Jake’s gaze collided with hers and for a moment something hot sizzled and burned between them, but he blinked and that smooth, arrogant mask slid into place. “I know the doctor said complete bed rest, Emma. The next time I find you up, you’ll be in trouble.”

Emma wanted to laugh. He sounded so serious. So in charge. He probably thought he was. “Then give me Kyle and you go get the things I need to clean those scratches on your hands. I’ll be so good.”

He scowled at her. “No, you won’t.” He waited until she settled back into the bed and he handed her the baby. “You exasperate the hell out of me.”

“I know I do.” Emma just smiled up at him. In that moment she realized that in spite of his bossy ways, and the sense of danger that sometimes sent a shiver down her spine, she liked him. “Go get the antiseptic. Kyle and I will wait right here for you.” She nearly laughed at the confused male look that crept across his face before he turned and stalked out.

TWO MONTHS LATER

“IT’S too soon, Jake,” Emma sobbed, squeezing his hand as they carried her from the helicopter. “Don’t let anything happen to the baby. No matter what. You promised me. If anything goes wrong, you know I want you to take her.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Jake snapped back. “You’re going to be fine, Emma. And so will the baby. Just relax and let the doctors do their job.”

He had assembled the best team of experts he could find and flown her to the best hospital, and he wasn’t leaving without Emma and the baby. He tasted fear in his mouth. His heart hammered too fast, too hard, but he refused to even consider that something could happen to her.

“Thank God you hired this old bat,” the nurse said with a quick wink and a grin at Emma. “Otherwise we might not have known until it was too late.” She patted Emma’s shoulder.

Jake couldn’t find it in him to smile at the joke. Over the last few months he’d come to know Brenda Hacker—the old bat, as he often referred to her. She’d gotten over her aversion to him, mostly he thought because she liked Emma. Who didn’t like Emma? Even the cowboys had come up to the main house when the helicopter had landed to take her to the hospital. All of them had looked as somber and upset as he felt. He’d tightened the security at the ranch and left the cook and a bodyguard in charge of Kyle and orders that no one come or leave while he was gone.

Once he’d finished giving everyone he could think of every order possible, he was left with the feeling that he had no more control. It was a frightening feeling. Emma caught his hand, holding it tight as they put her on a gurney and rushed her to a preparation room.

“Promise me, Jake. Whatever it takes. Say it.”

“Damn it, Emma. Nothing will happen to you.” He crouched beside her head, his lips against her ear. Even he could see the bright red blood dripping from the table as they slid lines into her arms, racing against the clock, preparing to take her to surgery.

“They have to take her now, Jake,” Brenda said. “Let them go.”

“No! He has to promise,” Emma said.

Jake caught her face in his hands and kissed her. Right on her mouth. Uncaring that she might not want it, or that she would be angry later. His eyes burned and his throat felt clogged with a million regrets. “I give you my word. But you live, damn it. Do you hear me, Emma? You live.”

Brenda took his arm and tugged gently. Jake shook her off, taking a step after the departing gurney, noticing that they were practically running as they took her away from him. He swore softly under his breath and stepped to the window, looking out, wanting to be alone. The nurse moved away and he breathed a sigh of relief.

He had no idea how to handle his life anymore without Emma in it. His carefully laid plans didn’t matter as much as making certain she was alive, somewhere in the world, preferably in his home. She was sunshine and laughter and she just plain made him feel good. She was the most exasperating woman in the world, but he found every day filled with her.

When he worked in his office, she intruded on his thoughts continually. When he ran free as the leopard, she ran with him in his mind. When he rode horses and checked cattle down in the steep ravine, she was there. Even in the oil fields she intruded, so that he craved the sight and sound and scent of her. At night, tired and exhausted, he looked forward to going home to her.

How many nights had he sat on her bed, nudging her to scoot over so he could stretch out while they talked together in the dark? She was small and soft beside him, her hair like silk on the pillow. Sometimes he rubbed the strands between his fingers as she told him about her day. When the baby kicked, she would grab his hand and put it on her stomach, and he’d feel the tiny little thud and wonder would spread through him like a warm tide.

He didn’t want to lose that small life growing inside of her any more than he wanted to lose Emma. Jake frowned and shook his head, trying to deny his anxiety. Surely the baby didn’t matter to him so much, but the loss would devastate Emma. She couldn’t take another death. He couldn’t let himself think too much. He had to trust in his preparations. The teams of doctors, both for Emma and her unborn child. The blood he made certain was on hand.

“Jake?”

Jake swung around and nodded to the man who’d entered, his lawyer, John Stillman. He’d done a background check on Stillman long before he ever approached the man to represent his personal interests. Stillman was a man his great-grandfather had casually mentioned, an up-and-coming lawyer who was impressive. If the man had impressed his great-grandfather, Jake was willing to meet him. During the interview Jake had asked questions, lots of questions, designed to make the man uncomfortable, but not once had he smelled a lie.