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“She will be well cared for.” Laurent nodded in approval. “I could do nothing for her while we traveled over the mountains,” he added quickly, and shot a hasty look at Alex. “I could not reveal my cover. Surely you understand.”
Alex’s eyebrows pulled together. “Start at the beginning, Laurent.”
Laurent nodded. “I met up with Oliver Sabin’s crew shortly after I arrived in St. Louis,” he began. “A quick demonstration of my knife and pistol skills, and they were more than willing to hire me on.”
“Sabin and his men have been sabotaging Jeb Smith’s supply boats for years,” Alex remarked. “How did Evie . . . Evelyn Lewis end up on one of those boats?”
Laurent’s twitching lips and twinkling eyes didn’t escape Alex’s notice. He clenched his jaw.
Laurent cleared his throat. “Her brother sought the services of Sabin and his men.”
“Henry Lewis?” Alex raised his eyebrows. He remembered his childhood friend’s eagerness to join him on his adventure in the wilderness, but duty to his family prevented him from going along. Had he finally decided to give up his life as a farmer? That still didn’t explain how Evie ended up with Laurent.
“Shortly before the boat departed, I noticed a young woman disguised as a boy get on board. I intercepted her. You can appreciate my surprise when she revealed her name, and that she was trying to follow her brother.”
Laurent stopped walking. He turned fully toward Alex. A wide smile spread across his face. “I have done you a great service, mon ami.” His teeth gleamed white in the sunlight.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Alex avoided Laurent’s much-too perceptive stare.
“Mademoiselle Lewis. She is the lady you have talked about, no? You refuse to return to St. Louis. I have brought her to you.”
Alex cursed under his breath. He should have never discussed his time in St. Charles. The meddlesome Frenchman had insisted on knowing why Alex had returned to Jackson’s Hole with a bullet in his chest. His body had been combating a fever, and in his delirium he must have talked about seeing Evelyn. Laurent had relentlessly pestered him for information afterwards. Laurent, a free trapper, had been his friend for years, and Alex had spent several winters at the Frenchman’s cabin that he’d built at the base of Les Trois Tetons.
“I don’t want her here.” Alex forced the words from his mouth. “She should be at home, safe on her folks’ farm.”
“And marry the man her brother chose for her? A man she does not love?”
Alex’s head shot up. His eyes narrowed. “Why would Henry choose a husband for her. Where is he, anyhow?”
Laurent studied him before he spoke. “Henry Lewis is dead. Sabin killed him. There was nothing I could do to prevent it. I have done my best to keep the little mademoiselle safe from Sabin and his men. I knew you would be here when we arrived, and I made sure her name spread through camp. I was certain that you would come and claim her as your own when you heard.”
Alex ran a hand up the nape of his neck. The last thing he wanted was Evie here in the wilderness, near all these trappers and mountain men, and least of all, near him.
“Why couldn’t you simply scare her off that boat?” Alex’s mind churned. What was he going to do with her? There was no denying that she stirred feelings in him that were as foreign as an encounter with a friendly Blackfoot. He’d felt similar stirrings the day he saw her in St. Charles, and although her appearance was vastly different today than the woman he had seen then, holding her in his arms had ignited a longing deep inside him unlike anything he’d ever felt.
Laurent let out a bark-like laugh. “Walker, do you really believe that she would have simply returned home if I had chased her off that boat? She would have found another vessel; mark my words. That little mademoiselle has a spark in her that is not so easily squelched.”
Alex gnashed his teeth in frustration. He remembered Henry’s little sister as a plucky girl, annoying and meddlesome. She’d often tag along when he and Henry went off into the woods. He’d simply chosen to ignore her back then.
“Why would she follow Henry into the wilderness?” he wondered out loud.
Laurent’s eyes widened briefly. He tilted his head to the side and then leaned toward Alex. “Why, to kill you, my friend.”
*****
Evelyn slowly forced her eyelids open. Her lips parted slightly, and she raked her teeth against her dried lips. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her parched mouth, and she couldn’t swallow. She moaned softly, and forced her legs to move. A sharp pain seared up her spine, and when she tried to bring her hand to her face, her arm felt as if lead anchors were attached to the limb.
