Abby Gaines - Cowgirl Makes Three / Her Secret Rival - Cowgirl Makes Three / Her Secret Rival

“You did a good job. Jimmie’s going to love your handiwork. Not that he’ll hesitate for a moment to mess up what you spent two hours fixing.”

Ivy laughed. “That’s okay. Diane would be disappointed if he didn’t get so involved he forgot to be careful. Diane is a sweetie, but I think she might also be a bit of a wild woman.”

Noah agreed. “What kind of woman are you ?” he asked, wondering what he was doing asking something like that…besides running toward the flames.

Ivy studied him. She took two steps toward him. Then she stopped. “I’m a woman who’s going to retreat before she does something that might not be smart.” Then she turned, walked up the path to her cottage and went inside.

Noah swore beneath his breath—for asking the question and because he knew that he would lie awake half the night wondering what it was Ivy would have done that wouldn’t have been smart. And even though he knew she’d been right to retreat, he also wished she hadn’t. Because right now he was burning to do all kinds of things with Ivy that they would both regret once morning came.

But when morning came, Noah found that he had a whole different kind of problem.

WORK STARTED EARLY on a ranch, and Ivy was checking the irrigation lines on an alfalfa field when her cell phone rang.

“We have a situation here. You need to come to the house,” Noah said in that deep gravelly voice that—blast it!—made Ivy want to purr.

“A situation?” Immediately all sorts of terrible things started going through her head, though Noah didn’t sound panicked. Not that he would. A panicky man wasn’t a good rancher. Noah was a good rancher.

“Nothing bad,” he said quickly. “God, no. I should have led into that better. Let’s just say that Jimmie devoured Diane like a chocolate sundae with extra sprinkles, and now you have a restless group of potential customers waiting for you to transform them into swans.”

“I’m working the alfalfa field,” she said.

“And I’m grateful. It’s what I pay you for. But Ivy, today…I just don’t have a way with an eyelash curler or fingernail polish. Seriously, you have to come save me.”

She could hear the humor in his voice. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” she asked.

“I might be thinking that there’s some poetic justice in the women who scorned you having to backpedal a little, yes.”

“Well, I don’t know how I can help them, anyway. Diane was different. I had some free time last night, but sometimes it’s late when I finish work. There might not be time to do a full cocoon-to-butterfly transformation. Besides…”

“What?”

“What if even one of them hates it? I might never hear the end of it.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. So…we’ll limit the time to one day. Maybe you’ll give a workshop. Charge a fee, give them a few tips, supervise them putting on their own makeup. No one can be upset with you when they’ll be the ones doing the grunt work.”

Ivy gave a low whistle. “Noah, I have to tell you, if this ranching thing goes bust, you could get some serious work as a talent agent.”

He laughed. “Think about the workshop, but in the meantime, come see your adoring public for a few minutes.”

He hung up.

Ivy stared at the phone. She wasn’t sure she wanted to have a go at it with the women of the town again, but Noah had a point. Her goal was to pay off the taxes. This would help. Besides, by dawdling, she was leaving her boss responsible for entertaining women who were here to see her.

Even the married women would, most likely, be ogling Noah. Hadn’t they all been regretting the fact that he rarely came to town? So wouldn’t they want an eyeful when they actually got the chance for some time with him?

As Ivy climbed into the truck and drove down the road, she wondered what the women were saying to Noah. Were they quizzing him on his parenting skills, passing judgment?

Ivy gritted her teeth. “Okay, it’s absolutely my duty to sidetrack them from that,” she told a calf and his mother she was driving past. “A man shouldn’t have to explain every move he makes where his family is concerned.”

Within minutes she pulled up in front of the ranch house, the pickup truck spitting gravel. Marta let her in, and she moved into the living room, where she could hear voices.

Noah was shepherding Lily around, and all the women seemed to be fixated on the pretty little girl.

But as soon as she moved near, Noah gave his daughter a kiss and signaled Marta, who took Lily off for a nap. Suddenly Ivy was on center stage.

“I understand you want makeup advice?” she said.

“We liked what you did with Diane,” Melanie Pressman said. “But I’m only here to scope out possibilities.” She looked at Ivy’s clothes, her disapproval clear.

“Darn, why didn’t I wear my stiletto heels and that sexy red cocktail dress out to the fields?” Ivy said. “In the future, I need to remember to dress better for the cattle.”

The rest of the women laughed. Even Melanie laughed just a little.

“Well,” Ivy said, thinking about Noah’s good idea, “the key to looking good long-term isn’t having someone else apply your makeup. It’s learning how to make the magic happen yourself. So if any of you are interested, we could have a workshop at my cottage on my day off.”

“You can use this house,” Noah cut in. “It has more space than the cottage.”

Ivy started to protest, but Sandra was faster. “That is so generous of you, Noah,” she gushed, “but not surprising coming from a man like you.”

What did Sandra mean by “a man like you”? Ivy wondered, but of course she knew. It meant that Sandra was trying to suck up to Noah and talk him into her bed.

The thought made Ivy want to step right between Noah and Sandra. Stupid thought. Don’t you dare, she told herself.

By the time she’d talked herself out of making a fool of herself, the other women had already agreed that Noah’s idea was best. The event had been moved to the ranch house.

“Of course, you’ll want a fee,” Alicia said. “You’ve got bills to pay, and this kind of expertise would cost a fortune in New York. You just let us know how much.”

To her own surprise, Ivy shook her head. “Oh. No. Let’s just say—that is, this first one’s on me.” Had she really said that when Alicia was right and she had just been thinking the same thing a few minutes earlier? Yes, she had, even if it didn’t make sense. Maybe it was newcomer’s nerves—she’d never taught anyone how to do anything. Or maybe her response had been because a deep-seated part of her didn’t feel comfortable accepting money for the kinds of rituals these women had shared as girls. That sharing of hair and makeup and clothing that she’d never shared but which was a part of most girls’ teen years.

Stupid. I don’t care about that, she told herself. And this isn’t the same at all. They wouldn’t have approached you if they hadn’t wanted something from you. But she still didn’t name a price.

Instead, she did another dumb thing. She looked directly into Noah’s eyes. He was giving her an “are you kidding me?” look and shaking his head. But he was also grinning. Okay, she was pathetic, wasn’t she? She needed the money—but she wasn’t going to allow herself to regret her decision. She just hoped that her choice didn’t partly stem from a desire to prolong her time with Noah. Not accepting money for the workshop meant that she would have to work longer at the ranch to earn her tax money.

Don’t let it be that, she thought. She wanted to get away from here quickly, didn’t she?