Did You Say Married?!. Kathie DeNosky

her blouse from her tailored slacks and flattened the blue silk to her stomach. How would she look if she were expecting?

      No, that wasn’t going to work, she decided. Her stomach was way too flat. Walking over to the bed, she grabbed a pillow, stuffed it under her blouse, then waddled back to stand in front of the mirror. She turned from side to side, assessing the bulge beneath her breasts. What would it feel like to have Chance’s baby moving inside her?

      A contented feeling began to warm the farthest corners of her soul. If she were pregnant—which she wasn’t—it would be the first time since her mother’s passing that she’d have someone to love and who loved her unconditionally in return.

      So intent on the image of herself in the mirror and her thoughts of impending motherhood, it took Kristen a moment to realize she wasn’t alone. When she looked up, Chance stood right behind her, his eyes filled with a heat that took her breath away. Her heart pounded hard in her chest and her cheeks burned.

      “I didn’t—” she jerked the pillow from beneath her blouse and sailed it toward the bed “—hear you come in.”

      “I hope a hamburger and fries will be all right. They didn’t have a lot to choose from.” The passionate gleam in his eyes didn’t waver, but his words were as innocuous as hers.

      Good. It appeared they were both going to ignore the humiliating situation.

      “That’s fine. I think I’ll take a shower first, then eat.” She felt his gaze follow her across the room to where he’d set the overnight case. Gathering the few items she’d need, Kristen forced herself to walk calmly toward the bathroom when what she really wanted to do was find a hole, crawl into it and pull the opening in behind her. “But you go ahead before it gets cold.”

      She closed the door, then leaned against it for support. The last thing she wanted to do was give Chance the impression she thought he might be right about her being pregnant. She’d just been curious, that’s all.

      Chance watched Kristen take another bite of a french fry and thought he might explode right then and there. Her teeth nipped at the end of the crisp potato strip a moment before her tongue licked away the lingering traces of salt from her lips.

      He mentally ran through every curse word he knew as he crossed the room, closed the bathroom door behind him, stripped off his clothes and reached into the shower to turn on the water. He wasn’t looking forward to stepping beneath the icy spray. It was going to chill him to the bone, make his teeth chatter and send certain parts of his anatomy into traumatic shock.

      A phrase from his rodeo days came to mind as he anticipated how the water would feel. Whenever a rider drew a rank horse or bull, or suffered from the aches and pains that went along with riding the rough stock, he gritted his teeth, swallowed the pain and uttered two simple little words before doing what had to be done. Chance glanced down at the lower part of his body and the phrase “Cowboy up” took on a whole new meaning.

      Cursing a blue streak, he stepped into the shower. He yelped when the cold spray hit his skin, raising goose bumps. He shivered uncontrollably. The chill coursing through his body helped to restore some of his sanity and reduce the fever burning in his belly, but not nearly as much as he’d hoped.

      Before tonight, he’d never in his life been aroused by the sight of a pregnant woman. And he’d probably have slugged the first person who even dared to suggest that he would be.

      But Kristen standing in front of the mirror with the pillow stuffed under her shirt, her slender fingers splayed along the sides of her pretend belly, had excited the hell out of him. She’d looked so beautiful, so feminine, so…pregnant—with his child.

      He shook his head, shut off the water and grabbed a towel. He supposed any woman would wonder what she’d look like in the advanced stages of pregnancy. But until tonight the thought had never crossed his mind.

      Now it was all he could think about. How would Kristen look six months from now if she did have his baby nestled safely inside of her? How would the taut skin of her belly feel under his hands? As her pregnancy advanced, would they have to be creative with their positions when he made love to her?