The Tycoon's Marriage Bid. Allison Leigh

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СКАЧАТЬ All located in the nine cities— from Florida to Arizona—where Huffington clinics were situated.

      But mostly, Alex ate, breathed and slept his business. If she hadn’t been his administrative assistant, he’d have never noticed her.

      “Well.” She settled her palms flat on the blanket beside her hips. “I appreciate your concern, but as you can see, I’m fine.”

      “A polite way of telling me I can just toddle on out the door now?” His voice was dry.

      She winced. Flushed, yet again. “Alex, this is just…embarrassing for me,” she admitted.

      “Why?”

      Her hands were no longer flat. They curled, bunched into fists, as Nikki wished the ground would swallow her whole. “How would you feel if I walked in on you in the hospital?”

      He tucked his hands in his pockets, but the action did little to mar the line of his perfectly tailored black trousers. “Perhaps glad to see a familiar face.”

      She felt her cheeks flame even hotter. “Now you’re making me sound ungrateful.”

      “If the shoe fits.”

      There was a knot constricting her throat. “Please don’t try guilting me into coming back, Alex.” She wasn’t sure she could withstand it again.

      “It didn’t work when I tried before.” He stepped across the room and pulled one hand out of his pocket to adjust the window blinds.

      More gray light entered the room, and Nikki realized she was staring at the subtle play of muscles beneath Alex’s ivory sweater. Cashmere, undoubtedly, considering the way the soft garment draped his broad shoulders.

      His hair was black, tipped by silver around his temples. His nape, too, if he went a week too long between haircuts. But now it was cut as short as ever. Then those salt-and-pepper strands turned, and she swallowed, caught gawking, when he looked back at her.

      Not that he made any mention of her staring.

      “I came because I was concerned,” he said mildly. “So. Is there someone you’d prefer to have called?” One eyebrow lifted, his chocolate eyes shifting to her midsection. “Maybe the guy who did that?”

      She looked down at her hands. They were puffy. She’d stopped wearing all her rings a month ago. Even the amethyst promise ring that Cody had given her.

      “He’s gone,” she said. And she refused to get any more detailed. “I do appreciate the fact that you came up here from Cheyenne, Alex. I know how busy you are. But I’m fine.”

      He just watched her.

      Well, okay, she was lying in a hospital bed, so obviously things weren’t all tulips and daisies. “I’ll be fine,” she amended.

      “You don’t even know what happened.”

      As long as she felt the baby kicking away inside her, she figured she could deal with whatever had happened. What she couldn’t deal with was facing Alex for any length of time. “Do you know?”

      He wasn’t a family member. He wasn’t even her employer anymore. The hospital shouldn’t have divulged any of her personal information to him.

      But she knew Alex had a way of getting what he wanted.

      “I know enough,” he said.

      A statement that did not alleviate any of the nerves jostling inside her. “Meaning what?”

      “You were far more agreeable when you worked for me.”

      “You paid me to be agreeable.” Again, her voice was shaking.

      “Right. Well, nobody knows more than I do just how capable you are, Nikki.” He scooped up a black coat she recognized from the seat of a rolling metal stool stuck in the corner. “You’ll undoubtedly improve efficiency around here by thirty percent before you’re released. The staff will be completely whipped into shape.” Now his tone wasn’t kind at all.

      It was tight.

      Angry.

      And it stunned the life out of her.

      What did he have to be angry about?

      “Alex. Wait.” The words burst from her lips even as caution screamed inside her.

      She wanted him to leave.

      Didn’t she?

      “Please,” she whispered. “Wait.”

      No matter how desperate she was to regain some composure, she couldn’t abide the idea of having angered him. Regardless of his motives, he’d come here.

      She’d never known him to take any time away from his business.

      Not for anyone. So why had he done it for her?

       Chapter Two

      Before Alex could respond, a doctor came into the room and took in both of them with a glance. “Good. You’re finally awake. Since you’re both here, we need to go over Mom’s options after I examine her.”

      Which told Nikki ever so much.

      And she had no idea if Alex would have stayed because of her request, or not.

      The gangly doctor—he briskly introduced himself as Dr. Carmichael—set the thick chart he was holding on the rolling table at the base of Nikki’s bed, and stepped up beside her, whipping out his stethoscope with one hand and nudging up his round eyeglasses with the other.

      Before Nikki could utter a word, he’d plucked the string holding her hospital gown together at her neck, and nudged her forward a little. The stethoscope was cold against her back and she hurriedly grabbed the front of the gown before it fell completely off her shoulders.

      She couldn’t look at Alex now.

      Just as quickly, Dr. Carmichael nudged her back against the pillows again, murmuring periodic “mmmhmms” as he delved beneath the neck of the gown to listen to her heartbeat.

      Her face was on fire.

      She knew her pulse was racing, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with the doctor, who’d already withdrawn his cold stethoscope and transferred his attention to feeling along her jaw and neck, for heaven only knew what.

      His mmm-hmming kept on until he stepped back to the foot of the bed, flipped open the chart and made a few notations. The same nurse came into the room then and gently shooed Alex out long enough for the doctor to do a pelvic exam.

      When he was finished, the doctor scooted back on his rolling stool, disposing of his sterile gloves. “Looking good. Spotting has stopped.”

      The nurse finished deftly adjusting the bedding and retied the back of the deplorable gown, since Nikki was too busy staring at the doctor to deal with it herself. “I was spotting? How long have I been here?” СКАЧАТЬ