She’d made it three whole days cooped up in Greta’s hot kitchen. But somehow she was always causing problems. Yesterday, she’d left the ax out, only to have a porcupine chew the handle off overnight. Early this morning, she’d forgotten to close the garden gate, and the rabbits had slipped inside and eaten half the new beanstalks. When she’d accidentally dropped a pot of hot pie filling, Greta had graciously suggested she take the afternoon off.

Ivy hadn’t needed a second prodding, had rushed outside and begged Judd for something to do. He’d sent her out with salt for each of the pastures. The long ride across the land, the hot sunshine, and the blowing wind had reminded her why she wanted her own place.

The problem was, while she was out riding around, she wasn’t making a single penny, and Jericho was still at the inn’s construction site. Even if Jericho had tried to make their challenge fair, things between men and women weren’t fair, not in work, not in the cowhand competitions, not in landowning, not in wages, and not in a whole heap of other things.

She supposed in some ways Linnea’s views on women’s rights had rubbed off on her over the years. Linnea was always up on the latest in the women’s suffrage movement, since her mother and sister were involved in it. Recently, Linnea had been excited to get the news from her mother that Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had formed the National Woman Suffrage Association the previous month. Linnea didn’t think it would be long before women gained the right to vote. Places like Wyoming Territory were already considering it.

Too bad none of those women’s rights were available to Ivy this summer. And Jericho’s interest in buying land had only made things more complicated.

“Oh, Jericho,” she muttered under her bandana. “Why’d you have to come back?”

She didn’t see hide nor hair of him during the days. But he took his meals with the family in the evenings and lingered afterward, talking with Wyatt and catching up on all the news. She’d wanted to ignore him but somehow couldn’t. With each passing day, her attraction kept burning, despite the fact she was doing her best to douse every spark that flared to life.

Even though she’d been sorely tempted to stay with Flynn so she wouldn’t have to see Jericho, she’d decided she had to follow through with helping Greta. Lending her sister-in-law a hand was the right thing to do. In fact, she should have offered earlier. With being in the family way and due real soon, Greta was always tired and ached in places Ivy hadn’t known existed.