by Dawn Brower
Cowgirl Fever
Novak Springs
Book One
Dawn Brower
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cowgirl Fever Copyright © 2014 Dawn Brower
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
Acknowledgement
This was the second book I ever wrote, and the first contemporary. There were a few people that helped me polish it and make it better. Christina S, Capri B, and Jennifer Z, I thank each one of you for your help. Without you this book wouldn’t be what it is.
Dedication
In life we are faced with many choices. One of the best choices I made was starting to write. Above that the only thing that tops it is my two boys. Luke and Nathan I love you so much and you are truly the biggest blessing and best thing to come into my life.
Cowgirl Fever
Dallas Novak swore off women after his fiancée broke their engagement. His plans change when he becomes responsible for his family and their ranch, Novak Springs. Resigned to his new life, he throws himself into making the ranch successful.
Ginnifer Zeiss is a well-established journalist from New York. When approached to write an article on Cowgirl Yoga, she drops everything to experience what a real ranch is like. She secretly loves ranches and is attracted to sexy cowboys.
When Dallas meets Ginnifer he is instantly attracted to her. He tries his best to keep her at a distance, but fails. As he spends time in her company, he starts to wonder if it’s possible to live without her. Can he move past the betrayal his ex-fiancée dealt him long enough to grab happiness?
Chapter One
The hot summer sun was beating down on the windowpane and making the room hotter than it should be with the central air blowing out on full blast. It was mid-July, and Dallas was looking over his sister Emma’s business plan for Cowgirl Yoga. It was an addition to the already operational horse ranch they lived on. It was equally owned by Dallas, Wesley, and Emma, but Dallas had final say in everything that affected the ranch’s bottom line. The three siblings had inherited Novak Springs when their parents passed away several years ago.
“I’m not buying it as a viable option, Emma,” Dallas explained to his sister.
“Of course it is. We are not making any money in the fall months, and it’s a great idea, admit it,” Emma said, her heart-shaped lips lifting into an impish smile.
“Cowgirl Yoga?” He raised his eyebrows at her in disbelief, one of his blue eyes widening with the gesture. “A bunch of frilly, wanna-be cowgirls coming here for what? Exercise? It’ll be one hell of an expensive venture when you throw in the cost of food, accommodations, and advertising. The turnaround isn’t worth it. I have serious doubts we can make a profit off of this. I’m sorry, it isn’t going to work.”
A small tear formed in the corner of Emma’s blue eyes. She clenched her fists and shook her head at him in defiance. Her cinnamon ponytail smacked her neck as it bounced sideways. He wanted to give her idea a chance. The problem was he hated taking unnecessary risks. Her business model was sound and did hold some promise of working though. He knew she had switched her plans and created some new goals. Her original plans hadn’t been anywhere near working at the family ranch. This might be a good thing. He’d have to take a different approach with it for it to work. Dallas was capable of being reasonable, at times. When it suited his purposes, anyway.
“How about we agree to disagree on whether or not Cowgirl Yoga has a chance of working and look at this from a different angle?” she said with a gamine smile.
He nodded at her and said, “Okay I’m listening, what do you have in mind?”
“Give it a trial run. Let me do it in September, and if it fails, I’ll let it go, but if it is a success, then you will let me continue to do it every fall. We can talk about expanding after a few years, provided it’s profitable.” After she got her spiel out, Emma sat quietly in her chair.
Leaning back in his own chair, Dallas started to tap the armrest as he silently stared at her. He gave no emotions away as he looked at Emma and contemplated what his next step should be. After a few moments, he said, “In your business plan you have your clients staying for two weeks. They would share the cabins on the ranch, with up to four per cabin. The price for this two-week vacation is $1,500 per week. Do you have any marketing ideas? I don’t see it anywhere in your mockup who is going to run the yoga portion of this program, either. How are you going to afford to pay someone to run that?”
“Yes, I have one idea in place already. A magazine writer is coming for the first session. She is planning an article on Cowgirl Yoga for publication in the October issue. That is, of course, for future clientele. In the long term I want to utilize all of the social media that is available. As far as the yoga—the instructor I took classes with at school agreed to do the initial phase of the program. She is going to stay on at the ranch. Her only pay is going to be free room and board while she runs the yoga sessions and helps me finish up my certification to take over for any other sessions we have.”
Dallas’s lips formed a grim line of disapproval, and a hint of anger laced through each of his words as he asked, “Are you telling me that you already have someone coming and it wasn’t even agreed that you could go ahead with this plan of yours?”
“Well, let’s be honest. I deserve a chance to prove this is going to work. So what if I went ahead and scheduled her coming? You are going to give me this chance.” Emma had a determined look on her face, and Dallas knew fighting her would prove to be futile.
Folding his arms across his chest, Dallas leaned back in his chair again and a half smile formed on his face. He knew how to deal with his baby sister. Too bad he was a sucker and usually gave in to her whims. “That’s awfully presumptuous of you.”
“But you love me anyway.” She blew a kiss at Dallas, and crossing her legs, she sat back in her chair to wait for his response.
Dallas laughed at her antics; he loved his sister, and only she had the capability of getting him to lighten up. She was the adored younger sister, and there really wasn’t much he wouldn’t do to make her happy. He needed her to be the fun-loving girl he knew her to be.
Dallas picked up the mockup of her business model and asked, “Okay what can you do with social media and this magazine writer? Are you comping her stay? How can you make a profit if you start giving things away for free right from the start?”
“Well, for starters social media is free. We can create a business page and start the hype going early on. Give them contact information and some ideas of what the ranch currently does and how it is going to benefit them to participate in this new program we’re going to run. I also plan on expanding our current web page to include links to the various social media pages and give them an idea of what Cowgirl Yoga has to offer.”
That didn’t sound too bad. The plan held a lot of appeal. Perhaps those business classes she had taken at college helped after all. Admittedly he didn’t know a whole lot about marketing, that was Wes’s area, but he didn’t believe having a magazine writer come out for free was a good way to start out. Emma hadn’t come out and said it, but usually that was how they enticed those types to attend a function. They wanted a free ride in order to give the much needed publicity.
“What about the media person, is she staying free?”
“Yes, s
he is. It is important to get her here so that I can get that advertising her article will give the new program. She writes for a prominent magazine and is an invaluable tool in promoting this venture. It’s a good thing that she is coming, I promise. Let me worry about the profit margin. It is up to me to make a go of this if you agree to the trial.”
Dallas sighed and looked at her with a grim face. “Okay. It’s clear you have thought this out completely. The business plan is well written. I still have doubts, but I’m willing to give it a trial run. Just remember you agreed that if you don’t turn a profit, we will not continue with the program.”
“Thank you, Dallas, you won’t regret this. I promise.” Emma let out a squeal of delight and jumped up to hug her brother.
He hoped her Cowgirl Yoga plan worked as she planned it would. At the very least he had been able to extricate a smile from her. That alone made the added expense worth it. Emma had a hard time in her last semester of school. Her heart had gotten broken by her longtime boyfriend, Colt Lewis. The football player abandoned her for someone else when he signed a contract with a professional football team. It left Emma devastated, and she came home to lick her wounds.
“Okay easy now, there is a lot to be done to get your idea up and running. Do you know what you need to do first?” Dallas smiled.
Emma nodded her head in agreement as she said, “Yes, I have so many lists of things that need to be done. Do you think Wes would help me? He’s so good at this stuff, and he can charm anyone.”
“Absolutely. He has believed in your idea from the start, so he should be willing to assist you with getting everything set.”
“Awesomeness. I am the luckiest girl in the world to have you two as brothers. I hope you know that. I appreciate everything that you do for me.” Emma’s smile grew into a huge grin.
“It’s only ’cause we have you for a sister. You’re the devilish imp that keeps things interesting.”
Emma let out a little chuckle. “All right, should I call Wes?”
“I will let him know that it’s a go, and I’ll make sure he calls you soon. He’s a customer service genius and might be able to help with your marketing ideas too.”
Wes was a great asset, and Dallas hoped she took advantage of his skills. The ranch wouldn’t have been financially successful without his key insight. He had been instrumental in branching off and marketing the ranch in a different, more lucrative venture. Perhaps he could also make Emma’s Cowgirl Yoga plan just as successful.
“I’m sure he will have a lot of helpful ideas. Have him call me when he is free to go over everything with me. In the meantime, I’m going to begin setting up the social media sites and give Ginnifer Zeiss a call. I need to confirm she’ll be able to attend for the two weeks in September.”
“You mean there’s a chance she might not be able to come for your opening weekend?” he asked.
“Well I couldn’t tell her to come when I hadn’t gotten your permission to run the program yet. I had some details to iron out first. I will call her and see if she’s still available. She seemed pretty excited about coming, though, so I don’t foresee any problems.”
Dallas gathered all of her paperwork together, placed it into a manila folder, and handed it to Emma. “All right, looks like everything is settled here. I have other matters to attend to unless you have something else you wanna talk ’bout?”
Emma grabbed the folder and stood up. “No, that’s all I needed. I’ve lots to do, so I’ll leave you alone now. Bubbye, big brother.”
Emma turned on her heel and strolled out of the office. At least the meeting had gone relatively well. He believed he had been able to give her something to look forward to. She needed something to throw all of her energy into so she could forget her useless ex-boyfriend.
Dallas continued to stare at his office door after his sister left. Did he make a mistake in letting her try this latest idea of hers? He sure hoped not, but regardless of his reservations, he was still going to let her try it. Emma had wanted to try something new for a while now. The ranch was in a good place financially, and if Emma was going to experiment, this was the best time to let her try.
He let out a sigh and ran his hands through his chestnut hair in frustration. It was hard to be the oldest sibling. Sometimes he wished he didn’t have so much responsibility. He had been the head of the family since their parents died in the car crash five years ago. Dallas barely reached the ripe old age of twenty-four when he found himself saddled with the responsibility of the family ranch, Novak Springs. The life he planned changed with the death of his parents. He barely graduated college before he had to take over Novak Springs in central Washington.
He grieved far more than the loss of his parents. Dallas also lost the life he had been planning with his then fiancée, Melody. She was everything that he thought he wanted in a lifelong partner. She was beautiful, smart, and tenacious. No other female had ever come close to meaning anything to him. They had made so many plans together, but they all came tumbling down when his parents died. Melody had not wanted to come with him to run the ranch. That wasn’t in her plans. She wanted more out of life than to be holed up in a kitchen and taking care of their family. When Melody told him that she couldn’t marry him, his heart shattered into a million pieces. Most of his family had never gotten a chance to meet her. The plan had been to bring her home the very week they died. In the span of a short time, he lost more than any normal person could handle. The only two people that mattered to him were his brother and sister. Melody was no longer important; she couldn’t be. His heart hardened at any thought of her. It still baffled him that he could allow someone in his life who would abandon him when he needed her most. He vowed he would never give another woman that kind of control over him again.
Wesley, a year younger than he was, deferred his last year of college in order to help Dallas run Novak Springs. Emmaline was their baby sister, scarcely twenty-two years old now. They had to take over guardianship of her when their parents died in her senior year of high school. The vivacious teenager became sullen and withdrawn. Dallas was aware that she believed she was a burden to them, but it wasn’t further from the truth. She was the glue that had held them together while they struggled to make a profit from the failing ranch. They still had some regular ranch hands for running the day-to-day operations of the ranch. Mrs. Henly, the housemaid, came in four days a week to clean the house and occasionally cook meals. She stocked a lot of casseroles in the freezer for them so they didn’t starve.
Emma had been adamant she was not going to go away to college after high school graduation. It was Wes who convinced her that she needed to go away and earn her degree. He was able to make her see she could help them with sustaining the ranch if she got the right education. She wanted to help them run the ranch. Once she was there, she blossomed and had started to flourish into that cheerful girl again. The happiness bubbled out of her whenever she visited. She began dating a football player and couldn’t have been happier with her life. Emma brought the guy home often on breaks until they broke up a couple weeks before her college graduation. Some of the happy energy left her, but it wasn’t the same as when their parents died.
This was her first heartbreak, and it was in this new project of hers that she found a way to channel any restless energy. It was one of the reasons Wes had given Dallas to make sure he let her try it out. Wes was more tuned into her emotions. Pain flowed from her eyes more clearly. They were both desperate to see a smile on her face and were willing to try anything to make it happen. Dallas understood heartbreak, and he hated that his little sister was experiencing it.
Wes was the charming and charismatic one and could talk anyone into anything. He was the golden boy in more ways than one, inheriting buttery-blond hair and blue-green eyes from their mother. It was his skills at talking to people that got the dude ranch going and the money flowing. Even with his happy-go-lucky attitude, it was obvious he held himself back from the world. He put up walls and
only allowed people to see a small part of who he was. Appearances could be deceiving, something Dallas knew too well.
Dallas picked up the phone and pressed his brother’s name in his contact list. The call was answered immediately as he heard a hello on the other end. He took a deep breath before saying, “I gave her the okay to do it. She’s expecting your call to help her set it up. I’m trusting you to guide her in every step.”
“What made you change your mind?” Wes asked.
“The look on her face, she was so eager to prove herself. I still have doubts it’ll be successful, but you’re right—she needs to try.”
A shout of laughter came through the connection. “Haven’t you learned by now I’m always right?”
“No, because you rarely are. Your ego is too big for the state of Washington. You should branch off east a bit and let the residents of Idaho and Montana enjoy the experience of all that is Wes Novak.”
Wes chuckled at his brother’s response. “You’re just jealous that everyone loves me.”
“Not at all,” Dallas said smoothly, “I’m more selective than you are.”
“Of course you are. More like you can’t find a woman to put up with your crap.”
“Not likely. I’m not looking for a woman to put up with a darn thing.” Dallas visibly shuddered at the idea of allowing another woman the opportunity to shatter him again. No, he would never make that mistake again.
“You can’t let what one woman did to you rule the rest of your life,” Wes said. “Someday you’ll find a woman that adores you, hell, they may even like you too.”
“So generous of you. As I said, I don’t want or need one.”
“Famous last words. I can’t wait for the right woman to come along and knock you for a loop,” Wes snickered.