The Tycoon's Marriage Bid

“Of course not,” she exclaimed rapidly. Truthfully. The fact was, when she’d quit, she’d typed up her resignation and placed it square in the center of his computer keyboard—where he’d be certain to see it— before she’d realized she was pregnant.

Had she known, she still would have handed in her notice.

“You could have told me you were pregnant. I would have made some adjustments,” he said, ignoring her denial. He scooped up the pillow from the floor and set it on the bed beside her. “Maybe hired an assistant.”

“That’s what you did,” she pointed out. She pushed the pillow behind her. “I quit. You hired another admin. Simple.”

“Hired you an assistant.” His lips compressed a little, and the slashing dimple in his hard cheek flashed. “So you could work fewer hours or something.”

Alex had never once concerned himself with how many hours she’d put in for him. She was back to hallucinating again. Or maybe she’d wake up and find herself sitting with her nose in her computer outside Alex’s office, and that the last half year had been nothing more than a long, incredibly vivid nightmare.

She rubbed her temples.

“You didn’t have to quit on me,” Alex said.

Quitting was exactly what she’d had to do. And there was no way on earth she’d ever be able to explain that fact to him.

She dropped her hands to her lap and leaned wearily against the pillow behind her. She pulled the limp sheet and thin blanket up to her shoulders.

She wasn’t cold. She just needed more of a barrier between them.

She’d been a good administrative assistant. But nobody was irreplaceable. “I still don’t understand what you’re doing here.”

“Your sister is on her honeymoon.”

She frowned, wondering how he’d known that. “Yes.” “Your mom and her husband are on some cruise or something.”

Her mother had spent months planning the vacation. Squire, Nikki was convinced, had only agreed to plant his cowboy boots on a cruise ship deck because of the wife he adored. “Yes,” she confirmed warily. “But what’s that have to do with you?”

His shoulders moved again. He stood and walked to the foot of the bed. “So I came to Montana,” he said flatly. “Someone needed to.”

He’d hardly explained his actions. Aside from her twin sister and her mother, he knew she had a sizable stepfamily. Any one of the Clays would have assisted her in any way they could, just as she knew, without question, that she’d have abhorred even asking.

But Alex didn’t know that. And he never did anything without an agenda.

Not that he couldn’t be kind when he chose. She knew only too well how many philanthropic efforts he’d been involved in, the boards on which he sat. Chaired. Organized. All located in the nine cities— from Florida to Arizona—where Huffington clinics were situated.

But mostly, Alex ate, breathed and slept his business. If she hadn’t been his administrative assistant, he’d have never noticed her.

“Well.” She settled her palms flat on the blanket beside her hips. “I appreciate your concern, but as you can see, I’m fine.”

“A polite way of telling me I can just toddle on out the door now?” His voice was dry.

She winced. Flushed, yet again. “Alex, this is just…embarrassing for me,” she admitted.

“Why?”

Her hands were no longer flat. They curled, bunched into fists, as Nikki wished the ground would swallow her whole. “How would you feel if I walked in on you in the hospital?”

He tucked his hands in his pockets, but the action did little to mar the line of his perfectly tailored black trousers. “Perhaps glad to see a familiar face.”

She felt her cheeks flame even hotter. “Now you’re making me sound ungrateful.”

“If the shoe fits.”

There was a knot constricting her throat. “Please don’t try guilting me into coming back, Alex.” She wasn’t sure she could withstand it again.

“It didn’t work when I tried before.” He stepped across the room and pulled one hand out of his pocket to adjust the window blinds.

More gray light entered the room, and Nikki realized she was staring at the subtle play of muscles beneath Alex’s ivory sweater. Cashmere, undoubtedly, considering the way the soft garment draped his broad shoulders.

His hair was black, tipped by silver around his temples. His nape, too, if he went a week too long between haircuts. But now it was cut as short as ever. Then those salt-and-pepper strands turned, and she swallowed, caught gawking, when he looked back at her.

Not that he made any mention of her staring.

“I came because I was concerned,” he said mildly. “So. Is there someone you’d prefer to have called?” One eyebrow lifted, his chocolate eyes shifting to her midsection. “Maybe the guy who did that?”

She looked down at her hands. They were puffy. She’d stopped wearing all her rings a month ago. Even the amethyst promise ring that Cody had given her.

“He’s gone,” she said. And she refused to get any more detailed. “I do appreciate the fact that you came up here from Cheyenne, Alex. I know how busy you are. But I’m fine.”

He just watched her.

Well, okay, she was lying in a hospital bed, so obviously things weren’t all tulips and daisies. “I’ll be fine,” she amended.

“You don’t even know what happened.”

As long as she felt the baby kicking away inside her, she figured she could deal with whatever had happened. What she couldn’t deal with was facing Alex for any length of time. “Do you know?”

He wasn’t a family member. He wasn’t even her employer anymore. The hospital shouldn’t have divulged any of her personal information to him.

But she knew Alex had a way of getting what he wanted.

“I know enough,” he said.

A statement that did not alleviate any of the nerves jostling inside her. “Meaning what?”

“You were far more agreeable when you worked for me.”

“You paid me to be agreeable.” Again, her voice was shaking.

“Right. Well, nobody knows more than I do just how capable you are, Nikki.” He scooped up a black coat she recognized from the seat of a rolling metal stool stuck in the corner. “You’ll undoubtedly improve efficiency around here by thirty percent before you’re released. The staff will be completely whipped into shape.” Now his tone wasn’t kind at all.

It was tight.

Angry.

And it stunned the life out of her.