Page 69 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

“Yeah. She called me first thing this morning.”

“Did she seriously think that I might be the one sending those messages – that I might be trying to scare Shay into leaving Summer Lake?”

“No. She told me that you’d probably think that.”

“Why was she so dead set against me going with Shay then?”

“Because they want to bring her into the house with them. If you were with her, that wouldn’t be comfortable for any of you, would it?”

“It’s not like I’d expect to share her room or anything.”

“I know, but they want to figure out what the deal is for themselves. If you and Shayna were more established, it’d be different. But you’re still an unknown quantity to them – you have to respect that.”

“I do, I wouldn’t be on my way home if I didn’t. If they were anyone else …”

Cash laughed. “I’m with you. If they were anyone else, I’d be encouraging you to bring Shayna back to the ranch with you. But Alma’s not going to let anything happen to her. I don’t know Davin, but I’ve heard about him and his buddy Adam – theywere Delta operators. And there’s a whole bunch of team guys, and Marines in Summer Lake. I doubt that Alma would need any backup – but she’ll ask for it if she does, and she’s got plenty of good men to choose from.”

Ty blew out a sigh. “I know.”

“But you want to be the one to save Shayna?”

“I … fuck it, I’m going to say it, Cash. I just want to be with her. Yeah, I hate the idea of some crazy guy stalking her. And of course I want to be the one to make sure she’s safe, but even without any of that going on, I wish I was headed to the lake with her, instead of headed back to the ranch without her.”

“Alma said you were talking about going next weekend.”

“I am.”

“That works. Give them some time to track this jackass down and deal with him, then you can get back on track.” Cash chuckled. “I’m guessing that the plan is to bring her home to the ranch with you just as soon as you can – and keep her?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a plan. I’ll bring her for a visit as soon as we can swing it. But keeping her there? I dunno, Cash. Her whole life’s in Summer Lake. You might know more than I do by now about Alma and Davin and their deal with being a little family. All I can tell you is that it means a whole lot to Shay, and I’m not sure she’ll want to give it up. Plus, she works a whole bunch of different jobs and …”

“They’re all jobs that she could do on the ranch.”

Ty frowned. “I …”

“Think about it, squirt. She works behind a bar – there’s the bar in the lodge. Wade’s always trying to find someone who’d be a good fit long term. She cleans stalls – you telling me Tanner would turn her down?”

“I’m telling you I’ll punch his lights out if he goes anywhere near her.”

Cash laughed. “You know what I mean; he wouldn’t turn down another set of hands with the horses. She teaches fitness classes – Wade’s been talking about offering more things like that for the guests, and if it came to it, she could always go up to one of the gyms in town. My point is that her jobs are replaceable.”

“Yeah, but her family isn’t.”

“Neither is yours, squirt. Yes, I’m being selfish, but if she doesn’t come to you, you’re going to go to her and … I don’t want that.”

Ty could feel a big smile spread across his face. “I don’t either, but it’s not as though you’re ever there, is it?”

Cash was quiet for a long few moments. “I’ve been thinking that I’d like to be around more.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. So, you’d better get to work on getting your Shayna up to visit, and when she comes, we’ll all pitch in to help her see that life could be good for her in the valley.”

“Thanks, Cash.”

“Not a problem. I wasn’t a hundred percent convinced, but Eli called me this morning. He was impressed with her.”

“He was?”

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