Jericho reckoned he might be doing the same if he were in their shoes. He didn’t like the idea of Ivy being out on the range with the men, even if Flynn or Wyatt or Judd was always present. She was naïve to think the fellows would ignore how pretty she was and accept her as just another cowhand.

“That’s what I’ll do.” She fiddled with one of the buttons still open on her bodice. “Greta needs the help, has offered to pay me. I’ll tell her I’ll do it.”

“Alright. Then starting today, whoever saves up the most by the end of the summer has the right to buy the land.” He’d gained himself some time, which meant he wouldn’t hurt his cover as a would-be rancher, but he also didn’t have to hurt Ivy’s dream of getting her own place.

Her eyes had rounded, making them more beautiful, especially because her lashes were so long and dark. “You’d do that?”

“Do what?”

“Give me a fair chance at it?” She watched his face carefully as though attempting to see behind his expression into his mind.

He tried to ignore the guilt that nudged him, the guilt that told him he didn’t want the land in the first place, that he’d let her have it at the end of the summer no matter how much she earned.

She quirked a brow. “What?”

She’d always been able to read him better than most people. But this was a situation where he couldn’t let her in on the truth. It was simply too dangerous. Rodney James was too dangerous. “I’ll tell Steele about our competition, that he can sell the land to whoever wins.”

She nodded, then plucked at a loose thread in her skirt. “Thank you—” she started.

“I’m sorry—” he said at the same time.

She met his gaze, the hurt gone, the old admiration back in place.

Some of the tension eased from his muscles. “You go first.”

“No, you.”

Yes, things were getting back to normal. He almost smiled. “I apologize for what happened at the store. I was out of line. For being such a pig.”

She fiddled with the loose thread again. “I’m sorry for telling you I wished you’d never come back.”

“And I’m sorry for leaving Colorado without trying to make things right between us.”

Her eyes lightened with both warmth and surprise. “You are?”

He nodded. “I’ve regretted it ever since that night.”

She drew in a breath.

He couldn’t keep his attention from dropping to those open buttons, to the smooth, long line of her neck, and the gentle curve of her jaw and chin. Desire rippled through him, the desire to brush his knuckles along her cheek, to feel her skin, to graze a path down her neck.

Blazing smoke. What was the matter with him?