just fine. She was the heroine of this particular adventure. She really didn't think they needed Pecos Martin or a secret agent; that was Daniel's fantasy, not hers. She was certain she could handle this all on her own. But it would be exciting to have a handsome man along for the ride.
"How's your leg? Would you like to go downstairs to eat, or shall I bring something back?" she asked Daniel over her shoulder.
"Evie, you know perfectly well you can't wander those streets after dark. I'm coming with you."
Evie frowned, but she supposed he was right. That was one of the reasons she had agreed to Daniel's nonsense about finding Pecos Martin. As much as she would like to do everything herself, she couldn't bear to see Daniel hurting while he tried to protect her, and his pride wouldn't allow for anything else. She just hoped this Tyler Monteigne was at least a portion of the gentleman he appeared to be.
She watched with concern as Daniel consulted their tiny bag of cash. "He didn't say how much he was going to charge. Do you think there will be enough?"
"We've been careful. We still have almost the whole month's allowance, and I suppose we can always sell some of our stuff if necessary. I understand people in Texas are eager for anything from back East. We'll manage."
Evie frowned as Daniel stood and grimaced in pain. "Are you sure you want to do this, Danny? After all, you've got your own family you could go to."
The boy's serious young face grew tighter and more mature. "You're my family, Evie. Do you really think I want to meet the bastards who didn't want to keep a cripple? Now come on, I'm starved."
He was right, of course. Daniel usually was. Reflecting on that thought, Evie felt a tremor of premonition as she remembered his warnings about Mr. Pecos Martin. She didn't know what Mr. Martin/Monteigne would do when he discovered the full extent of her lies, but there was no sense in worrying about it now.
She'd worry about it when she found out who she really was.
Chapter 3
"This is such lovely country. I can't imagine anyone ever wanting to leave." Evie glanced up at the towering magnolias along the lane they were traversing, then at a field inundated with wild redbuds and dogwoods in full bloom. St. Louis had been a beautiful city, but they had left by river and seen little of the land.
The Mississippi countryside they traveled through by wagon was like nothing she had ever known. She had been raised on English literature and thought adventures ought to begin in the mists of Cornwall or the rugged wilderness of Northumberland, but if anyone should ever write an American literary classic, it ought to start right here on the Mississippi. This was a magnificent beginning for any adventure. She wouldn't mind traveling all the way to New Orleans by wagon.
The man she knew as Tyler and Daniel thought was Pecos urged the wagon horses to a greater speed. "It was a lovely country until the carpetbaggers and scalawags took over. Now its just the same as every other place. Some of the finest homes in the South used to be right along here."
Remembering the crumbling mansion they had just passed, Evie bit her lip and kept quiet. She tried not to glance at Tyler too often. He was good to look at and the prospect was tempting, but his face had been growing harder the farther they traveled. She hadn't much thought of the man beside her except as a means to an end. His growing anger and sorrow were beginning to unnerve her. Heroes weren't supposed to be sad.
As they approached another white-columned mansion, this one in slightly better condition than the last, Benjamin rode up to block their view. The deceitful gambler had never made any explanations or introductions when they had set out this morning with the black man in tow, and Evie had assumed the man was a servant. As the morning trailed into afternoon, she began to understand that the man was a little more than that.
"I'm goin' to ride ahead and make certain they got rooms for all of us. I'll see about the boat tickets while I'm there," he said.
Tyler gave him a look that should have left him flat and bleeding in the road, but Benjamin appeared impervious to the injury. Taking the small purse of coins that Tyler handed him, he made