Page 31 of More Than Meets the Eye

“Oh, for pity’s sake.” Hamilton turned his back with a grunt and waved them off. “Take your walk already and spare me this idiotic conversation.”

Eva grabbed her brother’s arm and lifted on tiptoe to plant a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you, Zach.”

Hamilton wrapped a rather awkward arm around her shoulders before releasing her and stepping away. “Be careful, Evie.” He glanced over her shoulder at Logan. The warning was evident, but so was the worry. “People aren’t always what they seem to be on the surface.”

“I know.” She glanced at Logan, too. “But unless I get past the surface, I’ll never know the truth, will I?”

Logan held her gaze for a heartbeat before looking away and setting his jaw. She’d discover the truth soon enough. All of it. Including her brother’s sins.

Logan flipped his wrist and freed Shamgar from the hitching rail as the blond Hamilton brother joined their group, a frown marring his brow. Before he could verbalize the questions written on his face, Logan moved the lead line to his left hand and offered his right arm to Eva.

“Shall we?”

She smiled and fit her slender hand into the crook of his elbow. “We shall.”

“What—?” the blond brother sputtered, his head swiveling to follow their progress as they swept past.

“Neighbor,” Hamilton huffed in explanation before grabbing Seth by the shoulder and directing him toward the wagons.

Unfortunately, Hamilton couldn’t manhandle the rest of the gawking crowd. Eva’s smile dimmed under the weight of their stares. Conversations hushed and eyes prodded—some with simple curiosity, others with something more akin to the look one would give a bearded lady when gaping at circus oddities. It took only a few steps for the heaviness to bend Eva’s head back into the shepherd’s crook she’d sported in the pew.

“Who’s that man with Eerie Evie?” A pair of girls near Eva’s age pointed at them as they walked past, their voices hushed yet projecting loudly enough to ensure the couple would hear.

“I don’t know,” her companion sneered, “but look at that scar. He’s probably as wicked as she is.”

“Maybe she hexed him with one of her spells, and he’s trapped in some kind of trance.”

“Probably. It’s the only way a girl like her could get a man to walk out with her.”

Indignation flared in Logan’s chest. The good people of Pecan Gap needed a lesson in manners and common decency. He glared at the insufferable girls, wishing he could give them the dressing down their cruel words deserved, but lashing out at them wouldn’t help the woman at his side. He’d no doubt embarrass her and cause her to retreat further into herself. This called for a different tactic.

He leaned close. “Ashamed to be seen with the guy with the scar?”

Her head snapped up, just as he’d bet it would. “No! Never. I—” Her eyes darted away from his face to the smirking girls, then to the rest of the crowd standing in little clusters around the churchyard. She started shrinking again, her posture going lax, her neck bending.

“Good,” he said. “Had me worried when your head went all droopy.”

His words had the desired effect. Her chin jutted forward, and determination straightened her neck. “You don’t understand,” she whispered. “It’s me they’re staring at. I’ve never had a . . . man walk me home before.”

That hesitation. She’d been about to call him something else before she thought better of it. Suitor? Beau? His limbs loosened into a stride with a bit more swagger, though he worried a bit over why his mind had leapt to fill in the blank with those particular terms.

He wanted her to think of him fondly, he assured himself. Romantically, even. The closer they became, the more information he could glean. Yet when her striking eyes met his, a shy blush rising to her cheeks, it wasn’t information he found himself wanting.

Logan hugged her hand to his side and gave her his best roguish grin. “They’ll get used to it.” He winked. “I plan to walk you home next week, too. And the week after. Pretty soon, seeing us together will be so ordinary that no one will even think twice about it.”

Her eyes softened. Grew dewy. For a heartbeat he panicked, afraid he’d made her cry, but then a tender smile blossomed, and her expression took on a glow of such dreamy adoration, he felt as if he’d single-handedly slayed a den full of dragons. He tried to shake off the feeling, leery of its addictive properties, but it lingered despite his efforts, warming his insides.

They walked in silence through the remainder of the churchyard, Eva with her head up and her steps in time with his. Taking the road that led away from town, Logan waited until her brothers’ wagon rolled by—one dark face scowling at him while the other sported concern—before broaching the topic most on his mind.

“Why do you hide yourself from them?”

Eva turned startled eyes on him. “What?”

“In church. You never looked up. Not at me when I came in late. Not at the preacher. Not even during the singing. It was as if you were a different person. Timid and afraid, not the warrior sprite I remember from the woods.”

She grinned. “Warrior sprite? I like that. Even more than robust.”

He chuckled. “I aim to please.”