And Cowboy Makes Three (Cowboys To The Rescue 2) by Martha Shields Page B

to the office in the penthouse to find Claire on the phone. She faced away from the door, toward the city lights spread out below. He paused in the doorway and glanced at his watch. Almost ten. Who could she be talking to this late?
    “Didn’t you get the message I left two days ago?... I know. I was out of town.... Nothing. Just the usual.... No.... No.... Thanksgiving? Dem, I don’t know... Yes, I know I haven’t been home since JJ.’s birthday...”
    Jake relaxed. She was talking to her family.
    “Okay.... Right... No, Hank, I’m not dating anyone right now, I—”
    She stopped abruptly as she swiveled and met Jake’s suddenly narrowed eyes head-on. “What did you say?... Oh, nothing. Listen, Hank, I have to go. I’ll call you in a couple of days. No, don’t call me.... No, Hank.” She sighed heavily. “Goodbye, Hank. Give my love to Alex and the kids.... I love you, too. Bye.”
    She placed the receiver back in the cradle slowly, deliberately.
    “Not dating anyone?” Jake repeated in arch tones. “What am I, chopped beef?”
    “I’m not dating anyone,” she told him. “I’m married.”
    “But you didn’t tell your family that,” he accused from the door. “We’ve been home four days, been married a week, and you still haven’t told them.”
    “No,” she said softly. “I haven’t.”
    Her words felt like a punch in the gut, like betrayal at the basest level. He approached the desk and leaned across from her on straight arms. “Are you ashamed of me?”
    “Of course not. I...I just can’t face their questions right now.” Her gaze slid away. “I still have too many of my own.”
    Jake studied her solemn face for a long moment. He wanted to walk around the desk and kiss away the worry making wrinkles in her forehead, but instinct told him to stay put. “Like what?”
    She shook her head. “Nothing. I’m sorry I said anything.”
    “But you did, so now you have to tell me.” His voice held an edge of menace, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t going to let her hide from him.
    Her blue eyes delved into the depths of his own, but he didn’t avoid her scrutiny. He wasn’t going to hide from her, either.
    “What happens if I can’t get pregnant?”
    The question slammed into him like a car at top speed. He’d never even considered the possibility. What would he do if she couldn’t get pregnant? Right now having a baby was the most important thing in the world to him. More important than any investment he’d ever made. Since he’d decided on Claire as the mother, he’d made getting her pregnant his number-one priority, spending more time away from the office than he had since starting the company. But what if she couldn’t get pregnant? What if her condition was worse than the doctors suspected?
    “Have you heard anything new?” he asked sharply. “Have you talked to your doctor since we returned?”
    She shook her head. “No. I just...I don’t know.”
    “You’re tired.” Relief flooded through him like spring melt at the bottom of a mountain, letting him know how deep the panic had gone. Stepping around the desk, he drew her out of the chair and into his arms. “We’ve only been trying a few days. Give it time.”
    She relaxed against him.
    “Do you think I’m going to toss you aside like a used tissue?” he asked.
    She lifted a shoulder. “Why wouldn’t you? You want a baby. If I can’t give you one, you’ll have to find someone who can.”
    Anger stabbed deep into his gut that she thought so little of him. But what stabbed deeper was that her lack of faith was justified. With any other woman, he’d probably have done just that. Ruthless decisions were his trademark, after all. If an investment didn’t work, he cut his losses quickly, cleanly.
    Could he let Claire go? The very thought made him want to find a brick wall and hit it—hard. Reining in the unfamiliar feeling made his voice tight. “And how long were you going to give yourself? Another two days? A