Claimed By The Rancher. Jules Bennett
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stared down at him as if she was afraid to jump.
“I’ll catch you,” he told her as he extended his arms. When she hesitated, he felt that adrenaline surge. “Pepper, come on.”
“I can’t fall,” she cried.
“You won’t,” he assured her, knowing he’d never let her get hurt. “I promise.”
And now was not the time to analyze the fact he’d hurt her immensely once before.
Sirens grew louder, but Nolan didn’t take his eyes off her. She eased closer to the edge and gave him another look, and he nodded, silently pleading for her to trust him.
It seemed like slow motion, but Nolan knew the time it took her to let go and fall into his arms was only a mere couple of seconds. He cradled her against his chest and ran back to his SUV. His pulse continued to pound fast, but not from carrying her. Pepper didn’t weigh much; she’d always been petite. His work as a part-time rancher demanded he be physically fit, so even pregnant, she wasn’t putting a strain on his muscles.
“I can walk,” she told him breathlessly, but her arms encircled his neck as he crossed the street.
“And I can carry you. Did you get hurt? Inhale too much smoke?”
Pepper shook her head. “No. I was getting ready for bed when I smelled smoke and came out of the bathroom to see the front curtains in flames.”
A chill coursed through his veins. What if she’d been asleep? What if she hadn’t gotten out in time? What would she have done had he not been driving by? Would anyone have been around to help?
She trembled against him, and he instantly recognized the shock. The fire truck pulled up and in an instant the firefighters were working on the flames, which still seemed to be only in the front of the second story. An ambulance arrived right after, and Nolan swiftly carried her over.
“I’m Dr. Nolan Elliott.” He addressed the two EMTs who came around to open the back of the ambulance. “I don’t believe she was inside long, but I want her to have oxygen and be taken in immediately. I’ll follow and get her admitted.”
“I don’t need to be admitted,” she argued, but Nolan ignored her protest. She wasn’t in charge here.
“She’s pregnant,” Nolan went on as he stepped up into the back, still holding her in his arms. He lowered her down onto the cot. “How far along?”
Her dark eyes met his and he had to ignore everything that had happened between them up until now. She was a patient. He had to compartmentalize.
“Pepper?”
“Seventeen weeks. Nolan, I don’t think—”
“Oxygen,” he said as one of the medics climbed in on the other side. “I’ll meet you at the ER entrance.”
Pepper gripped his arm as the oxygen mask was placed over her nose and mouth. She pulled it aside and shook her head.
“I don’t need you there and I don’t need to be admitted,” she insisted. “I wasn’t in the apartment that long. I’m not coughing and I’m not light-headed. I’m fine.”
“And you’re positive your baby is?” he retorted.
Her eyes narrowed but he didn’t care if he angered her. In his years at Mercy, he’d seen it all and he wasn’t taking a chance with Pepper and a baby...not again. Even though this wasn’t his child, he wouldn’t risk it.
Damn his desire to protect her.
“I’ll go get checked out, only for the baby.” Her hold tightened on his arm. “But you’re not coming. I don’t need you there.”
Nolan stared at her another minute but didn’t say a word. Finally, he met the gaze of the medic and nodded. No way was Nolan going to let her go alone. No matter what Pepper wanted, right now someone was going to look out for her and her child.
And it seemed he was the chosen one.
* * *
“This is ridiculous.”
Pepper realized her argument was in vain. But as she sat in the passenger seat of Nolan’s extremely flashy SUV heading up the drive to Pebblebrook, she also knew she had little choice but to go along with his plan.
Well, actually, he hadn’t planned, more like steamrolled. After he’d shown up at the hospital, despite her repeated requests that he stay away, he’d informed her he’d be taking her to his house to rest because it was nearly two in the morning and she couldn’t go back to her apartment.
Her apartment. The one place she was going to try to set down roots, to build a life for her baby.
Yet here she was pregnant and temporarily homeless until she found out what damage had been done by the fire. Oh, and she was back with the one man who’d crushed her heart and her spirit and turned his back on her when she needed him most.
It went without saying that she’d had better days. Like the day she’d broken her arm in two places after she’d gone hiking and attempted to climb a vine over a ravine. Even then she was having a better time than she was now.
“I don’t want to stay with you.”
Nolan grunted and continued up the drive. Pebblebrook was exactly like she remembered. Magnificent, with rolling white fencing flanking the drive, the three-story main house was adorned with porches extending across the top two floors. The stables, which were nicer than most homes, brought back memories. Memories of spending evenings in the hayloft, riding horses over the acreage, sharing hopes and dreams.
They’d failed to discuss the one dream that had ultimately come between them, but that was water under the bridge. Pepper firmly believed everything happened for a reason... If only she could figure out why she was here now with Nolan.
“You tell me a logical place to drop you off in the middle of the night and I’ll consider it.”
Pepper crossed her arms and continued to stare out the window into the darkness. She really didn’t care that she was acting like a child. After all, who could blame her? She was tired, scared, worried of what the future would hold for her as a single mother. Once again she’d gotten tangled up with a man who wanted nothing to do with a family or her. But at least this time she hadn’t been in love.
Although she didn’t need a man to complete her life or to help her raise the baby, she was sorry this child would never know his or her father. But Pepper was confident her child would be loved and cared for and would never feel the void.
“That’s what I thought,” Nolan muttered when she failed to answer him. “Now, you need to quit being stubborn and just relax for tonight.”
“Stubborn? Relax?” Pepper whipped around in her seat. “I’m not stubborn, you jerk. You pushed your way into the ER—”
“I actually flashed a smile at the charge nurse.”
Rage boiled within her. “Just because you work there doesn’t give you the right to steamroll me into agreeing to this.”
“I didn’t steamroll anybody,” he said as he made a sharp curve in the drive. “I merely stated that you could be admitted or come home with me. Those were your two options whether you liked them or not. You have no other place to crash tonight.”
Pepper scowled. As if she needed the reminder. She’d been racking her brain trying to work out what had happened in her apartment. She’d been burning some new melts she’d made that afternoon, but she was positive she’d turned off the warmer before she got into the shower. Hadn’t she?
“I won’t be your charity case so you can feel better about yourself over how you treated me in the past.”
There. She’d laid it out there. Pepper didn’t want there to be any question about where they stood. Because the truth was, she’d moved on. And the fact