Instead, he scanned the room slowly, methodically, like he was taking inventory of everything and everyone in it. His eyes landed on Evelyn. She looked away fast, but not fast enough. He crossed the saloon in six long strides and stopped in front of her table. Up close, he was even bigger than she thought.
6'3, maybe 6'4, with hands that looked like they could snap a fence post in half. His face was weathered, creased with lines that spoke of too many winters and not enough sleep. And his eyes were the color of slate right before a storm. "You look like you've been walking a while," he said. Evelyn didn't answer.
She kept her gaze fixed on her coffee cup, willing him to take the hint and leave. He didn't. "Name's Holden Vail," he continued, his voice low and even. "Those are my brothers." He gestured vaguely toward the bar.
"We run a ranch about 10 miles east of here." She still didn't look up. "You got a place to stay tonight?" The question hit her harder than she expected. She tightened her grip on the cup and forced her voice to stay steady.
"I'll manage." "That's not what I asked." "And I'm not answering." Holden Vail studied her for a long moment, and Evelyn could feel the weight of his attention pressing down on her like a physical thing. She wanted him to walk away.
She needed him to walk away. Because if he kept standing there, kept looking at her with something that almost resembled concern, she was going to crack. And she couldn't afford to crack. Not here. Not in front of all these people.
"We've got work," he said finally. "At the ranch. Cooking, cleaning, mending, things that need doing and no one to do them. Pays fair, room's warm. You interested?"
Evelyn's first instinct was to say no. Her second instinct was to run. But her third instinct, the one shaped by 3 years of sleeping in barns and eating once a day and wondering if this would be the winter she didn't survive made her look up. Holden Vale's expression hadn't changed. He wasn't smiling, wasn't trying to charm her, wasn't doing any of the things men usually did when they wanted something.
He was just standing there waiting for an answer. "Why?" she asked. "Why what?" "Why offer work to a stranger?" He shrugged.
"Because you need it and we need the help." It was the simplest answer in the world and somehow that made it the hardest to believe. "One week," Evelyn said. "That's all?" "One week," Holden agreed.
He turned and walked back to the bar. And Evelyn sat there alone with her coffee trying to convince herself she hadn't just made a terrible mistake. The ride to the Vale ranch took 2 hours and Evelyn spent every minute of it regretting her decision. She rode in the back of a supply wagon with the twins, Caleb and Cain they'd introduced themselves as, though she immediately forgot which was which. The loud one kept trying to make conversation.