Page 30 of A Baby for the Texas Cowboy
“Tinsley.” Catalina’s hand was small and light on her shoulder.
She couldn’t get enough air. The baby needed air. Panic soared through her.
“I got you.” Anders was there.
And then she was lifted out of the lounger and held tight against a hard, warm, very male body.
“Look at me. You’re fine. Breathe. Breath in with me to my count. In one. Two. Three. Four. Five. Hold. Out one. Two. Three. Four. Five. Again.”
Tinsley stared at Anders. His eyes were bluer than the sky. Bluer than the pool she wanted to jump into so she could swim away from everyone. She breathed in and out and felt her heart stop slamming.
“That’s good.”
She felt so stupid. He must be so irritated, yet he looked concerned.
“I want to go,” she said. “I need to get out of here.”
Chapter Nine
“This is notthe tasting room.” Tinsley stated the obvious as Anders pulled his truck into a parking lot near a medical building adjacent to Jameson Hospital. At his request, Catalina had called her OB for an emergency appointment, and the OB was seeing her at the clinic instead of the emergency room.
“I need to go to the apartment. Take a shower and get my bike. I was supposed to have dinner at the ranch. I can ride back. Where’d you put my bike?”
“Baby. Tinsley.” He clung to his calm when he really wanted to swoop her up and run into the building. But he needed her cooperation or else he’d be dealing with Police Chief Shane Highwater locking him up on kidnapping charges. “Dinner can wait. The ranch can wait. Catalina and August can wait.”
“We just left. No explanation.” She pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead. “It’s so unprofessional. I acted unprofessionally.”
“Give yourself a break. It’s a lot to take in.” He personally felt like his skin was going to peel off and he would fly apart into a million or billion atoms or however many the human body was comprised of—August would know.
“I feel sick. I want to lie down.”
“That’s why we’re seeing the doctor. Do you have a headache?”
“Yes, it’s worse.”
What was going on with her? He had to fix this. What if the pregnancy was hurting her? What if something was wrong with the baby?
To hell with being the nice guy. He swore, got out of the truck and marched to the other side, opened the passenger door and scooped Tinsley out still wrapped in the blue and white towel over the very sexy bronze bikini that he’d been trying hard to not notice when the towel had slipped down during his rushed ride into town.
He carried her into the clinic. Put her down in a chair and checked her in, bringing the paperwork to her.
“Anders, I can make my own appointment.”
“I know.”
“Doctor appointments are private,” she said. “Ever heard of HIPAA laws?”
“The baby is mine as well,” he said, feeling drained. Did she really intend to fight him on everything? Shut him out of everything?
He sat next to her.
“I know but—” She began filling out the paperwork. She sighed.
“I know I messed up, Tinsley. I am sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” Her eyes looked even more amber. “Anders, you did everything right. We were just unlucky.”
And that was the problem, he thought, feeling like she’d punched him in the chest. He didn’t want to think about the baby as bad luck. He kicked out his feet, assuming a relaxed pose that he was a million miles away from feeling. Hell of a way to start a life. Bad luck.
