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“I don’t understand,” Ivy said. “What do you need me to do?”
“Make me pretty.”
Ivy blinked. “Excuse me?”
“I don’t mean beautiful pretty. I just mean different from what I am. And not forever. Just for a night.”
“You want to be Cinderella…to…”
Attract Noah, Ivy thought.
“To make my first wedding anniversary special for my husband,” the woman said.
Suddenly Ivy couldn’t help smiling. She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but could you back up and explain this to me again? What did Noah say to you?”
The woman blushed, and Ivy saw that she wasn’t so plain after all. “He didn’t exactly say anything to me, but my Jimmie was at the feed and seed and Noah was there fielding questions about you. He told the men that when you first started working here, he was afraid that all the women would be starstruck. They had access to a super-model, and he figured that women would be showing up asking advice on fashion or hair or makeup and turning his ranch into a sideshow, but no one did that. And even though women have visited here and you’ve been polite, not one has asked you to share all the tricks you’ve learned or asked you to give them a makeover. He couldn’t seem to figure it out.”
The woman stood there staring at Ivy, her voice a bit breathless. Nervous breathless, Ivy concluded.
She smiled at the woman again even as she wondered why Noah had told that story. He liked his ranch peaceful and quiet and…ranchy, she thought, making up her own word to describe the usually male world of cattle and horses and the men who tamed and traded and watched over them. Surely he knew that at least some of the men would repeat this story to their wives and girlfriends.
“So…you’re the first?” Ivy asked with a grin.
“Looks that way. I’m Diane Revner, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Diane. I’m afraid I don’t remember you.”
“That’s because I’m five years younger than you, so we didn’t have any real contact at school. I know why the women haven’t asked for your help. They don’t want to admit that they don’t know everything or that you know more than them. They don’t want it to look like they’re nobodies and you’re somebody. But I’m not proud. Jimmie and I are having a special day. I want to look nice, and not just plain old beauty-salon nice. I want to look special for Jimmie.”
“I’ll bet he thinks you look special already.”
The woman laughed. “He says he does, but I want to do better. Just so you know, I can pay you. If you’re working for Noah, you must not be rich anymore.”
Some people would have been offended by that statement, but Diane hadn’t said it in a rude way, just a commonsense way. That simple fact—Diane treating her like a regular person, not an oddity or outsider—warmed Ivy’s heart.
“You know, I think I’d like to do this just for the fun of it,” Ivy said. “But I have to tell you, no one has ever asked me to help make them look pretty. I might not be good at it.”
Diane looked indignant. “You were a model!”
“That’s just luck, good genes and a lot of hard work. Putting makeup on someone is an art, but we’ll see what we can do. Can you come back tonight when I’m done for the day?”
“Are you kidding? Ivy Seacrest is going to give me a makeover? Even if I had something planned, I’d cancel!” Diane’s smile was infectious, so when the door opened and Noah walked in, Ivy looked up at him, a full-fledged smile on her face.
“Hel-lo,” he said, as if he’d never met her before.
“Sorry, Diane, I have to get back to work,” Ivy said.
“Not a problem. Thank you so much, Ivy. I’ll see you tonight. Bye. Noah, please don’t make her work late today. Ivy is going to work her model magic on me.”
When she had gone, Ivy looked up at Noah. “Want to tell me why you’re promoting me as someone who can fix up the women of the town?”
“Just seemed natural,” he said, his gaze steady and noncommittal.
“Natural?”
“You’re a model, you’ve got women trailing out here all the time, and they haven’t treated you right. Why not earn a little money off them? It would be justice of a sort. You make them look pretty—they help you pay off your taxes. Finally, someone in the town would be doing something for you.”
Now she saw. “Don’t feel sorry for me, Noah.”
“I don’t.”
“You do.”
He slowly shook his head. “I’m indignant that you haven’t been made to feel welcome, but then I didn’t exactly welcome you here, either, did I? So maybe I feel a little guilt, too.”
She frowned, opening her mouth to speak. He held up one hand. “But don’t mistake that for pity. You’ve handled all this with grace and dignity. You are, as you said, a strong woman. You’re also talented, with skills and experience. So no, I don’t pity you. And maybe I have my own reasons for doing this, too. I’ve been used before, as you know. Call it surrogate justice. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with you mixing things up a little so that you’re the one with the power.”
“It sounds as if you have evil intentions. Don’t you like the women of the town?”
“I like them fine,” he said, which told her nothing. “But I don’t like injustice or nonchalant cruelty.”
“You’re thinking of Lily and how her mother abandoned her.”
“I’m thinking of a lot of things. Besides, there’s nothing mean about this.”
True enough. “So you planted the idea of me giving fashion and makeup advice. You went into town just for that?”
He looked uncomfortable, but then he seemed to shrug off his discomfort and grinned. “No sin in going to town.”
No, there wasn’t. All her urges to sin were right here, contained in a totally masculine package. Still, she knew that Noah didn’t just goof off and go to town on a regular basis. Brody had made that clear to her. And so had her conversation with the women at the store.
“So…did you just take a scattershot approach or did you purposely target Diane?”
“You say that as if I harmed her. I just knew that she’s always had a few stars in her eyes. She reads all the fan mags, but mostly I chose her because she’s a nice woman. And she doesn’t have any interest in me or mine.”
Ivy laughed. “In other words, she won’t pretend to be visiting me while ogling you.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “If someone says they’re here to see you, they darn well should do the right thing and show an interest in you, not show up under false pretenses. I knew Diane would find you fifty times more interesting than me.”
Warmth spread through Ivy. He wanted her to get some genuine attention. “Thank you,” she said.
“For what? Sounds as if you have an evening of work ahead.”
Maybe. The thought of opening a makeup kit made her hands shake. Despite the fact that she had loved modeling and it had been the first time she had ever felt as if she had a place in life…that life was a reminder of another time, one where Bo lived. She couldn’t go there. But, Ivy admitted, there would be some regret at being the person behind the scenes this time. Maybe even some envy.
That was wrong. Diane was sweet and excited and genuinely friendly. If even a hint of melancholy threatened, Ivy intended to slap it away. Diane deserved better than that.
“Da,” a little voice said. Ivy automatically turned toward the doorway, where Lily had crept in unnoticed. The little girl was staring directly at her, all big blue eyes and blond curls. She was clutching a teddy bear, holding him upside down tight against her side, her chubby little hands curled around him. She must have noticed Ivy looking at the bear, because she held him out with a huge smile. “Bunny,” she said.
Ivy’s heart flipped over. Her throat closed up. There was a pain in her chest, and yet…this was a child, an innocent child. She couldn’t run away and risk hurting Lily’s feelings. “His name is Bunny?” she asked, with the best smile she could manage.
“Not Bunny. Buh-ny,” Lily enunciated with a chuckle. “See? Bunny?” and she held out one hand palm up as if she was sure she had cleared everything up.
“Sorry,” Noah said, reaching out and swinging Lily into his arms. “She’s quick as lightning, and she sneaks off now and then. Come on, squirt, let’s go put Barney to bed.”
“Yes. Bunny ti-red,” Lily agreed.
“Oh, I see. Barney,” Ivy said.
Lily squirmed in her father’s arms and turned so that she was facing Ivy. “Yes!” she squealed. “Bye-bye.”
“Bye, sweetie.”
Noah carried her away, his long legs quickly taking them both out of view.
Ivy dropped to a chair and stared at her hands. She could hear Noah murmuring. She heard the little girl say, “Wuv you, Da. Wuv you, Mar-ta.”
Ivy closed her eyes. She concentrated on breathing, on not thinking of Bo. She should get up and leave. But she didn’t. When Noah came back, she looked straight up into his eyes. “Don’t even consider apologizing. This is your home. It’s Lily’s home, and she’s adorable. I’m the intruder. I’m the one with the problem, and if the tables were turned, I wouldn’t want to feel I had to apologize because Bo had acted the way a child acts. She’s a sweetheart, Noah. I recognize that. How could I not?”
“But it still hurts to see her.”
“It’s more than that.”
“Tell me.”
She hesitated, couldn’t find her voice for a minute. She wasn’t sure how to say the next thing, so she moved to the door, pulled it open and stepped outside, dragging in great breaths of air.
Noah followed on her heels, shutting the door behind him. “Ivy? Are you okay? Is there anything I can do? Anything?”
And that concern jarred the words loose. “I didn’t save him. What if I could have prevented it?” Her words came out in a choked whisper.
“You couldn’t have. You weren’t even driving.” So he had obviously looked up the story—or been told about it.
“But I knew Alden liked to gamble, and that included gambling that he wouldn’t get pulled over for speeding, because he liked to drive too fast. He laughed whenever I asked him to slow down. And even though it’s been two years, sometimes I still wake up at night and dream that I can live that day over. In my dream I’m not distracted by something else. I’m paying attention and I realize that Alden is in a mood and I keep Bo home. That’s all it would have taken. Something that simple. Just that one little decision. If—”
“Don’t,” he said, grasping her arms in his big hands. “You didn’t kill your child, Ivy. You weren’t driving,” he reiterated. “And your husband wasn’t listening to you.”
Ivy wanted nothing more than to listen to Noah, to lean into his big body and let him comfort her. He was right. She knew that. And yet he was wrong, too. When Bo had been born, she had promised herself that she would never do anything to hurt him. She had arrogantly believed that she was a much better mother than her own had been. And now she couldn’t trust herself. She could never risk having and losing a child again. How could anyone risk having that happen to them again?
Still, the incident today had changed things.
“I don’t want you to hide Lily anymore. This is her home, her ranch, her everything. I’ll be the one to make the adjustments. If our paths cross…well, I think I handled it okay today. I didn’t make her uncomfortable, did I?”
He smiled gently and tucked a finger beneath her chin. “You didn’t. She liked you.”
“How could you tell?”
“I just can. She talked to you. Usually she has to meet a person several times before her shy wears off.”
Ivy smiled a bit at that. “Well, I’d better get back to work. I take it that the dishwasher wasn’t really broken. That’s why Marta called me in.”
“Not broken, I don’t think. But I’ll check.” He turned to go.
“Noah?”
He turned back.
“Thank you.”
“What for?”
For not being angry that I have so much trouble being near your little sweetheart of a daughter. But there’d been too much emotion coursing through her this morning already. She’d been on the verge of throwing herself into his arms only moments ago. She needed to lighten things up.
“For going to the feed and seed and telling tales. I like Diane.”
“And you don’t mind the extra work after hours?”
“It won’t be work. And she’s only one woman.”
“Hmm,” he said.
“What does that mean?”
“Maybe…there were a lot of men other than Jimmie at the feed and seed. Some of them have wives.”
Ivy smiled. “Well, I doubt that any more women will show up. Diane is unique. But if they do come for makeovers, at least they won’t be pretending to talk to me while staring at your muscles. I’ve been tempted to say something really outrageous just to see if they’re actually paying attention.”
He grinned at that. “Maybe I should just stare at your… um…muscles while talking to the women and see how they like it.”
Ivy opened her mouth, then shut it. Walking away, heading she didn’t know where, she hoped Noah didn’t put words to deeds. If he started giving her another one of those lazy looks that roamed up and down her body, she might make a fool of herself in front of someone who would carry the tale back to every other woman in town. The very thought made her hyperventilate.
It also made her think of Noah’s muscles and his strong hands.
She ordered herself to behave. A woman had to be on her toes when she spent her days around animals that could crush a person without even realizing it. “So no more Noah stuff,” she ordered.
“Hmm, wonder what she means by that, Brody,” Darrell said. Ivy hadn’t realized the men were right inside the barn.
“It means I’m in the mood to crack some heads together if you two insist on teasing me and listening in on my mutterings,” she said with a wicked grin.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Brody answered, pretending ignorance. “I didn’t hear any muttering. Did you say something, Ivy?”
“If I did, I didn’t say anything important,” she said. That much was true. She couldn’t let Noah become important. Her heart couldn’t handle any more breaks.
Noah was beginning to wonder what he was doing. A couple of weeks ago he’d been minding his own business, with no thoughts of anything but the ranch and Lily.
Now he was thinking of how warm Ivy’s skin had been against his palms through the cotton of her shirt. He was remembering a pair of tortured blue-violet eyes wondering if she’d missed a chance to save her child. He was going to the feed and seed, acting totally out of character and doing really stupid things all because he wanted some justice for her.
Careful, buddy, he told himself. Don’t do anything you’ll end up regretting. He really should just stick to Lily and the ranch. Period. Especially since being a father was such a seat-of-the-pants thing with him. Was he wrong keeping Lily here instead of sending her out into the world…or at least into Tallula? He didn’t know. All he knew was that Lily was his. That first step into the world of Tallula and other people would be her first step away from him. Was it wrong to want to stave that off a little longer?
