didn't even see Kyle coming until Evie gasped, and by then it was too late. The blow shot through his jaw with the power of two hundred pounds of muscle, sending him sprawling in the dust right before the church and half the townspeople.
"That's for being a low-down, good-for-nothing snake in the grass. Now get up and let me give you another for being a rotten, no-account sidewinder."
Tyler didn't listen to Evie's indignant cries. Leaning back on his elbows, he remained where he was, gazing up at the larger man with his square jaw set in murderous rage.
"I accept your congratulations, Harding, but I'd prefer to leave the rest until after church." Odd, but the beast didn't stir at this direct assault to himself. It didn't take any effort at all to lie here grinning back at the man who had it all—except Evie.
"Dadblast you, Monteigne, get up and take it like a man. You've got no business nosing around a little filly like Miss Maryellen. You ain't even got a roof over your head. I'm going to kill you just as soon as you stand up."
Tyler lay back down and placed his hands behind his head. "Well, in that case, I guess I'll just do my worshiping right here. Maryellen," he said the false name with a wry twist, "tell the preacher to speak up loud and clear this morning."
Evie couldn't keep a bubble of laughter from forming on her lips. The children had stopped to stare, and people were coming out of the church to watch the performance. Tyler looked quite ridiculous in his best Sunday frock coat and crisp ruffled linen lying in the street, but he seemed perfectly content to continue perusing the sky. Kyle, however, appeared on the verge of a volcanic explosion.
Doing her best to keep a straight face, Evie patted Kyle's rumpled coat sleeve. "Do try to understand, Mr. Harding. Tyler's been a friend of the family ever so long, and I've come to rely on his help and advice. Daniel looks up to him as if