"I want you to do as your doctor says, Emma. Stay in bed. You have to think of your baby, not whether or not I have dinner. We have a cook for that."
Emma studied the lines in Jake's face. He looked far more tired than usual. Something wasn't right. "The cook goes home after four. You always work late and some of the boys get hungry so I like to have something ready on the stove. And the doctor hasn't put me on full bed rest yet, Jake, so stop worrying so much. All I do is lounge around."
Jake's strange golden eyes blazed down at her. He reached across to capture her chin and hold her facing him, his grip strong, fingers biting a little at her. "I know exactly what you do, Emma, and I wouldn't call it lounging. Would you like to tell me why I employ a nurse and a cook, when you do all the work?"
He was chastising her. She pushed down a smile, knowing he wouldn't appreciate her strange sense of humor. Everyone seemed afraid of Jake with his gruff manner and hard, piercing eyes, but she found him compelling and at times even tender, taking care of those who lived on his ranch with a fierce protectiveness. Even his men. There was his crew of roughnecks that occasionally came to the house, the oil drillers that scattered to the four winds when they weren't working and the cowboys who took care of his cattle and fields who lived on the ranch in houses or the bunk-house. They often came up to the main house to talk to Jake, and she got into the habit of making fresh bread and pastries for them.
"I have no idea why you hired them. I told you that if I was going to take the housekeeping job and look after Kyle, I didn't want anyone else running the house."
She tilted her chin at him, refusing to be intimidated by the warning glitter in his eyes. As much as she worried about him, and as much as she wanted to smooth the lines in his face, she refused to cater to his temper or his bossiness. The man didn't know how to talk without giving an order. She often found herself wanting to please him, telling herself it was to ease the constant strain he was under, but more likely it was her terrible penchant for wounded creatures. And he was wounded, whether anyone else could see it or not. She knew he'd be horrified at her assessment of him. Jake was the most independent man she'd ever met.
He leaned closer to her. "No one will run the house after you've recovered from having the baby. In the meantime, let them wait on you."
"I'm not staying in bed until I absolutely have to. Partial bed rest means I can get up a bit. And Kyle prefers me to the nurse."
"Well of course he prefers you to the old bat. She never cracks a smile, at least not around me. Not that I hired her for her ability to smile."
"Why did you hire her?"
"Her credentials are impeccable."
"She doesn't know a thing about babies; not really. Some people have a natural ability. She doesn't," Emma insisted.
The nurse specialized in difficult pregnancies, not babies. He shrugged and set the empty plate aside. "She doesn't approve of my lifestyle." He shot her a sheepish grin. "I don't think my considerable charm works on her."
Emma felt the first stirrings of protectiveness toward Jake. And more than a little anger toward the absent nurse. "Who is she to judge your lifestyle? What's wrong with it?"
Jake shrugged again. "You're protected here, Emma, but there are a lot of people interested in my life. When they can't find any details to talk about, they make it up."
She turned his matter-of-fact statement over and over in her mind. "Me." She met his golden gaze. "They're speculating about me and who I am and why I'm here."
"The accident was in California four months ago. Everyone thought Shaina broke my heart. And now I've got the mystery woman living with me, but no one sees her. The rumor is she's pregnant as well."
"And the nurse--Miss Hacker thinks the baby is yours?"
"I haven't said any different," he admitted.
"Why?"
He looked away from her briefly, then reached over and took her hand, his thumb sliding up and down the back of her hand. "I can't. We can't. We have to think about protecting the baby. We need to let everyone think it's mine."
"No!" Emma pulled her hand away. "It's Andrew's baby, the last part of him."
"Emma, honey, you aren't thinking. We both know the baby is Andrew's, but what happens if something goes wrong? I think like that, plan ahead. It's what I do. I take apart companies and sell them piece by piece, but in order to take over in the first place, I have to look ahead and determine the things that might happen and plan for them. I'm not leaving your baby homeless or to the authorities. Be angry with me for it, but I know what's it's like to be raised--"
Abruptly he snapped his mouth closed, leapt to his feet and stalked out.
Emma sat in the dark for a long time, her heart pounding, as she faced the very real possibility that her baby might live and she might not. The doctors had discussed the possibility with her, but she'd dismissed it. Evidently Jake hadn't, and he was already preparing to save her child, when she hadn't even thought about what might happen. She got up, pulled on her robe and padded barefoot down the hall to the nursery. He was there, just as she knew he would be, standing guard over his son.
"Jake." He didn't turn and she knew he had been aware of her coming in. "I'm sorry. You're right about this, but I don't want you to think I expect . . ."
He flicked her a warning glance over his shoulder. "Go to bed, Emma. I'm not myself tonight and you're the last person I want to fight with."
"I just wanted to say I was sorry."
He swung around in that fluid, predatory way of his and swept her up into his arms, as if she were a child, cradling her close the way she'd taught him to hold Kyle. "What part of 'bed' don't you understand?"
He sounded rough and exasperated, but his hands were gentle as he carried her to her bed and pulled the sheet up to her chin. He even dropped a kiss on top of her head, just as she'd seen him do with Kyle. "Go to sleep. We have all the time in the world to figure it out."
God help him, he hoped it was true.
ONE MONTH LATER
JAKE tossed his pen onto his desk and heaved an exaggerated sigh. If there'd been someone to yell at, he would have done so, but instead there was only him, locked in the silence of his office. He'd created this wing of the house to be attached but separate. Soundproof. He found his acute hearing could be a distraction when he was trying to study the various companies he was interested in acquiring--especially lately. There were small alarms scattered through the various rooms to alert him to intruders because his office was doubly soundproofed. He always had liked silence. He'd needed silence, the peace of it. Silence was one of the few things that calmed his mind, like running free late at night in his other form.
He sighed again and laced his fingers behind his head. Silence wasn't working so well with him at the moment and he didn't understand why. His home was so different now. Emma and Kyle had been here five months and already the place was transformed. There was a warmth now, and he felt peace when he sat in the nursery or when he entered Emma's room. Now his office seemed cold and distant. The silence distracted him. He found himself listening for the low murmur of Emma's voice and the soft little sounds his son made.
Jake sat up straight, alarm shooting through him. His son. He never thought in those terms. Emma often referred to Kyle that way, but Jake thought of him as the infant, the baby, even the kid--not his son. What the hell was happening to him? What was she doing? Turning his life upside down. This wasn't how it was supposed to work. His life was supposed to be unaffected, maybe easier, but certainly not more difficult.
Emma never listened to him. Well, she listened, she just didn't do what he told her to do. She always gave him that little mysterious smile of hers and--and nothing. She simply did what she wanted. No one ever did that around him. The world was afraid of him, and rightly so. It didn't matter how stern he got with her, or how ugly his temper got. She maintained that small smile and just did whatever she wanted. It was frustrating and arousing, and made him want to use other methods to control her l
ittle rebellions.
He raked his hands through his hair. He liked the sound of her voice, the scent of her skin, the candles she burned, the way she always had something for him to eat. He loved the look on her face when she held Kyle and when she rubbed her hands protectively over the small mound of her stomach. He had the feeling he was a little obsessed with Emma. He kept waiting for her true nature to emerge, but she remained generous and kind and so gentle. The shadows in her eyes were slowly receding. She still had nightmares and he spent most nights in her room with her, but she didn't burst into tears as often.
A tingle of awareness crept down his spine and he was on his feet before he even realized what he was reacting to.