Page 11 of The Cowboy Fix

He frowned at the zip of awareness that stunned him into staring at their locked hands. “The, uh, guesthouse is this way. Are you planning to stay a few days before you leave for your next job?”

“That depends,” she said, then, “Oh my gosh. Look at this garden. It’s even prettier than Mal described.”

Nathan smiled. All the books and movies said the way into a woman’s heart was with flowers. Not that he wanted into Izzy’s heart, but she was so dang appealing with her eyes as big as the yellow daisies lining the garden’s borders.

He let his smile drop as he opened the front door and waited for her to go in. He’d hired people seasonally when he could, but at that moment, it hit him hard how much work it took for him to keep the ranch from falling around his ears. And with less money coming in—

Izzy went straight for the kitchen. “This is lovely.” She glanced out the window over the sink and rubbed her hands together. “Beautiful. If nothing else, if you haven’t already thought of it, you could rent this place out or put it on Airbnb. It would give you a very good, steady income.”

He hadn’t thought of that, but renting the cottage was out of the question. Was that why she’d come out? To tell him what he should do to keep from having to sell the ranch?

Nathan pulled his brows together. “That would mean letting strangers have the run of the property.” He paused to point Izzy in the right direction. “The main bedroom and bath are through that door and there are two bedrooms with a shared bath upstairs.”

It only took a few steps for Izzy to reach the bedroom and have a look around. She sighed happily before heading upstairs. Nathan waited, leaning against the counter while she explored. He’d been on his feet too long. When she came down, he quickly stopped rubbing his hip.

“This is such a great house,” she said, a happy spring in her step. “I would love to stay here.”

Ignoring the hint in her voice, and Jonas’s voice in his head, he tried again. “Where do you go next?”

Needing to give his hips a rest, he limped to one of the overstuffed chairs flanking the sofa, and sat, relieved to be off his feet. Malorie had promised he would gradually regain his stamina, but he was starting to question her judgment on the matter of what he’d assumed would be a quick recovery once he could start walking.

Izzy followed his progress, then sat on the couch near him. “I want to talk to you about that.”

“I’m sure you have other clients lined up to hire you.” Nathan straightened his back to ease the pressure starting to build. From the concerned look on her face, Izzy hadn’t missed the slight movement.

He didn’t need her sympathy. It was his fault he’d put Duke through his paces without making sure he’d checked the stallion over to be sure he was good to go.

Keeping her gaze on his face, she put aside her purse and folded her hands in her lap. She notched her chin. “I do.”

“So, you just have to pick one, right?” It was getting awfully hard to nudge the woman out the door.

With a wince, he carefully rearranged himself in the chair.

“Here’s the thing. I need your help.” She studied him closely, not missing a thing, he’d bet. “Do you want to take some ibuprofen? I have a bottle in my bag.”

“Thank you,” Nathan said simply, breathing a sigh of relief.

She handed him the small bottle from her purse and went to get him a glass of water, at the same time saying as she came back, “It would be a real feather in my cap if I can turn the Triple L’s finances around. I haven’t recovered a ranch before. It presents an interesting challenge, but also it would round out my résumé. I would love to stay here and rent this cottage while we work together on this project.”

“I can’t take rent money from you,” he said firmly, then swallowed the ibuprofen, chasing the two tabs down with the water.

Izzy sat on the edge of the couch, her forearms on her knees, the first serious look he’d gotten from her hid away her high energy. “I have to pay rent to someone. I’d much rather stay here in this lovely cottage with its beautiful garden and pay you. Even if you don’t hire me, renting out this cottage makes good business sense. I’m surprised you haven’t done so already.”

She named a reasonable price, which didn’t make Nathan feel like he was taking charity. Neither did it tick him off. “And when you’re done? You’ll move on to your next job?”

“Whenwe’redone,” she emphasized. “Yes, I’ll move on to the next job. I like my life to be unencumbered. But I would like to stay here through the summer. In any case, recovering the Triple L’s financial health won’t happen overnight.”

The ibuprofen started to kick in. As the tension left his shoulders and lower back, he eased further into the chair cushions. “I have just one condition.”

“We can do this, Nathan,” she insisted, her expression going from serious to optimistic.

He didn’t like revealing his faults, and heaven knew he had plenty, but he also would not let Izzy be surprised when she found out how hard he was to work with. He knew it. His crew when he had one hadn’t been shy about letting him know with a few chosen words that he couldn’t use in female company. The folks he got along best with were his horses.

“I don’t like being coddled. That’s how the ranch started going downhill. I was too buried in my grief and guilt to think straight or stay on top of things. Eventually, there was the accident—”

She reached out and put her hand on his arm. “Things happen, Nathan. I’ve found in my business that it doesn’t matter how we got to where we are, it only matters where we go from here. And what we want to do now is keep the Triple L in the Lohmen family. Right?”

“Right.” Izzy Payton was a dreamer in addition to a savior of failing businesses. His heart cracked open a tiny bit. “Okay. I’m on board.”

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