Page 4 of The Cowboy's Unshakeable Love

He laughed. “Your wish is my command.”

She glanced over at him. “If that’s true, you can take me to the airport.”

His smile faded. “Not happening, darlin’. I sprung you from your daughter’s place so that you can spend more time with me – not so that you can fly away from me.”

He glanced over at her. The flush on her cheeks made him smile. “You’re not dead set against the idea of spending more time with me, are you?”

He could feel her gaze on him as she said, “No. I should be, but I’m not.”

“Well, alrighty then. I’m not even going to worry about why you think you should be, I’m just going to work with what you’re giving me.” He shot her a quick smile. “And work on how to persuade you to give me more.”

Her eyes widened, and a jolt of desire shot through his veins. He hadn’t meant anything sexual – but it looked like she’d taken his words that way – and she didn’t seem horrified.

He slowed when he saw Emmett’s truck turning into the driveway off the road. When the trucks drew level, he put his window down, and Emmett did the same.

“Hey, Trav. What are you doing out here? Oh, hey, Retta. I didn’t see you there. How are you?”

“Better for finally getting out of the house,” she said with a smile.

Emmett grinned at them. “I won’t keep you then. It’s good to see you.”

“You too,” Travis told him. “I’ll give you a call later. You need to come and see the new place.”

“You do that. I’d like to take a look around.” Emmett smiled. “It’s good to have you home, bud.”

“It’s good to be here.”

Emmett touched the brim of his hat and nodded at Retta before pulling away.

When Travis turned out onto the road, Retta asked. “Does he live on the ranch, too?”

“No. His place is just next door.”

“And he’s one of the whole group of you who went away and joined the Navy together?”

“He is. But he got out before the rest of us. He was married, and his dream was always to be a vet – a veterinarian, not just a veteran.”

“I don’t think you can ever sayjusta veteran, can you?”

“I guess not. What do you say, do you want to go for a bit of a joy ride before I show you my new place – if you even want to see it?”

“Please. I love it here – the valley’s so beautiful. Of course, I want to see your new place – and I’m interested to hear about your plans for it, but I like the idea of being out and about for a while, too.”

“I figured you would. If you like, we can go down to Gardiner – that’s the little town at the entrance to the park. It’ll take abouthalf an hour to get there. If you want to get out and poke around, we can do that.” He chuckled. “Since we have your wheelchair.”

“Thank you. I’d love to take a look around. It’s like a little tourist town, isn’t it?”

“It is.” He glanced over at her. “Does this mean that I’m going to be wheeling you in and out of souvenir stores?”

She laughed, and he loved seeing her start to relax. “That depends.”

“On what?”

“On whether souvenir shopping is your worst nightmare. If it is, I’ll just grab a few postcards and call it good.”

“Nah, I don’t mind it. If it makes you happy, I’ll wheel you in and out of every store in town.”

When she didn’t answer, he looked over at her again.

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