Page 12 of The Cowboy's Unshakeable Love

The cabins were adorable. Travis had called them rustic, but they looked perfect to her. She imagined that they were cozy inside – that they’d provide a comfortable space for the guests Travis expected to host. From what she understood, he wasn’t looking to rent them out to vacationers, but to provide a place where vets could come and spend some time.

The house was something else. While the cabins were scattered around the property, the house stood up on a ridge, overlooking the whole valley. She could see all the way up to the snow-capped mountains in the North, and more of them to the South. And it was no cabin. It was a log-built home. The front of it reminded her of the bow of a ship. There were huge windows, and a massive stone fireplace.

“What do you think?”

She laughed when she realized that she hadn’t spoken a word since they came inside.

“This place is amazing, Travis. It’s so beautiful.”

He grinned. “Isn’t it? I never saw myself living in a place like this. I wouldn’t have bought a house like this for myself. I was all about the cabins and the meeting space but …” He shrugged. “This house is part of the deal and … I thought about maybe renting it out but …”

“No! You deserve to live here. It suits you. It’s gorgeous.” She laughed when he grinned. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

He chuckled. “I know, but don’t take it back.”

“Okay.”

“Because you don’t want to hurt my feelings or because it’s true?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “I’ll say it, if you want me to, but you already know the answer.”

His grin grew even bigger. “You don’t need to say it, but I’m glad that you feel that way.”

There was no point in denying it. She was sure she wasn’t the only woman who thought he was gorgeous. It wasn’t some secret that he’d never discover if she didn’t tell him.

“And in case you haven’t gotten the message yet, I think you’re gorgeous, too.”

Her heart skittered in her chest. He’d told her several times that he liked the way she looked, but he hadn’t come straight out with it like that before now.

He winked. “Don’t mean to embarrass you, just want to make sure you know how I feel.”

She nodded, not knowing what to say.

“Anyway, now that you’re over your initial shock, do you want a tour?”

“Please.”

He wheeled her all around the ground floor. The front of the house was open plan – the huge great room took advantage of the amazing views and opened to the kitchen and dining area. There was a hallway that led to the rear of the house where there were two bedrooms, each with their own bathroom.

“There’s a game room and a TV room downstairs and two more beds and baths,” Travis told her. “Upstairs is the owner’s suite. The bedroom is huge, and the view’s fantastic. It has its own little reading room, and the bathroom’s enormous. It’s way too fancy for me, but I love it.”

Retta was so curious to see it, but she could hardly ask him to carry her upstairs.

He winked at her. “Doesn’t seem appropriate for me to offer to carry you up to my bedroom, but whenever you want to see it, I’ll be happy to.”

She laughed. “You’re right, that might be a bit much.” She’d let him decide what she meant by that. She wasn’t sure herself if she meant it’d be too much after all the times he’d carried her around today already or … what.

~ ~ ~

Travis smiled to himself as he watched Retta chatting with Trip on the front deck. He loved that from his spot in the kitchen – where he was getting them fresh drinks and checking on the pizza he’d put in the oven – he was still able to see what was going on outside. And what he saw made him happy; Trip and Retta were getting along well.

Trip had already said that he’d stop by this evening, and when they first got back to the house Travis had wondered whether he should call and put him off. When he’d suggested to Callie that he could take Retta out for the afternoon, he hadn’t expected that he’d be able to persuade her to stick around to have dinner with him. But even though part of him would rather have Retta to himself, he was glad that Trip was here.

Trip had been his best friend since kindergarten. They came from very different backgrounds – Trip was the rich kid, whose father was a movie star, while Travis’s family had lived in a trailer park on the edge of town. It hadn’t mattered to the little boys they were back then, and it hadn’t been an issue in the more than fifty years that had passed since.

He was about to take the drinks outside when Trip got to his feet. He came inside and greeted Travis with a grin.

“I like her.”

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