Claimed By The Rancher

Pepper gripped his arm as the oxygen mask was placed over her nose and mouth. She pulled it aside and shook her head.

“I don’t need you there and I don’t need to be admitted,” she insisted. “I wasn’t in the apartment that long. I’m not coughing and I’m not light-headed. I’m fine.”

“And you’re positive your baby is?” he retorted.

Her eyes narrowed but he didn’t care if he angered her. In his years at Mercy, he’d seen it all and he wasn’t taking a chance with Pepper and a baby...not again. Even though this wasn’t his child, he wouldn’t risk it.

Damn his desire to protect her.

“I’ll go get checked out, only for the baby.” Her hold tightened on his arm. “But you’re not coming. I don’t need you there.”

Nolan stared at her another minute but didn’t say a word. Finally, he met the gaze of the medic and nodded. No way was Nolan going to let her go alone. No matter what Pepper wanted, right now someone was going to look out for her and her child.

And it seemed he was the chosen one.

* * *

“This is ridiculous.”

Pepper realized her argument was in vain. But as she sat in the passenger seat of Nolan’s extremely flashy SUV heading up the drive to Pebblebrook, she also knew she had little choice but to go along with his plan.

Well, actually, he hadn’t planned, more like steamrolled. After he’d shown up at the hospital, despite her repeated requests that he stay away, he’d informed her he’d be taking her to his house to rest because it was nearly two in the morning and she couldn’t go back to her apartment.

Her apartment. The one place she was going to try to set down roots, to build a life for her baby.

Yet here she was pregnant and temporarily homeless until she found out what damage had been done by the fire. Oh, and she was back with the one man who’d crushed her heart and her spirit and turned his back on her when she needed him most.

It went without saying that she’d had better days. Like the day she’d broken her arm in two places after she’d gone hiking and attempted to climb a vine over a ravine. Even then she was having a better time than she was now.

“I don’t want to stay with you.”

Nolan grunted and continued up the drive. Pebblebrook was exactly like she remembered. Magnificent, with rolling white fencing flanking the drive, the three-story main house was adorned with porches extending across the top two floors. The stables, which were nicer than most homes, brought back memories. Memories of spending evenings in the hayloft, riding horses over the acreage, sharing hopes and dreams.

They’d failed to discuss the one dream that had ultimately come between them, but that was water under the bridge. Pepper firmly believed everything happened for a reason... If only she could figure out why she was here now with Nolan.

“You tell me a logical place to drop you off in the middle of the night and I’ll consider it.”

Pepper crossed her arms and continued to stare out the window into the darkness. She really didn’t care that she was acting like a child. After all, who could blame her? She was tired, scared, worried of what the future would hold for her as a single mother. Once again she’d gotten tangled up with a man who wanted nothing to do with a family or her. But at least this time she hadn’t been in love.

Although she didn’t need a man to complete her life or to help her raise the baby, she was sorry this child would never know his or her father. But Pepper was confident her child would be loved and cared for and would never feel the void.

“That’s what I thought,” Nolan muttered when she failed to answer him. “Now, you need to quit being stubborn and just relax for tonight.”

“Stubborn? Relax?” Pepper whipped around in her seat. “I’m not stubborn, you jerk. You pushed your way into the ER—”

“I actually flashed a smile at the charge nurse.”

Rage boiled within her. “Just because you work there doesn’t give you the right to steamroll me into agreeing to this.”

“I didn’t steamroll anybody,” he said as he made a sharp curve in the drive. “I merely stated that you could be admitted or come home with me. Those were your two options whether you liked them or not. You have no other place to crash tonight.”

Pepper scowled. As if she needed the reminder. She’d been racking her brain trying to work out what had happened in her apartment. She’d been burning some new melts she’d made that afternoon, but she was positive she’d turned off the warmer before she got into the shower. Hadn’t she?

“I won’t be your charity case so you can feel better about yourself over how you treated me in the past.”

There. She’d laid it out there. Pepper didn’t want there to be any question about where they stood. Because the truth was, she’d moved on. And the fact that the sight of Dr. Nolan Elliott made her weak in the knees and brought up so many unforgettable memories, both bad and good, didn’t mean anything. She was a different woman now. And he was a different man.

But the way he wanted to come to her aid warmed something inside her...something she couldn’t afford to let herself feel ever again.

“I’m not doing this out of some warped sense of redemption, Pepper,” he told her. “I have seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms. Stay here as long as you want until you make alternate arrangements. I won’t even know you’re there.”

Yeah, but she’d know he was there. Did he truly believe she’d be comfortable on his turf? And why on earth had he built such a huge home when he was single? Had he married after she’d left? Pepper had purposely distanced herself from him and not doubled back to find out what Nolan had done with his life. She didn’t want to know if he’d found another woman, created a life with her, had children. Because as hard as it was to admit, she feared that if he’d gone forward and had a family, she wouldn’t have recovered from the crushing blow.

So, one night together was more than enough. Besides, she had more important things to contend with than licking old wounds. Like figuring out where to go if her apartment was a total loss. She only prayed the fire department was able to spare her shop because there was no plan B for income.

“I’m only staying tonight because I’m exhausted.”

A two-story stone home came into view and Pepper’s heart clenched with sorrow. Granted, it was dark, but the spotlights illuminated the incredible home enough to send her falling back into yet another memory.

This was the dream home they’d planned together. Everything from the stone facade to the thick wood columns leading up to the second-story porch. And if he’d stuck to the original plans, those doors on the top floor led straight to one impressive master suite, with a matching master suite at the other end of the hall.

He’d gone through with every plan they’d made...and he’d done so without her, as if she’d never had a place in his life at all.

Pepper covered her abdomen with her hands as Nolan pulled into an attached four-car garage. Of course each bay was filled with another impressive vehicle. A work truck, which looked fresh off the showroom floor, a sporty car and another SUV. Why did one man need this many cars and this large of a home?

Pepper wasn’t a shrink, but she also wasn’t naive. Clearly Nolan was trying to either compensate for something or fill a void in his life, and she was pretty sure he didn’t need to overcompensate for anything.

And now, to add fuel to the fire, she was spending the night with the one man she didn’t want to be attracted to, shouldn’t be attracted to. But there was no denying Nolan was still just as sexy, just as powerfully commanding in that irresistible way that made her breath catch in her throat and her palms grow damp.

“You built our home.” The words slipped out before she could stop them and now they hovered in the air between them.

“It’s the only home I ever saw here,” he replied.

Pepper turned in her seat. The garage lights lit up the interior of the SUV and she preferred when things were dark. From this angle she saw too much—and she worried what he’d see when he looked back at her.

She started to ask him more but decided none of his life was her business. He’d made that abundantly apparent, and she needed to remember that. Just because he’d rescued her from her burning building and hadn’t left her side since, didn’t mean he wanted to revisit their past. And she had too much on her plate to even think like this.

Clearly, she was exhausted.

“Pepper, I—”

“Just show me to my room.” His blue eyes met hers, and Pepper held her breath. He still had the power to make her tremble without so much as a word. “I’m tired and need my rest. I have a big day tomorrow assessing damage and talking to the insurance and fire department.”

He gave her a clipped nod. “I’ll go with you.”

“You’re not going with me.” Did he really think she needed someone to hold her hand?

She took in his dress shirt, his dark jeans, and realization slammed into her. Pepper closed her eyes and pulled in a breath. “Your date... I hope this didn’t ruin anything.”