Page 10 of The Cowboy Fix

“Hey, Buddy. How are your girls doing?” He scratched the stallion between his eyes.

Aside from losing his folks, the saddest day had been when he’d had to sell off the stock. He’d hoped to recoup the loss, but to do so he had to keep the land. Up to now, he’d at least kept the ranch in the family. Jonas had even bought two new mares.

Nathan didn’t want a hobby farm. He wanted a working ranch. For years he’d dreamed of buying back the acreage his dad had sold, but every year that got harder and harder.

Duke’s bloodline could save them if he could locate his sire’s pedigree papers. So far he hadn’t had any luck finding them.

Duke, black with a white blanket on his hind quarters that feathered up his shoulders and down both sides of his head. He was the best of his breed, the Colorado Ranger. Good-natured. More so than his owner, Nathan acknowledged. The horse threw his head up and down as if in agreement, his mane bouncing in the air.

Smiling, Nathan nodded with the stallion. “What do you think about getting back to your barrel-racing days, mister?”

Duke nibbled on Nathan’s collar.

“All right. We’ll both get into shape. Soon, I promise.”

The sun was high in the sky and Nathan had some thinking to do. Taking Izzy Payton’s card out of his pocket, he stared at it, then headed back to the guesthouse. He was inside before he realized Jonas had infected him with his suggestion to let the woman stay there.

Walking from room to room, he took a quick look around. Malorie and her twins had left the cottage in perfect condition. He wouldn’t have to do anything to get it ready for another guest. He fingered the business card, then closing up the cottage, walked slowly to the main house.

Pulling a cola from the fridge, he grabbed his cell and sat on the cushy chair that had become his favorite during his recuperation.

Don’t do it! You don’t need the distraction.

Unfortunately, the warning didn’t stop him. Dialing the number on the card, he listened to the ring. Before he could change his mind and hang up, she answered. “You’ve reached Izzy Payton. How can I help you?”

She was so cheerful! “Hi. This is... Nathan Lohmen...”

“Hi, Nathan.” The click of a keyboard stopped in the background. “I’ll bet you didn’t call just to chat. It was the donuts that sealed the deal, wasn’t it?”

The woman was too much. “Not exactly.”

“No? Okay, then why are you calling?” The sound of the keyboard started again. “I’ve got work to do—a customer waiting for a proposal.”

It wasn’t that her voice had turned cold, just maybe that she’d lost interest in the ranch’s problem. That was fast. Nathan frowned. He didn’t like the speed with which she shifted gears. It was hard for a cowboy to keep up.

“I was wondering—actually, it was Jonas’s idea. Since Malorie has moved to Strawberry Ridge, the guesthouse is empty, and Jonas was wondering if you’d like to stay here while you decide on your next project. It’s private. Quiet. And—”

“What if I’ve already decided which project I want to do next?” she asked, her curiosity reaching out to poke him in the chest.

He’d been going to say,restful, but there seemed to be nothing restful about Izzy Payton. “Anyway, Since Jonas mentioned it, I thought I’d ask.”

“Nathan, you’re not hearing me,” she scolded lightly, then said, sounding more like the woman who’d brought him donuts that morning, “Listen, I’ll be right over, and we can discuss it. While I’m there I’d love to see the guesthouse.” And she hung up.

Nathan held the phone out in front of him, staring at the blank screen. What was that all about? He wasn’t hearing the woman? He’d heard every word coated with so much enthusiasm, he didn’t know what to do with it. More confusing was that she might have moved on already, which meant she wouldn’t need the guesthouse anyway, so why was she rushing out to the ranch?

Instead of just waiting for the whirlwind called Izzy Payton to explain herself, he went into the office and pulled out the ledger Blake was working on. He looked at the numbers that were written in his brother’s slanted handwriting.

For a guy who wrote books for kids—Nathan had enjoyed the few he’d already read—his brother was a traditionalist. While he’d said he was putting the ranch’s financials in a spreadsheet program on the computer, he also made entries in the paper ledger.

He liked the side of Blake that clung to tradition. Not that he wouldn’t still give his brother a hard time. Disagreeing with each other was the bedrock of their relationship after all. Even when they were kids.

But their history didn’t mean he had to get on board with any willy-nilly suggestion that came along. Whatever they did had to make sense for the ranch and its history.

When Izzy got to the ranch, he would show her the guesthouse and the horses, who, with her gung-ho attitude, she couldn’t help but love, he was sure. He was still sitting at the desk when he heard a car door close. Rising, he left her card on the desk and went to greet the woman he hadn’t been able to get out of his mind.

Carrying a tablet, she came toward him with a confident stride he admired.

“Hi.” Bouncing up the steps to the porch, she didn’t blink when it took him a moment to decide to shake the hand she offered. “Malorie told me how beautiful your guesthouse is.”

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