LITMIR.BIZ

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she’d given him no good reason for concern.

      “Clearing my calendar for the day won’t be a big deal.” He shrugged. “I’d already counted on spending a few extra days here because of the flooding. Besides, that’s the beauty of being the sole owner. You can do what you want, when you want and nobody says a word unless they don’t care about being fired.”

      “Let me put it this way, Zach.” He watched as she clenched both fists at her sides and he could tell her frustration level was close to the boiling point. “I don’t want you to go to the doctor with me.”

      “Why? You said you spent several weeks trying to find me. Now you’re telling me you don’t want me around?”

      “I searched for you because I thought you might want to know that you’d fathered a child,” she said tightly. “Not because I wanted you to go with me to doctor appointments or ‘do the right thing.’”

      “That’s too bad, darlin’.” He rocked back on his heels. “I’m going to the doctor with you and there isn’t a damned thing you can do to stop me.” Smiling, he added, “And I will be doing the right thing and making you my wife.”

      “I don’t understand why you’re being so stubborn about this, Zach,” she grumbled.

      “I could say the same thing about you.”

      Closing her eyes for a second as if trying to keep from belting him one, when she opened them, they sparkled with anger. “I give you my word that I’ll tell you everything the doctor says and even make an extra copy of the picture from the ultrasound for you.”

      “I’m sure you would.” He’d like to believe Arielle would be completely honest with him, but he couldn’t be one hundred percent certain. After all, he’d trusted his former fiancée and that had ended in absolute tragedy. “But I’m a hands-on kind of guy, darlin’. I never rely on secondhand information and I want to hear for myself what the man has—”

      “Woman,” she corrected him. “My obstetrician is a woman.”

      “Okay. I want to hear what the woman has to say.” He smiled as he reached forward and placed his hand on her pregnant stomach. “I’m the daddy. I’m entitled to know what’s going on, as well as finding out whether we’re having a boy or girl at the same time you do.”

      She shook her head and removed his hand from her stomach. “I didn’t say you weren’t. But did it ever occur to you that it might make me uncomfortable to have you in the room during an examination?”

      Her revelation was unexpected. Before he could stop himself, he reached out to run his index finger along her creamy cheek. “Why, Arielle? It’s not like I haven’t been intimately acquainted with your body before.”

      “That was several months ago and a lot of things have changed since then,” she said, looking away.

      “Like what?” he asked, fighting the urge to take her back into his arms. “We’re still the same two people who spent an entire week together.”

      As he watched, the color on her cheeks deepened. “I didn’t mean that.”

      “Then what?”

      “After waking up alone to find that I meant absolutely nothing to you, I don’t particularly care to be around you,” she declared flatly. “Nor do I care to hear the reason you left.”

      He regretted the emotional pain he’d caused her. But that couldn’t be changed now. “I’m sorry you feel that way, darlin’. But it’s something that’s going to have to change, and damned quick.” He caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger and, tipping it up, forced her to look him straight in the eye. “Once we get married, we’ll be together all of the time. We’re going to live together, go to all your prenatal appointments together and…we’ll be sharing a bed.”

      He heard a hitch in her breathing a moment before she backed away from his touch. “I don’t think so.” As she turned to leave, she added, “It’s not going to happen and you might as well get used to that fact just as quick.”

      Watching Arielle storm from the room, Zach straightened his stance. Oh, it was going to happen, all right. They would be married as soon as he could get a marriage license. When he wanted something, he went after it with a single-minded determination that never failed to net him the desired results. And that was something else she was going to have to get used to.

      From everything she’d said and the way she acted, she was happy and looked forward to having his child. But he would not take it on faith that was the case here. That’s why he fully intended to make her Mrs. Zach Forsythe and ensure his right to monitor everything that took place for the rest of the pregnancy.

      Abandoning the book she’d been reading, Arielle shifted to a more comfortable position on the window seat and watched the pouring rain. She had successfully avoided Zach at breakfast by getting up around dawn and bringing a couple of muffins and a glass of milk back to the guest room. But she wasn’t naive enough to think she could do the same thing for lunch. In fact, she was surprised that Zach hadn’t looked for her when she remained in her room all morning.

      Sighing heavily, she lovingly placed her hand on her stomach. She could understand Zach’s desire to be with his child, but it didn’t have to be a package deal. Surely they could work out something that was acceptable for both of them without entering into a marriage for all of the wrong reasons.

      When she finally did get married, she wanted it all—a home, a family and a husband who loved her. Not the loveless marriage she would be getting if she went along with Zach’s plan.

      Lost in thought, she jumped at the sudden rap on the door. Before she had the chance to answer, Zach walked in.

      “Are you all right, Arielle?”

      “I’m fine.” At least she had been before he entered the room.

      Good Lord, if she’d thought he had looked good last night, it couldn’t hold a candle to the way he looked now. Zach wasn’t just attractive, he was drop-dead gorgeous.

      The pair of jeans he wore today were faded and rode lower on his lean hips than the ones from the night before. And he hadn’t bothered buttoning his light blue chambray shirt, giving her a very enticing view of his chest and ripped abdominal muscles. Memories of him holding her to that chest as they made love, feeling every perfectly defined muscle pressed against her, caused her heart to skip several beats and her breathing to become shallow.

      “Arielle, are you sure you’re okay?” he repeated, frowning.

      “Oh…um, sure.” When she started to get up, he shook his head. “Stay right where you are. I know how hard it was for my sister to find a comfortable position, even in the early stages of her pregnancy.”

      “Some of the teachers at school said that being comfortable will become a very big issue the further along I get,” she agreed, nodding.

      Walking over to the window seat, he lifted her outstretched legs and sat down, lowering them to his lap. “Lana had a lot of trouble with her feet and legs getting tired,” he said, gently massaging her foot. “Does that feel good?”

      She could lie and tell him it didn’t, but what was the point? He could tell from her serene expression that it did.

      “Actually, it feels like heaven,” she admitted, closing her eyes as he skillfully rubbed her arch.

      “Have you had problems with muscle cramps?” he asked as his hands continued to work their magic.

      “Not many.” Enjoying his relaxing touch, she’d never realized that a foot rub could chase away tension throughout the rest of her body. “My legs cramped up a few times while I was sleeping, but that’s about it.”

      He shoved one leg of her sweatpants up and began to gently move his hands over her calf. “How did your brothers take the news about the baby?”

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