Cowgirl Fever (Novak Springs Book 1)

by Dawn Brower

  “Are you going to be okay, Ginny?” Tori asked.

  “I think so. I need time.”

  She could feel Tori’s gaze on her as she drove. It was clear she wanted to say something, but she was holding it in for some reason. So Ginnifer asked, “What’s on your mind?”

  “I think you’re wrong.”

  Wrong? What could she be wrong about? Ginnifer was confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Tori sighed. “Dallas. He does care about you. I saw how he looked at you. Running away isn’t the answer this time.”

  Ginnifer shook her head in disagreement. “No. I hurt enough. I couldn’t listen to him break things off with me. We weren’t even really together. It was a fling. It had to end sometime. I did it on my own terms.”

  It was Tori’s turn to disagree and shake her head. “That’s just it, Ginny. It wasn’t a fling as you called it. You fell in love with the man. That means something.”

  She couldn’t believe that Tori was pushing the issue. She was the last person Ginnifer ever expected to endorse love or a relationship. She firmly believed all relationships were doomed to fail, so it was with surprise she asked, “Why does this matter to you? Not too long ago you told me men couldn’t’ be trusted. I didn’t think you believed love was possible.”

  Tori snorted. “I never said I didn’t believe in love. That was your interpretation. I don’t have faith in a man’s ability to commit. That’s a different story altogether.” Flipping her hair out of her eyes, she turned to look out of the window before continuing. “This is something different. You’re throwing a chance away at something real. Just because it’s rare for a man to be faithful doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. Dallas may want exactly what you want, and you didn’t even give him a chance to tell you. You ran away like a scared rabbit.”

  Ginnifer squeezed the steering wheel, anger building up in her. “I thought you would support me on this.”

  Tori bit her lip. “I do. Always. No matter what, I have your back. But I have to be the voice of reason too. I’d hate for you to throw something good away because you’re too scared to find out if it’s real or not.”

  With a sigh Ginnifer had to admit that Tori might be right. It wouldn’t be the first time she turned out to be her own worst enemy. She had been running away from relationships and commitment her whole life. Independence had been her objective in life. Ginnifer had accomplished all of her goals, but she was also alone. She didn’t even have a pet at home to comfort her. She didn’t like relying on anyone. The only person she remained close to was Tori, but only because she wouldn’t have it any other way. Tori was a force to be reckoned with, and once she decided Ginnifer was her friend, she wouldn’t allow her to put any distance between them.

  Ginnifer whispered, “I don’t know if I can let him in. I’m scared.”

  “All you can do is try. You could be right. Maybe he’s relieved you left. I’m willing to bet, though, that he’ll be pissed and come looking for you. That man doesn’t seem like the type to give up.”

  Ginnifer sighed. “No, he is tenacious as hell.”

  “So the question of the day is, what are you going to do about it?” Tori asked.

  With a smile on her face, Ginnifer kept staring ahead while she drove down the road, considering everything Tori had told her. She knew what she had to do. “Nothing.”

  Tori’s face crinkled up in puzzlement. “Excuse me?”

  Tori didn’t know Dallas the way she did, but in some ways she had seen him more clearly. She hadn’t been blinded by heartache and insecurity. Once the obvious had been pointed out, it was clear what her course of action should be. “If it’s like you say and he wants me, he’ll come looking for me. I just have to be in a place he can be sure to find me. That’s the only way I’ll know for sure it’s me he wants.”

  Understanding finally, Tori smiled. “You’re going back to New York?”

  With a nod of her head, Ginnifer agreed, “Yes.”

  Tori let out a laugh of excitement. She began to rub her hands with glee. “You’re evil. I like it.”

  “I’m not evil. But, yes, I’m testing him.”

  Tori sighed before saying, “I wish I could go back with you right away. Sadly, I have to stay back and deal with the Colt situation. You’ll keep me informed on all of the details?”

  With a smile forming on her lips for the first time that day, Ginnifer glanced quickly at Tori before saying, “You know it.” She had to keep her eyes on the road and couldn’t look at her for long. No reason to kill or maim them before she made it back to Seattle.

  “Did you bother to think about a flight back?” Tori asked.

  Ginnifer shook her head. “No, I thought I’d deal with it when I got to the airport.”

  “Do you want me to call and change your flight while we’re on the way?” she asked.

  “It might be a good idea. Less to deal with once I get there.”

  Tori took her phone out and dialed the airline. It didn’t take her long to change Ginnifer’s flight. She got lucky and a return flight was available right away. She would only be in Seattle for an hour before she boarded a plane for New York. Before she knew it, she would be back in her own bed with Dallas on the other side of the country. She hoped Tori was right and that Dallas did have feelings for her. More importantly she hoped she was right and he would actually come to New York to chase after her. How dumb would it be if he decided she wasn’t worth the hassle and she threw her chance with him out of the window over her fears? Nothing to do now but to stay the course; there was no changing her mind now.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Dallas made his way back to the ranch along with Wes and the group of females. He ached all over and wanted to take a long hot shower. It was the first thing on his agenda before he had that long-awaited talk with Ginnifer. He was willing to give her a reprieve after being terrified by the rattler. They were going to talk and soon, but a shower was required first. He wanted to be able to give her his full attention and feeling cruddy would get in the way of that. Even before he took the shower, though, he had to deal with Melody. The woman needed to realize there wasn’t a chance in hell they would ever get back together. He had no idea why she had even thought it was a possibility.

  Melody was currently hanging all over him. He had tried to push her away several times, but she kept coming back and grabbing his arm. It was time to end the charade of niceness. “Melody, quit grabbing my arm. I’m tired and it’s annoying me.”

  She looked up at him, her mouth forming into a pretty little pout before saying, “Why are you being so mean?”

  Dallas stopped dead in his tracks, looking at her with a piercing gaze. “I don’t have the patience to be nice to you anymore. What the fuck kind of game are you playing here?”

  With a small whimper, she brought her hand up to her mouth as a slight tear fell from her left eye. In between sniffles she managed to say, “Well I thought it was obvious. I want us to be together again.”

  Dallas let out a breath of frustration before saying, “Not happening. So you can get that idea out of your pretty little head. Why’d you think I’d ever try anything with you again? You made it perfectly clear you didn’t want to be a rancher’s wife.”

  Big crocodile tears started to stream down her face. Between sobs, Melody said, “But you loved me.”

  Dallas shook his head in disbelief. His head was pounding at the frustration of having to deal with her. Trying to be as honest as he could, he expressed what he finally realized, “I thought I loved you. But even if I had, that’s all in the past. You’re not my future and never really were. You should go back to wherever you came from. You don’t belong here, Melody.”

  He said all there was to say, so he turned to walk away from her. That was distasteful, but it had to be done. He thought he was done with her for good until he heard her say, “It’s because of that awful Ginnifer woman, isn’t it?”

  Dallas turned back and ask
ed her, “What does that matter?”

  A sneer formed on her face. “I saw how you were with her. In the barn when she visited the newborn foal and when that snake crawled on her leg. She probably did it all on purpose to get your attention. You deserve better than her. She’ll never change her life for you.”

  Dallas stared at her with scorn. “Oh, you mean like you did? Oh that’s right, you didn’t. You broke up with me because Novak Springs seemed like more work than you were willing to do. I wasn’t worth the effort of even trying. So how are you any different?”

  “You’re right. I bailed. I regret that, but I’ve changed. Please give me a chance,” Melody begged him.

  Dallas shook his head. “No. There’s no us anymore, Melody. I doubt there ever was. Furthermore, you haven’t changed at all. You are still the selfish, spiteful woman I knew back then, only I was too blind to see it when we were together. Pack your bags and leave Novak Springs. Don’t ever return. I never want to lay eyes on you again.”

  “What’s going on?” Dallas turned to find his sister Emma walking down the steps of the ranch. He hadn’t realized they had stopped in front of the house. He was too busy trying to get Melody to leave him alone to take notice of his surroundings.

  “Melody is leaving. I can’t deal with her anymore,” Dallas explained.

  “But who’s going to run the yoga program, then? I can’t change things last minute. How do you expect me to run the program without the yoga instructor?” Emma asked.

  Dallas shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t care. Melody leaves today. Refund everyone’s money if they complain.”

  Emma’s voice was filled with fury, “You’re trying to make sure I fail at this, aren’t you? I know you’re the reason that Ginnifer left early. Admit it, you chased her away. Now you’re trying to chase my yoga instructor off of the property. Why did you even let me try if you were going to sabotage me every step of the way?”

  All Dallas heard in her rant was that Ginnifer was gone. So his own voice filled with anger. “What do you mean Gin left? How long has she been gone?”

  Emma placed her hands on her hips and screamed back at him, “Does it matter? Why do you keep chasing everyone away?”

  Dallas shook his head in denial. “I didn’t. Get her to come back. I only want Melody gone.” Had she really left? He thought she had understood they needed to talk. Apparently she had other things in mind when she agreed to talk to him the next day.

  “Well it’s a little too late for that now, isn’t it? They left hours ago. I’m sure she is on a plane back to New York by now,” Emma said. “That still doesn’t explain why you want Melody to leave.”

  Pacing back and forth in front of the porch, he stopped long enough to look at his sister. “Because she’s my ex-fiancée and I can’t stand her.”

  Emma turned to Melody, anger spewing out of her mouth, “Is that true? You never once told me you knew my brother. I talked about him all the time. You knew everything about me. Did you help me plan my business model knowing it was a way to get close to him again?”

  Melody started to stumble backward in an attempt to put distance between her and Emma. “Um, well yeah, I didn’t think you’d be my friend if you realized what my former association with Dallas was…”

  Emma stared straight at her, enunciating each word clearly and firmly so there was not any misinterpretation. “Right. Because then you’d never have been able to get on this ranch and get close to Dallas again. Go pack you things and leave. Never come back. Oh, and Melody, pack fast. If you’re not gone in fifteen minutes, I’ll forcibly remove you.”

  Dallas stood there watching the whole exchange, reeling from the fact that Gin was no longer on Novak Springs. At that point he didn’t care where Melody was. His heart dropped in his chest as he realized he wouldn’t be able to talk to Ginnifer like he had planned. Pissed wasn’t an accurate description of how he felt. Well, if she thought she could escape him, she was dead wrong. Dallas had some planning to do before he could leave. But Gin better be prepared for a reckoning when he finally got to her.

  Emma’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. “I’m so sorry, Dallas. I didn’t know.”

  Dallas was forced to admit, “It’s partially my fault. I never told you her name. It would probably have helped you to know who she was. I’m sorry. I know I can be an ass at times. I need a favor from you, though.”

  Emma nodded her head at him. “Anything. Tell me what you need.”

  “Give me all the information you have on Gin. I’m flying to New York as soon as I can get things arranged here on the ranch.”

  With a jolt of surprise Emma asked, “Whatever for? Why would you need to go to New York to see her? I thought you two didn’t get along.”

  Dallas laughed at her surprise. She had no idea what happened between the magazine writer and him. “No, Gin and I have some unfinished business. It needs to be handled in person. For the record, I didn’t set out to sabotage your business. I truly did want you to succeed. Will you get by okay without Melody to do the yoga classes?”

  “Okay. I can get everything for you in a few minutes. When she said she never got her questions answered, I thought it was because you were being an ass. What really happened? And don’t worry about Cowgirl Yoga. I took enough classes to run the class for now. Melody was going to be replaced after this session, anyway.”

  A small smile formed on his lips. “Good. I’m glad that it won’t hurt things too much. As far as me and Ginnifer, well we got a little distracted. Let’s just say we both forgot those questions ever existed.”

  A knowing smile formed on Emma’s face. “Ah. So you know she e-mailed me her list of questions. Do you want to answer them or should I?”

  An idea formed in his mind. He knew exactly what he was going to do with those questions, so he said, “How about you print those up and add them with her contact information. I think she needs those answered in person.”

  Emma nodded in agreement. “Consider it done. How long before you plan on leaving?”

  “Tonight, after I pack and confer with Wes. He’s going to have to take charge of the ranch while I’m gone. As soon as I’m packed, I’m leaving. I don’t know for sure how long I’ll be away. I’ll keep in touch.”

  “That’s fine. Go bring her back,” Emma turned and walked back into the house.

  Dallas pulled Gin’s phone out of his pocket and rubbed his thumb over the screen. She was going to get it hand-delivered back whether she liked it or not. There wasn’t any way he was going to allow her to walk away from him. Their relationship may have happened fast, but that didn’t make it any less real. Dallas wasn’t afraid to use any weapon in his cache to get his point across. Ginnifer was his, and it was time she accepted that. No matter what it took, he was going to make sure she would be in his life forever. He put the phone back in his pocket and sprinted into the house. He had a lot to do before he got on the road to Seattle. New York wasn’t a far enough distance to escape him. He had a plan firmly in his mind as he walked into his bedroom to pack. Dallas hoped Ginnifer realized the mistake she made in running, because she was going to get one hell of a spanking thinking she could run away.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Ginnifer had been wrong. Completely and utterly mistaken in her assumption Dallas would chase after her. She had been back in New York a week and hadn’t heard a peep from him. She had remained at home for the remaining week of her vacation and thought for sure he would seek her out there. But she had remained miserable and alone. In fact, she hadn’t heard from Emma, either. She thought for sure the e-mailed questions would have gotten answered. There was total radio silence, and to make things worse, she realized once she was on the plane that Dallas still had her phone. She didn’t have it replaced because she had hoped he would bring it with him when he came to see her. It was starting to look like she needed to go to the store and buy a new phone after work. With a sigh, she got up from her desk and walked over to the window to look out at t
he New York skyline. At least she had work. It was something she had always relied on and stayed true no matter what. It was the most dependable thing in her life. Today was her first day back, and it was time to get back to the grind. She had an appointment in fifteen minutes that had been scheduled while she was on vacation. Her assistant had said it was an important story opportunity she couldn’t afford to turn down.

  A voice announced from behind her, “Miss. Zeiss, your appointment is here. Should I show him in?”

  Ginnifer turned to find her assistant, Alison, standing in her office door. Well, no reason to put it off just because she was miserable. If work was the only thing she could depend on, it was time to give it her full attention. “Yes, but give me five minutes. Also, see if he wants anything to drink and bring it in after you show him in.”

  Her assistant nodded her head. “Okay. I will.”

  Ginnifer strolled over to her desk and pulled her chair out so she could sit. Once she was sitting, she scooted the chair closer to her desk and turned on her computer. When it was fully booted up, she entered her password and waited for her home screen to load. A picture of her and Tori came up on the computer’s wallpaper. They had been so happy when the picture had been taken. Now Tori was still in Seattle dealing with the Colt Lewis drama. Ginnifer was in New York wallowing in her own misery. In time surely it would be easier and the pain would lessen. She was still staring at the computer when she heard a voice say, “Well, if it’s that bad, you should probably change it.”

  With a start of surprise, she looked up to find Dallas standing in her office. He was holding a manila folder in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. Ginnifer knew it was coffee because she could smell the heavenly brew from the short distance between them. Her mouth watered at the tantalizing scent. She hadn’t bothered to get any that morning and never asked Alison to get her any. She was picky, and Alison never got it right. It was easier to get it herself. What Dallas was holding in his hand was either exactly what she’d drink or damned close.