Mastering Ivy Read online

  The Men from Nowhere, North Dakota 2

  Mastering Ivy

  Ivy Fairweather’s attempt to assist her two sisters after they wrecked their car leaves her stranded in an icy ravine somewhere in Nowhere, North Dakota.

  For seven years Eric Masters, reclusive financier, has been searching for a beautiful one-night stand named Ivy. Eric finally discovered Ivy’s last name when he saw her picture on the cover of Business Monthly. His Ivy was the Ivy Fairweather, Chief Financial Officer of Fairweather Cosmetics. Eric was determined to find Ivy and bring closure to his obsession.

  When Eric rescues Ivy from a frozen ravine he realizes he didn’t want closure, he wanted Ivy. Eric’s hoping for a fresh start, a fresh start with the woman who starred in every fantasy he ever imagined. Eric vows to keep Ivy in his life even if he must tie her to his bed and master her desires.

  Genre: Contemporary

  Length: 28,479 words

  MASTERING IVY

  The Men from Nowhere, North Dakota 2

  Libby Calvincourt

  EROTIC ROMANCE

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED: Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal computer or device. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Erotic Romance

  MASTERING IVY

  Copyright © 2015 by Libby Calvincourt

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-63259-434-1

  First E-book Publication: June 2015

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All art and logo copyright © 2015 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  If you have purchased this copy of Mastering Ivy by Libby Calvincourt from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

  Regarding E-book Piracy

  This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

  The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

  This is Libby Calvincourt’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Libby Calvincourt’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  To the men we’ve loved and lost…here’s hoping we find them again.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  About the Author

  MASTERING IVY

  The Men from Nowhere, North Dakota 2

  LIBBY CALVINCOURT

  Copyright © 2015

  Chapter 1

  Ivy Fairweather lounged in the backseat of the rental car using her flashlight to admire financier Eric Masters’s photograph in Business Monthly.

  “Look out for the tree,” Holly shouted.

  Ivy let out a small yelp as her seatbelt jerked her back against the seat. The belt kept her from hitting the front seat with her head.

  The airbags exploded as the car crashed into the tree. Three separate screams cut through the air and then nothing.

  Laurel, the eldest of the three Fairweather sisters and the driver of the rental, sounded frantic. “Holly, Ivy, are you guys okay?”

  “Jeez, Laurel,” Ivy exclaimed as she readjusted her body in the backseat. “Are you trying to kill us? We just escaped our bastard of stepfather’s little trap and now you’re driving the car into trees.” Ivy loved to tease Laurel, it drove Laurel nuts.

  “Oh my God,” Laurel whispered, “Holly’s bleeding.”

  “Holly, Holls, Holly?” Laurel was gently shaking Holly.

  “Damn,” Ivy exclaimed, “my stupid door is jammed.” Ivy struggled to get out of the backseat so she could help Holly.

  “Hang on,” Laurel said as she climbed out of the car.

  “Holly moaned,” Ivy exclaimed from her position in the backseat. “That’s a good sign, right?”

  Ivy saw Holly give a thumbs-up from her position in the front seat. She took a deep breath and sighed with relief. Holly was doing okay.

  Ivy watched as Laurel pushed the snow out of the way of the door. Laurel tugged on the door handle with all her might. Ivy struggled not to laugh when the door finally gave and Laurel tumbled on her ass in the snow. The situation was pretty dire and Ivy knew it was an incredibly bad time to laugh, but Laurel falling in the snow was kind of funny. Laurel was incredibly sophisticated, and no one of their acquaintance would ever picture Laurel Fairweather on her ass in the snow as she struggled to rescue her sisters. Of course, none of their acquaintances knew anything about Laurel. They didn’t know Laurel would die before letting anything happen to her sisters.

  Ivy sighed. The paparazzi would love a picture of this. Actually, for once in her life Ivy wished for the paparazzi. They could rescue them. Of course it would be after they took all of the photographs they needed for a story. At least this time they would have something true to report if not newsworthy. “Snap out of it, Ivy,” Ivy thought to herself. Ivy realized now was not the time to reflect on her disdain of that particular occupation.

  “Why can’t accidents occur on a bright sunny day?” Laurel asked out loud though it was really more of question to herself.

  “Well,” Ivy replied in the snarky tone she often used with her older sister, “if it was a bright sunny day we would not have been able to evade dear old stepdaddy’s minions. So, I, for one, am very glad that the weather is rotten. I hope it stays like this till stepdemon gets bored or he figures out another way to get his hands on our mother’s money.”r />
  “My head hurts,” Holly mumbled from her seat in the shotgun position.

  “Oh, Holly,” Laurel exclaimed, “I am so happy to hear your voice.”

  “Well,” Holly replied, “the two of you arguing is enough to wake the dead.”

  “Sorry,” Ivy and Laurel said simultaneously.

  “We are about twenty miles from the house Nana left us, we certainly can’t walk it and we can’t stay here, we’ll freeze to death.” Laurel stated as a matter of fact.

  “Look over there,” Laurel pointed to smoke billowing out of a chimney. “I’ll walk to the house and then have the owners come back with me to get you.” She paused. “Ivy, help me get Holly into the backseat. I’ll get the extra blankets and you guys can huddle together to keep warm.”

  Ivy opened the front door. Holly’s beautiful blonde hair was matted with blood. “Oh, Holly, honey, you’re a mess,” Ivy exclaimed as she examined her little sister.

  “Okay, Holly,” Ivy said, “wrap your arms around me.”

  “Why do you guys always make such a big deal over me? I’m perfectly fine.” Holly let out a low groan. “Crap, my foot is messed up.”

  “Oh, God,” Ivy breathed as she looked at Holly’s foot. “Laurel, I think Holly’s foot is broken.”

  Ivy gently guided Holly to the backseat. “So, the plan is for me and Holly to stay here and not die, while you traipse through the countryside looking for help. That doesn’t sound like much of a plan,” Ivy said as she examined the seating arrangement. “I’ll take care of Holly, Laurel,” Ivy added. “You promise not to die. One, we need you to find someone to rescue us. Two, we need your beautiful mind to thwart stepdemon’s attempt to take over the company.”

  “You guys need to keep each other warm. If I’m not back by morning, Ivy you’re going to try to find another house. If someone rescues you, leave a note. My cell is almost dead.”

  “It’s probably not getting any bars anyway,” Ivy mumbled. Her face was wrapped in a blanket. “Laurel, you do realize I’m twenty-four and Holly’s twenty-three?”

  “I love you guys,” Laurel said as she closed the door securing her younger sisters in the car. “Don’t open the door again, keep the heat in.”

  “Sometimes I think Laurel is a better mother than Mom,” Holly said as she snuggled with Ivy.

  Ivy smiled. “She loves us.” Ivy thought about Laurel in the freezing cold trying to find someone to save them. It was just, so, well, Laurel.

  “Speaking of Mom,” Holly continued, “do you think Uncle Steve has her?”

  “Yeah,” Ivy replied, “I think he does.”

  “Holly,” Ivy whispered, “you know Uncle Steve isn’t really our uncle, right?”

  “What are you talking about?” Holly asked, “Of course he’s our uncle. We’ve called him ‘uncle’ our whole lives.”

  “He’s not Mom’s brother. They aren’t even related,” Ivy said softly.

  “Well, shut the front door,” Holly exclaimed, “I kind of feel like I felt when I found out there wasn’t a Santa Clause. Wow, Uncle Steve isn’t actually our uncle, who knew?

  “Do we care?” Holly asked with a yawn.

  “Nope,” Ivy replied. “Let’s try to get some sleep. Laurel should be back in an hour, two at the most.”

  “Hey, Ivy,” Holly said, “Why did you tell me about Uncle Steve tonight?”

  “I don’t know, I guess because I think Uncle Steve’s in love with Mom,” Ivy shrugged. “I wouldn’t want you to be shocked or anything if they end up together, you sweet, little twenty-three-year-old virgin, you.”

  “Well, at least I don’t masturbate while looking at a guy’s picture in a business magazine,” Holly said as she gave Ivy a good-natured squeeze. “You believe Mom’s okay, right?”

  Ivy squeezed her eyes tightly. She had no idea if their mom was okay. She’d pretend for Holly. “If anyone can keep her safe it’s Uncle Steve.”

  Ivy closed her eyes.

  “I hope our rescuers have snowmobiles,” Holly said. “My head hurts. On a positive note, the pounding in my head is distracting me from the pain in my leg.”

  “Good night, Holly,” Ivy said. Holly always seemed to find the positive. She’d been finding the positive for as long as Ivy could remember. Ivy wrapped her arm around Holly pulling her tight. Holly survived childhood leukemia. She certainly could make it for a couple of hours in a really cold car.

  Chapter 2

  Ivy woke up suddenly. Where the hell am I? she wondered. She was freezing. Holly, on the other hand, was warm. Damn, damn, damn, Holly might have a fever. This was not good.

  Laurel hadn’t come back. That was bad. Laurel was probably freezing to death somewhere in Nowhere, North Dakota.

  Do not panic, Ivy said to herself, you are an attorney and an incredible investor of family funds. Get your head together and make a plan. First, figure out what time it is. Ivy pulled out her phone. It was a little after seven.

  “Holly, Holly, wake up, Holls.” Ivy shook Holly trying to get her to wake up.

  “What’s wrong, Ivy?” Holly asked. Ivy could feel Holly stretching her legs in the confines of the small vehicle’s backseat. “Laurel’s not back is she?”

  “No, she didn’t come back,” Ivy said, trying hard not to sound panicked. “Here’s the plan. I’m going to try to find Laurel and try to find us a house or someplace where we can start a fire so we can warm up. Are you feeling okay? You look a little flushed?”

  Holly nodded in affirmation. She didn’t seem all right to Ivy’s watchful eyes. “I’m fine, Ivy. Really. I’m actually pretty warm right now, I just won’t move.”

  “How’s your ankle?” Ivy asked as she pulled her backpack from the floor of the car. Ivy watched as Holly moved her ankle.

  “Hmm,” Holly replied, “it hurts to flex it.

  Ivy couldn’t help it. “Then don’t flex it, dummy.”

  “Ivy, you are so not funny,” Holly said in her mean voice, but Ivy could tell she was laughing.

  She needed to bundle up. Ivy put on her hat, gloves, and wrapped a scarf around her neck and face. She grabbed her backpack and slung it over one shoulder. She couldn’t say good-bye because the scarf strategically wrapped around her face covered everything but her eyes. Ivy pointed at herself, made a heart with her hands, and then pointed at Holly.

  “I love you, too,” Holly said to Ivy.

  Ivy opened the door and climbed out quickly, she was afraid to leave Holly alone, but she was also afraid if she did not leave to find help her and Holly would freeze to death in the car. And Laurel was out in the cold somewhere, maybe unconscious, maybe worse.

  Ivy closed the car door securely. She took one step. “Oh, shit,” she cried out as she tumbled down a slope to the bottom of ravine. She landed with a big thud as she crashed into a tree at the bottom.

  Ivy could see the car, but she didn’t think anyone in the car would be able to see her. Ivy tried to stand up, but fell back down again. “Oh, no,” she said as she recognized her predicament. The ravine was solid ice. The only way she could get out of it was with a friggin’ pickaxe. “Well, hell,” Ivy said in disgust.

  Ivy tried to stand. Her feet slipped out from under her. Oh, damn. Ivy tried to crawl, she moved forward an inch, she slid back six. Double damn. The entire ravine was a big basin of ice.

  How was she going to get out of this mess? Ivy decided she should move toward a bush where she could use the bush to get some traction. She tried to propel herself forward on the ice, but she slid farther down the ravine, away from the car and away from Holly.

  They managed to escape from the evil stepdemon and now she ended up here, stuck in a ravine in Nowhere, North Dakota. This was just wrong, Ivy thought as she lay prone on the ice.

  Ivy heard a car door slam. “Hey,” she yelled. “Help,” she yelled even louder. She struggled to move up the ravine, shouting the entire time. She kept sliding farther and farther away from Holly and their rescuers. “Damn, damn, damn,” she muttered
as she slid some more.

  Ivy yelled, “Help!” as she tried to dig her hand into the ice and pull herself forward. From her spot in the ravine she had a clear view of the car, but apparently they couldn’t see her. Ivy scrambled frantically trying to gain the attention of the people at the car. She watched helplessly as Holly was lifted from the vehicle. From the angle of Holly’s head Ivy surmised she was unconscious.

  Please, please, please, let them be good people, Ivy prayed. Please, keep Holly safe.

  Ivy yelled again, “Help! Help!” She watched in frustration as the man who held Holly turned away from the ravine without a second glance.

  I am down, but I am not out, Ivy thought. What she needed was some positive self-talk. Under normal conditions Ivy would scoff at the idea of utilizing positive self-talk. This wasn’t a normal circumstance. She whispered to herself, “You’re smart enough, you’re good enough, and gosh darn it, people like you.” Not exactly the positive self-talk a therapist would engage in. Ivy laughed at her absurd thinking. Maybe she was getting delirious.

  Ivy had no idea how long she struggled to get out of the ravine. Maybe an hour. She’d started to sweat from the exertion. Since Ivy worked out every day and didn’t break a sweat easily she figured it must have been at least an hour.

  Ivy removed her backpack and looked at her phone again. It still had battery power but no bars. She put the phone back in the bag. Maybe she could use her backpack to get traction on the slippery slope. Ivy edged the backpack up the hill and scooted a few inches forward. Victory, Ivy thought for a moment.

  Ivy tossed the backpack forward. “Damn,” Ivy exclaimed as she watched the bag get entangled in the low hanging branches of a nearby tree before it crashed to the ground. Ivy felt a vibration in her panties. Oh no, the remote control for the vibrator in her panties must have turned on when the bag landed.