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

“I cut out caffeine when I discovered I was pregnant, but a muffin or bagel and a glass of milk would be appreciated,” she answered, knowing just what the women had gone through.

In the early weeks of her pregnancy, just the thought of food was enough to make her sick. But now that the morning sickness had cleared up, it seemed she was hungry all of the time.

“Why don’t you have a seat in my office and I’ll go tell my housekeeper to fix a tray for you,” he said, placing his hand to her back to guide her toward the doorway.

“Why don’t I eat in the kitchen and then just go out the back door to my car when I’m done?” she countered, starting to turn in the opposite direction of the office.

“We have to talk,” he insisted, bringing his arm up to wrap around her shoulders and steer her back toward his office.

“Nate, it would be better to let the lawyers—”

“Do you really want strangers calling the shots on how we go about raising our kid?” he interrupted.

Jessie stared at him as she tried to decide what to do. He had a point about attorneys sitting across a conference table making the important decisions about their child. It really did seem impersonal and detached from the situation. But she had wanted to avoid spending any more time with him than she had to. For the past two and a half years Nate Rafferty had been her biggest weakness and she needed to stay strong in order to resist his charming appeal.

“I only have two nights off and I have things I want to accomplish,” she hedged. She had intended to start cleaning out the second bedroom in her apartment to turn it into a nursery.

“This is the future of our baby, Jessie.” The earnest expression on his handsome face made her feel guilty and she found herself nodding in agreement in spite of her need to put distance between them.

Fifteen minutes later, Jessie stared at the small bowl of fresh fruit, a honey-wheat bagel with cream cheese, scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, a glass of orange juice and a tall glass of milk sitting on a tray on the edge of Nate’s desk. “Whose army were you intending to feed?” she asked. “I can’t eat all of this.”

“Rosemary said you needed the protein and fruit as well as the calcium in the milk and vitamin C from the orange juice,” he said, shrugging as he lowered himself into the armchair beside her. “She said it would be good for both you and the baby.”

Jessie’s eyes widened. “You told your housekeeper I’m pregnant?”

He nodded. “She has six kids and fifteen grandkids. They’re all healthy and I figured if anyone would know what your nutritional needs are now that you’re pregnant, she would.”

While she appreciated his thoughtfulness, Jessie wasn’t entirely certain she was comfortable with him telling others about the baby until they had worked out an agreement they could both live with. But she wasn’t going to argue with him about it now. They had bigger issues to settle.

“You said you wanted to work out custody and visitation?” she asked, picking up the fork on the tray to take a bite of the fluffy scrambled eggs.

He shook his head, then took a deep breath as if what he was about to say was extremely difficult for him. “None of that will be necessary once we’re married.”

She stopped with the fork halfway to her mouth. “Excuse me?”

“We’ll do the right thing and get married,” he repeated as if it was the answer to all of their problems.

Her appetite deserting her, Jessie slowly placed the fork full of eggs back on the plate and shook her head. “No, we won’t.”

“Sure we will,” he said, reaching to take her hand in his. “I’ve already qualified for the National Finals. I’ll skip the rodeo this coming weekend and we can have the wedding here. Or if you prefer, we can fly to Vegas and have a reception for family and friends at a later date.”

Jerking her hand from his, she stood up to pace the length of the room. “Have you lost your ever-loving mind? I’m not going to marry you.”

He rose to his feet and, walking over to her, placed his hands on her shoulders to stare down at her from his much taller height. “I didn’t mean to upset you, darlin’. I’m pretty sure it’s not good for you or the baby.”

“How would you know?” she demanded, glaring up into his incredible blue eyes. “How many times have you been pregnant?”

He gave her a sheepish grin. “This is a first for both of us.”

“Never mind. It doesn’t matter. You wouldn’t get the point, even if I explained it to you.” She shook her head. “I didn’t come here to tell you that I’m having a baby because I wanted you to marry me. I simply thought you should know that you’d fathered a child. Period. If you want to be part of the baby’s life, I won’t try to stop you. But I’m not part of the deal, Nate. We can work something out so that we’re both involved with raising this baby, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be involved with each other.”