The Baby Bonus. Metsy Hingle

      At the sound of Cole’s voice calling her princess, Regan fought her way back through the gray fog that had engulfed her.

      “Come on. That’s a girl. Open your eyes for me.”

      Slowly she lifted her heavy eyelids, her lashes fluttered once, twice, and finally Cole’s face came into focus. His expression was grim, Regan noted and she caught a glimmer of alarm in his eyes. When the grip on her fingers tightened painfully, she realized that he was holding her hand.

      “That’s it,” Cole murmured. He brushed a strand of hair away from her face, and he placed a cool, damp cloth on her forehead. “That’s it. That’s a good girl. Come on back now,” he coaxed.

      “W-what happened?”

      “You fainted,” he told her, his voice taut, his skin the color of paste.

      “Sorry.”

      “Dammit, Regan, I don’t want an apology. I…” He whooshed out a breath. “Are you all right?”

      Regan blinked, taken aback by the concern in Cole’s tone. Lord, if she didn’t know better, she would actually think Cole cared about her. Just as quick as the thought came, she nipped it. That was one bridge she had no intention of buying. “I’m okay. I just got a little dizzy for a minute.” She started to sit up.

      “Stay put,” he ordered, pressing a restraining hand against her shoulders. “There’s an ambulance on the way and Liz is going to meet us at the hospital.”

      “What?” Regan slapped his hand away and sat up. Still slightly woozy, it took a moment before she realized that she was on the couch in her office. “You can just cancel that ambulance and tell my aunt not to bother going anywhere. Because I’m not going to the hospital.”

      “You’re going.”

      “Think again, Thornton. No one tells me what to do—least of all you.” She scooched herself up into a semi-sitting position and dragged in a calming breath. “Listen, I appreciate your concern. But there’s nothing wrong with me. I’m fine.”

      “The hell you are!” Hands bunched into fists at his sides, Cole glared down at her. “You call tossing up your cookies and fainting fine?”

      “No. I call it being pregnant,” she informed him.

      He eyed her warily as though she were some alien creature that he wasn’t quite sure how to handle. Lord, but the man was a mess, Regan realized. He fit every cliché about expectant fathers that she’d ever heard of, from the off-color skin tone and panic-stricken eyes right down to the dark hair that looked as though he’d combed it with a rake. The last time she’d been pregnant, she couldn’t remember him being so shaken. Not that she would have noticed. She’d been far too busy—first trying to convince Cole they should elope and then later trying to placate her father. But the poor guy was definitely shook up now, she thought, an amused smile curving her lips.

      “I’m glad you think this is funny,” the object of her musings snapped and rammed a fist through his already mussed hair. “You scared the hell out of me!”

      “Sorry,” she murmured, but she couldn’t quite make herself feel remorse—not when her heart was still doing extra blips over the fact that Cole was actually worried about her. “I mean it. I really am sorry if I scared you. But please, no ambulance. Honestly, I feel fine now.”

      Cole shoved his hands into his pockets and huffed out a deep breath. “For Pete’s sake. You’re pregnant, princess. What if something…is wrong?”

      “There’s nothing wrong with me,” she assured him.

      “What about the baby?”

      The momentary pleasure induced by his concern for her died swiftly. Of course, it wasn’t her Cole was worried about. It was the baby. “There’s nothing wrong with the baby. I’m pregnant, Cole. Sometimes pregnant women get nauseous and have dizzy spells.”

      “You don’t. The last time…”

      He didn’t finish. He didn’t need to. Because they both remembered that the last time she’d been pregnant she hadn’t been sick at all. It wasn’t until she’d missed her period for the third time that she’d even bought a test kit and confirmed her suspicions. To his credit, Cole hadn’t hesitated to take responsibility. He’d insisted they get married right away. Oh, he had said all the right things that a seventeen-year-old girl needed to hear—that he loved her, that he would have asked her to marry him in a few years anyway, that they were just moving up the timetable a bit. Of course, she hadn’t realized at the time how important it was to Cole that his child be born legitimate or that his insistence that they marry might have been due to her being pregnant and not because he loved her. She’d had plenty of time to figure that out later—after she’d lost the baby, after Cole had refused to listen to her pleas for a second chance, after he had left town and her for good.

      “I still don’t think you should take any chances.”

      “I don’t intend to,” she told him, pulling her thoughts back from the past. She stood and made her way over to the phone and buzzed her assistant. “Amy, please cancel the ambulance Mr. Thornton ordered and then notify my aunt that I’m all right and there’s no need for her to go to the hospital.” After assuring the other woman she was indeed fine, she hung up the phone and turned to face Cole.

      “I want you to see a doctor,” he informed her, a forbidding scowl on his face.

      “I plan to.”

      “I’ll drive you.” He started for the door, then stopped when she didn’t follow. “What’s wrong?”

      “I can get to the doctor on my own.”

      “How? By driving?”

      “Yes—by driving.”

      He frowned. “And suppose you have another dizzy spell or black out while you’re driving? What then? You could hurt yourself, the baby and God knows who else.”

      She hadn’t thought of that, Regan conceded. Cole was right. She really had no business driving as long as she was having these dizzy spells. Still, she had no intention of going anywhere with Cole—not until she had a long conversation with her Aunt Liz and figured out exactly what she was going to do. “I’ll get Amy to drive me or I’ll take a taxi.”

      “I said I’d take you.”

      Refusing to be bullied, Regan sank down on the chair behind her desk. “I appreciate the offer. But I prefer going alone.”

      His lips thinned. Marching over to her, he planted both hands firmly on the desk’s surface and leaned in so that she was forced to look at him. “Let’s get something straight, princess. That baby you’re carrying is mine. And I have no intention of letting you shut me out of any decisions or matters where my child is concerned. I have rights as the father, and I intend to exercise them.”

      The mention of his parental rights brought Regan’s predicament slamming home. She didn’t doubt for a second that Cole was telling her the truth. That he had been her sperm donor. But she had no intention of admitting as much to him. Not yet anyway. Oh, Aunt Liz, how could you have done this to me? What if Cole fights me for the baby? What if…?

      Regan clamped down on the panic bubbling inside her and once again reminded herself that she wasn’t the naive, love-struck girl Cole had married all those years ago. She was an independent, responsible woman now—a woman who refused to be intimidated by the likes of Cole Thornton. She shoved back her chair and stood. Squaring her shoulders, Regan tipped up her chin and said, “If this is in fact your baby that I’m carrying, then you and I will talk about your rights with our lawyers. But until I confirm that with my aunt, I suggest you back off.”

      “Go ahead and talk to Liz. But if I were you, princess, I’d start getting used to the idea of me being around. Because I intend to be a part of my child’s life.”

      Marching