Page 135 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

Ty looked at Cash, who glanced over at Alexis. The two of them were the only ones who’d ever know the truth.

Alexis stepped forward. “He didn’t make it down the mountain. His body was found at the bottom of a ravine.”

Shay met his gaze, and he shrugged. He hoped that the bastard had suffered a long and painful death, but even if he’d simply fallen and broken his neck – which Ty highly doubted was the case – he didn’t care. All that mattered to him was that Carey Duncan was dead and would never be able to come after Shay, or any other woman, ever again.

Shay looked around at them all, and Ty relaxed when she smiled and said, “Okay, thank you.”

~ ~ ~

It had taken another few days before Trip finally decreed that Shayna could go home. She really liked him – he was another one of Cash’s gang of friends, and all those guys were awesome – and hot – she’d come to appreciate the appeal of silver foxes since she came to Montana. Of course, none of them were as hot as Ty.

Sunday had rolled around again, all the family was here for lunch, and when she looked over at the grill, there he was smiling at her. She gave him a little wave, and had to laugh when Tanner, who was standing next to him, waggled his fingers at her in that cute little wave of his.

Ty scowled at him and handed him the spatula, leaving him in charge of the burgers while he came over to check on her.

“She’s fine, Ty,” Laney told him.

He ignored his sister and gripped the arms of Shay’s chair, caging her in as he leaned down to kiss her.

“Are you?”

She nodded but regretted it immediately; it still made her feel dizzy when she moved her head too fast. “I’m great. I’ll be even better when I can get back to work.”

“We’ve already talked about it, sweetheart. It’s going to take time. You might as well give in and accept that the only thing you’re going to be able to do for a while is study.” He winked at her. “And if you stopped whining about wanting to work, and buckled down to it, you could knock a couple of classes out and …”

“Hey!” Laney slapped the back of his head, hard. “Don’t you dare tell her that she’s whining!”

Shayna laughed, but she needed to defend him. “It’s okay, Laney. I’m the one who says that I whine – he’s only using my word.”

“Yeah, but still …” Laney scowled at him, but he just laughed.

“He’s right though,” said Callie. “Not about whining, about making the most of your recuperation time. You can’t exactly ride horses or stand behind the bar for a while, but you could sit and study.”

She nodded. They were right and she knew it, but she didn’t feel right about taking more classes – or taking on the cost of tuition – when she didn’t know how long it’d be before she was bringing money in again.

Ty held her gaze as he dropped a kiss on her lips. “We’ll figure it out,” he said, as if he’d heard what she was thinking.

She was relieved when Callie’s phone rang, and she got up saying, “It’s my mama, I need to take it.”

As Shayna watched her walk away, she reached for the little beehive around her neck – she was so grateful that Ty had found it. Watching Callie talk to her mom made her think about her own parents, and the way they’d been there with her when she was all alone on the mountain.

Ty rested his forehead against hers – it seemed like he didn’t miss a thing. “You okay, busy bee?”

“Yeah. I just don’t know how to not be busy.”

“We’ll come up with something. Maybe we can go away for a couple of days.”

“Maybe. I’d like that.” If she wanted to go anywhere, it would be to Summer Lake. Alexis, Davin, and Booker had only left a couple of days ago – they’d wanted to stick around until they were convinced that she was all right.

When Ty pursed his lips, she wondered if he knew that she was thinking that, too.

“I’d better get back to the grill.”

“Okay.”

~ ~ ~

Ty frowned to himself and took the spatula from Tanner without even looking at him.

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