Evie attempted a stiff smile and tilted the Stetson to a jaunty angle. "I suspect it looks better on you, but thank you."
Tyler felt a jolt of something electric at her bravado and quickly kicked his horse back into motion. Most women would have harangued him until he died for what he had done and was doing. He could imagine Bessie's endless complaints about the dust, the horse, the lack of food, the sun, the destruction of her clothing, and that without even the insult of the night before. Yet this female sat there looking beautiful and brave without a word against him. He didn't want to admire her. He didn't even want to like her. But he damned well wanted her in his bed again.
That was a puzzle he would have to work on. He'd liked Bessie and all the other women in his life well enough as long as they kept their places to his bed and nothing more. But Evie was a liar he couldn't trust for ten seconds, and a rebellious nuisance who demanded his entire attention. He couldn't like her, but he had bedded her.
Well, he would get her to Mineral Springs and leave her and not concern himself any longer. Except now that Ben was gone, he really had no place to go. Ben would have wanted to return to Natchez, but Tyler had no desire to return to the place of his humiliation and defeat. The card game had only offered slight revenge but hadn't changed anything. And there was still the matter of what he had done to Evie. If a child came of it, he wanted to know. He wasn't sending any more women out into this world carrying his bastard.
By the time the buildings of Mineral Springs wavered into view, Tyler was resigned to spending some time there. Waves of heat made the town into an oasis amid the desert, but as they rode on, Tyler could see the river running on the far side that provided the reason for the town's existence. It wasn't a bad-size little town, he admitted grudgingly as they rode closer. And it certainly couldn't be much worse than Under-the-Hill
"Would you like your hat back?" Evie called from behind him.
Tyler watched hope light her sunburned face as she scanned the town ahead. He still didn't know why in hell she wanted to come here, but just one look at her right now belied the story of a lost sister and her rotten husband.
"I like the outfit just the way it is," he told her. "Stay out here very long and you'll make a great lady cowboy."
The smile she threw him was devastating. He ought to be immune to them by now, but for some reason this one hit him straight in his gut. Tyler ached for the right to touch her, to seek solace in the same generous willingness she had offered before, but he had caged the beast this morning.
He didn't need anyone, would never need anyone again. He would see that Ben was found and given his last respects, he owed him that much, but he had no intention of grieving any more than that.
Evie was disappointed when he turned away, but she was resigned to his taciturnity. Tyler could be as charming as the next man when he wanted, but that charm hid a mean streak. She would do well to stay away from it—and from him.
The first person she saw when they rode into town was Daniel leaning against the rickety stagecoach office. She screamed in delight, and he dropped the stick he was whittling. With a look of wonder, relief, and joy, he ran jerkily into the street to greet them, forgetting his cane and his self-consciousness,.
"Evie! My word, they've sent search parties after you! Are you all right? Did Pecos rescue you?" At Evie's admonishing look, he covered his mouth with his hand and sent Tyler an apologetic glance. "I'm sorry, sir. We were just so worried..."
"We?" Tyler asked caustically, throwing his leg over the saddle and climbing down. His glance went around the near-empty street. A few matrons had wandered from the general store, but there didn't seem to be any outbreak of excitement.
"Ben and me. He swore you'd outride those bandits, but their horses looked awful fresh—" Daniel looked startled as Tyler halted in mid-stride.
"Ben? Ben is here? Where?" Evie gasped as Tyler caught her waist and hauled her down, even though his