To Have the Doctor's Baby by Teresa Southwick Page A

wander outside and fall in.”
    She nodded, but a frown settled in her eyes. “Doesn’t look like it would be problematic or costly to add one.”
    â€œIf you like this house.” He studied her face. One part of him hoped she loved the place and would move in tomorrow. Another part hoped she hated it and would stay with him just a little longer. Part two needed some serious therapy.
    â€œI like this house a lot,” she said, glancing around. “But there are still more to see.”
    He nodded. “At least you narrowed the search by price range and square footage. Nothing farther than ten miles from Mercy Medical Center or smaller than twenty-three hundred square feet.”
    â€œAnd still there are so many properties for sale.”
    â€œYeah. Let’s go see them.”
    When they got to the last house on the list, Nick could tell by the look on Ryleigh’s face that she liked it a lot. As usual he held his emotions back, but Ryleigh didn’t. She’d worn the very same bright-eyed expression when walking through the house they’d bought together.
    One of the things he’d always liked about her was that you never had to guess how she was feeling. Happy, sad, grumpy or puzzled, her face showed everything. Right now it was showing unqualified approval.
    Shelley didn’t miss it, either. “I think this might be the one. You two talk. I’ll go sit in the car and make some calls.”
    When the front door closed, Nick asked, “Is she right?”
    â€œI really like this one,” she confirmed. “Love the tile.It’s something I would have picked and goes with the light beige walls.”
    He leaned a shoulder beside the French doors leading to the rear yard. “You don’t think that makes it too dark?”
    She shook her head. “The white ceiling not only makes it look higher, but it brightens the room, too.”
    â€œThe pool takes up most of the backyard.”
    â€œIt’s fenced,” she pointed out.
    â€œBut that doesn’t leave much grass for a kid to play in.”
    â€œThere’s some off to the right. And the private park and play area is across the street.”
    â€œYou don’t think it might get noisy?”
    â€œNo.” She listened. “It didn’t seem like there’s much traffic, just people in the neighborhood.” She looked around the family room that adjoined the kitchen. “This is the only house we’ve seen with a fireplace.”
    â€œThis is Las Vegas. It’s not like you need one to stay warm.” But he remembered lighting his fireplace to set a romantic mood for sex, and that went under the heading of no good deed goes unpunished.
    â€œBut can’t you just see it decorated with lighted garland at Christmas?”
    â€œNot really.” He was picturing his house without her in it and the emptiness when she was gone.
    â€œThat’s because you have no whimsy.”
    He grinned. “I can live without it.”
    â€œNot me. And the master bedroom had a ton of it. Big and bright. Didn’t you love that Jacuzzi tub?”
    Not after he got a vision of being in it with her. Naked. “The closet is too big.”
    â€œOn what planet?” She looked at him as if aliens were popping out of his chest. “There’s no such thing as a closet that’s too big.”
    â€œIf you say so.”
    â€œI’m not alone. Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of women would say the same thing.” She tilted her head and studied him, a frown lurking in her big brown eyes. “What’s with you today, Nick?”
    â€œNothing.” Denial was as good a place to hide as anywhere else. “Why do you ask?”
    â€œBecause you weren’t this much trouble when we bought a house together.”
    â€œThat’s because I just let you pick it out.”
    He remembered as if it were yesterday. When the idea of house hunting came up,