“Now, say it again,” he teased, his eyes telling her exactly what he meant, what he intended. “This time with more feeling.”
He kissed her. Over and over.
When his name next left her lips he didn’t have to ask for more feeling, for more of anything.
She gave him everything she had within her to give.
THE NEXT MORNING Ty woke with a jerk as Ellie shot out of bed and rushed to the bathroom. Startled out of a deep peaceful sleep, his bare feet had barely hit the cold hardwood floor when the sound of her retching met his ears.
Was she okay? Too much barbecue and sex the night before? Or had her travel sickness not ever completely cleared?
Without a word he entered the bathroom, got a cold, wet washcloth and placed it to her clammy forehead.
Looking miserable, she knelt next to the toilet, her shoulders slumped, her body quivering, her eyes closed.
“I’d ask if you’re okay, but obviously you’re not.” He hated the thought of her not feeling well. He was a doctor, should be able to do something to ease her symptoms. “You want a drink of water?”
She nodded ever so slightly as if she was afraid that any movement might trigger another round of losing any remaining contents of her stomach.
He took a disposable paper cup from a dispenser on the sink and filled it with cool water. She took the cup, swished the water around her mouth and spat in the toilet several times.
“I’m so embarrassed,” she said in a weak voice, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. “I hate that you saw me like this.”
“Now I know why you don’t stick around for mornings-after,” he teased in reference to the morning she’d tried to leave before he’d awakened.
To the morning several weeks ago.
The morning after... Oh, hell.
The floor shifted beneath Ty’s feet and his toes gripped the cold tile in the hope of maintaining his balance.
“That’s not why I was leaving that morning,” Ellie moaned, sounding miserable, oblivious to the crazy thoughts rushing through his head. “I just didn’t know what we’d say to each other or how you’d feel. Or—”
“Ellie,” he interrupted, his hand against the wall to balance himself. Sweat popped up on his brow, on the back of his neck. “Are you sure you just have a nervous stomach?”
Please say yes.
Misery on her pale face, she shrugged. “I’ve had a nervous stomach on and off most of my life. It just hadn’t bothered me in years until...”
His heart slammed against his rib cage in thunderous bursts. His mind raced ahead, drawing what he hoped were inaccurate conclusions. “Not until the past couple of weeks?”
Face pink, she nodded again. “Yes. I was anxious about coming here with you, Ty. I’m really sorry I woke you up to this. I kept lying there thinking my nausea would pass, but it just kept getting worse. I couldn’t hold it back any longer.”
His heart beating faster and faster, his insides shaking, his knees threatening to buckle, he sank down to the floor next to her, placed his hand on her thigh. “Ellie, have you had a menstrual cycle since the night we first made love?”
Her lips didn’t move, but they didn’t have to. The widening of her eyes and blanching of her skin answered for her.
She hadn’t.
Dear Lord, Ellie might be pregnant with his baby.
* * *
Eleanor shook. Her entire body shook.
Pregnant.
Was that even a possibility?
Well, of course it was a possibility. She and Ty had had sex. About a month ago.
She had missed her menstrual cycle.
She’d been so lost in thoughts about the night she’d spent with Ty, about this upcoming trip, that she’d never even noticed that she’d skipped a period. Could she be any more naive?
“I’m probably only late due to stress.” Surely that was the only reason she hadn’t gotten her period.
“Are you usually regular?” He sounded so calm, so logical. If not for the tremble of his hand where he touched her thigh, she might think him completely unaffected.
She closed her eyes and nodded. “Yes. Usually I’m like clockwork.”
“Have your breasts been more sensitive?”
She so did not want to be having this conversation. Not while crouched on the bathroom floor. Naked. With Ty. Naked. With her having just thrown up.
Under the best of circumstances she didn’t want to be having this conversation, but definitely she didn’t under the current ones.
A new wave of mortification hit her and she wrapped her arms around her body, trying to cover herself, wishing she could just crawl back into the fantastic dream she’d been having prior to waking and making her mad dash to the bathroom.
“Ellie,” Ty whispered, wrapping his arms fully around her and holding her tightly to him. “Oh, Ellie, you’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
“I...I don’t know. It—it never occurred to me that I might be.” She kept her eyes tightly squeezed shut, hating that hot tears stung her eyelids, hating that she’d stuttered. “It’s possible.” She sucked in a breath, praying she didn’t hiccup or sob. “I’m sorry, Ty.”
She felt his fingers clasp her chin, felt him lifting her face, but she didn’t open her eyes, couldn’t bear to see what was in his eyes.
“Look at me.”
She prised her eyelids apart, not surprised that the moment she did so the waterworks started down her cheeks.
“Don’t cry, darlin’.” He wiped at her tears. His hands were soft, gentle, attempting to comfort, but just the thought of what might be had her insides crumbling.
“If you are pregnant, you didn’t get that way alone,” he continued. “I’m as much to blame as anyone. More so.”
To blame. Because this wasn’t something good. Wasn’t something planned for. She might be having a baby and rather than it being a joyous discovery, she sat naked on a bathroom floor, being coddled by a man who couldn’t possibly want to be here but was. He was being sweet and wonderful rather than angry.
Which made her feel all the more guilty that she hadn’t been suave and sophisticated like the women he was used to, like no doubt her own sister was.
“We weren’t exactly thinking straight that night,” she whispered, offering him an out.
“All I was thinking that night was that I wanted you, Ellie, but that doesn’t excuse me making love to you without a condom. All I can say is that I’ve never done that before. I’ve never wanted someone so much that I lost control that way.”
She bet he didn’t want her now. Not after seeing her like this. She probably repulsed him.
But rather than pull away, he just held her to him for long moments, kissing the top of her head and gently rocking her in his arms while she cried.
Which probably only added to how bad she looked.
When he stood, he got another damp washcloth, knelt and gently cleaned away her tears. “You feel like standing up?”
She took a deep breath and nodded, although really she wasn’t sure of anything. Her legs felt weak