Page 21 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

Shane gave him a puzzled look. “Youbroughther, as in … a date?”

He laughed out loud. “No! Jesus …” He shuddered. “I can’t even think about that. She’s more like an annoying little sister. And I guess that’s kind of why I’m here with her. Playing big brother, keeping an eye on her to make sure she’s okay. I imagine you heard what happened with her and her mom.”

“Oh, right. Yeah, of course. You still think there’s some kind of threat, then? I thought all that was behind them?”

“It is, but we like to keep an eye on her whenever she’s here. She’s a great kid, but she’s a bit clueless.”

Shane grinned. “And you’re looking out for her. I like it.” He looked around the gallery. “But this isn’t your idea of a fun night. You’re more like I used to be – hunting tourists for sport.”

“Not so much anymore.”

“No? Are you seeing someone? Nah, you can’t be. I would have heard about it if you were. You can’t get away with shit in the valley without everyone hearing about it.”

Ty pursed his lips.

“What? You are seeing someone, and you’ve managed to keep it quiet? Who? You know I’m not going to tell anyone.”

He shrugged. “I’m not exactly seeing her, not yet anyway. I’ve been talking to this girl online and …”

Shane raised his eyebrows.

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s just … I wouldn’t have had you down as the online dating kind. You can find yourself a woman easily enough at Chico, any time you like.”

“Yeah, but …”

“Ah, you’re looking to settle down? There’s no one local who does it for you and the tourists aren’t looking for anything more than a night with a cowboy?”

Ty blew out a sigh. “You know the deal, you’ve been there.”

“Yep.” Shane shook his head. “I just can’t see you setting up a profile on one of those dating sites and …”

“I didn’t! It was all Nessa’s idea; I thought it was dumb but then … Actually, you know April, don’t you?”

“April Preston?”

“Yep. She sent me a message from Shayna’s account and … well, there’s a bit of a story there, but the short version is that I’ve been talking with Shay for a few …” He caught himself, he’d been about to say for a few weeks, it felt that way, but they’d only been talking for a few days.

Shane didn’t notice that he’d stopped short. Cassidy was waving him over, and he gave Ty a rueful smile. “Sorry, bud, I have to go see what she needs.”

“Not a problem.”

When Shane had gone, Ty went and got himself an orange juice from the bar and took it to the back corner of the gallery. He leaned against the wall and took his phone out. Shayna had said that she might text him, but she hadn’t yet. He wanted to text her but felt like he should wait. Since she hadn’t sentanything, it probably meant that she was busy and didn’t have the time.

Maybe he should send her an email while he waited – that felt less … pushy. If they were still sticking with email, it was his turn. He pulled up his email. He wasn’t great at typing on his phone, but he had nothing else to do so …

From: Tyler MacFarland:Ty@ MacFarlandRanch.com

To: Shayna Rose:ShayMRose1@ gmail.com

Hey Shay

Don’t want to interrupt you since you’re probably doing schoolwork right now. Just thinking about you and I wanted to say hi.

He stared at the words. Was that too much? He didn’t know. It was true, though, and he hadn’t been lying when he told her that honesty to the point of bluntness could be counted as one of his flaws – even if he didn’t see it as one.

He stared at his phone when it buzzed in his hand – with an incoming text. He recognized the number immediately.

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