Pregnant With The Rancher's Baby. Kathie DeNosky

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СКАЧАТЬ course, it wasn’t the first time she’d told him to lose her phone number. They went through something similar about every three or four months. He’d give her time to simmer down, call and sweet-talk her into seeing him again. Then, after spending several weeks of being real cozy with her, he could feel himself start to get in a little deeper than he intended. That’s when he’d cut and run.

      He knew it wasn’t fair to Jessie. She was a wonderful woman and deserved better than the likes of him. But where she was concerned, he didn’t seem to have a choice. He simply couldn’t stay away from her.

      But this was the first time she’d sought him out and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why, especially not after the way they’d ended things the last time. When they’d parted several months ago, it had been different than before. He’d told her that he thought they should take a break and stop seeing each other for a while. That’s when he had seen a finality in her violet eyes that hadn’t been there before. But she was here now, so it must not have been all that final.

      “Jessie, it’s good to see you again,” he said, walking toward her. Dressed in jeans and an oversized pink sweatshirt, she somehow managed to make the baggy fleece look sexy. Real sexy. “It’s been a while, darlin’. How have you been?”

      When she turned to face him, she didn’t look all that happy to see him. “Do you have a few minutes?” she asked, her tone serious. “I need to talk to you.”

      “Sure.” He couldn’t imagine what she wanted to talk about, but at the moment, he didn’t care. He wasn’t going to tell her, but the truth was, he had missed her—missed the sound of her soft voice and her sweet smile. “Why don’t we go inside and catch up?”

      Her long ponytail swayed back and forth as she shook her head. “I won’t be here that long.”

      Placing his arm around her slender shoulders, he turned her toward the house. “You didn’t drive all the way from Waco just to turn around and go back,” he said as he ushered her across the patio to the French doors. “I’ll tell my housekeeper you’ll be staying for supper.”

      When they entered the family room, she surprised him when she ducked from beneath his arm and turned to face him. “Don’t bother, Nate. I worked the late shift last night and as soon as we talk, I need to get back home and get some sleep.” She was a registered professional nurse he’d met when she had taken care of his brother a couple of years ago after Sam had been injured in a rodeo accident.

      “You can always sleep here,” he said, grinning.

      If looks could kill, he would have been a dead man in two seconds flat. “You have a housekeeper?” she asked. When he nodded, she frowned as she looked around. “Is there somewhere a little more private where we can talk?”

      Nate stared at her. He’d never seen her as determined as she appeared to be at that moment. “Let’s go into my office,” he finally said, motioning toward the arched doorway leading out into the foyer. “We can talk privately in there.”

      Guiding her along, he waited until they were seated in his office with the door closed. “What was it you needed to talk to me about?” he asked, looking across the desk at her sitting in the leather armchair in front of him.

      She nibbled on her lower lip as she stared down at her tightly clasped hands resting in her lap. “I want you to know that it’s taken me over four months to come to the decision to tell you.” When she looked directly at him, her pretty violet eyes were filled with resignation. “My first inclination was not to bother. But I didn’t think that would be fair to you.”

      Nate sat up straight in his desk chair as his scalp started to tingle. He wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but his gut was telling him that whatever she had to say would be life changing. Had she met someone else? Was she telling him that she had committed herself to another man and it wasn’t fair not to tell him? Or was she talking about something else?

      “Why don’t you stop beating around the bush and just tell me what you think I need to hear?” he asked.

      She took a deep breath and met his questioning gaze head on. “I’m almost five months pregnant.”

      “You’re pregnant,” he repeated. His gaze flew to her stomach as her words began to sink in and it felt like the air had suddenly been sucked out of the room. His heart raced and his knees threatened to buckle as he stood up and came around the desk to stand in front of her. “You’re going to have a baby?”

      “That’s what pregnant means.”

      “How did that happen?” he asked before he could stop himself.

      The look she gave him stated louder than words that she had some serious doubts about the level of his intelligence. “If you don’t know about the birds and bees by now, Nate, you never will.”

      Taking a deep breath, he shook his head in an effort to clear the ringing in his ears. “You know what I mean.” He rubbed the sudden tension building at the base of his neck. “We were always careful about protection.”

      “There could have been a microscopic tear in one of the condoms or some other kind of defect.” She shrugged one slender shoulder. “Whatever happened, I’m pregnant and you’re the daddy. But I don’t want anything from you,” she added hurriedly. “I make more than enough to support myself and the baby, and I’m perfectly capable of raising a child on my own. I just thought it was only fair to let you know about the baby and find out if you want to be part of his or her life. If not, I want you to sign all of your rights over to me and we’ll both be out of your life for good.”

      “Like hell,” he said emphatically. “If I have a kid, I’m going to be involved in every aspect of its life.”

      She gave him a short nod, then stood up. “That’s all I wanted to know. I’ll have my attorney get in touch with yours. They can work out a fair custody agreement and a suitable visitation schedule.”

      “Where are you going?” he asked, reaching out to place his hands on her shoulders to stop her. “You can’t just waltz in here, tell me that you’re having my baby and then leave.”

      “Yes, I can,” she said. There was a defiance in her voice that warned him not to argue with her. “If I didn’t have a conscience, I wouldn’t even be here. But I happen to believe that a man has a right to know when he’s fathered a child, even if he’s not dependable. For now, that’s really all you need to know.”

      A strong sense of guilt settled across his shoulders. Given their past and the way he’d treated her and their relationship, he should probably be grateful that she had bothered telling him at all. But he couldn’t let her leave without discussing things further. There were things he wanted—needed—to know.

      “Jessie, I’m sorry for the way things have been between us in the past,” he said, meaning it. “I take full responsibility for that and if I could go back and change it, I would. Unfortunately, I can’t do that. But from here on out it’s important that we work together.”

      She backed away from him. “I told you I won’t keep you from seeing the baby. The lawyers will—”

      “Yeah, I got that,” he interrupted. He took a deep breath. “Look, I realize that I’m not exactly your favorite person right now and I can’t say I blame you. But there are things I want to discuss with you and a whole hell of a lot СКАЧАТЬ