The Rancher's Christmas Baby. Cathy Thacker Gillen

will set her up with an ovulation-predictor kit.”

      Teddy went to the waiting room, Amy to an exam room. After her physical was complete, the office lab tech came back in. She handed Dr. Hudson a slip of paper.

      “Why don’t you ask Teddy McCabe to come back in?” Dr. Hudson said, after perusing the note.

      Unease sifted through Amy. “Is anything wrong?” she asked from her perch on the exam table.

      Dr. Hudson smiled reassuringly. “Quite the contrary.”

      Teddy walked in, a mixture of concern and curiosity on his face. His glance slid over the pink cotton gown she was wearing and the matching sheet over her lap.

      “We just tested the urine sample Amy gave us. Her luteinizing hormone has surged, which means she’s ovulating. You two have a thirty-six-hour window in which to get pregnant. So if you want to go ahead and try today, I can inseminate Amy.”

      Joy bubbled up inside Amy.

      Teddy looked equally thrilled and excited.

      “Sure!” they said in unison.

      “Amy, why don’t you hang out here, just read a magazine, and Teddy—you can go with the nurse.” Dr. Hudson grinned at Amy. “See you in a few minutes.”

      Amy took a magazine from the shelf mounted on the wall and sat down to wait.

      And wait.

      And wait.

      A half an hour went by.

      Then another.

      The more Amy sat there, the more nervous she became.

      She wanted a baby with Teddy so much, but the circumstances were colder, more sterile, than she had expected.

      Finally, the nurse came back in. “I’m sorry, Mrs. McCabe. It’s not going to happen today.”

      “Wh-why?”

      “You should ask your husband. Let him explain.”

      The nurse gave Amy another sympathetic look, then slipped out of the exam room.

      Amy’s knees trembled. She slipped off the table and began to get dressed.

      Teddy was waiting for her in the reception area. His eyes gave nothing away.

      She paid the bill for the visit, then walked out with him.

      Their footsteps echoed on the polished linoleum flooring of the hospital annex, where the doctor’s offices were located. Teddy was flushed and tight-lipped. “What happened?” Amy asked as they reached the elevator.

      Teddy took her elbow and followed her into the elevator. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

      “Well, I do!” Amy said as the doors slid shut, wrenching free of him. “What in the world happened in there?” Why had everything that had suddenly been going right suddenly gone wrong?

      Teddy leaned back against the opposite wall. “I changed my mind!” He pushed the words between clenched teeth.

      Amy blinked. “About having a baby?”

      Teddy gave her a droll look. “About doing it the new-fashioned way.”

      It took a moment for the meaning behind his words to sink in. When they did, Amy felt heat well in her chest, before moving to her neck and face. “We agreed!” she whispered, stunned and dismayed. The fact they could have a baby together without actually ever having sex with each other was the entire reason they had risked their friendship and gotten married!

      His handsome jaw took on the consistency of granite. “Well, now I’m un-agreeing!”

      Amy stared at him in consternation, barely able to believe they had been so close to getting what they both wanted, what would make all their mutual dreams come true, only to have him chicken out! “Teddy—for this to work…for us to have a baby—you have to do your part!” she cried, just as the elevator doors slid open. The involuntary chuckles and gaping expressions on the faces of the people waiting on the other side let Amy know the onlookers had indeed caught every word of her last sentence.

      Teddy turned and glared at Amy. Reclaiming his grip on her elbow, he rushed her past the sea of shocked faces and raised eyebrows. “Nice, Amy.”

      She cringed and bit down on an oath. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

      He increased his strides, forcing her to struggle to keep up. “Too late. That horse already left the corral.”

      Amy dug in her heels. “I still don’t get why…”

      He pushed out the front doors of the lobby, still hurrying her along. The moment they were out of earshot of others, he wheeled on her. “You think what they asked me to do was easy?” He lowered his face till they were eye to eye. “Well, let’s go back up to Dr. Hudson’s office and have you go in the room and work yourself up to a fever pitch, knowing the nurse and the doctor and the office lab tech and Lord only knows who else, are all out there, waiting for you to—”

      Amy lifted both hands in surrender, unable to hear more. “Okay, okay. I get the picture!”

      “Do you?” Teddy straightened, six foot four inches of furious male. “Because I don’t think you do—although that easily could have changed, since the nurse asked me if I wanted her to go and get you so you could assist me in doing what I needed to do. Should I have asked her to do that?”

      Amy’s face burned as much as her conscience. She stepped back a pace. “No. Heavens, no!”

      Teddy braced his hands on his waist. “So we’re going to have to come up with another way of accomplishing this.”

      Amy wrinkled her nose in confusion. “What other way is there?”

      He merely looked at her.

      “Oh…no…” she whispered, as the image he wanted to evoke came to mind.

      Teddy put his hands on her shoulders, his touch gentle. “Amy, we have the chemistry.” He looked deep into her eyes. “We proved that when we kissed the other night.” He paused and tightened his grip on her persuasively. “I’m fairly certain if we were to think of this as a necessary ‘procedure,’ we could rally to the occasion and get into the spirit of the big event.”

      To Amy’s shock, the idea of making love to Teddy wasn’t nearly as unnerving as it should have been. Nor was the idea that he might use the desired end result as a way to satisfy his basic male needs. Hadn’t he been more open to lovemaking without traditional romantic involvement from the very first?

      “There has to be another way,” she insisted nervously.

      His expression grim, Teddy released his hold on her and stepped back. “Well, if you think of it in the next thirty-six hours, you let me know.”

      THEY’D DRIVEN TO THE appointment in his truck. Hence, Amy had no choice but to accompany Teddy back to the Silverado. As soon as they arrived, she got out of his pickup truck and into hers. Without another word to him, she started the engine and drove to her ranch. She needed time alone. To think. To figure out if she could continue on with this charade of a marriage she had entered into with Teddy McCabe.

      Wishing—not for the first time—that she had a big soaking tub like the one in Teddy’s master bathroom, she shucked her clothes and climbed into the tiny vinyl shower stall. As the hot water sluiced down on her tense shoulders, she leaned her head against the wall and waited for the tears to come. To no avail. She could no more cry and release her deep disappointment that way, than Teddy had been able to…

      Not that she could have done what was asked, either, if she had been him, Amy realized in mounting frustration.

      There was something just so wrong about her and Teddy creating a baby in a doctor’s exam room.

      It would have been one thing