She sighed. “And as much as I adore both of them, I’d rather eat a big ugly bug than do that.”
Zach threw back his head and laughed. “I see you still express yourself in a way that leaves no doubt what you mean.”
The sound of his rich laughter sent a tingling sensation skipping over every nerve in her body. His sense of humor was one of many things about him that she’d found irresistible.
Shrugging one shoulder, she smiled. “Well, it’s the truth. Luke would want me with him and his new wife, Haley, in Nashville. And Jake would insist that I move into his condo in Los Angeles.”
“In other words, you’d have to choose between them?” Zach summarized.
“Not exactly. Either would be fine with me living with the other.” She tried to concentrate on what she was about to say, but the feel of his hands smoothing over the sensitized skin at the back of her knee made that very hard to do. “For one thing, Luke and Haley have only been married a couple of months and they need their alone time. Plus they have a baby on the way and I don’t think Luke could survive living with two women experiencing mood swings and emotional meltdowns at the same time.”
“Oh God, no.” Zach gave an exaggerated shudder. “One hormonal woman is enough to contend with, but two would send a man running like hell.” He shook his head. “My sister moved in with me for a short time when she was pregnant. Her apartment was being painted. I never knew if what I said would make her angry enough to bite my head off or cause sobbing like her heart was broken.” He lowered his head. “It was like living with Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde.”
“Your sister is single?” If his sister could be a single mother, why was Zach so insistent that they had to be married?
He nodded. “Lana wanted a child, but after several failed relationships, she decided a visit to the sperm bank was the answer for her.” He stopped massaging her legs, but continued to hold them on his lap. “And before you ask, I failed to talk her out of it. But I supported her decision and help out with Derek whenever she needs me.”
“Jake and Luke will be the same way with me.”
“They won’t have to be,” he said, giving her a meaningful look. “I’ll be with you every step of the way.” Before she could comment, he went on, “But what about your brother in L.A.? Why wouldn’t you want to live closer to him?”
“Don’t get me wrong, Jake is a wonderful guy and I love him with all my heart. But living with him would drive me over the edge.” Just the thought was almost laughable. “Besides, I prefer a much quieter lifestyle and I couldn’t have kept up with which one of his women was the flavor of the moment.”
“Moment?” He sounded surprised.
“Jake’s fascination with a woman has never lasted longer than a couple of weeks,” she explained.
“That could present a problem.”
She nodded. “Plus the fact that they still think of me as a child.”
“Hey, give them a break, darlin’.” He grinned. “I pretty much think along the same line when it comes to my sister.”
She sighed. “Your sister has my heartfelt sympathy.”
“So why did you decide to move to Texas?”
Gazing into his questioning green eyes, she wondered how much she should tell him. She’d been cautious about revealing her relationship with Emerald Larson to anyone. Who would believe she’d gone from a struggling preschool teacher, barely making ends meet, to an heiress with a bottomless bank account and a thriving business? She had never openly discussed her financial affairs with anyone but her brothers.
“I was presented with an opportunity to run my own preschool and I took it,” she responded, settling on an honest but sketchy answer to his question. “And Premier Academy just happened to be in Dallas.”
Zach stared at her wanting to ask more about her acquisition, but thankfully her stomach chose to rumble, reminding both of them that it was lunchtime.
“Uh-oh, we’d better get you something to eat before you get sick again,” he stated, lifting her legs from his lap and rising to his feet. He held his hand out to help her up from the window seat. “What would you like me to make? Pasta or hamburgers?”
“You’re going to cook?”
“I can handle things,” he said, nodding his head. “Mattie’s stocked the kitchen for my visit.”
“Why don’t we have something easy for lunch,” she suggested when her stomach made its presence known again. “A sandwich would work.”
“Need something pretty quick, huh?”
“I’m hungry enough to gnaw the legs off the table,” she detailed as she walked into the kitchen and went straight to the refrigerator for a package of roast beef and some cheese.
“My cook in Dallas is going to love having you around,” he said, laughing as he handed her a loaf of bread from the pantry. “Nothing makes her happier than feeding people.”
Arielle stopped piling the sliced meat on two pieces of bread. “I won’t be around for her to feed.”
“Sure you will.” She watched him remove the milk from the fridge, then reach into the cabinet for a couple of glasses. “Once we’re married, you’ll be living there, remember?”
She shook her head. “It’s never going to happen, remember?”
His low masculine chuckle caused her heart to skip several beats. “Like I told you last night, never say ‘never,’ darlin’.”
Chapter Four
On Monday afternoon, Zach sat beside Arielle in the obstetrician’s waiting room, thumbing through a magazine. He wasn’t the least bit interested in reading about or looking at pictures of maternity clothes. But since Arielle had been giving him the silent treatment ever since their helicopter flight to Dallas, it gave him something to do while they waited for her to be called to see the doctor.
Over the weekend, they seemed to have reached a truce of sorts and instead of arguing about their upcoming marriage, they had—as if by unspoken agreement—stopped talking about it completely. He still had every intention of making her his wife as soon as possible. Nothing she could say or do was going to change that.
“Arielle Garnier?”
Zach glanced up to see a nurse standing at the door leading back to the examination rooms. “Looks like it’s our turn, darlin’,” he said, rising to his feet, then offering his hand to help Arielle out of her chair.
Frowning, she placed her hand in his, stood and turned to face him. “It’s my turn, not ours, and I’d rather you stay here while I’m with the doctor.”
“You’ve made that very clear, darlin’. And I’ve made it just as clear that I’m going with you.” He placed his hand to the small of her back and started guiding her across the waiting room.
Her body language and stormy expression indicated that he would hear all about this once they left the doctor’s office. But if she thought that was enough to intimidate him, she was sadly mistaken. Nothing was going to keep him from seeing the first images of his child.
The nurse motioned for them to enter a small room at the back of the office. There she recorded Arielle’s weight, then took her temperature and blood pressure. “The doctor will be in shortly,” she estimated, smiling as she walked to the door. “If you’d like, you can have ‘Dad’ help you onto the examination table. Then go ahead and pull your top up to just below your breasts and your pants down to just below your tummy.”
As the woman closed the door behind her, an odd feeling spread throughout Zach’s chest. Although he’d thought of little else since learning that Arielle was carrying his child,