It was completely ridiculous, but his statement caused her heart to squeeze painfully. She knew this would be his only biological child, and therefore as important to him as it was to her. But was the baby the only one he was worried about?
It was an undeniable fact that they were extremely attracted to each other physically. That was the reason they found themselves in their current set of circumstances. But was that as far as it went for him? Was the baby the only one he cared for? And why was she suddenly obsessing over it now?
“Honey, are you all right?”
“I’m a little tired.” She stepped back from his embrace. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll skip dinner and lay down for a nap.”
Fin could tell her sudden mood swing confused him, but that couldn’t be helped. She needed time to think, time to sort through her feelings and try to understand why it was suddenly so important that the baby wasn’t his only concern.
Wanting to get away from him before she did something stupid like burst into tears, she hurried down the hall and started up the stairs. But she suddenly had the strange sensation of flying a moment before she landed in a heap on the hardwood floor.
As she lay there wondering what on earth had happened, a sharp pain knifed through her left side, taking her breath, causing her to draw her legs into a fetal position. Her pulse thundered in her ears and as the room began a sickening spin, she felt herself being drawn into a fathomless black abyss.
She thought she heard Travis call her name, but the beckoning shadows refused to release her. As she gave in to the mist closing around her, her last thought was of losing the baby she wanted so desperately and the man she’d come to love.
Seated in the waiting area at the emergency room, Travis was about two seconds away from tearing the hospital apart if somebody didn’t tell him something, and damned quick, about Fin’s condition. When he’d brought her in for treatment, they’d run him out of the examining room and he hadn’t been allowed back in there since.
He let out a frustrated breath and scrubbed his hands over his face. When he’d heard the loud thump in the living room, followed by an eerie silence, his heart felt as if it had dropped to his boot tops. He’d called her name as he started down the hall to see what happened, but at the sight of her crumpled body lying at the bottom of the stairs the blood in his veins had turned to ice water and he was pretty sure it had taken a good ten years off his life.
“Mr. Clayton?”
When he looked up, a woman in a white lab coat stood at the swinging double doors leading to the treatment area. Jumping to his feet, he walked over to her. “What’s going on?”
“I’m Doctor Santos, the on-call OB/GYN,” she said, shaking his hand.
“Is Fin going to be all right?” he demanded. If she lost the baby, he’d mourn. But if it came down to her life or the baby’s, there was no choice. He wanted the best care humanly possible for Fin.
Smiling, the doctor nodded. “Ms. Elliott cracked a rib when she fell, but I think she and the baby will both be fine. She’s healthy and the pregnancy seems to be a normal one, so I don’t foresee any problems.”
“Thank God.” The degree of relief he felt was staggering and his knees wobbled as if they’d turned to rubber.
“She’ll need to be on bed rest for the next few days and I wouldn’t advise traveling for a couple of weeks. But after that, if she doesn’t experience any more problems, she should be able to resume normal activities.” The woman scribbled something on the chart she held, then she looked up and her brown-eyed gaze met his. “And it would be best to refrain from sexual intercourse until she goes back for her next prenatal check.”
“Can I see her?” he asked, anxious to see with his own eyes that Fin was okay.
“She’s getting dressed now,” Dr. Santos said, turning to go back through the swinging doors. “You might want to go get your truck and bring it around to the patient pick-up area.”
He frowned. “You’re sending her home? Shouldn’t you keep her for observation or something?”
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to take Fin back to the ranch. He did. But he wanted the best care possible for her.
“Relax, Mr. Clayton.” The woman’s dark eyes twinkled. “Believe me, she’ll get a lot more rest at home than she would here. And of course, bring her back if she experiences any further problems.”
Five minutes later, when he parked outside of the doors designated for discharged patients, a nurse pushed Fin in a wheelchair out to the truck. Once he had her comfortably settled on the bench seat, he slid in behind the steering wheel and started the thirty-mile drive back to the Silver Moon.
“Did the doctor tell you that I’m going to have to extend my stay with you?”
Fin’s voice sounded weak and shaky and it just about tore him apart. She was one of the strongest women he’d ever met and it took a lot to bring her down. But he had a feeling that she was shaken more by the thought that she could have lost the baby than from physical pain.
“I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to spend the rest of your pregnancy on the Silver Moon,” he said, taking her hand in his.
She gave him a tired smile. “That would be nice, but I need to get back to the magazine.”
Her words were like a sucker punch to his gut and a definite wake-up call for him. Of course, she’d want to get back to that damned magazine and the contest for CEO of her dad’s publishing company. Jess had told him that Fin lived and breathed Charisma. She was the first one in the office in the morning and the last one to go home at night.
He’d lost a lot of sleep speculating on whether anything could ever come of the attraction between them. It looked as if he’d just gotten the answer.
“Ooh. That doesn’t feel good at all,” Fin said, holding her side as she rose to her feet and took a tentative step toward the dresser. She’d known that moving around was going to hurt, but she hadn’t realized how much.
Sitting on the side of Travis’s bed for the past several minutes, she’d been trying to work up the courage to walk over and get her purse. She’d needed to call the office and talk to Cade. He was going to have to assume her duties for the next two weeks and keep Charisma on track to win Patrick’s contest. Even though she had no intention of accepting the position, she wanted to win and prove to Patrick, once and for all, that his daughter wasn’t a complete disappointment.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Travis’s booming voice made her jump and the movement jarred her sore ribs, causing them to hurt more. “I need my cell phone.”
“Why didn’t you ask me to get it for you?” Placing the bed tray he carried on top of the dresser, he helped her back to bed. “Is it in your purse?”
“Yes.” As she reclined against a mountain of pillows, she took shallow breaths until the ache in her side receded. “I need to call the office and have Cade take over for me until I get back.”
He handed her the purse. “Isn’t this his and Jessie’s first day back from the honeymoon?”
Nodding, she dug around in the bottom of the bag for her cell phone. “What a thing to come home to. He’s still basking in the glow of being a newlywed and I’m going to tell him he has to put his nose to the grindstone and not look up until I get back.”
Travis chuckled. “Jess might not take too kindly to that, either.”
“I can almost guarantee that she’ll stay at the office with him.” Laughing, she held her side. “Even laughing hurts.”
His teasing expression changed immediately. “Are you sure you’re all right? No other signs that something else could be wrong?”
“None,” she said, shaking her head. She concentrated on the phone in her hand so he wouldn’t see the disappointment she felt at his concern for her pregnancy and not her.
She could feel his eyes watching her for several long moments before he finally cleared his throat and hooked his thumb over his shoulder toward the dresser. “I’ll take your breakfast back to th
e kitchen and keep it warm for you. Let me know when you get off the phone and I’ll bring it back up.”
“Thank you,” she mouthed as Chloe answered on the other end of the line.
While her assistant went through the spiel of which office she’d reached and whom she was speaking to, Fin watched Travis glance her way once more as he carried the tray from the room. She could tell he wasn’t happy that she was conducting business instead of resting, but he was wisely keeping quiet about it.
“Chloe, it’s Fin,” she said, interrupting the young woman.
“Where are you? Why aren’t you here at the office? Is everything okay?” The rapid-fire questions were typical Chloe.
Smiling, Fin answered, “I decided to take a weekend trip to Colorado.”
“Ooh, you went to see Jessie’s father, the cowboy, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” She listened for a moment as Chloe gushed about how handsome Travis was and how thrilled she was to hear about the baby before Fin interrupted. “Is Cade in his office?”
“He and Jessie arrived an hour ago, disappeared into his office and they haven’t been seen since.” Chloe giggled. “You know how newlyweds are.”
Fin winced. She hated having to be the one to break up their bliss, but this was a business call. She needed to speak to him as his boss, not his new mother-in-law.
“Transfer this call to his office.”
“When are you coming back, Fin?” There was an excited edge to Chloe’s voice and Fin could tell her assistant had something she wanted to share.
“Probably not for a couple of weeks.”
Chloe gasped. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Unfortunately, no.” Pinching the skin over the bridge of her nose, she tried to ward off the tension headache that threatened. “Now, ring Cade’s office for me.” She’d put just enough firmness in her voice to let Chloe know that the social part of her call was over.
“Cade McMann.” From the slight echo, Fin could tell that he was using the speakerphone.
“Cade, it’s Fin. I have something I need you to do.”
“Do you need me to come down to your office?” he asked.
Fin sighed. “It wouldn’t do you any good. I’m in Colorado.”
“You’re with Dad at the ranch?” Jessie asked excitedly.
“Yes.”
“How long have you been there? Are you staying for a while?” Jessie’s excitement seemed to be building.
“Three days. And yes, I’ll be staying for the next two weeks.”
“Two weeks!” Cade’s voice forced Fin to hold the phone away from her ear. “With the competition as tight as it is you’re not going to be here?”
“First of all, calm down and listen.” When it came to Charisma, taking charge and getting results were second nature to her. “You’ll be acting editor-in-chief until I return at the end of the month, Cade. Don’t let anyone slack off on the push to bring profits up. Have Chloe give you a daily report of what she learns from the accounting department. And go over all ad copy with a fine-tooth comb to make sure it’s in order before you send it to production.”
“Anything else?”
“Call me every day and let me know how we’re doing.” She paused. “I don’t have to tell you how much I want to win this competition.”
“No, Fin. You’ve made it clear from the start how important this is.” There was a long pause and she could tell he was trying to figure out how to word his next question.
“What?”
She could almost see him blow out a frustrated breath. “You haven’t taken a vacation in years. Why now? Why couldn’t it have waited until January after you’ve won the CEO position?”
“Believe me, I’d be there if I could.”
“Fin, what’s wrong?” The concern in her daughter’s voice touched her as little else could.
“I’m fine, sweetie. Honest.” Explaining what had happened and the doctor’s advice, she added, “But I’m not so sure about your dad.”
“He’s hovering, isn’t he?” Jessie guessed. “He doesn’t like not being in control and when something like this happens, he always makes a big fuss.”
“That’s an understatement. He’s waiting right now for me to get off the phone so that he can bring me breakfast in bed.”
“You do realize he’s going to drive you nuts?”
Looking up, Fin watched Travis walk into the room with the bed tray laden with every kind of breakfast food imaginable. “He already is, sweetie.”
Nine
Travis cautiously watched Fin walk over to the couch and sit down. He’d tried to get her to take another day to lounge around, but she’d pointed out that the doctor had told her to take it easy for a couple of days and it had already been four since her fall. He hadn’t liked it, but he’d reluctantly agreed to her being up as long as he was in the same room with her when she got up and started moving around.
She’d given him a look that would have stopped any of her male coworkers dead in their tracks. But it hadn’t fazed him one damned bit. She was on his turf now, not some corporate boardroom where she said “jump” and the people around her asked, “How high?”
“Travis, will you please stop watching me like you think I’m going to fall apart at any moment?” She shook her head. “Aside from my ribs being sore, I’m as healthy as one of your horses.”
He shrugged. “You don’t look like a horse.”
“Thank you.” She frowned. “I think.”
“Miss Fin, would you like for me to fix you somethin’ to eat or drink,” Spud asked, walking into the room.
“No, but thank you anyway, Mr. Jenkins,” Fin answered politely.
“Well, anything you need, you just give me a holler,” Spud said, giving her a toothless grin. “I’ll see that you get it.”
“I appreciate your kindness,” she said, smiling.
Travis eyed the old man as he walked back into the kitchen. Fin had charmed his housekeeper’s socks off the first time she’d visited the ranch, and when Spud learned she’d be staying with them for a while, he’d been happier than a lone rooster in an overcrowded hen house.
“I think there’s something I need after all.” She rose to her feet before Travis could get across the room to help her off the couch.
“Where are you going?” He pointed toward the stairs. “If you need something from the bedroom, I’ll get it.”
Shaking her head, she walked over to the coat tree by the front door. “I’m going outside for a breath of fresh air.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” he asked, following her.
He knew better than to try to talk her out of it. If there was one thing he’d learned when he was married, it was never tell a woman she couldn’t do something. It was a surefire way to get a man in hot water faster than he could slap his own ass with both hands.
Holding her jacket for her, then shrugging into his own, he tried a different angle. “The temperature has dropped a good ten degrees since this morning and we’ve had a few snow flurries. You might get a chill and shivering would probably cause your ribs to hurt.”
“Give it up, cowboy. You and Mr. Jenkins won’t let me do anything and I’m going stir-crazy.” She smiled. “Now are you going to stand here and argue, or are you coming with me?”
Resigned, he reached around her to open the door. “As long as we’re going outside, we might as well check on the horses and see that they have hay and plenty of water.” At least if they were in the barn, she’d be sheltered from the wind.
Her green eyes twinkled merrily and she looked so damned pretty, he felt a familiar flame ignite in the pit of his belly. “We’re returning to the scene of the crime?”
Laughing out loud, he nodded. “Something like that.” He didn’t tell her, but be hadn’t been able to go into the barn one single time since that night and not think about her and their lovemaking.
“How is the colt?” she asked as they walked across the ranch yard.
He didn’t even try to stop his wicked grin. “You actually remember there was a colt?”
“You’re incorrigible, Mr. Clayton. Of course, I remember the colt. That’s the reason we went into the barn that night in the first place.” Her smile did strange things to his insides and reminded him that he hadn’t been able to make love to her in what seemed like a month of Sundays. “I’ll bet he’s changed a lot in the past month.”
“All babies, no matter what their species, grow faster in their first year than any other time,” he said, nodding. Pushing the barn door open, he waited for Fin to step inside. “When Jess was a baby, she grew so fast there were times I could have sworn she changed overnight.”
“Unfortunately, the only memory I have of Jessie as an infant was seeing the nun carry a small bundle away,” Fin said, walking up to the over-sized stall where he kept the mare and colt. “Patrick gave them strict orders that he didn’t even want me knowing whether I’d had a boy or a girl. But one nurse told me I’d had a perfect little girl before she left the delivery room with Jessie.”
Travis’s chest tightened at the thought of Fin having to watch her baby being taken away, of never knowing whether she would see her little girl again. “You’ll get to watch this baby grow up from the moment he’s born, Fin.” Slipping his arms around her, he held her close. “We both will.”
Nodding, she remained silent and he figured she was struggling to hold her emotions in check.
It just about tore him apart to think of anything causing her such emotional pain and he knew right then and there that he wanted to spend the rest of his life making sure that she never knew another sad moment.
He took a deep breath, then another as the realization spread throughout every fiber of his being. There was no more doubt and no more denial. Whether they came from two different worlds or not, he’d fallen in love with Fin.
It scared the living hell out of him to think that she might not feel the same. But he knew beyond a shadow of doubt that he had to lay his heart on the line and take that chance. Whether they lived on the Silver Moon or in New York, Fin and the baby were more important to him than taking his next breath. And he had every intention of telling her so.
Dynasties:The Elliots, Books 7-12 Page 70
