“Moment?” He sounded surprised.
“Jake’s fascination with a woman has never lasted longer than a couple of weeks,” she explained.
“That could present a problem.”
She nodded. “Plus the fact that they still think of me as a child.”
“Hey, give them a break, darlin’.” He grinned. “I pretty much think along the same line when it comes to my sister.”
She sighed. “Your sister has my heartfelt sympathy.”
“So why did you decide to move to Texas?”
Gazing into his questioning green eyes, she wondered how much she should tell him. She’d been cautious about revealing her relationship with Emerald Larson to anyone. Who would believe she’d gone from a struggling preschool teacher, barely making ends meet, to an heiress with a bottomless bank account and a thriving business? She had never openly discussed her financial affairs with anyone but her brothers.
“I was presented with an opportunity to run my own preschool and I took it,” she responded, settling on an honest but sketchy answer to his question. “And Premier Academy just happened to be in Dallas.”
Zach stared at her wanting to ask more about her acquisition, but thankfully her stomach chose to rumble, reminding both of them that it was lunchtime.
“Uh-oh, we’d better get you something to eat before you get sick again,” he stated, lifting her legs from his lap and rising to his feet. He held his hand out to help her up from the window seat. “What would you like me to make? Pasta or hamburgers?”
“You’re going to cook?”
“I can handle things,” he said, nodding his head. “Mattie’s stocked the kitchen for my visit.”
“Why don’t we have something easy for lunch,” she suggested when her stomach made its presence known again. “A sandwich would work.”
“Need something pretty quick, huh?”
“I’m hungry enough to gnaw the legs off the table,” she detailed as she walked into the kitchen and went straight to the refrigerator for a package of roast beef and some cheese.
“My cook in Dallas is going to love having you around,” he said, laughing as he handed her a loaf of bread from the pantry. “Nothing makes her happier than feeding people.”
Arielle stopped piling the sliced meat on two pieces of bread. “I won’t be around for her to feed.”
“Sure you will.” She watched him remove the milk from the fridge, then reach into the cabinet for a couple of glasses. “Once we’re married, you’ll be living there, remember?”
She shook her head. “It’s never going to happen, remember?”
His low masculine chuckle caused her heart to skip several beats. “Like I told you last night, never say ‘never,’ darlin’.”
Chapter Four
On Monday afternoon, Zach sat beside Arielle in the obstetrician’s waiting room, thumbing through a magazine. He wasn’t the least bit interested in reading about or looking at pictures of maternity clothes. But since Arielle had been giving him the silent treatment ever since their helicopter flight to Dallas, it gave him something to do while they waited for her to be called to see the doctor.
Over the weekend, they seemed to have reached a truce of sorts and instead of arguing about their upcoming marriage, they had—as if by unspoken agreement—stopped talking about it completely. He still had every intention of making her his wife as soon as possible. Nothing she could say or do was going to change that.
“Arielle Garnier?”
Zach glanced up to see a nurse standing at the door leading back to the examination rooms. “Looks like it’s our turn, darlin’,” he said, rising to his feet, then offering his hand to help Arielle out of her chair.
Frowning, she placed her hand in his, stood and turned to face him. “It’s my turn, not ours, and I’d rather you stay here while I’m with the doctor.”
“You’ve made that very clear, darlin’. And I’ve made it just as clear that I’m going with you.” He placed his hand to the small of her back and started guiding her across the waiting room.
Her body language and stormy expression indicated that he would hear all about this once they left the doctor’s office. But if she thought that was enough to intimidate him, she was sadly mistaken. Nothing was going to keep him from seeing the first images of his child.
The nurse motioned for them to enter a small room at the back of the office. There she recorded Arielle’s weight, then took her temperature and blood pressure. “The doctor will be in shortly,” she estimated, smiling as she walked to the door. “If you’d like, you can have ‘Dad’ help you onto the examination table. Then go ahead and pull your top up to just below your breasts and your pants down to just below your tummy.”
As the woman closed the door behind her, an odd feeling spread throughout Zach’s chest. Although he’d thought of little else since learning that Arielle was carrying his child, something about the nurse calling him “Dad” made it a reality.
“For the last time, I would prefer to see the doctor without an audience,” Arielle protested, her tone reflecting her outrage.
Turning to face her, he cupped her soft cheeks with his hands. “It’s all right, darlin’. I know you’re probably self-conscious about your stomach,” he said, making certain his tone was sympathetic, even if he didn’t quite understand why she was uncomfortable about it. “But that’s to be expected. You’re pregnant. And there’s nothing I’m going to see now that I haven’t already.” Kissing the tip of her nose, he smiled. “Now, let’s get you on that table, ready to find out what we’re having—a bouncing baby boy or a sweet baby girl.”
She gave him one last belligerent glare, before allowing him to help her up onto the examination table.
“Didn’t the nurse tell you to expose your stomach for this?” he asked, reaching for the bottom of her maternity top.
To his surprise, she slapped the back of his hand. “I’ll wait until the doctor comes in.”
“Okay,” he uttered, quickly releasing the hem of the garment. Zach knew better than to press the issue if he wanted to keep his head resting comfortably between his shoulders.
“My nurse told me you brought the baby’s father with you for the ultrasound, Arielle,” a woman wearing a white lab coat announced when she walked into the room. Closing the door behind her, she smiled and stuck out her hand. “Good afternoon, I’m Dr. Jensen.”