Chloe sobbed out her sorrow while she was seated on Gabe’s lap, sheltered in his arms in the living room. He’d lifted her from her seat at the kitchen table and had been cradling her body on his lap in a recliner as she’d cried ever since.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed.
She’d barely noticed when he’d transported her in his arms to the living room.
Now, she was finally becoming aware of her surroundings again.
“I’m so sorry,” she choked out as she swiped at the endless barrage of tears on her face.
“Don’t, Chloe. Let it all go,” Gabe said huskily as he stroked her mass of tumbled hair that he’d released from its confinement.
She wrapped her arms more tightly around his neck and rested her head against his chest. “I thought I was okay with it. I was barely pregnant, about five weeks. Sometimes I think I feel guilty because part of me is relieved, but another part is grieving over the loss. I don’t know how to feel,” she said breathlessly, exhausted from crying. “I think the worst part of it all is James’s manipulation. He gave me my birth control. He said he had plenty of samples.”
“What happened then?” Gabe asked gruffly.
“They were placebos. Zane tested them for me. He just called me with the results this morning. James wanted me to get pregnant. Maybe he sensed that I wanted out, or he wanted to get on with the wedding faster.” She’d been horrified, but not necessarily surprised. She’d been suspicious from the moment she’d realized that she was miscarrying.
“You need to see a doctor.” Gabe’s voice was suddenly demanding.
“I already did. I went to Denver. I didn’t want anybody to know. I couldn’t go here.” Once the cramps and bleeding had started, she’d been pretty certain what was occurring. She’d never had heavy periods or cramps, even in her teen years before she’d gone on birth control. “I went to Zane because I needed his help. I wanted to know if James had switched my pills. The ones he gave me for the last few months looked different, but he said they were just a different brand. Zane took me in to see a doctor friend of his who specializes in gynecology to make sure everything was okay.” Chloe took a deep breath and finished shakily. “Everything was fine. The miscarriage was complete. Zane took the bottle James gave me to analyze the contents, and the doctor gave me a birth control shot instead of the pills.”
“You needed somebody to take care of you,” Gabe answered fiercely. “You shouldn’t have gone through this all alone in Denver. You could have called me, Chloe.”
Strangely, she’d wanted to call Gabe because she’d been so horrified. But in the end, she knew it was something she had to handle herself. She’d talked to Natalie about it, and she’d tried to work through the emotional pain and confusion of miscarrying. Judging by her reaction this morning, she obviously was not quite over it yet.
“It happened naturally. It happens to women all the time. I think it was the shock that really threw me.” Chloe couldn’t believe she was actually discussing all of this with Gabe, but somehow it seemed easy to share it with him when she couldn’t seem to discuss it with anyone else except Natalie.
“Does Aileen know?” Gabe tightened his arms around her protectively.
“No. Please don’t tell anyone. I’m not ready for that yet. Zane is the only one in the family who knows, and he promised to keep quiet.” She’d made excuses to Lara for skipping their morning sessions for the last several days, telling her sister-in-law she was busy getting ready for her new job.
“You can trust me, Chloe. I’ll never tell anybody anything you don’t want to be known. But we do things my way. No work right now. You can familiarize yourself with the ranch, but you let me take care of you for a while,” Gabe demanded.
She let herself relax against Gabe’s heavily muscled body, wondering what it would be like to have a man take care of her for just a little while. It would definitely be…different. “Gabe, I don’t need to be taken care of. I’m ready to go back to work. I just needed you to know that I’ll probably be a little slow.”
“You’ll be sitting your gorgeous ass in a chair or resting somewhere,” he growled.
Chloe shuddered at his command. Maybe she should be angry because he was giving her orders, but his voice was so wonderfully concerned, and his comment about her butt being gorgeous pretty much negated any sense of anger she might have had. He was being protective, and his unnecessary concern for her well-being was kind of sweet. “I’ll do it your way for a little while,” she conceded.
“You’ll do it my way until I say different,” he snapped back at her bossily.
She smiled against his chest. He sounded so much like one of her brothers. “We’ll see,” she replied nonchalantly, enjoying the verbal sparring. When he held her so tenderly, comforted her so sweetly, it was difficult to argue with him.
The last several days had been rough, and part of her really did feel guilty that she was relieved that she wasn’t going to bear James’s child. But the loss of any child made her emotional. The child had been hers, too, a baby that would never be born. “Thank you,” she said spontaneously to Gabe.
“For what?”
He acted like he’d done nothing, when he’d actually done so much just by comforting her. “For listening. For understanding.”
“I can’t say I completely understand, but I’m worried about you,” he rasped in her ear. “I know I don’t understand your psycho ex-fiancé. What guy does something like that? What man does any of the fucked-up things he did to you? He’s not all there, Chloe.”
They were questions that Chloe had asked herself over and over again. And why had she ever accepted it as normal? She’d never had anything to compare James’s behavior to, but she did have brothers. None of them would ever be capable of treating a woman like James had treated her. It was like she’d just never connected the men because James had been her only boyfriend, and he was also a master manipulator. “I don’t know,” she finally answered honestly.
“I want to hurt him, Chloe. I want that more than I’ve ever wanted anything,” he admitted angrily.
“I know. My brothers would want to do the same thing. But I don’t want that, Gabe. I just want to forget. Lara and Natalie have taught me so much about what a normal relationship should be, and you’ve given me a new beginning. I just want to move on now.” Her life with James was finally over. “I want to be happy again.” Or maybe for the first time in her life. She’d been with James for so long that she wasn’t certain what “happy” in a relationship really was.
Gabe stroked her cheek. “You will be, sweetheart. I promise.”
The sincerity in his vow touched Chloe deeply, made her yearn to believe him. Heartache and anxiety had been her only two companions for a while now. She needed to find some new friends.
“Are you going to show me around the ranch?” she asked sleepily, her eyes starting to close. She was exhausted after a few nearly sleepless nights.
She had woken up this morning tired, but resolved to start a new life working with Gabe. The phone call from Zane had deflated her somewhat. Yes, she had already suspected James of betraying and manipulating her body as well as her mind, but having it verified had been a shock to her system.
“Later,” Gabe answered abruptly. “Right now you can rest.”
“I’m not sick,” Chloe argued, forcing herself to open her eyes. She’d taken this job, and she wanted to get started.
“Give yourself some time, Chloe. You need time to heal.”
“Then we can take the slow tour,” she said, actually feeling comfortable enough to joke with Gabe.
He stood up with her still in his arms. “After you take a nap. How much did you sleep last night?”
A few hours. “Enough,” she said evasively.
“That right there tells me it wasn’t much.” He moved through the large home and mounted a set of stairs.
“Let me down,” Chloe said, panicked. “I weigh a ton.”
Gabe chuckled as he sprinted up the stairs. “Sweetheart, any guy who can’t carry a little thing like you isn’t much of a man. Relax.”
He wasn’t even winded as he hit the top step. Chloe was stunned into silence. Regardless of what he said and the bulky, muscular size of his body, she was no lightweight. “I’m a veterinarian, not a medical doctor. I can’t fix your back pain from carrying me around,” she said in a self-deprecating voice.
He took one of the hallways at the top of the stairs and pushed a door open with his wide shoulders. “Good thing I’m not prone to back pain then,” he retorted.
Chloe looked around the beautiful space they’d just entered, marveling at how well and carefully decorated the bedroom appeared to be. It was opulent, yet understated. It was incredibly large for a bedroom, with a small sitting area near the wide windows and a huge sleigh bed closer to the door. The furnishings were a neutral shade with splashes of vivid color, mainly dark and medium blues in the accents, adding a homey feel to the room.
“This is gorgeous,” Chloe said frankly. “I love it.” It was the type of room she adored.
“Good. I thought you’d like it. This will be your room for a while,” Gabe answered casually as he lowered her gently to the bed.
“I can’t stay here. You have a small house for your vet, right?” That’s what he’d told her. The old resident vet had had his own house on the property.
“I’m refurbishing it. You’re going to be stuck here until it’s done,” Gabe said noncommittally. “It will take awhile for the crew to finish the house.”
“But I can live there while they’re doing it,” Chloe said hastily. She couldn’t stay in the same house as Gabe. Admittedly, it was a huge home, but she was bound to end up spending a lot of time with its owner, and that could be dangerous. She was way too attracted to him; she was still vulnerable and she could very easily get addicted to his company.
He shook his head as he pulled off her sneakers like it was the natural thing to do. “They’re doing everything: carpet, paint, flooring, and new furnishings. The place is gutted at the moment.”
“You don’t have another place—”
He placed a finger over her lips gently, silencing her. “Don’t argue, Chloe. There’s plenty of room for you here. Now take a nap. You can tour the ranch later.”
She was tired, and the bed beneath her felt divine. The pillow was soft beneath her head, and she loved the feel of the fine cotton. “We need to talk about this arrangement,” she warned with a yawn.
“Darlin’, right now, you don’t look like you’re in any shape to argue about anything,” he drawled with a small grin.
She smiled back at him weakly. “It’s been kind of a rough few weeks.” Ever since she’d broken off her engagement, she’d constantly been trying to avoid James. She hadn’t answered his calls, and he’d followed her home from work every day, but he’d stopped once she entered Colter property. So far, she’d outmaneuvered him every time he’d tried to confront her, desperately hoping he’d eventually give up and realize there was nothing more to say.
She was done, and nothing he had to say was going to make a damn bit of difference.
“You’re safe now, Chloe. Trust me,” Gabe said emphatically as he placed his lips on her forehead and kissed her like she was important to him.
Trust? I’m not sure I’m ready to trust any man completely again except my brothers.
Yet, she wanted to believe in Gabe. Honestly, she probably already did since she’d poured her heart out to him. She just wasn’t ready to voice it yet.
“I know I’m safe,” she answered cautiously. “Thank you.”
Chloe felt the mattress shift as Chase hopped onto the bed with her. She smiled as the furry body plopped right next to her and he put his head on her belly. Running her hands over his fur, she laughed as his canine body quivered in ecstasy.
“Chase. Down,” Gabe bellowed.
“He’s okay. Is he allowed on the furniture?” She adored affectionate dogs.
“Most of it,” Gabe admitted reluctantly. “He likes to be wherever I am. I guess he’s switching loyalties.”
“I was crying. Maybe he senses that I’m sad right now,” Chloe mused, continuing to stroke the dog’s silky fur.
“Are you still sad?” Gabe asked in a husky voice.
Chloe paused for a moment before answering. “No. I think I’m going to be okay.”
“I know you will,” Gabe answered confidently. “Now rest for a while. We can see the ranch when you’re feeling better.”
He turned and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
Chloe gently removed Chase’s head from her stomach and rolled over, hugging the pillow as she laid her head back down. The dog settled beside her.
She tried to wrap her confused mind around everything that had occurred in the last week or so, but her brain was on overload.
Finally, she gave up and drifted off to sleep.