“But you have a child,” she said, backing farther away. Because he was right.
Noah frowned. “Nothing will ever change the fact that Lily’s mother deserted her. And someday I’ll have to help her get past the hurt that comes with that. I can’t put her in the position of losing someone she loves again. There are lots of things I don’t know about parenting, but I know I can’t risk her that way.”
“That’s why you’re alone.”
“Partly.”
She quirked an eyebrow. He shook his head. “I’ve talked about myself too much today. I’d better get back to work.”
And she, Ivy decided, had better get back to sanity. She’d come here to earn money, to leave her past behind and help herself find a future. She’d promised herself that she was through with men, because men had taken everything she valued and loved. Yet she’d turned down money today and she had practically invited Noah to make love with her when she’d never been the type to take intimacy lightly.
She so didn’t want to analyze that last fact. So what did she want to do? Or…what smart thing did she want to do?
But her brain wouldn’t function. She needed to get smart fast. Earn money. Leave. Never come back. It was a mantra she intended to keep repeating. It was her plan.
“From now on I’m sticking to the plan,” she muttered as she headed back to work. But before she could do that, she had to get past the free workshop she was giving.
I wonder where Noah will be while that’s going on? she thought. Probably somewhere far, far away. What man would stick around while a bunch of women took over his house to do makeovers?
Chapter Seven
“WOOK, DA,” LILY SAID. “Want wook.”
Noah gave his daughter a grim smile. “We can’t look, sweetheart. Those women would kick our…behinds if we dared to go in there while they had cream and stuff on their faces and their hair in whatever state women’s hair is in just before the magic occurs and they finally get it the way they want it.”
Noah was flying blind here. He didn’t know what he was talking about, but he remembered too well how Pamala had stomped around if he caught her wearing what she called her beauty mud or when she was touching up her hair color and had some sort of cap on her head with strands of hair sticking out. He was pretty darn sure that Melanie Pressman would put the fear of God into him if he ever caught her like that.
He was equally sure that Ivy would look sexy even with her hair in one of those caps. And if her naked body was dunked in mud…
Whoa, Ballenger, put a stop sign on that thought. This is not the time. Although the truth was that there wasn’t a good time for those kinds of thoughts. He was never going to see Ivy dunked in mud. Or naked. Or…
“Da, peez.” Lily was looking up at him with those big blue eyes, and his heart nearly broke. He wanted to give his child anything she wanted. And right now she wanted to see the women in the other room.
“Lily,” he said, hugging her, “let’s go for a walk. Or we’ll play on your swings. Okay?”
“’Kay,” she said, although he could tell she was just being nice. If she’d been older, she would probably have been sighing with resignation. Man, did he have a way with females or what? Even his own daughter had to take pity on him and cut him some slack.
“Maybe we could look at the horses, too,” he said, taking her hand and trying to come up with a better treat than the swings.
She nodded solemnly. It occurred to him that his daughter was pretty serious at times. Probably because she spent so much time with adults. Again, Ivy’s suggestion that Lily might like to play with other kids came to him. Was it already that time? Was he just being a selfish jerk keeping her here on the ranch with him all the time?
“Bwooz,” Lily said.
Noah shook his head, not understanding.
“Bwooz,” Lily repeated. And finally, “Bwoo-ooz.” She galloped around, mimicking a horse. Or at least as much as a chubby, tottering two-year-old could manage.
Uh-oh. He was going to have to play “bad dad.” Twice in five minutes. “Not Bruiser. He’s too mean. Maybe Cornbread.”
Lily was on the verge of answering when a shriek and then laughter came from the next room. His daughter turned around and zipped away, heading toward the living room.
“Lily,” he called. “Come back here right now.”
Lily, in typical two-year-old fashion, interpreted that to mean Run Faster. Before he could react, she had covered ten feet of space and had made it partly down the hall. Not to the living room—but obviously his own voice had carried to that room. Just as he caught Lily and swung her little body up into his arms, he looked up into a sea of female faces.
For some reason he didn’t want to examine, he looked for Ivy’s face among them. And when he located her, it was her he spoke to. “I’m sorry. She’s just really curious about what’s going on.”
He expected Ivy to nod or say that’s all right and then lead her brood back to their business. Instead, she bit her lip and zeroed in on Lily. “The forbidden is always enticing,” she said. “It’s okay for her to come in.”
He could see that Ivy was nervous, but…oh, there it was. The memory of how her father had kept her from getting to be a regular girl. Dammit. How could he fight that? He couldn’t. Especially because she was right. Lily’s eyes were glowing with excitement.
“If you’re sure she won’t bother you,” he said.
The women automatically began to exclaim that of course they would love to have Lily join them.
And, of course, he was reluctant to leave her in the company of women she really didn’t know. Lily was adventurous to a point. With Marta not there, his child would most likely enjoy herself until she realized that no one she knew was in the room. Plus, these women were busy. Who would keep Lily out of trouble and safe?
No one seemed to think of that, and he didn’t know what to do. As a male, his presence would be taboo. He would just have to take Lily elsewhere. Probably crying at being denied a treat.
“I think…maybe a male opinion on our progress would be a welcome addition, too,” Ivy suddenly said. “I mean, how can we know if we’ve achieved our goal of looking our best if we don’t have any guys to critique our work?”
The look she gave him was both mischievous and determined. She must know that he was going to be like a ship without a sail offering his opinion on women’s beautification techniques, but it was almost as if she’d read his mind regarding Lily. The idea that Ivy could read his thoughts was unnerving. If that were true, she’d know what he was thinking right now was that she looked incredibly beddable in that long white silk robe she was wearing. He wondered what she had on underneath.
Noah tried to blank the thought from his mind. “Always glad to be of service,” he said. “Thank you for accommodating Lily, ladies.”
Cries of “she’s a love, she’s adorable, of course we want her here” were uttered, and Noah soon found himself seated in his living room, which had been transformed into something he didn’t even recognize. The women had brought folding tables, draped them in white cloth and set up makeup stations. There was a makeshift changing area behind a room divider.
The atmosphere was cheerful. Ivy was fully in charge,