The Cowboy's Cinderella. Carol Arens

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СКАЧАТЬ want the two of us living in a tent beside the road.” She took a deep breath, let it out slowly. “Looks like you’ve got yourself an heir, Travis Murphy. As long as I can bring my mouse.”

      He hugged her quick and hard, couldn’t help it. “Bring a dozen if you want to!”

      “One’s trouble enough.”

      “Let’s go back to the inn. It’s not far.”

      “Your horse would appreciate it. Poor thing’s getting soaked.”

      He stood, placed her hat on her head then gathered up the tarp.

      “You won’t be sorry, Ivy. I swear on my life you won’t be.”

      “I’ll ask one thing.” She touched his arm. He liked the feel of her fingers there. He liked the way her eyes looked extra blue with raindrops spattered on her lashes. “Will you take me back to the River Queen? I need to make peace with my uncle. I promise I won’t carry on and beg to stay. Just... I need to say my goodbyes.”

      “I’ll do anything, Ivy...anything you ask.”

      Whatever was in his power, he would do it.

      * * *

      She’d vowed not to wail and carry on, but the promise was proving hard to keep.

      “Goodbye, Tom,” she said. Tom was the last of the crew she embraced in a hug. She held on a little longer than the boy might be comfortable with, but there was still one person to bid farewell to and she was putting it off.

      Uncle Patrick. She was not sure she could do it.

      The weakling in her wanted to run away and wave goodbye from a distance.

      The one and only way she would be able to manage was to remember that this was what he wanted for her. What he wanted so badly that he was willing to give up what he loved the most...all right, what he loved nearly the most.

      It had taken some time, and some talking with Travis on the way back to the River Queen, to be able to accept it because the way she had first looked at things, the selling of the Queen was a betrayal.

      Ivy had always considered the boat to be her legacy...but maybe something else was her legacy instead.

      Something big and vast. Acres upon acres of land. To hear Travis go on about it, the whole time his voice filled with wonder.

      And it was all hers until she married. Then, she reckoned, it would belong to her husband. That didn’t set well.

      A husband could do what he wanted where his wife was concerned. If he decided that she and Agatha ought to live in the barn he had the power to send them there.

      Gull-durn it, that was a worry for another time. In this moment she had her heart full of saying goodbye.

      Standing on the main deck, she looked up to see her uncle gazing down at her. He pushed away from the rail then began his descent down the steps. She listened to his footsteps, picturing where he was by the creak that each board made. Every sound this vessel uttered was carved on her heart.

      She strained to hear because it was like the boat was talking to her, saying its own goodbye.

      Travis stood on the shore with a pair of horses. All her worldly goods, which were not many, had been stuffed into the saddle packs.

      Travis waved. She nodded back.

      Too soon, Uncle Patrick was there, holding his arms wide for her to rush into them.

      His embrace swallowed her, was nearly her undoing, but she held together, remembering that she was going to Agatha.

      She wanted to say that she forgave him for keeping the secret of her past but her throat was too tight for words.

      “I love you, Uncle Patrick,” she managed to whisper against his chest.

      “And I love you, my brave little love.” He set her at arm’s length but didn’t let go. “This is for the best.”

      She nodded because her voice might betray her and she did not want him to think she believed otherwise.

      “What will you do, uncle?”

      At least Ivy was headed to a new future...whatever it ended up being. For Uncle Patrick, he’d never lived any place but on the water.

      “I’ll think of something.” He patted her head and smiled. “Now that I’ll be a landlubber, maybe I’ll get married.”

      “That would be fine.”

      “I’ve got something for you, Ivy.” He dug into his pocket. “Well, two things.”

      He slipped her mother’s pendant about her neck. She reached up, closed it in her fist. It felt right to have the memento back where it belonged.

      “And here.” He pressed an envelope into her hand. “It’s money. This marriage is a good thing—I want that for you—but a woman should have something of her own, in case of hard times. Your groom doesn’t even have to know about these funds. Travis has agreed to store them for you should you need them...which I don’t think you will, given that your intended is well-off.”

      Uncle Patrick stared at her for a long moment. She reckoned he was memorizing her face, same as she was his.

      Slowly, he turned her about, his hands firm on her shoulders.

      “Off with you now,” he said. “Go with your young man and claim your future.”

      She wished Travis was her young man, she’d feel a sight more comfortable about this whole thing if he was. Travis was at least a friend, instead of a stranger.

      Silently, she nodded then walked over the gangplank toward the unknown, pausing for only an instant to feel the aged wood rocking under her feet.

      “Goodbye, you wonderful river,” she whispered.

      Then Travis was there, offering his hand. She took it and stepped ashore.

Chapter Four

      Ivy stopped on the gangplank. Her hesitation was slight, barely more than a couple of heartbeats, but in that second Travis felt the future balance on a razor’s edge.

      If she changed her mind—and no one would blame her for it if she did—the lives of those he loved would be damaged forever.

      But then she came to him, taking the hand he offered, but more than that...accepting the future he offered.

      “I bought you a horse,” he said, stating the obvious because he did not know what else was appropriate to say. “But back at the ranch you own a hundred more.”

      Ivy narrowed her eyes at the pretty little mare that he had purchased. The horse was guaranteed to be gentle. He believed it; friendliness shone from her soft brown eyes.

      “You want me to get СКАЧАТЬ