chest, but Tyler caught her gloved fingers and pressed them tightly against his chest.
"If I'm wrong about you selling your body, forgive my stupidity. I'd pay good money to have you back in my bed. Do you have any idea how many nights I've laid awake chastising myself for not at least enjoying what you gave to me? How many times I've tried to recall all the beauty that I held in my hands and threw away?" Tyler's fingers tightened around hers as he gazed down at her bent head. Admitting these things didn't make him happy, but there was something about Evie that made him do what he didn't mean to do. "Apologizing won't make things better. Tell me what's wrong, Evie."
"You're what's wrong. Get away from me, Tyler Monteigne. Get out of my life. You've ruined me. You've ruined everything. I don't ever want to see you again."
He could hear the choked tears in her voice, and he knew instantly what was wrong. He had lived through this once before, when he had been much, much younger. A cold, clammy hand stole around Tyler's heart, but he jerked Evie into his arms and refused to let her go. She struggled, but she was a slender wraith against his greater strength. Her skirts wrapped around his legs as she tried to kick free, but he placed a hand around her bustled bottom and lifted her from the ground.
"You're pregnant, and you wanted Starr to get rid of the child." Tyler announced it firmly, as if he had been privy to the conversation that had taken place. To do anything else was to open the loopholes for her lies. He wasn't letting her lie about this. He might kill her, but he wasn't going to let her lie.
"You don't know anything!" she wept against his chest, kicking futilely in search of his shins. "Let me go. Daniel is waiting for me."
"We can just go ask Starr now, can't we?" Tyler lowered her to the boardwalk, even though his first urge was to throttle her. He could feel the violence building inside of him.
Evie jerked from his grasp and tried to escape through the small space between Tyler and the wall. He stuck his arm out and trapped her, and she stared up at him with hatred. "Go ask Starr. See if I care. You can't stop me, Mr. Monteigne. You have no claim over me at all."
Tyler felt her words like a blow to the gut, and he nearly bent double with the pain. But this was Evie, the actress. He caught her shoulder and jerked her until she glared up at him. "Tell me yes or no. Are you carrying my child?"
She looked as if she wanted to spit in his face. But it was dark out here and he figured all she could see was the shadow of his face beneath the broad-brimmed hat. He dug his fingers into her shoulder, forcing her to acknowledge he was real and not a play toy in her mind. In return, she gave him what he wanted, hit him with the blow he deserved.
"I'm getting rid of your child, and you can't stop me."
The violence that had built to the point that could have crushed her shoulder suddenly dissipated, leaving Tyler limp and inert. His fingers fell away as he scanned her face. "You would do that? You would kill an innocent child?"
The pain in his voice was even worse than the anger she had instigated earlier. It struck directly to the place in her heart that had been wounded the worst. Evie held her anger around her like a thorny shield, but she knew he had already breached it. "The child will suffer less this way. I know what it is to be an unwanted bastard."
She almost made it two steps past him before Tyler grabbed her arm. He spun her around, and silhouetted against the lights from the saloon, he was the image of a vengeful angel with his long coat flaring out behind him in the rain and his hat pulled down like a fallen halo.
"The child won't be a bastard. I'll marry you. You can do whatever the hell you like after the child is born, but the child is mine. I won't have you kill him."
And gripping her arm firmly, Tyler dragged her back in the direction of the hotel.
Chapter 15
The door slamming as Tyler threw Evie into the room woke Daniel. Wiping his eyes of