Pregnant With The Rancher's Baby. Kathie DeNosky

      “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 more that we need to decide.”

      She stared at him for a moment before she spoke again. “I’m sure this came as a shock. Believe me, I wasn’t expecting it either. But it doesn’t have to be complicated. We can let the lawyers take care of sorting all of this out.”

      “Darlin’, I don’t see how this can be anything but complicated,” he said, noticing for the first time how tired she looked. A sudden idea began to take shape as he stared into her pretty violet eyes. “You’re exhausted. Why don’t we table this for the time being?”

      “Don’t worry about me,” she said, shrugging. “I’ll be fine as soon as I go home and get some sleep.”

      “I don’t like the idea of you driving all the way back to Waco as tired as you are,” he said. “It isn’t safe.”

      “I’ll be okay.” She frowned. “Besides, my welfare isn’t any of your concern.”

      “Yes, it is,” he insisted. “Do you have to work tonight?”

      She shook her head. “I have the weekend off. Why?”

      “My family is having a Halloween party here tomorrow night and I’d really like for you to join us. I’ve got five guest bedrooms upstairs and you can have your pick of any of them.” He used his index finger to brush a strand of blond hair that had escaped her ponytail from her smooth cheek as an excuse to touch her. His finger tingled from the contact and he was heartened by the slight widening of her pretty eyes, indicating that she felt it, too. “It will also give us time to talk and make a few decisions after you’ve had time to rest.”

      He’d wisely avoided mentioning that she could share the master suite with him. He might not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but he wasn’t fool enough to think she would be receptive to picking up their relationship where they left it almost five months ago.

      She tried to hide a yawn behind her small, delicate hand. “I told you the law—”

      “I