It was an entirely new experience for him to get turned on by a pregnant woman. That fact alone had caused him to question his sanity more than once. But it was the memory of the lovemaking that had created their child that sent him into the master bathroom for a cold shower in the middle of the night and again early that morning.
Jessie was the most exciting woman he had ever known and having her with him was heaven and hell rolled up into one very enticing little package. He wanted to hold her and show her how good life could be for them. But how was he supposed to convince her that he could be what she wanted him to be if she kept him at arm’s length and didn’t tell him what it was she wanted?
That afternoon he’d ridden to the south pasture with his men on the pretense of moving a herd of heifers, but the entire time he’d been thinking about what he had to do. At some point, he was going to have to tell her about what he had done to land himself and Sam at the Last Chance Ranch. Then if she could get past that, he needed to find a way to convince her to let him do what was right and marry her.
“Rosemary told me the two of you had a nice little talk this afternoon,” he said, setting the tray on the coffee table in front of the leather sofa.
Jessie nodded. “While you and your men were moving your cattle into another pasture, Rosemary and I talked about how different things are now for new mothers than when she had her babies.”
“Oh, yeah?” Lowering himself onto the couch beside her, he shook his head. “I wouldn’t think there were too many variations on something like being a new mom.”
“You’d be surprised,” she said, laughing.
The delightful sound sent a wave of heat straight to the region south of his belt buckle. But more than that it gave him hope. Jessie had apparently started to relax and he took it as a good sign that her guard was coming down.
Whether it was that knowledge or the lighthearted mood, Nate grinned. “Are you going to tell me how it’s different or are you going to make me guess?”
“I should make you guess.” The twinkle in her violet eyes caused the heat inside him to increase. “Your answers might be very interesting.”
“You want to shoot me a break here, darlin’?” He laughed. “You know as well as I do that I don’t know beans from buckshot about this stuff.”
She smiled. “Rosemary and I discussed some of the things that have been developed over the past thirty years to make things easier to care for a baby.”
He scooped a handful of popcorn from the bowl to keep from reaching for her. “Let me guess. She compared the way she did it in the good old days to what women are doing today and found the new way lacking.”
“Not at all. Rosemary said she wished she’d had all the items available that new mothers have today when she had her first child,” Jessie answered as she reached for some popcorn.
“Wow! Whatever these things are, they must be pretty impressive,” he said, picking up the remote control. “We’ll have to make a trip to one of the baby stores so you can show me all these new gadgets.”
“Why do you think they have to be something special?” Jessie asked as she opened the water.
When she put the bottle to her mouth to take a drink, Nate had to stifle a groan. The memory of how those soft, perfect lips felt on his skin caused his heart to race and made it feel like the temperature in the room had gone up at least ten degrees.
“Nate, are you all right?” she asked, her expression concerned.
“Uh, yeah,” he lied, popping the top on the soft drink can to take a big gulp. “I’m fine. Why?”
“Aside from the fact that you looked like you might be in pain, you didn’t answer my question,” she explained.
Oh, he was in pain all right. But it wasn’t the kind she was thinking about. Having her with him and not being able to hold her, kiss her, was about to kill him. He had always thought she was pretty, sexy and a lot of fun to be with, but he had to admit that they hadn’t spent a lot of time together that hadn’t involved making love. Now that they were spending time where he had to concentrate on more than mind-blowing sex, he was starting to pay more attention to how perceptive she was and how much he enjoyed her intellect.
When she continued to stare at him, he forced himself to focus on what she’d said. “I was just trying to imagine what could have made that big of an impression on Rosemary. She doesn’t put her stamp of approval on just anything.”
“Well, she seemed to like the convenience of the forehead digital thermometers and the video baby monitors.” Jessie smiled. “And she especially liked the idea of electric breast pumps.”