Page 129 of The Cowboy's Unshakeable Love

It’d be time to go soon. Travis had gone over to the restaurant to see Ty, but he’d said that he’d be back to collect her at eleven-thirty. It was almost that time now. She looked around the cabin; this one was almost finished. She needed to spend some time in the next one and start making her lists of what she wanted to buy. The next cabin she was going to work on – number six – was the farthest one from the house. It sat in a hollow all by itself at the very end of the dirt road that ran through the property. She was hoping that since it was so out of the way, Travis would let her drive herself out there and back. He was working on so many other projects around the place that it didn’t make sense for him to spend so much time babysitting her now that she didn’t need it anymore and she had her own transportation.

She knew that he’d been impressed when she drove him around between the cabins and the barn and the house yesterday. She was fine to drive by herself – she’d known that she would be, even if he hadn’t. He’d admitted that he’d be more comfortable than he’d expected with her driving herself around the ranch, but he was still insistent that he’d come with her today.

Whether that was more about her driving on the roads by herself or about Marty, she wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter – she wanted him with her, but she was hoping that he wouldn’t put up any arguments about her driving herself up to cabin number six by herself when they got back this afternoon.

She smiled when she saw his truck pull up outside. How could she ever complain about that big, wonderful man of hers wanting to spend time with her? She should be thanking her lucky stars that he cared so much about her – that he loved her!

He’d changed her life completely. Not just by loving her, but by helping her to see things differently. She didn’t know when or how it had happened but somewhere along the way, he’d helped her let go of the walls she’d kept up around herself for as long as she could remember. He hadn’t knocked them down or done anything overt, it was just his warmth and his love that had slowly melted her defenses and her heart.

When he came inside the cabin, he greeted her with a kiss, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him.

He chuckled. “Now that’s the kind of welcome I can get on board with.”

She kissed him again. “I just love you. I’m so lucky to have met you.”

He grinned. “I love you, darlin’. More than you know. Are you ready to go and get this done?”

“I am. He hasn’t called yet, so I think that means they’ll be on time.”

“I hope so.”

When they arrived at The Riverside, the parking lot was half full. Retta didn’t know what kind of vehicle they were looking for. It was a little before noon, and she hoped they wouldn’t have to wait too long.

Travis reached over and took her hand.

“You okay?”

“I am. I’ll be glad when we’re on our way back. I want to get started on number six.”

“I’ll take you up there tomorrow if you want to go.”

She made a face. “I was thinking that I could take myself this afternoon.”

“Not the first time. I’ll go with you, and we’ll scope out the path from your SUV to the door. I want to make sure you’re not going to hit any snags when you’re by yourself.”

She gave him a rueful smile. “Okay. Can we go this afternoon?”

“Tomorrow would be better, if you can wait. I need to meet a contractor at the barn – Libby’s having some work done, and I want to talk to them before they start.”

“I can wait. Oh, look – there they are.”

A big red SUV had just pulled into the parking lot, and she could see Adriana in the passenger seat.

Travis raised his eyebrows. “You ready for this?”

“Ready to get it over with.”

~ ~ ~

As Travis made his way to the passenger side to help Retta down, he watched a man and three girls climb out of the red Yukon. The girls were typical high school kids – all chatty and enthusiastic. He’d guess that the man was in his late thirties or early forties. He looked harmless enough. They gathered in front of the Yukon, and he said something to the girls. All three of them looked around, no doubt looking for Retta.

Travis lifted his hand in greeting and nodded when the man – Marty – met his gaze. Marty smiled, and the girls all huddled together chatting animatedly.

Retta grinned at him when he opened her door. “I should warn you that I think the girls just fell in love with you.”

He gave her a puzzled smile.

“They went all googly-eyed when they spotted you. I don’t blame them; I felt the same way the first time I saw you.”

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