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“I could have managed on my own,” she said, sucking in a sharp breath of air.
“Didn’t look like it from where I was standing,” he retorted, a smirk on his face. Strands of his dark hair fell over his forehead, partially obstructing his eyes, but his gaze rested intently on her face. She fought the impulse to swipe the hair away from his forehead. Abruptly, as if he just remembered that he still held her at the waist, he released his hold and pulled his arms away, then took a step backward. He reached for his rifle on the ground, and turned away from her.
Alex’s shirt couldn’t hide how his back muscles tensed while he stood facing toward the creek. Evelyn inhaled a deep breath. Why did he seem so angry and withdrawn again? She had told him before leaving the trapper rendezvous that she accepted the terms he laid out for her. They had come to an agreement . . . of sorts. He had offered her his protection with the promise to return her to St. Louis the following summer. In exchange, she would travel with him to the place where he planned to build a cabin, and assume all domestic duties customary of a wife.
“I won’t share your sleeping blankets,” Evelyn had injected quickly. “I’ll perform whatever womanly duties you set out for me, but I won’t . . . not those duties.” Evelyn recalled her embarrassment when her cheeks heated at the thought of sharing a bed with Alex. Would she have agreed to his terms if he had included those demands as well?
His kiss had left her longing for all those things no one talked about, the things that happened between a man and a woman in the marriage bed behind closed doors. Nothing had ever made her feel more like a woman than when Alex pulled her into his embrace and kissed her like a true lover. Charlie Richardson had stolen a kiss once, which had earned him a resounding slap on the cheek. To compare the two would be like comparing a donkey with a blue-blooded thoroughbred.
“What’s the matter, Evie?” Alex’s lips had widened in a grin that made her want to wrap her arms around his neck and demand that he kiss her again. At that moment she might have consented to anything he asked for. Instead, his next words ignited her temper to flare to the surface again. “You’d still rather marry a warthog than consider being wed to me?” One of his eyebrows rose expectantly.
His question had confused her momentarily, but then she’d remembered proclaiming that exact thing when Henry embarrassed her the day Alex left St. Charles six years ago.
“Why, Alex,” Evelyn forced a smile. “Up until yesterday, your appearance led me to believe that you had turned into a warthog.” She had exercised all the self-control she possessed to simply force the words from between clenched teeth rather than shout at the top of her lungs. Her hands had balled into fists at her sides, and her body shook as she tried to conceal her embarrassment. He had some nerve to bring up such a humiliating incident.
“Don’t worry, Evie. I’ll do my best to keep your virtue safe.” Alex had chuckled, and walked away, shaking his head. Later he’d helped her mount the horse he’d saddled for her to ride, even offering a tentative smile. Evelyn interpreted it as his way of making peace again, and her heart had gone galloping out of control. If he continued to favor her with such boyish smiles, she might get the wrong impression and think that Alex might even like her just a little.
His stance and demeanor now, standing in the middle of a wilderness meadow by the creek, dispelled any notion that Alex had somehow found her attractive or likable. The simple fact that he agreed to the idea of a marriage arrangement without intimacy should make it crystal clear that he found her lacking. Evelyn couldn’t think of a single man she’d ever met who would be willing to comply with such an arrangement.
Somehow Alex still saw her only as Henry’s little sister. Would he ever look at her and see a grown woman before him? To his way of thinking, he was probably taking care of her because of his friendship with Henry.
And because you believe he killed your parents. Was this his way of trying to prove his innocence to her? All the pieces seemed to fall into place. Alex had agreed to protect her, and even return her safely to St. Louis in a year. His kindness made it impossible to think of him as her parents’ murderer.
“We’ll rest the horses here for a while,” Alex said after moments of silence. He turned to face her, and Evelyn’s heart fluttered in her chest. A soft smile once again replaced the taut lines of his face. He moved around her to one of the pack horses, and untied a pouch from the animal’s back. His steel traps rattled and clanked while he adjusted pouches and blankets. Reaching inside the bag, he produced several dried strips of meat, and handed them to her.
