Page 31 of The Cowboy Fix

He matched Grace’s gait to Rosie’s as Izzy pulled on her reins, slowing to a slow walk. “Thanks for that. Like I said, I should have seen it coming. How about you? Have you ever been married or almost married?”

“No. Not even close.” He almost snorted but found he was glad to have some restraint and her full attention.

“Why?” She cast him a curious glance. “You’re a good-looking guy—”

He snickered. “And not always easy to get along with.”

“There is that.” She calmly agreed.

He would not deny that he’d always been edgy, even as a kid. But to answer her question—

Honestly?“I’m not good at dinner conversation. And I never met a girl I wanted to date more than once or twice. I’m kind of a picnic sort rather than a club man. Strawberry Ridge is not that big or overflowing with single women, or fancy places to take a date. I had this ranch to run. And... I don’t know,” he admitted with little more evidence than that he just wasn’t easygoing with lots of stories to tell.

“Huh.” She was silent after that.

“That’s it?” What was she thinking? “You don’t have anything else to say? Like, um, you have to keep trying?”

She laughed. “You have to keep trying, Nathan.”

The sound of her laughter went straight into his chest and paraded around his heart. Now he was more than curious. “If I was a business, like the Triple L, instead of a person, what would you do to fix me?”

“First off I’m great at working magic with businesses, butfixingpeople? Not in my thing,” she said, a twinkle flashing at him from clear blue eyes.

He found it hard to believe the lady. She had mean people skills. “Yeah, but you work with branding. How would you brand this down-on-his-luck rancher I know, Nathan Lohmen?” It felt funny to talk about himself in the third person, except he was beginning to think that if he wanted to be someone a woman could be interested in going on more than a few outings with, Izzy was the one who could come up with a scheme to make it work.

“Well... hmmm.” She studied him head to toe sparking a sudden desire he didn’t want to waste on a coach but would rather save for that one special woman. “You’d need to leave the ranch occasionally. Maybe go to the library—you like to read. Or volunteer for a major town celebration...” She stalled for a minute. He could see her mental wheels turning before she perked up, a grin spreading across her pretty face. “The Strawberry Ridge Rodeo is coming up. You could become a sponsor. Show off the Triple L’s horses. Ride in the parade. Go to the dance. I’m sure there will be a lot of eligible women there.”

She’s not the one, Nathan told himself sternly. Izzy was smart and cute and funny, and surprisingly easy on his senses, but he wasn’t seriouslylookingfor a girlfriend. He was justthinkingabout it. And experiment, so to speak, to see if he could make a romantic relationship work.

“You seem to know a lot about the rodeo.”

It’d been ages since he’d been to one of Strawberry Ridge’s major events aside from the Fourth of July barbecue and parade. The last time he’d gone, the Lohmens went as a family.

“I’ve done some research for your barrel-racing business.” She studied him closely.

Off in the distance, he could see the ranch house. Probably he should stick to his everyday cowboy brand. “We start your lessons tomorrow.”

“Okay, but don’t you think we have a lot of work to do at the cottage if we’re going to get the place ready for Blake and Mal’s wedding?”

He shouldn’t be surprised by the woman who was full of unexpected revelations. Like, who in his ever-loving right mind would leave her at the altar? And her penchant for going after what she wanted without a whisper of hesitation.

“We do, but first I want to set up a reno schedule with Jonas and Blake. Between the three of us, we can get started with the heavy lifting and get ready for you girls to do the pretty stuff.”

He knew the minute the words came out of his mouth that he was in trouble. Her brows shot up. “Are you hinting that because I’m a girl I can’t do theheavy lifting, as you call it?”

“No—” What was it about her calling BS on his assumptions that kicked his pulse into overdrive? “I was just hoping that you might oversee the kids in the barn in the mornings. Now that Blake and Timmy are back, the kid wants to help with the horses. Andee and Reece will want to be there too. Blake’s already been showing them the ropes, but we’ll need him at the cottage.”

“And you need someone to babysit,” she interpreted raising her brows.

As heat blasted his face, Nathan stumbled over his next words. “I wouldn’t put it like that exactly. We just need to get an early start.” He tried to sweeten his proposal. “I’ll feed them before we leave for the cottage. That would give you extra time to work on the marketing angle.”

“Hmmm.” Izzy broke out in a full-blown laugh that had his heart beating fast to keep up. “You should see the look on your face.” She slapped a hand to her mouth. Suddenly, he wanted to kiss the outrageous lady to cut off her laughter. It took a lot of restraint not to. “I’ll be glad to spend time with the kids in the barn. I haven’t had a chance since I got here, so it’ll be good. Mom too.” The sassy woman winked at Nathan. “We can talk pretty things while we’re overseeing the kids.”

“All right. You’ve had your fun.” He barely resisted pulling Izzy close to give her a long, can’t-stop-myself kiss. Instead, he said softly, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be—”

“Obnoxious?”

She liked finishing his sentences. And it didn’t make sense, but he liked her finishing them, too.

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