Allison Leigh - The Tycoon's Marriage Bid

Addictive.

He was still so close. “Melted what?”

She frowned a little. Had she said it out loud? “My head feels funny.”

“It’s the sedative,” the nurse stated. She unwrapped the blood pressure cuff from Nikki’s arm and tucked the contraption back in its holder beside the bed. “Don’t worry. It won’t harm the baby. You’re just both going to have a little nap.”

“I don’t want a nap. I have to go back to Cheyenne.”

“Not today you don’t. You’ve been out of it for four days, remember?” Alex let go of her and straightened, moving away from the bed.

She wanted to call him back. But the idea took too much effort.

Later. She’d call him later.

No, she wouldn’t call him back later.

Later she’d have to call human resources at Belvedere and see if she could salvage the job she was supposed to start.

Salvage.

She felt an amused giggle rise in her, but it never seemed to make it out.

She’d have to do lots of things.

She just couldn’t put her finger on what they were at the moment….

Alex watched Nikki’s eyes close. The stress wrinkling her forehead smoothed out. Her lips softened.

“She’ll sleep for a few hours,” the nurse told him quietly.

Alex nodded. He followed the doctor outside the room. “You’ve been running tests on her since I got here. I want details.” He wasn’t a physician himself, but he came from a long line of them, and he employed a fair number himself. If he wasn’t satisfied with the doctor’s answers, he’d have Nikki under someone else’s care in a heartbeat.

“We can talk in my office,” the doctor said easily. “I wouldn’t mind getting some medical history on you, as well.”

Alex smiled noncommittally. It suited him to let the doctor believe he was the baby’s father. If the other man knew just how nonpersonal his relationship with Nikki Day was, Alex would have a harder time getting the information he wanted.

He’d still get it.

He just preferred to get it as expediently as possible.

He should have done it all when he’d arrived at the hospital. Instead, he’d sat by Nikki’s bedside.

It was unfathomable even to him.

Two hours later, he’d obtained all the details of Nikki’s and her baby’s health that he wanted. He’d even called his uncle, who was head of obstetrics for RHS Memorial, the Philadelphia flagship hospital of Reed Health Systems, who concurred with Dr. Carmichael’s plan of treatment.

Alex had plenty of disagreements with his family. But when it came to basic medical care, there were few minds finer.

So he sat now in the recliner in Nikki’s room, watching her sleep. There was a little more color in her face than there had been when he’d first arrived.

His first sight of her had hit him in a way he was still trying to figure out. When she’d worked for him, he’d never seen her with a hair on her auburn head out of place, and he’d never seen her lose her composure. Not with temper or tears. She’d been efficient as hell. The best assistant he could ever have wanted. She’d kept his hectic life in order, and he was still reeling all these months after she’d left him flat.

It wasn’t a fact he particularly liked admitting, either. He didn’t like depending on anyone. Not when they invariably failed you.

But he’d depended on Nikki.

Right now, she seemed miles away from that fearsomely competent young woman who’d often beat him to the office in the mornings, and generally outlasted him at the end of the day. Aside from the swollen soccer-ball-size mound her slender arm was curled protectively over, she seemed too thin, and ridiculously young.

Vulnerable.

Her hair waved across the white pillow in a fiery river, looking more red than brown. There were no cosmetics to make her ivory complexion perfect, and it was smooth as velvet anyway. Her lips were softly parted and her oval chin was relaxed, missing its typical no-nonsense tilt.

Nikki Day was beautiful.

He supposed that wasn’t really a news flash to him. The vulnerability, though. That was as unexpected as finding her pregnant.

Which didn’t explain, even to him, what he was doing here.

Nikki was right to be surprised. Suspicious, even.

He had a dozen things—give or take a hundred—to deal with regarding Huffington. He hadn’t been exaggerating about the competence of the assistants that HR had been sending his way. And having a barely tolerable assistant just now was worse than having no assistant.

Nikki shifted, turning on her side, and tucked her hand against her cheek. Beneath the thin blanket, her leg moved, and the bare tips of her toes sneaked out from beneath the covers. Her toenails were painted a soft peach color.

His favorite fruit had always been peaches.

Annoyed with the thought, he looked back at her face.

Her eyes were open. Dark blue. Slightly unfocused. But they cleared almost instantly.

“It’s not some bad dream?” Her voice was little more than a soft sigh.

He shook his head and hoped to hell those blue eyes didn’t fill with tears again. Seeing Nikki Day in tears unnerved him. It wasn’t a sensation he welcomed. “No. How’re you feeling?”

“Woozy.” One slender arm was still crossed protectively over her abdomen.

“The baby’s okay. And Carmichael has been in contact with your OB in Cheyenne.”

She looked distinctly discomfited at the news. “I probably don’t want to know how you know that, nor how Dr. Carmichael even knows who my doctor there is, do I?”

Since that was true, he kept silent.

She turned on her back. Started to fold her arm over her eyes but didn’t, giving the IV taped to it a baleful look. “Belle and Cage got married before Christmas. They put off their honeymoon until after the holidays. If I call them now, they won’t have a chance to get away again until summer, and then…”

Calling her sister was the logical answer. Yet she sounded miserable over it.

“Where’d they go for their honeymoon?” he asked.

“The Caribbean.”

Her eyes were wet. Damn.

“Belle was so excited. Not just because it’s her honeymoon, but because she’s always dreamed of traveling to places like that. But at least they’re probably reachable.” Nikki’s voice went a little hoarse. “My mother and Squire are floating somewhere on the Mediterranean. I know they can be reached in an emergency, but—”

He lifted his hand. He really didn’t like seeing tears in her eyes. “You don’t have to reach anyone.”

She shook her head. The tears glinted. “I can’t afford one week in the hospital, much less three.”

He could tell reiterating the admission cost her. Not that he hadn’t figured it out for himself. She hadn’t been working anywhere in Cheyenne—not that he’d been able to discover, anyway. And to his chagrin, he’d tried. He knew her mother’s husband had money, but he also figured that asking for help was not Nikki’s particular forte.

Since he was generally more in the position of cleaning up other people’s messes than being in need of cleaning in his own life, he figured that was something they had in common.

When had Nikki had time for any sort of personal life?

The thought kept coming to the forefront.

He’d kept her too busy for a personal life.

Or so he’d thought.

He marshaled his thoughts. “I’ve rented you a place.”

Silence descended on the room as she absorbed his statement. Then her eyes widened. Color touched, then just as quickly fled from her cheeks. “Excuse me?”

“I took care of it while you were sleeping. The sheriff’s office recommended a few places. Someone from the inn packed up your stuff, and it’s been moved to the rental.” He figured just about any place would be better than the Lucius Inn, which didn’t even possess a proper suite.