the side of the bed. "I watched him play. You cheated by giving away Dorset's hand, but Tyler was playing it straight. And Monteigne means Martin in French. What makes you think he isn't Pecos?"
"Because the minute he walked out of the Green Door he was accosted by women who called him Tyler. Not just one woman. Two. He was known in that town we went to, too. They all called him Tyler. And if he isn't known as Pecos in Texas, then where does the name come from?"
Daniel studied that for a moment. "Well, I suppose it doesn't matter what he's called. He got us here safe and sound. But if you don't start being nicer to him, he's going to leave before that lawyer gets back, and we might never find out who your parents are."
"Nicer to him?" Evie realized she was practically screeching when Daniel gave her an odd look, and she lowered her voice. "I'd sooner be nice to a rattlesnake. You're not a woman, and you don't understand these things, Daniel. Just take my word for it: being nice to Tyler Monteigne would be the biggest mistake of my life. We can find out about my parents without him."
"Somebody was awful careful to keep your identity hidden, Evie. How do you know they weren't trying to hide you from something dangerous?" Daniel limped toward the doorway, cane in hand.
"Have you seen anything dangerous in this town? A person could fall asleep in the road, and horses would step over him. They're simply hiding the fact that they weren't married. I'm old enough to face the truth. It's time we both did."
Daniel frowned. "People don't keep paying that much money to hide a mistake. I'm perfectly legitimate, for heaven's sake, and my parents don't pay that much to hide me. Be careful, Evie. Don't start going honest yet."
Don't go honest yet. Evie threw her gaze heavenward as Daniel walked out. She wasn't even certain what honest was anymore. But then, neither did that scoundrel, Tyler Monteigne.
She wondered how scandalized the town would be if the new schoolmarm visited a saloon.
Chapter 12
Jason Harding stretched his legs beneath the wooden table and desultorily threw a card at the stack in the middle. "Cotton prices ain't what they were before the war, I agree. And I can't argue that we've been benefiting from the demand for beef."
Tyler gave the cards in his hand a cursory glance and threw a coin on the table. "With all that free government range out here, feeding cattle should be relatively inexpensive. Looks like a promising business to me."
The man in the bowler hat on Tyler's right raised the ante and checked the pocket watch in his red-plaid waistcoat. Tyler pushed the man's coins back to him.
At the man's surprised look, Tyler waved his hand for a second round of beers and said, "You might want to check that top card you have there. I don't believe it belongs to this deck. I'm ready to call this game, boys. How about you?"
Jason raised heavy black eyebrows at this subtle suggestion that the drummer was cheating, but he threw his cards over face up and raised no objection to ending the game. The fourth party in the game took the hand and added the few coins on the table to his meager winnings. He tipped his hat at the offered beer and wandered off with the mug. The red-faced drummer pocketed his coins and left his beer behind. Tyler pocketed the large stack of greenbacks in front of him.
Before any comment could be made on the game, the saloon door bounced open and a younger version of Jason strode in, a grin a mile wide on his face showing the main difference between the brothers' characters.
Kyle was wide-open and easygoing. Jason was the serious one.
"Jace, why in hell didn't you tell me about the new schoolmarm? A fellow could trip over his own feet meeting her without warning like that. Whooee! Reckon I can go back to school?"
"I know a better way to teach you manners than sending you back to school," Jason said, tucking away his money. "This here's a friend of Mrs. Peyton's. He might want to straighten you out on the proper way of speaking about a lady."
The reprimand didn't reduce Kyle's enthusiasm. He held out his hand to the stranger. "Kyle Harding. Any friend of the lady's is bound to be a friend of mine. She ain't already taken, is she?"