Over the top of his daughter’s head, he looked at Ivy, walking toward him, her long hair loose and pretty. Her long legs and slender figure showed to advantage in a pair of jeans. She was wearing a pale yellow shirt that complemented her honeyed complexion. She looked, in short, exactly like a model.
“It’s her,” someone called, and the growing crowd of paparazzi pounced. Mics were shoved in everyone’s faces. Questions were rattled off, machine-gun-style. Those close enough to Ivy fired requests at her. Those who couldn’t manage to get close settled for Noah and the others.
He wanted to throw them all out, but it wasn’t his career that was up for grabs.
“Ivy, you’re as beautiful as ever,” someone said.
“More beautiful,” someone argued.
“I don’t think this is the right place for this conversation,” Ivy said. “This is a working ranch. People live here.”
“And you work here. That’s so awesome,” someone said. “Ivy, outdoor life looks so delicious on you.”
“Did you really save that little girl?” someone asked. “This woman said that you did.”
Noah turned to see Sandra standing next to an older man. She was preening, glowing. “I heard about last night,” Sandra said to Ivy, “and…well, I had the photos from the dance. I—that night I shoved you…”
She bit her lip. “That wasn’t right. I was jealous, even though I knew it wasn’t your fault that Noah didn’t want me. I’d had my chance. Plus, everyone was so angry with me. I didn’t know how to make it right. Then last night I heard about you and Lily and Bruiser, and everything just kind of fell into place. I mean, it was kind of a fairy tale—the beautiful model hiding on a ranch doing good deeds while her broken heart mends. So I took my photos and what I’d heard about you saving Lily and I e-mailed the editors of every newspaper I could think of. I have to say, though, that I didn’t expect such a big or quick response. I don’t really think it was all me. I think some of it was Gerald.”
“I didn’t save Lily’s life— Did you say Gerald?” Ivy’s voice cracked a little.
“Yes, Gerald Donich. He said he used to be your agent and he’d been waiting until you were ready. The photo and what I told him about you convinced him that you might be. He’s in the car making phone calls.” She indicated a black sedan. “I think he might be trying to get a modeling job for you.”
Noah felt as if his heart was ripping apart. The crowd of reporters went a bit crazy. They brandished their microphones like weapons, trying to be the one to get Ivy’s first response. They jostled everyone else, and Noah had to hug Lily tight. He should take his daughter away from this, but he was worried about Ivy.
Noah half expected her to rush to the car. Instead, she looked at him.
“I’m not answering any questions until you agree to leave my friends alone,” she told the reporters. “If you do that, I’ll give you a statement when I’ve had a chance to digest all of this.”
Some of the reporters tried to continue asking questions, but Ivy pushed her chin up. She made her way through the throng to Noah’s side and gave him an apologetic look. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. Just do what you need to do.”
She nodded. Then she moved to the car, where her former agent was just emerging. The man wasn’t nearly as old as Noah would have liked. In his forties, he had a kinder face than one would expect of someone who worked selling stars.
“I’m so glad to see you, love,” the agent told Ivy. “I was beginning to think you might never resurface.”
“I don’t know that I have.”
“You better. I have contracts for you to choose from. Big ones, too.”
She shook her head. “Gerald. Look,” she said, turning her scarred cheek to him. The cheek that Noah had kissed only last night.
“Ivy. Look,” Gerald said, holding out a photo, probably the silver dress one. “You still can make men sweat and women hope. You still can sell clothes and dreams. And look at this. I found this one of you and the horse and the girl on the Internet. Someone must have posted it yesterday, and I passed it on to a few lucky interested parties. Even dirty and with your hair all messed up…or maybe especially because of those things…you look fantastic. This is a look people haven’t seen from you before, Ivy. The tough, healthy, tanned cowgirl look. It’s going to sell you like you’ve never been sold before. The public will eat it up. I think we can get commercials, maybe movies, but definitely magazine ads. It’s already in the works. What do you say?”
But Noah had had enough. Everything was conspiring against him. Maybe even everyone. That photo had to have come from either Brody or Darrell’s phone.
The end of things with Ivy had come early, and he wasn’t ready yet. Maybe he would never be ready. He shook his head. No matter what, he had to pretend he was happy about this. For her sake. That might take some work, some concentration, some swearing at the walls. Still, he needed to get ready and do it.
He carried Lily into the house and proceeded to get ready to lose Ivy.
Ivy wasn’t a happy cowgirl. This whole ambush by the press had caught her by surprise, and the hordes of reporters had made it all but impossible for anyone to do their jobs, although Brody and Darrell had tried.
She had heard one reporter bragging that she had managed to get a photo of Noah and Lily with a nice close-up of Lily’s face when the little girl had looked up for a second. The woman was planning on looking into Noah’s background, including his romantic entanglements. Ivy had no doubt that the story and the photo would be on the Internet within hours.
“I swear, if you don’t stop her, Gerald, I’m going to disappear forever,” Ivy told him, knowing that Gerald’s threats would convince the reporter more than her own would.
But that problem had barely been quashed when Bruiser was recognized as the horse from the supposed baby rescue, and the flashing cameras and unfamiliar people spooked him so terribly that Ivy had to climb into his pen and try to calm him.
That, of course, only led to more photos until finally she simply stood on the fence, stuck two fingers into her mouth and whistled to get everyone’s attention.
“I can see that you’re all excited, but you’re scaring Bruiser and you’re going to have to give him some personal space. I wouldn’t want to lose any photographers who got too close.”
“Is he that dangerous?” one indignant woman asked.
No, Ivy wanted to say, but the truth was that she didn’t know what Bruiser was capable of. She leaned over and gave him a hug. “He’s a love. Leave him alone. Please.”
In the end, it was Gerald who managed to—temporarily—clear the area. “I sent them to town for food,” he said, “but you know reporters. They’ll be back. They’ve found a new toy, a story that promises to earn them points with their publishers. So enjoy your quiet time.”
“Thank you, Gerald,” she said.
“Don’t thank me. You know darn well that I want something from you, too.” And he outlined all the contacts he’d made, the choices she had. When she left here, she could slip back into her old life if she wanted to. Then he joined a surprisingly docile Sandra back at his car and drove away.
Ivy didn’t want to slip back into her old life. She wanted Noah. She loved Noah, she thought, acknowledging the truth. But…she couldn’t have him. He might have pulled off that amazing display of friendship with the neighbors last night, but that was because he knew how hard on herself she had been after losing Bo. As for what had come afterward…there had always been lust between her and Noah. Lust could never be enough.
The heartbreaking truth was that she was probably lucky that Sandra had located Gerald. Work would keep her mind off loving Noah. Because she was pretty sure that this was goodbye.
Ivy fought back her tears, and when she went up to the house to apologize for the insanity of the morning, she saw immediately that the man she loved had already moved on.
He smiled at her. “I told you that you were made for m
odeling and that someday you’d go back.”
Ivy wanted to beg him to love her. She wanted to stay. But already another car was pulling up. Marta was looking flustered. All this mess wasn’t good for anyone at the ranch. When she’d arrived here, she’d promised Noah that he wouldn’t regret hiring her, but he had to be regretting today’s chaos and noise and the invasion of his privacy. This ranch was Noah’s life. It was his happiness. It was Lily’s inheritance.
If I try to stay, Ivy thought, the ranch and everything about it will never be the same. It will never bring him and Lily peace and the simple joys of being alone with the land. Reporters will be sneaking out here all the time. Changing the fabric of the ranch. If I try to stay, I’ll be as selfish as my father and Alden were, putting my needs ahead of Noah’s and Lily’s. I’ll destroy the thing that gives Noah’s life meaning. I’ll steal his life’s work and his home.
“I…never really thought it would end this way,” Ivy said, truthfully. “I never thought I’d be returning to New York.”
“It’s where you’re meant to be,” Noah said. “Maybe it’s what you were born for. You’ll bring joy to a lot of people.”
Ask me to stay, she wanted to cry. Please tell me not to go.
“When do you think you’ll be leaving?” he asked.
Never. Please, never. “It’s probably best that I leave quickly. You’re not going to get anything done here until I’m gone.”
He gazed down into her eyes. “I don’t want you to feel unwelcome. I know that I dragged my heels over hiring you, but…you brought something special to all of us.”
And he’d brought something special into her life. He’d made her realize that she didn’t have to fight the world or save the world. She had value just as she was, and she always had. And while she’d always miss Bo, Noah had helped her begin to forgive herself. She had room for children in her life.
“It’s been wonderful working for you, Noah.”
“Ivy…” Noah’s voice was deep and thick.
“Be happy, Noah. Enjoy being a daddy to Lily.”
At the sound of her name, Lily looked up from where she was playing. “Ive,” she said softly.
And suddenly it was all too much. Ivy sailed over to Lily, picked her up and hugged her. “Bye, Lily.”
“Ive, bye.” She waved her little hand, patting Ivy on the arm, and Ivy set her back down and headed for the door.
“Ivy!”
Ivy turned and looked at Noah, who strode toward her and swept her into his arms. He gave her a quick, hard kiss. “If anyone in New York causes you one ounce of trouble, I want you to call me. You have friends here now, Ivy. They’ll always have your back.”
She gave him a teary smile, then turned and quickly moved back to the cottage. She called Gerald, threw her things into a bag and within thirty minutes, Ballenger Ranch, Noah and Lily had disappeared from her life. Her entire life was packed in a small blue suitcase. Everything she needed was in there. Except for the two things she needed and wanted most of all: Noah, who was the keeper of her heart, and Lily. They belonged to Ballenger Ranch, not to her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
NOAH LOOKED UP from his computer to see Alicia standing beside him. “What are you doing?” he asked. He wondered how long she’d been there. Marta must have let her in.
“Was Lily good?” he asked when she didn’t answer but only gave him one of those concerned, maternal looks some women were born to be good at. Alicia had brought Lily home from a birthday party.
“Lily is always good. I don’t know about you. You look like hell. Brody tells me you’re not eating right. He says you’re much worse than when Pamala left.”
“Brody talks too much.”
Alicia shook her head. “You need to call her, Noah. To see how she is.”
“I know how she is. I’ve seen her pictures.” He motioned to several magazines lying on the counter.
“That’s not the same. Those are posed pictures and they don’t tell you anything.”
“I had an e-mail. See, she’s happy. Look how cheery it is.” He pulled out the paper he’d printed it on. “It says, ‘I hope you and Lily are wonderful. Say hi to everyone for me. I have a favor to ask. If you decide that you need to get rid of Bruiser, please let me buy him. I’ll find a place to board him near me. I don’t want him to be alone. Take care and be happy!’ That’s all. Just this perky little note. She didn’t even sign her name.”
“It’s an e-mail, Noah.”
He growled. “I’m giving her the horse.”
“Excuse me? I thought you realized that he likes Lily as much as he likes Ivy. He could have hurt her and he didn’t. You said something about her being more likely to be stepped on by a cow than by Bruiser.”
“I’m giving Ivy the horse,” he said stubbornly. “That’s what I was doing when you came in. I was looking for stables near her.”
“You need to go look in person.”
“Alicia, stay out of this. She’s happy.”
“She’s not. In her pictures she doesn’t look happy. She looks distant.”
“It’s just model stuff. A pose.”
“I don’t mean the ones in the magazines. I mean the ones on the Internet. The real ones. She doesn’t look happy to me.”
“That’s wishful thinking on your part.”
“Don’t you even care, Noah?”
He looked up at her, and Alicia froze. He knew that his anguish was clear to her. “You love her,” she said.
“She doesn’t love me back.”
“She said that?”
“She never said she did.”
“Did you tell her that you loved her? You didn’t, did you?”
“That would have been selfish. She had the world waiting for her.”
“She’d had the world ripped away from her. Maybe she needed to hear that one man cared about that before he just let her leave without so much as an I love you. Oh, why am I even bothering? You’re such a pigheaded man. I will say this one thing, though. Ivy spent a lot of time with women who had been trying to get your attention for years. Pretty women, some of them even beautiful. And you hadn’t looked at any of them, because you never intended to marry again. She knew how set you were against remarrying better than anyone.”
Noah concentrated on taking deep breaths, on not yelling at Alicia. “She can have her pick of any man she wants, Alicia.”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, she can. And if she has no better options, she just might choose someone else while you sit here feeling sorry for yourself.”
Then she relented and patted his arm. “Take better care of yourself, Noah. Please.” She let herself out the door.
Noah stared at the screen. He was alone—Marta out shopping, Lily sleeping. Just him and his thoughts and his fears. He’d been left behind by women who wanted more than a man like him. And Ivy, who had never wanted to live on a ranch, was the woman that every man coveted.
Gillian had implied that she loved him; Pamala had declared that she loved him; Ivy had never implied or declared her love for him. Given those facts and circumstances, a smart man, especially a rancher, would have to be insane to even try to win her.
I’m already insane, he muttered. He pulled up a photo of Ivy he’d found on the Internet. Did she look distant? Was she sad?
Maybe not, but now the seed had been planted. The possibility that she was unhappy was like a hot brand on his emotions. He’d been so sure that she was finally happy now that the world had come knocking on her door, but what if she wasn’t? Who was holding her when she was sad? Who was making sure that she didn’t get hurt? Who argued with her and teased her? Who made sure that she knew she was special and that what she wanted mattered?
With a muttered curse, Noah clicked to the airline schedules. Insane or not, he was going to the city.
Ivy was midway through a photo shoot, making lists in her mind, trying to think about inconsequential things while trying not to wonder what was going on at the ranch and w
ho Noah was spending his time with. She had purposely not contacted Alicia for fear she would hear that he was dating someone.
A sudden commotion at the door broke into her thoughts and caused the photographer to swear. “Take a break, Ivy,” he said as his assistant came in and started whispering frantically to him. “A cowboy? Here?”
Ivy’s heart started to pound. They meant a model dressed as a cowboy, right? Not a real cowboy. This was New York. Lots of unusual characters, people who liked to dress up.
“I don’t care who you are. I need to see Ivy. I have information about her horse.” Noah’s deep voice echoed through the studio, and all of Ivy’s senses started to slide dizzily. Her emotions went berserk. She was all emotion, all need, no common sense at all. That must have been why she started rushing toward the door.
But she had barely taken three steps when there he was, all six feet of him, broad shouldered, unshaven, his hair tousled, filling up the doorway.
“Ivy” was all he said.
Ivy fought the tears; she fought the urge to run and throw herself into his arms. “Noah,” she said. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“I know. I don’t quite fit.”
She wanted to laugh at that. She had seen the look on the photographer’s face when Noah had first appeared. Already she could see him envisioning how to fit a cowboy into the spread they were doing.
“You came,” she said. “You came.” Then she realized how idiotic she sounded. “Why did you come?” Hope filled her soul. She tried to push it aside.
“I…I wanted to find a good place for Bruiser. I wanted him to be with you.”
Disappointment and gratitude combined. “But you love him,” she whispered. “I—I mean, that’s so nice of you.”
Now he swore. “I didn’t come to be nice.”
“I see.”
Cowgirl Makes Three Page 15
