Pregnant with the Rancher's Baby: Reclaimed by the Rancher

She eyed the bowl of Cream of Wheat. Just the sight of it caused her to shudder. “I’m not all that hungry. But I will eat the yogurt and drink the milk.”

“Not a fan of the cereal?” he asked, pushing the button on the side of the bed to raise it until she was a little more upright.

“No.” When he took the foil top off the yogurt and handed it to her along with a spoon, she asked, “Did they say when I’ll be discharged?”

“I talked to the hospitalist just a little while ago and he said you might be going home as early as tomorrow morning.” He shook his head. “They sure don’t keep patients in the hospital as long as they used to.”

She ate most of the yogurt, then took a drink of the milk. “How did you get them to let you stay here in the room with me last night? Hospital policy discourages after-hours visitors.”

He shrugged. “I refused to leave.”

“And they didn’t call security?” she asked, unable to believe he’d gotten away with it.

“They did, but I knew the guard.” Grinning, he took the empty yogurt carton and spoon from her. “For the past couple of years he’s been one of the Justin Heelers attending to injuries during the annual rodeo my brothers and I put on in honor of our foster dad. He convinced the nurses that I’m relatively harmless.”

Moving the overbed table out of the way, he lowered the rail on the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress beside her. “I need to tell you something.”

“What is it?” she asked. “Is it the baby? I think I remember feeling her move sometime during the night. She’s okay, isn’t she?”

“Everything is fine with the baby,” he reassured her. “It’s something I did yesterday when I first arrived at the hospital that you might not like too much.”

Relieved that the baby was indeed all right, she breathed a little easier. “What did you do?”

He gave her a sheepish grin. “Don’t be surprised if the nurses and doctor refer to me as your husband.”

“Why?” She couldn’t imagine why he would do that.

Taking her hands in his, he explained, “They had already given you a sedative and I wasn’t sure they’d let me in the room to see you before they took you into surgery or give me any kind of information about your condition if I didn’t tell them you were my wife.”

As she thought about it, she had to admit he had a point. Privacy was a big issue and he might very well have been denied visitation as well as information.

“Okay, I won’t correct them,” she promised. “But when we get back to your place, we need to talk about some things.”

He nodded. “I’ve been thinking the same thing, darlin’.” His expression turned as serious as she had ever seen. “I’d talk to you here, but I want privacy for some of the things I have to tell you.”

“All right,” she agreed, wondering what he was going to say.

When he leaned forward, he gave her a gentle kiss. “If you don’t mind, I think I’m going to go home for a shower and to change clothes. Is there anything you need me to bring to you this afternoon when I return?”

“I’ll need some clothes to wear back to your place tomorrow.” They had cut her clothes off her in the ER and she wasn’t about to go back to his ranch in a hospital gown. “There’s a denim dress in the closet that would be perfect.” The elastic waistband on her maternity slacks might put pressure on her incision and she wanted to avoid the irritation if possible.

“Anything else?” he asked. “Do you want me to get in touch with your folks and let them know what happened?”

Jessie shook her head. “I’ll call them after we go back to your place.”

It wasn’t like they would have taken the time away from their real estate business to make the drive up from Houston to see about her anyway. She’d have to explain her relationship with her parents and why Nate had never met them. But that could wait until they returned to Nate’s ranch. She was more curious about what Nate had to tell her that he wanted kept private.

* * *

When Nate pulled the Mercedes he rarely drove into the garage, Jessie waited until he came around to help her out of the car. He knew she was sore and moving slower than normal, but it was good to have her back at the Twin Oaks Ranch. Working at a hospital was one thing, but being a patient there was another matter entirely and he knew she was glad to leave. The two times he had to be hospitalized because of a rodeo injury, he had come to understand why so many people complained about needing to go home just to get some rest. It seemed that every hour someone came into the room to draw blood or take vital signs. And just as sure as he went to sleep, a nurse would wake him up to ask if he needed something.