Page 53 of The Cowboy Fix

Montana was a long way away from the Triple L.

Losing the ranch would be unbearable. Losing Izzy was going to be worse.

“I have one last idea for the ranch,” she said in a hurry. “Since I won’t always be here, I think you could spread the word about the ranch and your Rangerbred horses if you had one or two ranch hands come periodically during your busy days to learn the ropes—”

Nathan straightened. “I don’t want a bunch of people coming and going.”

“One or two hands shadowing you is not a bunch,” she insisted.

She might be right, but Nathan couldn’t believe it. He thought she knew he didn’t was a constant parade of strangers on the ranch.

He watched a lark flit from tree to tree. He’d been selfish when he questioned his dad about his birth mother. And selfish when he’d insisted all those years ago along with Jonas that Blake had to leave and never come back. He would not be selfish now. Izzy wanted to go. He would let her. Not insist that she plant roots when she was like that lark and would someday want to fly south.

Nathan would not be the one to clip her wings. He was doing what was best for Izzy, not for himself, he convinced himself. “Montana sounds like an excellent opportunity. I think you should go.”

“You do?” She looked at him, confusion spreading across her pretty face.

He couldn’t lie to her, so he asked instead, “When do you have to let them know?”

“As soon as I can.” With her hands gripping the bench on either side of her knees, she leaned forward. “But—”

He remembered how she felt in his arms and how sweet their kiss had been, rocking him to the soles of his feet, but he wouldn’t keep hoping she was the one woman who got him.

Forcing himself to pat the hand nearest him, it was all he could do to sound encouraging. “Don’t worry about the Triple L. Take the job. You’ve got us on a good path. Jonas, Blake, and I can take it from here. This ranch in Montana probably needs you more than we do at this point.”

But not more than he did.

He just wanted her to be happy. It looked like that was without him.

The drive back to the ranch was completed in silence. He parked in front of the main house. “See you at the engagement party?” It was in three days at the main house.

He knew she hadn’t meant him to think that after all this time she knew what was best for the Triple L, and he couldn’t take back his immediate reaction to her point about bringing one or two ranch hands onto the ranch. But until the party, he couldn’t bear to hang around like a lost pup while he counted the days until she left.

“Of course,” she said quietly as she got out of the truck.

His life had not been easy for a long time. There was no reason to think saying goodbye to this woman would be any easier. “Okay. Great. I’ll see you then.”

The next morning, having gotten very little sleep, Nathan stumbled into the kitchen before the sun had risen. He made coffee and decided to skip breakfast. He wasn’t hungry. All he could think about was taking care of the horses and the barn chores before Izzy beat him to it.

While the coffee was being made, he scrubbed his face. Not bothering to clean up his beard and mustache, he got dressed.

How could he have possibly fallen so hard for a woman who didn’t understand him, and who couldn’t or wouldn’t put down roots? He tried not to see that as a liability. He couldn’t pull up his roots, either.

He’d taken care of the morning chores and was heading back to the house when he saw Izzy come out of the guesthouse. She looked in his direction and stopped as if waiting for him to come closer. He waved at her and kept going.

Already missing her, he was in the office, going over the books—the finances were looking up; not as good as they needed them to, but much better than being on the brink of a bank takeover—when he heard his brothers come in. They came directly to the office and sat in the chairs on the other side of the desk.

“So, what are you two up to?” It was always best with Jonas and Blake to take the bull by the horns and not let them get the upper hand.

“Malorie said Izzy is leaving to go to her next job right after the wedding,” Blake said severely. “What did you do?”

“What do you mean?” He didn’t want to go into his last conversation with Izzy. He was over his disappointment that she’d missed what he was trying to do with the ranch. That didn’t mean he couldn’t be the kind of man she needed, one who supported and encouraged her decisions.

Jonas leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “She told Malorie you want her to leave. You didn’t say that did you? She’s not done here yet. Why would you tell her to leave?”

“I didn’t tell her to leave. I just said she should take the Montana job.” It was the right decision. Nathan crossed his arms over his chest and stood his ground. “Look, she’s got us heading in the right direction. We can’t be selfish and ask her to stay when she’s got this great job offer.”

“You mean, you can’t be selfish—” Blake scolded softly.

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