Texas Rose

chapter 4

Benjamin looked up as Maryellen and Tyler dashed into the room and slapped the bar across the door. Daniel was sound asleep, fully clothed, in one of the beds.

"Party's breaking up," Benjamin said laconically at a crash from below.

"Is the boat in yet?" Shrugging his coat back on, Tyler grabbed one of the carpetbags he'd carried up for his traveling companion and threw it to Maryellen.

"Heard the whistle coming 'round the bend not too far back."

"Maryellen, pack whatever you need for tonight. Ben, you can get the trunks on the boat in the morning. I don't think they'll come looking for you or Daniel, but you might wait until the last minute before you head out so they can't follow. Use your own judgment."

Holding her bag, Maryellen stared at Tyler as if he'd taken leave of his senses. "Pack what I need? I'll have to strip the beds and crush the gown I took out for pressing and..."

Impatiently, Tyler pulled the garments she had left hanging on a hook and grabbing her bag, stuffed them in. There wasn't room left for anything else. He held out his hand to Benjamin. "Give us our tickets."

Ben handed them over. "I'll keep an eye on the stairs. You take the back way."

Clutching Maryellen's bag in one hand, Tyler grabbed her arm with the other and called to Ben, "See you in the morning."

Before she could voice more protests, Tyler dragged her out of the room and toward the kitchen stairs. Maryellen dug in her heels, but she was too light for that ploy to stop him. He went down the stairs first as a gentleman should, but it wasn't a gentleman's hold that he had on her arm as he practically jerked her after him.

"Tyler, let go of me! Where do you think you're going?" she whispered furiously. "I can't leave Daniel."

"Hush." Tyler stopped at the bottom of the stairs and listened to the drunken roars from the front of the inn. If he judged his man right, after the brawl there would be a brief respite while Dorset slept off the alcohol. In the cold clear air of morning, he would realize what Maryellen had done. Tyler wasn't taking any chances between now and then.

There was no sound of pursuit as yet. Throwing open the back door, he pulled Maryellen down the path toward the privy. He could hear her gasp of surprise, but she was keeping her mouth shut. He'd give her a few more points for cleverness.

He wasn't giving her any chance to argue. Triumph rocketing through his veins, Tyler raced down the path, towing the creative little witch behind him.

She jerked her hand away from him to hike her skirts up as far as she could as she followed.

The paddle wheeler at the dock spilled light and music across the dark river, but the plank wasn't in place. Tyler cursed and hallooed the guard until the man leaned over the railing.

"You've got to help us out, man!" Tyler caught Maryellen by the waist and held her close. "We just got married, and they're trying to chivaree us. We've got tickets for the morning. Could you let us on now?"

The guard looked down and chuckled and called for help in lowering the plank. Tyler figured they looked harassed and mussed enough for newlyweds. He was just glad his companion didn't rip out his hair for the ploy.

With the plank lowered, he swept her up to the boat and pulled the tickets from his pocket along with a handful of greenbacks. "They might come looking for us. Is there a stateroom vacant? You can handle the exchange with the purser in the morning and keep the change for your trouble."

"I do believe you're in luck, sir." The guard continued chuckling as he pocketed the cash. "Just follow me."

Coming down from her euphoric cloud, Evie hesitated at the sound of this, but she wasn't yet ready to create a scene. Tyler might conceivably be honorable in his intentions. And from the sounds of the brawl they had just left behind, he was undoubtedly correct in making their escape. Remembering her part in this, she grinned. She'd never done anything remotely like that before, and she had enjoyed herself thoroughly.

Tyler's exuberance matched her own as they entered the room they were shown to and the door closed behind them. With a whoop of triumph, he flung her bag to the floor and caught the heroine of the hour up in his arms, swinging her around the small space left between bed and door.

"You're a treasure and a joy to behold, Maryellen Peyton. I've been waiting for this day for years!"

And without any further warning than that, Tyler's mouth swooped down on hers, and he kissed her soundly.

The total unexpectedness of it caught Evie off guard. She had grabbed his shoulders for support when he swept her off the floor. Now she clung to them as Tyler's kiss did what no other man's ever had. She felt the heat of his lips clear to her toes.

Tyler seemed to feel something of the fire, too, because what had started out as an exuberant salute gradually became something more. His mouth softened and slid along hers and plied the corners with subtle pecks that left Evie gasping for more. He took the advantage to part her lips, and she felt a sudden rush of something totally foreign as his tongue intimately entwined with her own. She was burning in places that shouldn't be burning, and her head bent backward to more thoroughly accept his deepening kiss.

But when Tyler's hand came up to caress her breast, Evie pushed away. She knew the point where reality met fantasy, and this was it. Glaring at him, she crossed her arms protectively across her chest. "Don't you dare, Tyler Monteigne. You're not really Pecos Martin, and I'm not one of those kind of women."

Lit by the lantern, the devil danced in Tyler's eyes as his gaze swept over her. "Come now, Maryellen, don't tell me you've never been kissed. You're too beautiful for a man to resist, and you know it."

"Kissing is one thing. What you were trying to do was quite another. Nanny warned me about men like you. Now remove yourself from here at once. Sharing a room with you wasn't part of our agreement."

Tyler shrugged and tugged his coat off. "It hadn't been part of my original intention, either. You were the one who disobeyed orders and came down and got involved."

Scandalized, Evie stared as Tyler threw his coat over a chair and began to tug at his cravat. His shoulders seemed to grow wider as he stood there in shirtsleeves and satin waistcoat. Lamplight glinted off his golden hair, and the square outline of his jaw possessed a dangerous tilt. Making princes out of frogs was one thing. This was quite another.

She panicked. "If you won't leave, then I will. I'll find room in the ladies' cabin." Evie swung around to make her escape.

Before she could open the door, Tyler was in front of her. He leaned against the panel and crossed his arms over his chest in imitation of her earlier stance. "You're employing me to take care of you, Miss Peyton. I would be lax in my duties if I left you open to attack by those bullies. There are no bars on the ladies' cabin doors."

"I didn't do anything," she answered defensively, backing away from Tyler's dominating pose.

He smiled. "Let us come to an understanding now, Miss Peyton. You can lie to your brother. You can lie to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who crosses your path. But you can't lie to me."

Evie studied this problem, which entailed studying the man who blocked the door. He was too cocky by far, and the laughter in his dancing eyes was sorely irritating. But she remembered the heat of his kiss and the press of his body against hers too well. She hadn't lived this long by being a total fool.

"What makes you think I'm lying?" she asked evasively.

"Let's just say a little bird told me. And that same little bird will tell me again. You lie beautifully, Miss Peyton. That lovely little face of yours never reveals a thing—when you don't want it to. That was quite a masterful performance tonight. You wouldn't happen to be an actress by any chance, would you?"

"Nanny wouldn't let me even perform with the girls at school. She said acting isn't for ladies." Evie straightened her skirts and took the room's only chair. With a graceful move that kept her petticoats covering her, she lifted her foot to examine her ruined shoe.

She was good, very good. Not even a protest. Tyler removed his shoulders from the door and checked the bolt. "Well, I wouldn't recommend what you did tonight as being healthy for your career, either. From now on, I'd prefer you'd stay in your room when I tell you."

"But he was cheating. Even Daniel noticed it. I couldn't let him keep on cheating. You might have lost our tickets or worse."

"I make my living by gambling, Miss Peyton. I had no intention of losing. You just made a long night shorter. And much more entertaining." This last Tyler added as an afterthought. He would have skinned Dorset of his last dollar if it had taken him all night and day, but it would never have been as much fun as watching Maryellen Peyton at work.

"He was cheating. I was just getting even for it. Why did you take his watch? I don't think it's nice to rob a man of his last possession." Removing her shoes, she cast the room's lone bed a furtive look.

Tyler stepped to the lantern and drew out the watch, snapping it open and examining the contents with an air of satisfaction. "Because it was my daddy's watch. This is my mother's portrait." He handed it to her so she could see. "It's all I've got left. Vandals destroyed the family portraits after she died. This is the only one that survived."

Evie examined the miniature of a lovely blond woman in pink satin. She was the picture of delicate Southern womanhood. She threw Tyler a glance as she returned the watch. "She's beautiful. Did she die during the war?"

"They all died during the war. My father, my brothers, most of my neighbors. There are times when I think I died with them. But that's another story. You can have the bed. I'll go down to the main cabin and see if there's any interesting games going on. I'll lock the door from the outside. That way you'll be safe until I'm back."

He was already combing his hair in the mirror and reaching for his coat. Evie shook her head and tried to put everything together, but she was too tired to think. Tyler Monteigne was turning out to be a man of more facets than she had imagined, even putting secret agents and Pecos Martin aside. But if he thought his sad story would persuade her to allow him to stay with her, he picked the wrong woman.

"I'm sorry about your family, Tyler. Will you be safe in the cabin? Dorset won't come looking for you there?"

Tyler examined his crumpled cravat and threw it aside. His mouth wore a wry grin as he turned to her. "Your brother's inadvertent brilliance of feeding beer to a man drinking whiskey ought to keep Dorset sleeping it off for a few more hours. I'll be most discreet when I return. You needn't worry."

Evie didn't know whether she blushed at Tyler's words or at the sight of his open shirt. Tugging on his coat had loosened the linen, and she could see a portion of his chest and a slight curl of brown hair there. The sight did strange things to her insides, and she looked away.

"If we had my luggage, there would be blankets and things you could use. How will you sleep?"

"The same way I always do. Lightly." Tyler leaned over and kissed her hair.

She jumped, startled, but he was on the way out the door before she could do anything.

* * *

Evie woke to the sound of furious shouts and soft snores. Since the latter were closest, she glanced around in search of the source.

Tyler was rolled up in the spare blanket on the floor, the other pillow from her bed beneath his head. His hair was rumpled for a change, and she was quite certain he had no shirt on. She could see a glimpse of bare shoulders and back where the blanket fell off. He was as golden-brown there as he was everywhere else. She wondered what it would be like to touch him. The thought was very tempting. He had such wide shoulders, and they bulged intriguingly. Her gaze drifted down to his blanket-covered hips and stopped. What if... ?

She wasn't given a chance to wonder long. As the noise outside grew rowdier, Tyler stirred. With a practice swipe, he rubbed the hair out of his eyes with the back of his arm while reaching beneath his pillow. The blanket fell back, and he was on his feet with revolver in hand before Evie could follow his intent.

He wore trousers. Stifling an irrepressible giggle of disappointment, Evie reached for the robe that had been shoved into her valise last night. Tyler Monteigne without his shirt was more man than she could deal with at this hour of the morning.

Without a word, he grabbed the shirt he had flung over the chair and pulled it on. Not bothering to fasten it, he eased open the door, taking in as much of the scene below as he could from this angle. Evie could see the tension in the muscles of his back as they stiffened against the linen. She wished she'd had more time to see the other side of him.

To her surprise, Tyler gave a piercing whistle. A moment later, he stepped back and Benjamin pushed Daniel through the door. They slammed it and threw the bar while the commotion continued out on the dock.

"Evie!" Daniel glanced in horror from his sister's state of undress to Tyler in his unfastened shirt.

He missed the other man's lifted eyebrows at this new name, but Evie didn't. She gazed swiftly at the soft V of curly hair on Tyler's chest, then turned to her shocked brother. "Don't be silly, Daniel. Now look what you've done." She tightened her robe and swung her feet out of bed. "Benjamin, I hope you brought Mr. Monteigne a clean shirt. Maybe then he can be persuaded to put it on properly."

Benjamin grinned and leaned against the door as he watched Daniel square off against the man eyeing him askance. Keeping a cautious gaze on Daniel, Tyler aimed his words at Evie. She'd let her loose braids down around her shoulders, but she was wearing half a dozen petticoats beneath her morning robe. He couldn't see as much of her as she of him.

"Evie, is it? Have you any more secrets to unveil before the boat moves out, Miss Peyton? Or is it Peyton? I thought we'd reached an agreement last night."

That took some of the wind out of Daniel's sails. He threw Evie an apologetic glance.

"The name is Peyton, and you may continue to call me Maryellen, Mr. Monteigne." She drew out the word tauntingly. "Now if you will all excuse me, I would like to dress. No thanks to a certain someone, my gowns are all rumpled no matter what I wear."

Daniel put his fists down and shoved them in his pockets. Tyler looked as if he might scalp her.

Ignoring her command, he turned to Ben. "I take it that's Dorset out on the dock."

"He turned the inn upside down at daybreak. Me and the boy here came down the back way." Benjamin turned to Evie. "Your trunks are all loaded, ma'am. You'll just need to tell a porter which ones you want in the room." He turned an inquiring look to Tyler. "Shall I have your bags sent up here, too? Dorset's telling the captain he can't leave until the sheriff has searched the boat."

"The captain will throw him overboard before he allows that. I can hear the boiler warming up now."

Evie watched Tyler throw Daniel a considering look. Apparently knowing when to walk away, he shrugged his shoulders and gave up any thought of sharing the elegant stateroom.

"I'll join the two of you downstairs, and we can leave the lady to her ablutions," he said.

Before Evie had time to express relief, Tyler turned in her direction. "You and I are going to have a long talk as soon as we get some food in us. Don't take too long."

Evie threw the pillow after him as he closed the door.