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“She’ll sleep for a few hours,” the nurse told him quietly.
Alex nodded. He followed the doctor outside the room. “You’ve been running tests on her since I got here. I want details.” He wasn’t a physician himself, but he came from a long line of them, and he employed a fair number himself. If he wasn’t satisfied with the doctor’s answers, he’d have Nikki under someone else’s care in a heartbeat.
“We can talk in my office,” the doctor said easily. “I wouldn’t mind getting some medical history on you, as well.”
Alex smiled noncommittally. It suited him to let the doctor believe he was the baby’s father. If the other man knew just how nonpersonal his relationship with Nikki Day was, Alex would have a harder time getting the information he wanted.
He’d still get it.
He just preferred to get it as expediently as possible.
He should have done it all when he’d arrived at the hospital. Instead, he’d sat by Nikki’s bedside.
It was unfathomable even to him.
Two hours later, he’d obtained all the details of Nikki’s and her baby’s health that he wanted. He’d even called his uncle, who was head of obstetrics for RHS Memorial, the Philadelphia flagship hospital of Reed Health Systems, who concurred with Dr. Carmichael’s plan of treatment.
Alex had plenty of disagreements with his family. But when it came to basic medical care, there were few minds finer.
So he sat now in the recliner in Nikki’s room, watching her sleep. There was a little more color in her face than there had been when he’d first arrived.
His first sight of her had hit him in a way he was still trying to figure out. When she’d worked for him, he’d never seen her with a hair on her auburn head out of place, and he’d never seen her lose her composure. Not with temper or tears. She’d been efficient as hell. The best assistant he could ever have wanted. She’d kept his hectic life in order, and he was still reeling all these months after she’d left him flat.
It wasn’t a fact he particularly liked admitting, either. He didn’t like depending on anyone. Not when they invariably failed you.
But he’d depended on Nikki.
Right now, she seemed miles away from that fearsomely competent young woman who’d often beat him to the office in the mornings, and generally outlasted him at the end of the day. Aside from the swollen soccer-ball-size mound her slender arm was curled protectively over, she seemed too thin, and ridiculously young.
Vulnerable.
Her hair waved across the white pillow in a fiery river, looking more red than brown. There were no cosmetics to make her ivory complexion perfect, and it was smooth as velvet anyway. Her lips were softly parted and her oval chin was relaxed, missing its typical no-nonsense tilt.
Nikki Day was beautiful.
He supposed that wasn’t really a news flash to him. The vulnerability, though. That was as unexpected as finding her pregnant.
Which didn’t explain, even to him, what he was doing here.
Nikki was right to be surprised. Suspicious, even.
He had a dozen things—give or take a hundred—to deal with regarding Huffington. He hadn’t been exaggerating about the competence of the assistants that HR had been sending his way. And having a barely tolerable assistant just now was worse than having no assistant.
Nikki shifted, turning on her side, and tucked her hand against her cheek. Beneath the thin blanket, her leg moved, and the bare tips of her toes sneaked out from beneath the covers. Her toenails were painted a soft peach color.
His favorite fruit had always been peaches.
Annoyed with the thought, he looked back at her face.
Her eyes were open. Dark blue. Slightly unfocused. But they cleared almost instantly.
“It’s not some bad dream?” Her voice was little more than a soft sigh.
He shook his head and hoped to hell those blue eyes didn’t fill with tears again. Seeing Nikki Day in tears unnerved him. It wasn’t a sensation he welcomed. “No. How’re you feeling?”
“Woozy.” One slender arm was still crossed protectively over her abdomen.
“The baby’s okay. And Carmichael has been in contact with your OB in Cheyenne.”
She looked distinctly discomfited at the news. “I probably don’t want to know how you know that, nor how Dr. Carmichael even knows who my doctor there is, do I?”
Since that was true, he kept silent.
She turned on her back. Started to fold her arm over her eyes but didn’t, giving the IV taped to it a baleful look. “Belle and Cage got married before Christmas. They put off their honeymoon until after the holidays. If I call them now, they won’t have a chance to get away again until summer, and then…”
Calling her sister was the logical answer. Yet she sounded miserable over it.
“Where’d they go for their honeymoon?” he asked.
“The Caribbean.”
Her eyes were wet. Damn.
“Belle was so excited. Not just because it’s her honeymoon, but because she’s always dreamed of traveling to places like that. But at least they’re probably reachable.” Nikki’s voice went a little hoarse. “My mother and Squire are floating somewhere on the Mediterranean. I know they can be reached in an emergency, but—”
He lifted his hand. He really didn’t like seeing tears in her eyes. “You don’t have to reach anyone.”
She shook her head. The tears glinted. “I can’t afford one week in the hospital, much less three.”
He could tell reiterating the admission cost her. Not that he hadn’t figured it out for himself. She hadn’t been working anywhere in Cheyenne—not that he’d been able to discover, anyway. And to his chagrin, he’d tried. He knew her mother’s husband had money, but he also figured that asking for help was not Nikki’s particular forte.
Since he was generally more in the position of cleaning up other people’s messes than being in need of cleaning in his own life, he figured that was something they had in common.
When had Nikki had time for any sort of personal life?
The thought kept coming to the forefront.
He’d kept her too busy for a personal life.
Or so he’d thought.
He marshaled his thoughts. “I’ve rented you a place.”
Silence descended on the room as she absorbed his statement. Then her eyes widened. Color touched, then just as quickly fled from her cheeks. “Excuse me?”
“I took care of it while you were sleeping. The sheriff’s office recommended a few places. Someone from the inn packed up your stuff, and it’s been moved to the rental.” He figured just about any place would be better than the Lucius Inn, which didn’t even possess a proper suite.
“How…efficient.”
“Then it’s settled.”
Her eyebrows rose. She pushed herself up on her elbow, and there was nothing dazed in her eyes now. Incredulousness shone clear and sharp.
“No, it’s not! How am I supposed to afford—” she waved her hand, a brief motion conveying a wealth of frustration “—this place you’ve arranged? And I’m still going to need help, if I’m supposed to have bed rest. No matter what, I’m going to have to call my family.”
“Hold it.” He sat forward, resting his arms on his knees. “First of all, I said I rented you a place. Period. As for calling your family, you can if you want. I’m just telling you it’s not necessary, if you really want to go this alone.”
Her brows drew together at that. “Are you going to hire me a nursemaid, too?” She looked everywhere but at him. “I wasn’t that perfect of an assistant, Alex. You cannot possibly be so desperate for me to come back to work for you that you’d go to these lengths. I don’t want to owe anyone!”
“Anyone, or just me?”
Confusion and pride tangled in her eyes. “Does it matter?”
Did it?
He didn’t like owing favors, either. “I’m not hiring a nurse,” he said evenly, scrapping the plan to do just that. “I’ll stay with you myself.”
Chapter Three
Nikki saw Alex’s lips move. She heard the words he spoke. But they still made no sense. “You’ll stay with me,” she repeated slowly.
He nodded once.
“Here. In Lucius.”
Again, the single nod.
“At this place you’ve rented for me.”
A third nod.
She pressed her fingertips to the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes, then opening them again. “That sedative they gave me is really messing with my head.”
“No, it’s not.”
No. It wasn’t. If it had been, she’d at least have an explanation. She dropped her hand to her lap, her palm upward. “I don’t want your pity.”
His jaw hardened. “You’re not getting it. You’re an intelligent woman, Nik. This is the easiest solution all the way around.”
On the surface, maybe. But spending time—personal time—with Alex? There wasn’t anything easy about that, at all.
“What about Huffington?” she asked, determined to keep her tears at bay. She cried far too easily these days. It was maddening.
“What about it?”
It seemed unfathomable, but she could tell by his bland tone that he wasn’t going to talk business.
Yet business was the only thing they’d ever had between them.
So what sort of business was he up to?
“No,” she said abruptly, stomping down on the panic that rose in her at the very thought of him staying with her. “Thank you for the offer, but I really can’t accept.”
“Why not?”
Her hands flopped. “Because it’s not…appropriate!”
His eyebrows rose a little. A muscle twitched at the corner of his lip. “Appropriate,” he mused. “Sounding a little virginal there, Nik.”
Her face went hot, but she managed to keep her chin up. “I don’t care what it sounds like. It’s true.”
“Definitely more agreeable when you worked for me,” he observed. He unfolded from the chair. At six foot four, he was the only man she knew who rivaled her stepbrothers in sheer physical presence. “I have a room at the Lucius Inn. Call me when you change your mind.”
“I won’t.”
His head tilted slightly in acknowledgment. Then he picked up his coat again and left the room. The hospital door swung shut behind him, leaving her alone with nothing but the lingering hint of his aftershave and the rhythmic ticking of the stark round clock hanging very high on the wall.
Maybe the hospital administrators were afraid their patients were likely to abscond with the ugly, utilitarian thing if they hung it at eye level.
She slowly smoothed her hands over the thin blanket, removing every bump and wrinkle. The baby moved. Only a few weeks ago, it had felt more like butterflies darting around inside her. Now, the motions were more distinct. More…real.
She folded her hands over her belly.
Eyed the closed door through the tears that wouldn’t be held back no matter how hard she tried, or how desperately she focused on everything around her except her situation.
She would not call Alex. She could get through this in the same way she’d gotten through every other painful episode in her life.
On her own. One aching hour…day…week at a time.
Twenty-four hours later, Nikki called Alex at the Lucius Inn.
Twenty-six hours later, she left the hospital—and very nearly the last chunk of savings she had in her bank account—behind, and was sitting beside him in the luxurious, spacious SUV he’d rented.
She stared out the window beside her as they drove through town. Lucius was a small community, like a dozen others. It had a main drag where most of the businesses seemed to be located. An older, clearly residential area at one end of town. Fortunate evidence of continued growth—a bustling discount department store, apartments, the Lucius Inn, a medical plaza—at the other end of town. She got a good look at all of them when Alex continued driving right on past, leaving the town behind.
She closed her fingers around the softly padded armrest. “Where is this place that you’ve rented?”
He flicked a glance her way. “Another few miles.”
She wanted to ask how few, but didn’t. Instead, she turned and stared blindly out the window again.
After a disappointing but unsurprising phone conversation with the salvage company that confirmed they would be unable to hold open the position for her, she’d actually started to call the Caribbean resort where Belle and Cage were staying, but hadn’t been able to bring herself to dial the number. What was worse? Calling back her twin from her honeymoon or accepting Alex’s inconceivable offer?
If Belle and Cage returned, the entire family would be bound to find out about it, and she hated worrying them. Hated it. It was bad enough that she knew they’d been worrying over her since she’d announced she was pregnant. They’d harped in the most loving of ways to get her to Weaver or the Double-C, where they could take care of her.
But she took care of herself.
She always had.
