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Noah wiggled his eyebrows. “That looks like toast to me.”
Lily giggled. “Cook-ie,” she insisted.
“Marta, are you giving our girl cookies for breakfast?” he asked incredulously.
Marta gave a dramatic sigh. “She insisted.”
Noah shook his head. He pointed to the toast. “No cookies for breakfast, Lily.”
“Cookie,” she said with another laugh, her blond curls swaying as her little body rocked with delight at this strange little routine she and her daddy had somehow fallen into.
Noah did his best to look stern. “Okay, hand over the cookie, Lilykins.”
And here came the good part, the part she loved. “No. Toast,” she said with great relish and popped a piece into her mouth.
“Ah, you are a clever one, sweetheart,” he told her. “And a stubborn one. You know how to get your way when you want to.”
He was still thinking about that when he wandered outside to work. In her own way, Ivy reminded him of Lily. Stubborn and determined and proud and hard to resist.
Noah stopped in his tracks. That was a road he didn’t want to travel. Ivy had no business invading his thoughts. That was how all bad things with women started—when you let ones you had nothing in common with start creeping into your thoughts uninvited. Next thing you knew you were in high water, unable to get back to shore or swim against the strength of the current, and they were leaving you. Or even worse, they were leaving Lily. Hurting her. Without so much as a drop of remorse.
Noah growled.
“Bad night?” Brody asked, coming up beside him in the barn.
“You sound hopeful.”
Brody laughed. “Not at all, but if you did have a bad night, your day isn’t going to be any better. Ed broke his leg last night and he’s out of commission. Now we’re down two hands instead of just one.”
Noah’s growl turned into a blue streak of cussing.
“Is that any way for a daddy to talk?”
“No, but Lily’s inside, and I have good reason to swear. I recognize that look in your eyes.”
“What look is that?”
“It’s the ‘I’m holding a good hand’ look. You’ve wiped the floor with me at poker that way before, so let’s not play games. Say what you’ve got to say.”
“Okay, I will. The thing is…Ivy isn’t just nice to look at. She’s a determined worker. I saw her wade in and rescue a calf yesterday that had gotten caught in some muck.”
“She did what? And you didn’t tell me?”
“No point in telling you when you weren’t listening.”
“She was going. She wasn’t coming back.” But in Noah’s mind he heard Lily holding a piece of toast and telling him that it was a cookie while she laughed at her own joke. Ivy might have left and intimated that she wasn’t coming back, but she obviously had a stubborn streak as wide as his daughter’s.
Now Brody was shaking his head. “She sure did a number on you, didn’t she?”
Noah didn’t ask who. Brody didn’t know the half of what his wife had done or about the woman preceding her. And Noah had had enough. Without saying another word, he turned toward his car.
“If you’re looking for Ivy, she’s out at the corral getting acquainted with Bruiser.”
Noah’s heart lurched. “And you let her? I should have got rid of that horse long ago. I’ve been meaning to. Have to before Lily starts roaming around outside.”
“I get the feeling Ivy isn’t the kind of woman a man lets do anything. She has a mind of her own.”
But Noah was through listening. Brody was clearly besotted and worthless where Ivy was concerned. Instead Noah made a beeline for the corral where Bruiser was penned alone. He had bought the horse one insane day a year ago when he’d finally realized that Pamala was never going to even make an attempt to be a mother. He’d been counting on the hope that once Lily got past the tiny baby stage and turned cute as all get-out, Pamala might at least try to show up and be a mother occasionally. But he’d thought wrong. He’d raged against Pamala’s coldhearted betrayal of her own child, but there had been nothing he could do.
He’d been in the mood to go up against someone his own size, and Bruiser had seemed like a creature who was more than willing to meet the challenge. He and the horse had ridden the hills, fighting each other, each one half-crazy and wild. Although there was evidence that the big horse had been abused at one time—there were scars on his back and flanks—he and Noah were a match. They had ended that long ride with an understanding, a wary respect for each other, but Bruiser didn’t tolerate anyone else. As big as he was and with that surely volatile history, he was too dangerous to keep on a ranch with a young child who promised to grow up unpredictable.
Noah already had misgivings about his abilities as a parent. He’d made mistakes, he’d failed Lily on many occasions and in many ways, and worst of all, he hadn’t been able to stop Pamala from leaving his little girl. But he meant to do better, to be as good a father as he could, so selling Bruiser should have been an easy call. He didn’t know why he hadn’t done it already, but now he was going to have to. Apparently Ivy Seacrest was going to force his hand.
Again. Noah frowned. He rounded the barn…and came upon Ivy in the corral brushing Bruiser’s coat. The huge black creature looked more than a little nervous.
“Ivy,” Noah said softly.
She raised her head, looking almost as wary as Bruiser. Like some wild creature who had been abused and expected to be abused again.
“Shh,” she said, and she soothed her hand over the big horse’s side.
Bruiser shivered, and Noah’s breath nearly stopped. “For God’s sake, Ivy, step away from the horse. Slowly. Quietly.”
“He’s not going to hurt me.” She leaned closer to the horse.
“He’s not a lamb, Ivy. He’s big and muscular and easy to anger and—”
He stopped midthought when she smiled. The maddening woman was wedged up against the massive bulk of a nervous horse—and she was smiling. “What on earth are you smiling about?”
“Big, muscular, easy to anger,” she said. “Sounds like you.”
Suddenly he wanted to smile, too, and he would have if he hadn’t still been worried about her safety.
“I mean it, Ivy. Bruiser isn’t just any horse.”
“I know,” she said sadly, tracing a scar that ran down Bruiser’s back. “He’s been hurt.” Her voice nearly broke, but as she ran her hand over the animal, Bruiser whickered softly. He turned his head toward her and nudged her shoulder. Gently. He shivered again, and now Noah could see that Bruiser’s expression was anything but angry. That shiver hadn’t been nerves. He liked having Ivy pet him.
“You sly devil,” Noah said to the animal. “What do you know about that? It seems that my unpredictable, angry horse likes you, Ivy.” He’s got something in common with Brody, Noah thought.
“He just likes someone who understands and trusts him.” She stared at him with those big, innocent-looking blue eyes that weren’t innocent at all. She was trying to school him, and her point was clear.
Now Noah couldn’t keep from smiling. “I don’t distrust you.” It was more like himself he didn’t trust. Around her. She was far too attractive, and he was not a man who could afford to be attracted indiscriminately anymore. Still, he couldn’t stop smiling at her attitude.
“You don’t distrust me, but you’re not hiring me,” she pointed out.
“Yes, I am.”
“You are?” Her voice was so hopeful and—She obviously pushed hard against Bruiser, who whickered and sidestepped.
“Dammit, Ivy, get out of there.”
“I told you…he won’t—”
“I know what you told me, but I want you out of there.”
She raised her chin. Tall as she was, Bruiser dwarfed her height. Noah almost said “Please.” That wouldn’t be smart under the circumstances. A boss didn’t plead with his employees.
“Are you working for me or not?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Yes.” And giving Bruiser a hug—a hug, for heaven’s sake!—she climbed over the fence and dropped lightly to the ground beside Noah. “I’m working for you. What do you want me to do first?”
Her vault over the fence had left her standing mere inches from him, so close that if he leaned forward he could place his lips against her forehead, tangle himself in that tawny hair.
What do I want you to do? Let me touch you or…no…I want you to step away, dammit! he thought. He almost stepped back himself, fearful that he might put thoughts to deeds and actually touch her. Instead, he cleared his throat. “Tomorrow will be soon enough to start work. For now I’ll introduce you to everyone.”
“I’ve met Brody.” Oh, yeah, he definitely knew that. Brody was going to be laughing…when he wasn’t drooling. Noah was going to have to make some rules about how Ivy was to be treated. By all of them.
He introduced her to Darrell.
“Delighted, Ivy,” Darrell said with a smile that Noah thought was much too wide.
“Come on,” Noah said, barely giving Ivy time to answer. “Let’s go to the house.”
Ivy stopped in her tracks. “Oh. No.”
Did she think…surely she didn’t think…“We won’t be alone,” he explained.
She blinked and tilted her head back to look into his eyes. “I didn’t think that. I just…your family will be there.”
“There’s just me and my daughter, Lily, and my housekeeper and babysitter, Marta. You’ll be in contact with them if you’re working here.”
She blanched. “I…my father never had any workers. I hadn’t thought…I thought I would just work outside with the men. I don’t need to meet your daughter.”
Something hard and flinty took shape within Noah. Pamala had not wanted children. She’d hated everything associated with her pregnancy and she’d barely looked at Lily after she’d been born. Within days, Pamala had gone. Off to California looking for something better. For the limelight. Away from her baby.
“You don’t like children.” He couldn’t keep the edge from his voice.
But when she looked up this time, her eyes were so…anguished was the first word that came to mind.
“I don’t dislike children,” she whispered. “I need to go home now. I’ll be back bright and early tomorrow. To work. Outside.”
Then she fled.
Noah stood there wondering what he had done, what he had gotten all of them into. For sure it wasn’t anything good.
In the middle of the night he woke from a dream. He’d been plunging his fingers into Ivy’s hair, framing her face with his hands, kissing her and staring into those blue eyes.
This time they hadn’t been anguished. They’d been filled with passion.
But none of that was real. The reality was that Ivy Seacrest didn’t want to be near his Lily.
Finding out why would involve getting to know Ivy better, and he didn’t intend to do that. Just as soon as Ed was able to get around without crutches, he’d pay her off handsomely and send her on her way.
No more night dreams of her. He hoped.
Chapter Three
IVY IMMERSED HERSELF IN ranch work as if she really enjoyed it. She drove herself relentlessly. By the end of the first morning the pretty, crisp scarf she’d been unable to resist fastening at her neck was wilted. She was muddy and worn and she had a long scratch on her hand, the result of catching her glove on barbed wire, which tore it off and bit into her skin. Still, there was a sense that she was accomplishing something, closer to her goal of paying her debts, leaving her past and Tallula behind and getting on with her life.
That was a good thing. Of course, she knew darn well that good things didn’t last forever, and sure enough, right when she had just got knocked on her butt by a cow and had landed in a pile of muck, she looked up to find herself staring into Noah’s amber eyes.
“Need a hand?” he asked, reaching out.
She stared at his big, manly hand and knew that touching him would be a mistake. She’d already realized that he was just too potent for her. But she was his employee. He was just offering what he would offer to Brody or Darrell if either of them had landed on their backsides. Saying no to a gesture of goodwill would make something more of this than the situation merited.
She reached out, felt his hand close around hers, big and strong. She felt the kick of awareness, the heat that pooled in her body.
“Thank you,” she somehow managed to say once she was on her feet and, once again, standing much too close to the man. What was wrong with her lately, anyway? It must just be the effect of being back in a place she’d thought she had left behind long ago. She was ten years older, but nothing had changed.
Except Noah is much more potent than I remember. Ivy wanted to scream at the thought. Instead, she backed off a step and put her shaking hands behind her back.
“You okay?” he asked. “I didn’t think she nudged you that hard, but you’re pretty slight. Easily hurt.”
Ivy chuckled. “Still trying to talk me out of working for you? Too late. You’ve given me a job, and I’m not going to lose it.”
“I saw what you were doing, trying to convince that stubborn cow to accept her calf. She’s not too thrilled that you’re trying to turn her into a mama.”
“Poor little thing. Every time he gets close, she kicks out at him. He’s almost too scared to try anymore. But I’m not giving up. This is going to be a love relationship before I’m through.”
He shook his head, muttering something about “love relationship” and “city-girl nonsense.” He turned to walk away, then swung back.
“Go up to the house and tell Marta you need a change of clothes. There are some things…my wife didn’t take everything when she left. I’m sure there are some jeans you can fit into.”
Ivy could see that he didn’t like talking about his ex-wife. Well, who could blame him? She didn’t know anything about Noah’s situation, but the words when she left were pretty telling. As for his suggestion that she go up to the house? Panic began to beat within her chest.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“Ivy,” he drawled.
“Noah,” she drawled right back.
“I expect my employees to be sensible. You’re not acting sensible. Brody and Darrell live on the ranch, and all their things are here, so there’s no problem if they need to clean up. You’ve got nothing here.”
Which said a whole lot about her situation in Tallula. She was an outsider, and she did have nothing here. Not just on this ranch, but in this whole region. But Noah had given her a job. He was trying to be nice. And she was a mess, with a half day of chores still to go. All she had to do was go to the house, quickly change and get back to work. The little girl might not even be around.
“Thank you for offering,” she said. “I should remember to leave some clothes here in future.” And with great determination, ignoring the tortured pounding of her heart, she started toward the house.
Noah’s hand on her arm stopped her. The man must walk like a cougar. She hadn’t even heard him coming. She looked up into his eyes.
