Page 115 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

That was exactly what he’d been concerned about.

“He’s way smarter than that. He told him he can’t get to me because I moved away to go to college.” She let out a short laugh. “At Stanford.”

“Why’s that funny?”

She rolled her eyes. “Stanford has the best psychology program in the country. I told Booker once that would be my dream school – not that I’d ever get in. But that’s how he is, he remembered – he even said just now, that if he was in charge, I’d get to go to Stanford.”

“Did he think the guy believed him?”

“He thinks so. Apparently, it made him mad enough to punch Booker again.” She inhaled deeply then blew it out slowly. “That poor kid, Ty. It is my fault. He was trying to protect me.”

Ty closed his arms around her. “Because he loves you.” He kissed the top of her head. “Which confirms that he’s a smart kid.”

She sighed. “I talked to Alexis first – she stayed home with Booker while Davin and Adam went out looking for him – for Carey.”

Ty was surprised to hear that; Shayna must have understood what he was thinking.

“It seems that she was more concerned with taking care of Booker than with exacting revenge. Although, I hate to think what will happen to Carey if she gets hold of him before the police do.”

Ty’s lips twitched; he didn’t want to smile, but the thought of Alexis being the one to take the asshole down was an appealing one.

~ ~ ~

When Shayna woke up on Sunday morning, she lay staring out the window at the mountains. She couldn’t help thinking about Booker. She hated that he’d gotten hurt because of her. She’d spent most of yesterday texting back and forth with him. He insisted that he was enjoying a couple of days off – Alexis was keeping him home from the barn and from his other job at the restaurant. She was so glad that he had her and Davin looking out for him.

Apparently, Davin and Adam’s attempt to track this Carey person down hadn’t come to anything. Booker was mad at himself that he hadn’t thought to try and get a photograph so that they would at least know who they were looking for. Carey hadn’t used any photos on his dating profile and the only ones that Amelia had managed to dig up were mugshots from years ago.

Shayna had talked to Alexis and Davin and they’d both tried to reassure her that what happened to Booker wasn’t her fault. She knew it was, though.

Ty’s arm tightened around her waist, and he kissed the back of her neck.

“I figured you were awake. Are you ready to stop tormenting yourself yet?”

She rolled over so that she could see his face and sighed. “No.”

He kissed the tip of her nose. “I wish you would.”

She shrugged.

He curled his arm around her and held her closer to him. “It’s only a matter of time until Alexis and Davin hunt him down, you know that, right?”

She shrugged again. “I hope so, but …”

“If I can’t convince you that it’s all going to be all right, is there anything I can do to distract you?”

She smiled and pressed closer to him. “I’m sure you could think of something.”

He smiled through pursed lips. “I didn’t mean that – although I ain’t going to say no. But what do you want to do today?”

“It’s Sunday – isn’t everyone coming for lunch?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we have to stick around. If you want to take off, we can go somewhere – anywhere. We can go to the park if you want to see it – I’ve kept saying that I’ll take you. We could go for a ride – in the truck, or go saddle up a couple of horses and hit the trails.”

She ran her fingers through his beard. “What did I do to deserve you?”

He chuckled. “I reckon all you needed to do was be born.”

She gave him a puzzled look.

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