Cowgirl Fever (Novak Springs Book 1) (4 page)

Dallas let out a breath and once again started to push his fingers through his hair. At this rate he was going to pull out some of the strands and eventually go bald. Maybe the women wouldn’t try to fawn all over him if he didn’t have any hair on his head. He shook that thought out of his head. Only one problem at a time, and the current dilemma was how to make his baby sister happy again. Damn harpies would still think he was a good catch regardless of the state of his hair, bald or not. If they didn’t have the idea of getting him to settle down and marry them, it wouldn’t bother him so much. He wasn’t a long-term kind of guy. He could deal with some women trying to get close to him for a short time if it helped Emma out.

“No, I haven’t forgotten. I know that she needs to get her head wrapped around something other than the guy who broke her heart. I’ll make it up to her,” Dallas said.

Wes nodded his head in agreement. “Good, we can both talk to her and tell her we are willing to help with the scavenger hunt.”

“Yes, damn it. I’ll help lead one of the teams on her scavenger hunt,” Dallas grudgingly agreed.

“Fine. Then we should go look for her to make her realize we’re willing to help her in any way possible to make sure this goes off without a hitch.”

Dallas sighed and got up to stroll out of the kitchen. He turned and looked at Wes. “Are you coming?”

“Right behind you,” Wes said as he got up to follow him.

As they left the kitchen, Dallas thought it was going to take a lot of groveling to get Emma to forgive them. She could hold a grudge longer than anyone he knew. He would have to promise damn near anything to get back in her good graces. Dallas had forgotten why they had really decided it was a good idea for her to start her Cowgirl Yoga program. She wasn’t that happy girl they all knew anymore. The goal had been to try to get her to a place where her smiles were not forced but the bright sunshine they were used to seeing on her face. They went through a small kind of hell after their parents died, and they worked hard to get her to a good place. Dallas didn’t want to lose her to that kind of depression ever again. He grimaced at the idea of what was going to have to happen to make that smile shine on her face again. The only hope he had was that it would be worth it if at least one of them found some kind of happiness.

Ginnifer was packed and getting ready to go to the airport when her phone started to blare the words of “I Like It, I Love It” by Tim McGraw. She looked down and saw a picture of Tori coming across her screen. She pressed the button to accept the call and raised it up to her ear, saying hello.

“Good. I caught you before you left for the airport,” Tori said breathlessly on the other end.

“What do you mean before I left for the airport? I thought you were meeting me here and we were going over together,” Ginnifer replied. Her anger could be heard in every word she said. Her mouth crunched up in displeasure, and she held her phone tight in her hand.

“Damn, I forgot we were going to do that. Please don’t be mad at me,” Tori begged.

Ginnifer sighed in frustration. What the hell did Tori do now? She was always changing plans last minute. It was one of the few things that irritated her about her best friend. She always had some last minute emergency and forgot to let the people around her know her plans had changed.

“Well, I hit a snag with my latest client. I finally was able to get him to agree to do that interview with you, but I had to fly to Seattle last night. So, um, yeah I am already in Washington. I was wondering if you could delay going to the ranch and do the interview with him first.”

“No,” Ginnifer told her. “I’m going to the ranch. If he is willing to do the interview, tell him to come out to the ranch and I can make time for him there. He’s been hem-hawing around about doing it. Tell him to man up and take a stand. I’m not going to cater to him when this is a favor I’m doing for him.” The damn idiot had been putting the interview off for weeks. She was not going to go out of her way to cater to him when it was her vacation he was getting ready to interrupt. What kind of entitled asshole did he think he was?

“Fine. I think I can make that work. I could have him drive me out to the ranch tomorrow. I’m going to be a day late. Please let our host know that I will be there tomorrow,” Tori said. “I wish you’d take care of it in Seattle, though.”

“Sorry, no can do. If he wanted me to come to him, he should have agreed a lot sooner. You know how I feel about people that do that. I don’t do last minute crap without a damn good reason. My time is too valuable for that.”

Tori sighed on the other end of the call. “Okay. I’ll text you when we leave Seattle. Don’t grab all the hot cowboys for yourself before I get there.”

Ginnifer chuckled to herself. Tori always did have certain priorities. “I’ll try to save you at least one. I’m generous, after all.”

“Pfft, you better save more than one. I have needs.”

“I don’t know. You might have to make do with only one. I hear that they have a lot of stamina. I’m sure you could make do.”

“Stamina? We will have to see how much they actually have. I bet I could wear them out.” A hint of devilishness filled Tori’s voice.

“If anyone could do it, Tori, no doubt it would be you,” Ginnifer agreed.

“Okay I have to go. I need to go tell Colt that he has to drive me to the ranch tomorrow to meet with you. Wish me luck. He’s one stubborn quarterback.”

“You don’t need luck. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Ginnifer said and hit End on her phone.

The first order of business was to call a cab. She hadn’t already called one because she thought Tori was meeting her. The plan was to share a cab to the airport. She picked up her phone and called the cab company. She accepted there would now be a twenty-minute wait until she could go to the airport. While she was waiting, she thought about everything she needed to do before she got to the ranch. She made a mental note to make sure she packed her tablet. She would need it to complete her notes and article while she was on vacation. Ginnifer walked around and made sure she had everything she needed one last time so she would be ready to leave her apartment when the cab arrived. She sat by the large window in her apartment staring out the window until her ride to the airport appeared.

She thought again about her upcoming vacation and her impending interview with Colt Lewis. She hoped she didn’t regret agreeing to do it for Tori. So far it had turned out to be more hassle than it was worth. This vacation better be everything she hoped it would be. Ginnifer would be pissed if this interview hindered it in some way. The break was supposed to be fun. Yes, it was a working vacation, but it was also something she had always wanted to do.

Looking out the window from her apartment, Ginnifer saw the cab had pulled up and parked next to the curb. She grabbed her luggage and got into the elevator outside her apartment to make her way down to the first floor. She lived on the fifth floor, and she was grateful she didn’t have to carry her luggage down five flights of stairs. She exited the building and walked over the cab. Once she was there, the cab driver got out and helped her put her luggage in the trunk. She walked to the back of the car, opened the door, and climbed inside to get comfortable for the ride to the airport. She had two layovers from New York to Washington. It was going to be a very long trip, and she was looking forward to relaxing once she arrived at her final destination. The ranch sounded so peaceful, and she prayed it lived up to all of her expectations. Visiting a ranch and experiencing everything it had to offer had always appealed to her. She hoped it lived up to every one of her desires, including the hot cowboys of her imagination.

***

Dallas walked into the den and found his sister sitting at the table going through a bunch of lists. She was so completely engrossed in her plans she hadn’t realized he walked into the room. That appeared to be a family trait. They tended to get lost in their own worlds from time to time.

“Hey, sis, what are you working on?”

“Oh last minute details. I am checking off items on my lists. I had all the cabins scrubbed clean. Fresh linens put on the beds. Mrs. Henly agreed to cook all of the meals for our guests. You know, those kinds of things you stopped caring if I told you about.”

“You know it’s not like that. I’ve been trying to talk to you to apologize. You know that I do care. Please don’t stay mad at me,” Dallas pleaded.

“Are you willing to help with the scavenger hunt?”

“Yes. I don’t like it. But I’ll help.”

“It’s going to take more than that for me to forgive you. I don’t think you helping with the scavenger hunt is enough.”

She had a wicked glint shining from her eyes. His sister was up to something. He didn’t think he would like it much, either. There was a price to pay, though, and he was more than willing to pay it. Hurting Emma had never sat right with him. She had always depended on him to fix things, not make them worse.

“What do you want from me? I will do whatever you ask. I do have responsibilities on the ranch, though, so please take that into consideration as you exact your revenge on me for making a mess of things.”

“I want you to be part of the prize for winning the scavenger hunt.”

“Okay…” he started to agree. “Wait, what?”

“You heard me.”

“I don’t understand. You are going to pimp me out to a bunch of women? That’s taking things a bit far, don’t you think?” Dallas said, appalled at her suggestion. He didn’t think Emma had an evil bone in her body. He had to rethink his opinion of his little sister if she was going to torture him that way.

“Well it isn’t quite like that. I am also going to need Wes to be part of the prize as well.”

“I’m so glad you clarified that. It’s not just me you are going to throw to the wolves. You’re going to throw both of your brothers, I feel so much better now. Thanks for making it easier to understand.” Dallas shook his head.

“No, silly. I want you both to take them on an overnight campout. It’ll be fun.”

“I think your idea of fun differs greatly than mine. Are you sure Wes is open to doing this?”

“Not in the slightest. I’m going to count on you to make that a reality. You said you would do anything to help.” Emma batted her eyelashes at him.

“Fine. I will talk to Wes and make sure he will participate. He said he would help. Don’t think this was exactly what he had in mind, though.”

“You’ll both be fine. Like I said, it will be fun. I’m getting excited, guests should be coming soon.”

“You said Mrs. Henly agreed to cook the meals. Is she going to stay at the ranch for the two weeks?”

“No. She said she’d rather go home. She has the kitchen fully stocked for everything she needs. She’ll come out each morning and make breakfast and lunch. She said she’d prepare something we could heat up for dinner. So I’ll have to be done with everything in time to make sure dinner is ready for our guests each night. I’m grateful for her help. This is a lot more work than I thought it would be when I started it out.”

It sounded like Emma had everything organized and planned out to the last intricate detail. For a brief moment he let his pride for her roll over him. She accomplished a lot in a short amount of time, and he started to believe this business idea of hers might be successful.

“It will be great. I’m sure you will make everything run smoothly. I believe in you. I know I was reluctant in the beginning, but I understand how much this means to you. That will make all the difference,” Dallas said.

“Thanks. I appreciate you saying that. I will make this work. I’m determined.”

“Excuse me, Emma,” Mrs. Henly said as she walked into the den. “You have some guests arriving already. Do you want me to show them to their cabins, or do you want to greet them first?”

“Go ahead and show them to their cabins and get them settled. Tell them that I’ll meet with everyone this evening before we have dinner to explain what we’re going to be doing over the next several days,” Emma told her. “And Mrs. Henly, thank you so much for agreeing to help out over the next couple of weeks. I couldn’t have done all of this without your help.”

Mrs. Henly beamed at her with a huge smile on her weathered face; her soft blue eyes glowed with the praise. “It’s nice to be helpful. I enjoy helping your family out. I’d do anything for you three. I’ll go make sure the guests get settled in. Do you have a list of all of the guests so I can check them off and make sure they get into their assigned cabins?”

Dallas watched as Emma looked over some papers in front of her until she found a list of names and handed it to Mrs. Henly. “Here it is. I have every guest name listed under the cabin they are going to be in. There are three to a cabin except in the blue and green cabins. We have twelve total guests each week. The blue cabin has four guests. The green cabin has Ginnifer Zeiss and Vitoria Miene. They’re our special guests, so make sure they’re settled in and let me know once they’re here. I want to speak to them before this evening.”

Mrs. Henly took the list and left Emma and Dallas alone in the den. Yes, it looked like Emma really had thought of everything. She had a decent plan, and it all had been organized down to the last detail. Dallas was proud of her. He hadn’t been lying when he told her he believed she could make it work. If anyone could do it, his little sister could. He knew he had a large amount of cynicism that he carried around inside of him. It spilled out into most of the areas of his life. He didn’t want it to become such a huge part of him that he couldn’t support his family. They needed to depend on him, and he couldn’t let his own demons into that equation. Melody had hurt him, his family hadn’t. That made all the difference in the world.

“I have some paperwork to go over. Do you need me to do anything before I leave?”

“No I have this. Go talk to Wes for me. Tell him we will have three groups for the scavenger hunt, each led by one of us. The prize is an overnight campout reminiscent of the old days. Open skies, campfires, and cookouts… You get the idea.”

“Yes I see where you are going with it. I still think it’s an awful idea, but I will do it.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it. You know I’d never really stay mad at you, right?”

“I do. We’re family, we forgive each other. That doesn’t mean we don’t pay the price for hurting each other. You can always depend on me.”

“I know that, Dallas. You and Wes are the only men I can count on.”

Oh hell his sister had sunk down to his level. He needed to work on his attitude toward women. Maybe somewhere along the way he could find a good one. He’d need to step up and show her that not all men were bad. Maybe all women weren’t, either. He didn’t like the idea of opening himself up to that kind of hurt again.

“You shouldn’t close yourself off, Em.”

“You don’t have a lot of room to talk.”

“I know, but I’m not someone you should aspire to be.”

“I don’t see it that way. You’re a good man, Dallas. I think you should take your own advice. Find a good woman. Take a risk. Try to feel again.”

“I’ll take it under advisement. You could be right.”

“I’m always right.”

“No, you’re not.” He laughed. “But in this case you might be. I have to go. Let me know if you need anything else.”

“I will. Now go take care of the ranch. I’d hate for it to go down in ashes before I have a chance of trying out the Cowgirl Yoga program.”

Dallas laughed as he left the room. At least he had been able to get her to smile. Mission accomplished. He had a few things he needed to take care of. Number one on his list was locating Wes and getting him to help with Emma’s scavenger hunt. He couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he realized what her prize was. That alone was worth tracking him down and giving him the good news.