Bound By Marriage(15)

"Wait."

Covering the mouthpiece, she looked into her husband's furious eyes.

"Something's wrong with Kayla. They're at the clinic with Dr. Mackey and  Damon's losing it. He thinks they might not be able to save the baby."

If he'd shaken off her hand, she wouldn't have been surprised. But what  he did was take the phone and speak directly to Damon. "Jess is going to  get changed.

We'll be there soon as we can."





Chapter 9





By the time they got to Kowhai, the rescue chopper was on its way. But Dr.

Mackey-the one who met them at the clinic door-was clearly still very worried.

"Can you tell us what's happening?" Jess asked. "Damon said something about the baby … ."

"Kayla's looking like she might go into premature labor. I've put her on  meds to delay it but … " He shook his head. "That's not actually the  worst of it-her blood pressure's far too high for safety."

Jess didn't need to be told that the clinic had neither the equipment  nor the resources to deal with either half of the situation. "What do  you want us to do?"

"Get Damon out of here. He's frantic and that's not helping. I'm going to go back in to check on her."

Damon walked out of the only patient room at that very moment. "Jess, I don't know what to do."

Hugging him close, she glanced over at Gabe. Her husband nodded.

"Come on," he said to the younger man. "Why don't you help me put out landing beacons in the parking lot?"

Looking glad to have something to do, Damon followed him out. Jess  waited until Dr. Mackey had emerged from Kayla's room to ask if she  could go sit with her.

"I think that would be good, Jess." Dr. Mackey rubbed at his eyes. "I'm going to call the hospital and make sure they're ready."

Walking into the room, Jess took a seat beside Kayla's bed, not sure what her welcome would be. "Hey."

The other woman's pale face broke out into a genuinely relieved smile.  "Oh, Jess. I'm so glad you're here." When she held out a hand, Jess took  it, wanting to help her in any way she could. The irony of being a  comfort to the very woman who'd been the cause of what Jess had always  considered her greatest heartbreak, wasn't lost on her. But at that  moment, Kayla was in pain and Jess could do nothing but feel for her.                       
       
           



       

Twenty more nerve-wracking minutes later, the chopper arrived. "Gabe,  will you tidy up the lights?" Dr. Mackey asked as he jumped in with his  patient and Damon.

Gabe nodded. "Don't worry about it."

They stood aside as the chopper took off in a rush of wind, then set  about clearing the mobile landing lights. The work went fast and they  were on their way home not much later. When Gabe tugged her into his  room after an exhausting ride back, she didn't argue.

They fell asleep intertwined and Jess had no thoughts of getting up any  time soon. However Gabe stirred after what had to have been only a  couple of hours at most. Jess knew stations didn't run themselves, but  even in the short time that she'd been his wife, she'd noticed he had a  real problem delegating authority.

"Let Jim handle things," she said, voice scratchy with sleep. "Get a few  more hours rest." Picking up the phone, she passed it to him.

He looked down at her with an inscrutable expression. But he made the  call and settled in beside her again, tugging her body flush against  his. Jess had a moment to be amazed at the wonder of Gabe listening to  her before tiredness washed over in her in an inexorable wave.

"Damon rang," Jess told Gabe over dinner that night.

"Kayla's stable. They've also got the labor stopped for now, but the  doctors are keeping her under observation. They think she might give  birth despite the drugs."

"Do you want to go to the hospital?"

Their eyes met across the table, his revealing nothing no matter how  hard she tried to read them. "There's no need. Damon's with her and he  seems to be calm now."

"I wasn't thinking about Kayla."

The steel of the fork cut into her flesh, she was squeezing it so hard. "I was."

So, the fragile truce formed between them in the early hours when they'd  helped Kayla and Damon was over. It was just as well. She'd been in  danger of forgetting the humiliating conversation she'd overheard last  night-a conversation which had proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that  she meant less than nothing to Gabe.

They finished the meal in silence and Jess went up to her bedroom.  However sleep was the last thing on her mind-the situation with Kayla  had set off a mental warning bell earlier today. She'd only had to  glance at her diary to confirm the disquieting realization. Thankfully,  she'd had the foresight to buy a testing kit in L.A., well aware that if  she did the same in Kowhai, it'd be all over town in about three  seconds flat.

Not wanting to chance an interruption, she'd forced herself to wait till  after dinner and Gabe's retreat to his study. Now she had a bare  minute's wait left, a minute that could change her life forever.  Emotions crashed through her like

thunder. Fear. Anticipation. Joy. Sheer terror.

She'd gone into this marriage blithely assuming she could give Gabriel an heir.

What she'd never once factored into her decision was how she'd feel at  bringing a child into the world with a man who might never love that  child. How could he? Her husband seemed incapable of any tenderness.

The timer on her watch went off.

Looking down at the indicator, she steeled herself for either result. "Oh."

Somehow, she was on the bathroom floor, her entire body a mass of  tremors. Her first instinct was to tell Gabriel but something stopped  her. She needed time to get used to the idea herself, time to build  shields around the huge vulnerability that had just opened up in her  heart and soul.

She was going to have a baby.

Gabriel's baby.

And the second he found out, she'd lose any hope she had of making him  see her as something other than a vehicle to give him his heir. Jess  couldn't let that happen, though she also couldn't articulate why. It  simply seemed integral that there be an indefinable more between them.  But if Gabe learned about the baby, he'd see no reason to change-not  when he could have everything he wanted on his terms.

No, she couldn't tell him. Not yet.

Despite her utter certainty that she'd made the right decision, she  barely slept that night and spent most of the next day trying to come to  terms with her pregnancy. Her nerves were frayed to a breaking point by  the time she slipped into a simple black dress that evening. Sleeveless  and with a scooped neckline that barely skimmed her cleavage, it kissed  the top edge of her knees and followed the lines of her body.

It was the sexiest dress she owned. Which wasn't saying much-Sylvie was certain to be draped in something stunning.

Jess's gaze drifted to the closet … to the wine-red sheath she'd bought in  a mad moment and never worn. And if she didn't get around to wearing it  soon, it wasn't going to fit.                       
       
           



       

"Stop thinking about it. You'll need all your wits tonight." Giving a  decisive nod, she put her foot on the bed and picked up a fine black  stocking topped with lace.

She had the second one halfway up her leg when Gabriel pushed through the door.

She went motionless as his eyes trailed up her leg and over the bare  skin of her thigh. And then he began to walk toward her. Dressed in a  pair of black pants and a deep green shirt that seemed oddly familiar,  he was enough to stop any woman in her tracks … even one as conflicted as  Jess.

Coming to a standstill beside her, he put a hand on her raised knee. A  prisoner to her own inexplicable need, she watched as he bent to place a  single kiss on her upper thigh. Shockwaves of sensation rocked through  her. And she knew that for all its gentleness, it was a brand, a silent  statement that she belonged to him.

When he straightened to his full height, the raw desire in his eyes threatened to burn. "Finish it."

She should have protested his order but her mind was out of her control,  hijacked by the potent masculinity of this man she lacked the power to  resist.

His finger traced the lace edge as she completed the task, but he made  no effort to stop her from putting her foot on the floor. Yet even with  both feet on the ground, she couldn't quite find her sense of balance.

"I need to put on my shoes." The words came out on a breathy whisper that sounded like an invitation.

Placing his hands on her shoulders, Gabe turned her so she faced away from him.

She was about to ask him what he wanted when he stroked his hands down her side, fingers tracing over the curves of her breasts.

She screamed at herself to resist but her body was already caught in the  web Gabe alone could weave. Reaching her hips, he tugged up her dress,  bunching it in his hands until the hemline hovered at the top edge of  her stockings. Shocked at the clawing power of the need inside of her,  she tried to back away from herself but ended up with her body flush  against his.