Page 5 of The Cowboy Fix

“No more talking tonight. I’m tired.” Nathan leaned on his cane.

“Excuse me,” a feminine voice said behind Nathan. “I knocked, but no one answered, and I could hear—Did I come at the wrong time?”

Nathan swiveled and looked into the prettiest blue eyes he’d ever seen. Red hair fell in thick, wavy curls past the woman’s shoulders. She was dressed in form-fitting jeans and a gauzy pale green shirt that made him think of spring and summer, all rolled into one.

Her gaze flicked to his brothers, then came back to Nathan. She held out a hand and walked toward him. “Hi. I’m Izzy Payton. I’m here to visit my friend Malorie and thought on my way to her place I’d stop by to see if I could make an appointment to talk”—when their palms touched, her cheeks turned pink—“to Mr. Lohmen...”

Catching himself staring at their clasped hands, Nathan instantly dropped the hand that fit so well in his. “I’m Nathan Lohmen. Those two lugs are Blake and Jonas.”

She must have heard the last part of their argument. How could she not? Cheeks still pink, she leaned sideways so she could see his brothers and waved. “Hi, Blake.”

Blake came to stand next to Nathan. His temper had fizzled out. But then he hadn’t been frustrated with his fiancée’s best friend. “You made it. Any troubles on the way?”

“Nope. It was an easy drive.” Her gaze flicked to Nathan’s filled with a curious humor.

Of course, she hadn’t caught him on his best behavior. This was a pickle, as his mother used to say, wasn’t it? Except it didn’t have to be. Nathan didn’t need the pretty lady to like or approve of him, although at some point he would have to give in and work up an apology. Just not tonight.

Chapter Two

“Oh, good grief,”said Malorie as Izzy unpacked her suitcase and stowed her clothes in the dresser at the end of the bed. “They were fighting?”

“Well, they weren’t having a knockdown drag out, but they were arguing.” Izzy paused and rolled her eyes. “Loudly.”

Glancing around the room, she checked to make sure she’d gotten everything put away. Malorie’s spare room was charmingly decked out in pale greens, pinks, and tans, and was exactly what she needed while she figured out what it would take to convince Nathan Lohmen she wasn’t his worst nightmare.

Usually, her history of recovering failing businesses was enough to make her clients feel comfortable when they welcomed her on board. Not the case this time. Malorie had given her the rundown, but she needed to hear the details of the ranch’s real problems from someone who had intimate experience with those details. After walking into the middle of a Lohmen brothers’ free-for-all, she guessed that person was Nathan.

Oh man, he was a good-looking guy. And shaking his hand? The spike of awareness that traveled up her arm? It was... um... yum!

“Is that what you walked into the first day you came to the Triple L?” she asked her friend, an intentional distraction from the image of Nathan Lohmen taking on both his brothers like a gladiator in one of those old-time movies she loved to watch.

Izzy shook herself free. She wouldnotfall for the handsome, incredibly grumpy rancher. No sir. Love was off her to-do list. One broken heart in a lifetime was enough.

Malorie sat on the side of the bed. “Yeah. When I arrived, I thought Nathan was going to fall out of his hospital bed when he tried to punch Blake in the nose.”

Izzy followed Malorie to the kitchen. “Their tempers don’t seem to have improved.”

“The Lohmen brothers have a complicated relationship, but underneath all that cowboy bluster are hearts of gold.”

“Huh.”

“Really.” Malorie gave her a knowing look. “Coffee?”

Ever since she’d been left at the altar by what’s his name, Izzy was all business and nothing else. A good-looking cowboy who knew what he wanted would not pull her off course no matter what his heart was made of.

Mal watched her, eyebrows raised in question.

“I believe you,” Izzy reassured her best friend. “Sort of.” Then she laughed. “Decaf, if you’ve got it.”

After grabbing a bag of ground coffee from the pantry, Malorie put out creamer from the fridge. “Just because Jim turned out to be a rotten egg, doesn’t mean all men are bad.”

“I hear the words you’re saying, but my heart believes something else.” Izzy took a turn around the kitchen while her friend got the coffeemaker going.

The rest of the rental was as adorable as Malorie’s spare bedroom. The single-story, brick ranch house sat on a quiet tree-lined cul-de-sac. A bank of windows that looked out over the backyard lined the exterior walls of the creamy white and pale green kitchen. If she wasn’t always on the move, Izzy would seriously consider taking over her friend’s lease when she left to marry Blake.

Malorie joined her, handing Izzy a steaming cup. “After Mark, I didn’t think I could ever fall in love again. And then Blake came along—”

“You’re a lucky girl, my friend.” Izzy raised her cup to toast Malorie. “Me? I don’t want to be so lucky.”

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