Oh they did. In that parsy has it right.
"We have battered down words that might have been spoken between us and that was as it should be."
He is wrong on the weirder stuff that he sees but dead right on this. That is what makes Shane's sacrifice so powerful.
a.cricket
Maybe I'm missing it but I don't think there was a physical relationship....just mutual admiration.
Shane's sacrifice is stll powerful even if the relationship is platonic. He knocks out Joe because he wants to 'deal' with Wilson alone and doesn't want to risk anything happening to Joe because of Marian & Bob.
Joe sensed this as well and surprisingly did not seem to feel jealous over it. Ceding his place at the head of the table to Shane is significant. If a visitor came to stay with you, would you do the same? I'm not talking about somebody coming over for dinner but somebody who comes for an extended visit. Towards the end of the book, Joe seems to realize that his wife's affections might be shifting towards Shane and is thus more easily willing to risk his life in the final confrontation with Fletcher and Wilson, knowing that his family will be in "better hands than his own" should he fall.
Then you have Shane, after deciding to take on Fletcher and Wilson himself (after punching out Joe), has his final exchange with Mrs. Starrett in which she asks "Are you doing this just for me?"
"No, Marian." Shane responds, "Could I separate you in my mind and still be a man?"
Pretty heavy stuff.
My feeling is that Shane had for himself a similar woman to Marian Starrett earlier in his life and lost her for whatever reason. Marian seems to have provoked bittersweet feelings of what might have been and what may yet be. But despite the sexual attraction rising between them, Shane would never think of taking her from such a fine man as Joe Starrett and besides, perhaps realized that she was better off with Joe in the first place.
I think there is a great moral message here.