didn't like being separated from friends and family. She wanted to go home.
"I think we ought to go back, Mr. Hale. I don't feel right leaving Tyler to face the judge alone. And I'm worried about the boys. I just don't like running away. It doesn't solve anything. I've made a mistake. Won't you turn around and take me home?"
A muffled explosion in the distance rumbled the ground and made the horse edgy. Evie threw a worried look around the carriage hood but could see nothing untoward.
Hale bit his lip and concentrated on keeping his control over the horse.
She could jump. The carriage had a roof and sides, but it was open in front and had only a low-slung door. But they were moving so fast she feared she would break her leg. And they were so far out in the middle of nowhere, that she wasn't sure she could find her way back. Besides, there was nowhere to hide. And no reason to hide that she knew of, yet.
"Mr. Hale." His silence induced a measure of panic. "We have to go back. Something dreadful is happening. I know it."
A log and frame cabin loomed on the horizon. With the horse under control again, Hale increased the pace. "Miss Howell, I've always had your best interests in mind. We'll be there shortly. Just be patient."
"Why do you keep addressing me as Miss Howell?" Nervously, Evie twisted at her fingers. She wished she had found her gloves before leaving.
Hale gave her an impatient glance. "Because your marriage to Monteigne is not legal. I told you that."
"Everyone else calls me Mrs. Peyton." Now that she had actually produced a response from him, Evie pushed for more.
"Everyone else doesn't know who you are, but I do," Hale replied impatiently. "I don't know why you insist on this charade, but there's no further point in it. It doesn't matter who your father is, but your mother was Elizabeth Howell Harding. That's a matter of some importance in this town."
"She's dead, but my father's not. That's a matter of some importance to me. I want to go home."
The carriage hit a deep rut in the road and creaked ominously. Hale slowed the horse just outside the cabin.
"I'd better check the wheel. I wouldn't want to be stranded out here."
Evie glanced nervously at the house. There weren't any lights. She was certain it was abandoned.
Hale climbed down and inspected the wheels, making clicking noises with his tongue as he did so. She didn't like the sound of that. She liked it even less when he came around to her side and held out his hand to help her down.
"The axle is almost gone. We'd better stop here where there's shelter. It's perfectly safe, I assure you. No one will find you here."
Evie crossed her hands in her lap and stayed where she was. "I'm not going in that house with you, Mr. Hale. It isn't proper. I'll sit right here, if you please."
That didn't seem to annoy him. He merely began unfastening his horse from the carriage. "You're quite correct. It isn't proper. I'll see to it that the situation is remedied when they find us. You must believe me, Miss Howell, I truly have your best interests in mind."
He was beginning to sound like a parrot. Seriously annoyed as well as increasingly frightened, Evie glared down at him. "I beg your pardon, Mr. Hale, but I don't feel the least bit safe. There could be rattlesnakes and wild Indians out here. Surely we can't be much farther from the Harding place. Perhaps we could walk the distance?"
"I assure you, we cannot. It would no doubt be dawn before we reached the ranch by walking, and your reputation would be ruined."
"I don't give a darn about my reputation, Mr. Hale it's my life I'm worried about. What do I know about surviving out here?" Irritated, Evie climbed down from the carriage herself. For good measure, she checked the axle, but she couldn't tell a thing in the dark.
"There will be a lantern and water and food in there, Miss Howell. We only need wait until someone discovers us." He held out his hand to lead her into the house.
There wasn't much else she could do. If she knew how to ride, she'd steal the horse. The cabin seemed less frightening than that alternative. Ignoring his out-stretched hand, Evie lifted her skirt from the dust and started toward the house.
It was far superior to the shack that