gave her a short nod.
She looked as if she wanted to sock him one. “The answer is no.”
He refused to dwell on how relieved her admission made him feel. “Then if you are pregnant, the baby will be mine.” Placing the cloth on the bedside table, he took a deep breath. “Well, I think the best thing we can do now is see a doctor, then go from there.”
“I think it’s too early to tell.” She frowned, and he could tell she didn’t have any experience in this particular area. The observation pleased the hell out of him.
“When—”
“I’m not sure about the time table, but I think it will take a few weeks for a test to show any accurate results.”
“You fainted for a reason.”
“I told you, I have a cold,” she insisted. “Sometimes they settle in my inner ear.”
“Are you on medication?”
She nodded. “My doctor gave me a prescription before I left Dallas to come to the finals.”
Chance removed his hat, then ran his hand through his hair. “I’d like for you to check with a doctor before you take any more. Some of that stuff can hurt a baby.”
Kristen felt her stomach do a back flip. The situation grew more complicated by the minute.
“Maybe there isn’t anything to worry about.” Refusing to stay put any longer, she sat up. “There’s a big chance I’m not pregnant.”
“But there’s a possibility you are.”
“Will you stop saying that?”
The man had the audacity to ignore her protest. “It’s my child as much as yours, and I want what’s best.” She watched him replace his hat, then rest his forearms on his knees and stare down at his loosely clasped hands. “I’m not quite sure how to say this, so I’ll just spit it out.” He raised his gaze to meet hers. “I face up to my responsibilities. If you’re pregnant, you won’t have to go through this alone, Kristen. When the time comes, I’ll be right there beside you, helping make decisions about raising the baby.”
Decisions.
Kristen’s head throbbed and she really didn’t feel up to facing the possibilities he mentioned, let alone make decisions for a child that might not even exist.
“Okay, I’ll see a doctor as soon as I return to Dallas.” She might as well be reasonable about this. “When I find out something definite, I’ll call you.”
“No.” He stood, placed his hands on his lean hips, then stared down at her. “Nothing against you or your honesty, but I don’t know you well enough to know whether you’d contact me or not.”
“Then what do you suggest?” No way was she taking him with her back to Dallas.
“After we see a doctor here in Vegas about your fainting spell, I want you to go with me to my ranch in the Panhandle,” he said. “If it’s too early for a definite answer now, we’ll wait out the results there. Once we find out for sure what the verdict is, we’ll deal with it.”
She shook her head. “I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know you that well.”
“We’re married.”
“Not for long.”
“If you’re pregnant—”
“I’m not.”
“But if you are,” he insisted, “I’d like for us to stay married until after the baby’s born.”
Trying to think, she rubbed her forehead. “I can’t go with you. I’m expected back in Dallas tomorrow for a board meeting. I have to turn in my reports on the most likely candidates to endorse Sagebrush Boots.”
“That can be taken care of by overnight express or a fax to your father.”
Kristen felt the color drain from her face. What would Mike say if he knew his daughter had awakened this morning to find herself married to, and possibly pregnant by, the very man he’d warned her to avoid?
She glanced up at Chance. Her husband. The thought of being married to the sexiest cowboy she’d ever met set loose some very heated sensations in places that had no business being warm and tingly. She closed her eyes to keep the feelings from building. Getting all hot and bothered over the man she’d accidentally married was not solving the immediate problem.
To get her mind back on track, she thought of how Mike would take the news. Her father would undoubtedly take things a whole lot better if she’d married anyone but Chance Warren. The last name of Warren never failed to send Mike Lassiter into a tirade, but she’d never been able to figure out why.
Six years ago, when she’d first started soliciting endorsements for Sagebrush Boots, Mike had told her that under no circumstances was she to approach Chance. A successful, good-looking bull rider, he would have been the perfect spokesman for Sagebrush Boots and brought in a tremendous amount of business. But her father refused to budge on the issue. As long as Mike drew breath, a Warren would never get paid to endorse a pair of Sagebrush boots.
The gravity of what she’d done weighed her down and she closed her eyes. Mike would take one look at her and know something was up. And she’d already been a big-enough disappointment to the man just by being born female. If he found out she’d married Chance, she’d never see anything but contempt in his piercing gray gaze.
“Kristen, are you all right?” Chance asked, concern evident in his smooth baritone. “If going to my ranch bothers you that much, I’ll go with you to Dallas.”
Opening her eyes, she made a snap decision. She’d go with Chance to his ranch. At least until they sorted out what needed to be done about the annulment. Besides, it was much more appealing than the thought of trying to explain Chance’s presence in her apartment to Mike.
“Now that I think about it, it might be best if I do accompany you to your ranch,” she said coolly. She didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. “I’ll fax my report along with a message that I’m taking a little vacation time.”
Chance nodded. “How long before you’re ready, then?”
“Fifteen minutes or so. But—”
“I’ll go down and take care of things at the front desk.” Shrugging into his denim jacket, he bent down and picked up their marriage license. “I’ll have a bellboy sent up to carry your luggage down to my truck,” he said, tucking the document into his breast pocket. “Once we have you checked out at the hospital, I’d like to get on the road.”
Before Kristen could protest his determination that she see a doctor, he walked to the door and left without a backward glance.
Chance sat next to Kristen in the waiting room of the urgent-care clinic, his gaze fixed on the poster tacked to the wall
