Читать книгу Texas Baby - Kathleen O'Brien - Страница 9

CHAPTER FIVE

CHASE HAD MADE IT crystal clear. Under no circumstances was Josie to get up before Dr. Marchant came in the morning, checked her out and gave her the green light.

But by nine, she was too restless to stay put a minute longer, even in this comfortable guest suite, a bedroom and bath that together were nearly as big as her whole apartment.

She’d been awake for hours, since the first bout of morning sickness swept through her around dawn. During the night, someone had placed a tray of soda crackers and a pitcher of ice water beside her bed, and by six she felt strong enough to nibble the edge of one of the little saltine squares.

After that, the house had been too full of noise, doors banging and people calling to one another, trucks pulling up in the drive, horses whinnying and phones ringing. The ranch was coming awake for the day.

A few minutes later, the sun woke up, too, and her pretty room filled with clear lime-colored light that danced on mirrors and curlicue silver picture frames, and even on her water glass.

But she remembered her promise and tried to sit still, waiting for the doctor. She pulled one of the chairs up to the window and sat for an hour, just drinking in the beauty of the ranchland. It seemed to stretch out to forever. The hills rolled softly into the distance, going from green to gray to foggy blue.

She’d been right about where the little hand-carved headstone should be. From her window, she could just see it, beneath the sparkleberry tree, which was shedding its starry white flowers all over the collie’s grave.

Funny, that one spot of the Clayton Creek Ranch had been as vividly real to her as her own kitchen. Her lover—she no longer found it comfortable to call him Chase—had described it so perfectly, down to the way the headstone had been set crooked in the grass.

She tried to picture him standing there, staring down at the sweet, silly inscription and thinking, Yes, I can use this someday. Some brainless bimbo will fall for this like a pile of rocks.

After that, she’d paced the room for a while, testing out her legs. In spite of a roaring headache and her purpling bruises, she felt stronger today.

Probably because she’d had a good night’s sleep. And, for once, her stomach hadn’t been required to wake right up and handle the smell of greasy sausage and fat-marbled bacon.

But even the luxury of laziness grew uncomfortable after a while. She was used to being busy. She checked her watch. Nine-thirty. Despite Chase’s command, she needed to get going.

She started with her shot—thank goodness she’d had enough presence of mind, after the shock of discovering she was pregnant, to pack a small bag of essentials, including her insulin.