Being a doctor took more than skill. Mia’s patients and their owners counted on her confidence, precision and attention to detail...which made it all the more concerning that she was blanking on the name of the vet tech who had worked with her for three years.
“Dr. Z? Are you all right?”
“Um, sorry...” Anna? Abby? “I overslept this morning and it’s like I’ve been running at the wrong speed ever since.” Mia picked up the file the tech had set on the desk. Anita? “Guess this is what happens if I don’t have time to get caffeine before I come in.”
“I totally understand. One time,” Amanda began, “during finals—”
“Amanda!” Amanda Rockwell. Mia couldn’t believe it had taken her so long to come up with the right name.
The blonde drew back, looking startled. “Yes?”
“What?” Oh, right. Because Mia had just shrieked the tech’s name. “Nothing. Never mind. Thanks for the file. You’ll, um, call Mr. Lee and follow up on how Roscoe is doing?”
“On my way to do that now.” Amanda peered at her. “You sure you don’t need anything else?”
“Nope, I’m good.” Mia pasted a smile on her face, struggling to look convincing.
Amanda still looked skeptical when she turned to go. Like last night. Mia had tried to assure an adoptive cat family that she was all right, but they’d been alarmed by her tears. So had she. Mia certainly hadn’t expected to bawl her eyes out when the last of the foster kittens was picked up. After all, finding them forever homes had been the goal! She’d fostered cats and dogs dozens of times in the past and never sobbed when they left her place. So why the embarrassing crying jag?
She’d eventually exhausted herself to the point of sleeping straight through her alarm this morning.
What the hell is wrong with me? She slumped back in her chair. Whatever it was, it had caused her to reread the same sentence three times.
“Dr. Z?”
She glanced up from the file to see Amanda hovering in the doorway. “Yes?”
“I thought this might help.” With a sympathetic smile, the tech handed her a mug of coffee.
“Thank—” An unexpected wave of nausea caused Mia to tightly clamp her mouth shut. She normally loved the smell of coffee. She owned coffee-scented candles. At the moment, however, her body violently protested the aroma. She couldn’t have been more repulsed if it was week-old fish. Pushing past a wide-eyed Amanda, she hurried to the restroom, her stomach roiling.
Moodiness.
Fatigue.
Vomiting.
A person didn’t need a medical degree to recognize those symptoms. Dizziness swamped her, and Mia gripped the edge of the sink counter to steady herself. No, no, no. It wasn’t possible! She didn’t even have a sex life. Well, except for that single night with Jace, and they’d used condoms.
She eyed her reflection critically, looking for any visible hints that she might be...
It was hard to even think the word. Pregnant. But she was letting her imagination run away with her. It was more likely she was coming down with something. Yet even as she repeated this reassurance to herself, she scrolled through the contacts on her phone. Her budding panic eased the tiniest bit when Shari answered.
“What’s up?” Shari asked around a yawn. “Aren’t you at work?” They rarely spoke this early in the day.
“I am, but I’m not staying. I hate to ask you this, given how late you were probably at the restaurant, but can you meet me at my house?” Mia couldn’t keep her voice from trembling.
“Of course.” Shari’s tone was fully alert. “Give me five minutes to change.”
“Take ten,” Mia said. “I have to make a stop on the way.”
“Thank you. Again.” Sitting with her back against the bedroom wall, Mia turned to face Shari so that her friend could see how much she appreciated her being here. “I’m sorry for probably overreacting and wasting your time.”
Shari, seated on the floor right next to her, patted her hand. “Hey, you’d do the same for me. Besides, you timed your emergency well. The restaurant’s not even open. If you’d called me during a lunch or dinner rush, I would have told you tough luck.”
Mia started to laugh, but her stomach cramped. “It’s probably food poisoning. Or rotavirus, and now I’ve exposed you. I can’t possibly be pregnant!” She glanced to the clock on her dresser. In another minute, they’d know for sure. She felt like she could literally hear the seconds ticking, but the clock was digital.
“It is technically possible. But unlikely,” Shari hurried to add. “And it would be cosmically unfair. You’ve only had sex once in the past year.”
“Well, one night. Three times.” Her memory reeled with images of Jace, braced above her on those sculpted arms. Smiling down at her, his grin becoming endearingly lopsided as he grew sleepy. Even now, scared that there might be life-changing consequences from that night, she didn’t regret any of it.
Would Jace? How would he feel if it turned out she was carrying his child? Would he be sorry for what they’d shared or supportive? Or would he dismiss pregnancy as her issue alone to deal with?
Her instincts told her he wouldn’t do that, but she didn’t really know him, did she? For all Mia knew, he found a “special assistant” to help with orientation every cattle drive. Tears pricked her eyes again, and she groaned in frustration. Now she was crying over random imagined liaisons?
Maybe she was just overworked and overtired, and the stress was making her queasy. It was exactly the kind of emotional and physical burnout Shari always cautioned her to avoid. There’s only one way to know for sure.
Time to look at the test. All she had to do was glance at it, and she could quit spinning wild worst-case scenarios. Her life would return to normal.
Or never be the same again.
“I don’t think I can,” she whispered. “Can you look for me? I know it’s stupid. I know it’s probably just stomach flu, but...”
“Of course. I got you.” Shari bounced to her feet and disappeared through the bathroom doorway.
Mia heard a sharp intake of breath.
Her friend reemerged a second later. The apologetic worry in her dark eyes confirmed Mia’s suspicions even before she spoke. “Oh, honey. Your flu has two pink lines.”
A dozen infant faces smiled up at her, and Mia gulped. “That’s a lot of pressure. I feel like I’m being judged by a baby jury.”
“The waiting room magazines are not judging you.” Nonetheless, Shari reached out and flipped over the closest one; the cover baby was replaced by a stroller ad. “You’re projecting. What do you feel guilty about?”
“I still haven’t figured out how to tell my family.” Her overprotective father and three brothers? Yeah, that should be fun. Maybe she would start with Nolan, the only one who lived out of state. But even as stressful as the idea of telling them was, it didn’t compare to... “Or Jace,” she added softly.
It was the biggest irony of her life that she was sharing something so profound with a man whose phone number and last name she didn’t even know. At least the Climbing W gave her a way to find him. Jace deserved to know he was a father. And, for the baby’s sake, she had questions about his family’s medical background.
Still, even knowing she had to get in touch with him, she’d stalled by scheduling today’s OB appointment, reasoning that until she heard it from Dr. Bakshi, her pregnancy wasn’t Official. Never mind the three over-the-counter tests and persistent morning sickness.
“Of course you don’t have it all figured out yet. You’ve only known for a few days. Give yourself a minute to breathe. And don’t let this crowd of cherubs overwhelm you.” Shari waved at the babies on the magazines. “You’ll only have to deal with one.”
“Right.” She wasn’t having a litter; she didn’t even know of any twins in her family. “Thank you.”
“Plus, your kid will have Auntie Shari, so Baby Zane is already winning at life.”
Mia was smiling at that when a nurse called her name.
The visit itself was perfunctory but conclusive. Dr. Bakshi said it was too soon to hear the heartbeat and that the first sonogram would come later.
“I’d say I’m surprised you’re having morning sickness already, but every pregnancy is different,” the doctor told her. “I was nauseous constantly with my daughter but never with my son. I advise starting your day with a banana or a few crackers, and call us if it gets too bad.”
One prescription for prenatal vitamins later, Mia was shown out to make her next appointment, as if her life hadn’t just been permanently altered.
I am officially going to be a mom. She swallowed hard. Would she be good at it? Mia had been ten months old when her mom got sick, but over the years, her dad and brothers had regaled her with stories about the woman she barely remembered.
She was accepting a reminder card from the receptionist when Shari joined her at the counter.
“You okay?” Shari asked.
Yes. No. Maybe? She took a deep breath. “Can we pick up a prescription on the way back to my place?”
“Anything you need, hon.”
“What I need is to talk to Jace.”
An hour later, she and Shari were seated on Mia’s sofa as she dialed Alonzo Boone’s number.
“Mia!” He greeted her with his usual hearty cheer. “Thanks again for joining us on the drive. We have another event in August if you—”
“Um, my summer schedule has become a little bit complicated, but I can recommend some vets if you need one.” She hated to lose the potential income, especially now. Her head spun at the new costs she’d need to start budgeting for. “I’m actually calling because I need to get some contact info. Did JT—um, Jace—did he ever come back to the ranch after our week out?”
“No, as a matter of fact. I heard his grandfather’s doing better, but... Any particular reason you’re looking for him?”
She faltered, trying to find an innocuous answer that sounded plausible.
“Mia?” The longer she went without responding, the more agitated he sounded. “He didn’t do anything inappropriate, did he? Because I don’t give a damn how rich he is, I’ll—”
“Rich?”
At that, Shari’s head jerked up, eyes wide. Mia was sure her own expression was equally surprised.
“I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone,” Boone grumbled. “But your old man and I go back a long way, and I don’t owe Jace Malone a damn thing. You say the word, and—”
“He didn’t do anything wrong, Boone. I just needed to talk to him about something.” After a few more reassurances that she was okay, Boone gave her Jace’s phone number. She tried to sound casual when she said goodbye, but she was reeling.
“Already on it,” Shari said, typing into the browser on her phone. “That’s Jace Malone?”
Along with his number, Mia had written down his name, surrounded by scribbled question marks and exclamation points.
“Of Malone Energy?” Shari asked. “The Malone family of Triple Pine?” She whistled under her breath and turned her phone toward Mia. “This is your cattle drive fling?”
Mia stared in shock at the well-dressed man on the screen. Smiling back at her was an extremely familiar-looking stranger. The man on the internet wore an expensive suit and a million-dollar smile. Or billion-dollar, according to the article’s headline.
“I slept with a billionaire?”
“I can see why. He is hotter than a Scotch bonnet pepper.”
“I thought he was a ranch hand, Shar.” Her rising disbelief brought to mind how she’d felt the day she learned of Drew’s embezzlement. Was there something fundamentally wrong with her that caused her to be attracted to liars? “I thought he was charred marshmallows and scuffed boots! Turns out he’s caviar and...and—”
“Really expensive boots?”
On the bright side, at least Jace was unlikely to steal from her. Since he’s freaking loaded.
Groaning, she dropped her face into her palms. “Millions of men in Colorado, and I picked the dimpled billionaire who looks good in dusty jeans. What am I going to do?”
“The same thing you were already planning to do. Tell him the news, and take each day as it comes.”
Shari made it sound almost manageable. I can do this. Tell Jace the news. Take one day at a time.
And fervently hope for no more surprises. Having the billionaire’s baby was more than enough surprise for one lifetime.
Before Mia knew it, her one-at-a-time days had stretched into another week with Jace none the wiser about their baby. Even though she had his phone number, she couldn’t bring herself to use it. News of this magnitude should be delivered in person. Calling him to set up a meeting would require a reason, and what could she say after two months that wasn’t painfully awkward?
Even worse than the potential awkwardness was the possibility that he wouldn’t want to meet. Had he thought of her at all since their night together?
She knew where he lived—the Triple Pine Ranch was hardly subtle—but she couldn’t show up at the family home like a stalker. By default, she decided that visiting the Malone Energy headquarters was the best course of action. Neutral ground, less of an ambush than the ranch.
At least, that’s what she’d told herself during the hour-long drive to his office. Once the building was in sight, however, she began to second-guess her decision.
The office complex wasn’t a towering monolith like Denver’s Republic Plaza, but it was unmistakably elegant, even down to the parking deck. Instead of a utilitarian concrete structure, the four-story lot boasted color and landscaping. Impeccably manicured flowering bushes erupted from openings on each level. The skywalk connecting the deck to the main building was painted with a lively mural, and the elevators were glass, allowing her a peek at each carefully decorated floor. According to her research, Malone Energy owned the top two floors, one of which was accessible to the public. The other was sectioned into mini-suites for visiting VIPs.
When the elevator doors opened into a receptionist area, Mia had half a dozen colliding thoughts at once. What if he was in a meeting? Or out of town? Had she subconsciously chosen coming here with no warning as a form of self-sabotage?
“Welcome to Malone Energy.” The polished blonde receptionist could have starred in a biopic about Grace Kelly. “How may I help you?”
“I, uh... I’m not sure you can. I don’t have an appointment,” Mia admitted. “But I was hoping to meet with Jace Malone. Can you tell him Mia Zane is here? I don’t mind waiting.”
The receptionist’s expression remained pleasantly neutral. “He’s on a call at the moment, but if you’ll have a seat, I’ll see what I can do.”
Leather chairs framed a coffee table large enough for a Thanksgiving dinner. Mercifully, none of the magazines fanned out on the table’s surface featured smiling babies.
“Doc?”
Mia’s head jerked up. The devastatingly handsome man walking toward her matched the pictures she’d seen online, but not the cowboy in her memory. Despite everything she’d learned about his identity, it was still startling to see Jace in this sleekly luxurious environment. She met him halfway despite a brief urge to bolt in the opposite direction.
“I couldn’t believe it when Carol told me you were here! I had to see for myself.” He sounded bewildered but genuinely happy to see her. Would he still be smiling once she’d told him the news? “Come with me, and we’ll catch up. Do you want any coffee? We have an espresso maker, or—”
“No. Thank you. Just a, uh, place where we can speak privately?”
“Of course.” He dropped a hand to the small of her back as he steered her through the lobby. The touch was casual but distracting as hell.
And why did he have to smell so good? For a change, her pregnancy super senses weren’t turning her stomach. Quite the opposite. She had to actively resist leaning closer and breathing him in.
Jace led her through a doorway into a posh conference room. As he shut the door behind them, his smile faltered for the first time. “If you’re here, at Malone, you’ve obviously figured out who I am. I just want you to know, I wasn’t trying to hide that. I mean, I was, but not from you specifically. You must feel like I owe you an explanation.”
Mia hesitated, unsure how to respond. She hated feeling deceived, hated how off-balance she’d been since learning who he was, but it was important they didn’t start this conversation with Jace thinking she felt entitled to anything.
He scowled. “Oh, hell, did you see that article describing me as ‘practically engaged’? Is that how you...” Gone was the slow drawl he’d used on tourists at orientation. He spoke so quickly Mia would have thought him nervous if he weren’t a rich, gorgeous man from a powerful family. It was more likely he’d had one too many of the aforementioned espressos. “Valencia and I have known each other since elementary school.”
She shook her head, frustration bubbling up inside her. His rapid-fire delivery was making it difficult to get her thoughts straight. “That’s—”
“We’re not involved romantically.”
“Jace, wait. I didn’t—”
“We’ve just been working closely on this gala fundraiser, and—”
“I am not here because of tabloid headlines! Or your net worth. Could you get over yourself for a minute?”
His jaw dropped, but he recovered quickly. “My apologies.”
“No, I apologize. That was bitchy, and I shouldn’t have snapped at you.” She sagged into a chair, her thoughts jumbled and her stomach now queasy. “God, I wish we could just erase all this and start over.”
He sat next to her and held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Jace.”
“I’m pregnant.”