that comment with despair. Babies were the least of the trouble men could wreak. She hoped Carmen never had to know a breaking heart.
* * *
From his seat at the card table, Tyler watched the three men at the bar with curiosity. He'd never seen a more unlikely combination than James Peyton, Jason Harding, and Logan. Drawing on his cheroot, he threw down a card and continued the game, but he kept one eye on the trio. They spelled trouble if anything did.
Starr approached them, and Logan gave her a hug. Apparently the lout was happy about something for a change. Tyler blew a smoke ring and pulled in the pot he'd just won. He didn't have to gamble anymore, but he didn't know what else to do with his time. Except watch for trouble.
His gaze slid to the corner where Tom was drinking away his misery. He didn't feel the least bit sorry for robbing the man of his half of the saloon. After going over the books, Tyler could tell he'd been robbing Starr for years of her share of the profits. Now he'd like to see the sales agreement that had bought the livery from the Rodriguez family. He was willing to wager that had been another form of robbery. Tom wasn't an honest sort of man, and his voice was naggingly similar to one Tyler had heard on a rather inauspicious occasion.
Suspicion wasn't enough to hang a man. Tyler shuffled and began dealing the deck, but his attention wandered back to the three men who had entered just a while ago. Apparently James Peyton was the man Logan had been hunting for and Logan was celebrating having the debt paid. Tyler wasn't certain where Peyton got his cash, but that wasn't any of his business. Only he couldn't help wondering how Harding had got in on it. Peyton was usually with Evie at this time of night.
That made him restless. Every damned man in town had a right to go call on Evie but him, and he was her husband. Sort of. He would have to do something about that situation sooner or later. With Peyton over here, maybe now was the time. She'd be alone except for the kids.
Except for the kids. Tyler snorted at that understatement. How in hell did Evie think she was going to keep a rein on those two wildcats, Manuel and Jose? They needed a man's firm hand, and the only man around was standing here at the bar. There was always Daniel, of course, but the boy had enough on his shoulders without being saddled with a couple of brats who could run circles around him any day. In a few years Daniel might be useful, but right now there were other things he needed to be doing besides riding roundup on children.
At the sight of the object of his commiserations appearing in the doorway, Tyler folded his cards and called it a night. If even Daniel was out of the house, someone had to see to Evie.
Daniel looked relieved as Tyler strode toward him. It was a weekday, and the bar wasn't crowded. The three men who had been joking and laughing together grew silent as Tyler strode by, but he didn't acknowledge their presence. He was more concerned about the expression on Daniel's face.
"Tyler..." Daniel glanced to the bar where everyone seemed to be staring at them. He backed out into the street at the nod of Tyler's head. The door closed, and darkness enveloped them. Daniel hurried to speak while Tyler crushed his cheroot beneath his boot. "Jose and Manuel have disappeared again. And I can't find Ben, either. Do you think they're together?"
"If they are, Ben has them bound and gagged. Evie's too lax with those brats. They ought to be home and in bed this time of night." Tyler started walking toward the livery, adjusting his stride to Daniel's halting one.
"She would if she could find them. They went out after supper and haven't come back."
"They've been told to stay out of that livery." Tyler wished he hadn't crushed his cheroot. He needed something in his hand right now besides a gun. Instinct was itching at him. Ben had always said he'd had a nose for trouble, and Tyler could smell trouble brewing now. The boys were probably just up to mischief somewhere, but that wasn't what his nose was telling him, not after what Ben had said earlier.