Page 118 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

“Right. I wondered why you guys were here.”

“Well, there’s that and I wanted to see Libby as well.”

Ty raised his eyebrows. “Is she all right?”

Cash blew out a sigh. “Yeah, she’s a good as she can be. I’m taking a break from trying to play mediator between her and Mav. I wanted to talk to her about the program she runs for the vets.”

“And Mav knows this?”

Cash laughed. “Yep. I’m not going to hide anything from him. If he refuses to get his head out of his ass and make things right with her, then he has no right to whine like a little girl about her spending time with vets.”

“I guess, but …”

Cash shrugged. “Seriously. She’s doing good work. And you know what Trav’s planning, right?”

“He wants to provide a place where vets can come and stay to decompress for a while.”

“Yep. It makes sense for him and Libby to get together and see if they can join forces.”

“I can see that but … oh, I was going to ask what’s it got to do with me, but it doesn’t – you mean Shay?”

“I do. Sounds like she’s doing a bunch of odd jobs around here. I was thinking that if she had one job – doing the kind of work that she wants to do – she’d have more time to study and …”

“We were talking about that this morning, but it’ll be a while before they put anything together, won’t it?”

“It might be, if they were left to their own devices but …”

“But you’re about to intervene and help things along?”

“You know me. Trav found out that the old Woodfield place is for sale.”

“Oh, wow! You mean the one that butts up against our southern boundary?”

“Yep. The one that the out-of-staters tried to turn into a resort.”

“That’s perfect! I heard that some church had bought it and wanted to …”

Cash laughed. “I heard the same and I didn’t think they were the kind of people who’d make good neighbors.”

“Shit! What did you do?”

“Who says I did anything?” Cash asked with a grin. “All I know is that they backed out of the deal, and considering that they’d managed to talk old man Woodfield into a accepting a lowballoffer, Trav’s going to look like a hero when he comes in with something a bit more realistic – and he’ll still be getting a good deal. You know I love a win-win.”

Ty had to laugh. “I do. So, you’re saying that Shay might be able to work with him right there on our doorstep?” His smile faded. “Are you saying that Libb would move the horses up here, too? How’s Mav going to feel about that?”

Cash shrugged. “None of us can afford to worry about that. And …. Get this … drumroll, please.”

“Go on – spit it out!”

“I’ve been talking to Eli as well. He’d be interested in moving out here, too. He set up in Salt Lake because he felt like he needed to be in a big city to be accessible, but if guys are going to be coming to Trav’s place anyway … And he said that he’d need an assistant, so …”

Ty couldn’t stop smiling. “Are you telling me that you’ve been going around rearranging people’s lives so that Shay can …?”

Cash laughed. “Nah. I’m good – but even I’m not that good. I could see that a few stars were starting to align so I’m doing what I can to help ‘em along. It’s not just for Shay – everyone will benefit if we can pull this off. Yeah, Shay, Trav, Libby’, and Eli – but also the guys who come to stay. Some of ‘em will benefit from Libb’s work and the horses, some of ‘em will want to work with Eli. Either way, Shay can help until she finds her feet and figures out what her own special brand of help looks like.”

“Thanks, Cash.”

“Yeah. Anyway, that’s that. The other thing I wanted to talk to you about is this Carey Duncan guy. I spoke to Alexis, and she told me about Booker.”

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