Page 55 of Her Bachelor Cowboy Billionaire

CHAPTER12

The next day, the doctor released Jessica to go home. Roark entered the room and found Jessica standing and leaning on the bed. He hurried to support her before she collapsed. “What are you doing? You should have waited for me.”

She whispered. “Regardless of what I told them, we aren’t really engaged, and I didn’t want you to see me.”

He whispered in her ear. “We aren’t engaged because I’ve been trying to give you time. The fact we haven’t known each other for some arbitrary length of time you seem to feel we need before we can get married isn’t my idea. I want to marry you, now, today, every day.”

Her legs seemed to give way.

He held her against him until she could stand on her own. Quietly, he said against her cheek. “Don’t answer me now, sweetheart. Let me help you get dressed, and we’ll worry about wedding dates after you’re well. And I promise to stay behind you to give you your modesty.”

She nodded.

Jessica was embarrassed the entire time Roark helped her. He had her sit in the plastic chair they always have in the hospital rooms while he put her shoes on for her.

“There we go. Let me get an orderly. They have to wheel you outside and I have to get Jubal and Mannie.” He leaned down and did what he’d been dying to do since he first saw her in the recovery room. He kissed her and tried to put all his love for her into the kiss.

Finally, he pulled back. “Tell me you didn’t feel what I did, because if you do, then you’re a liar, which I know you’re not.” He gave her a quick peck and walked out of the room.

He met her outside with a paper in his hand. He held it up. “Instructions for your home care. This way, I don’t have to remember it all.”

They pushed Jessica in a wheelchair all the way out to the helicopter. Thankfully, the flight home in the helicopter was uneventful. Roark kept hold of her hand, like he was afraid she’d disappear if he let go.

When they landed back at his ranch, he refused to let her walk to the house and carried her the entire way. He wasn’t even winded when they arrived in the kitchen, and he finally let her down.

Even though she felt a jolt of pain, she did her best not to let it show and looked up at him and smiled. “It was very nice of you to carry me, but I could have walked. I would have been slow, but I would have made it.”

“You can’t use those crutches with that wound on your side. You either start walking on your ankle, which I don’t recommend, or you let me carry you, which I would prefer to do.”

“Well, you must let me walk around the house. I’m not the type of person who can just sit around, but if I have to, I suppose I could read. I can also write. That doesn’t take a lot of physical strength.”

“What I want for you to do now is rest, like the doctor said. You are supposed to rest and do light things like read and watch TV.”

She rolled her eyes, then realized shewastired, and she hadn’t even done anything yet. “I suppose you’re right. I am tired. Getting shot seems to have taken all my strength.”

He smiled and tilted his head a little. “You also had surgery, so twice the trauma.” He bent and picked her up again. “I’ll see if Athena has any broth. According to the printed instructions the nurse gave me, you should probably go easy with solid food until you’re sure you can keep it down. In the meantime, you’re going to bed; your actual bed, not the sofa in the den.” He carried her up to the guest room and set her down on the left side of the bed. “Do you have pajamas or a nightgown?”

“In the second drawer of the dresser.”

He retrieved the garment and returned to her by the bed. “Let’s get you out of those clothes and into bed.”

“I’m too tired to argue with you.”

He gazed down at her. “Would you rather I get Athena?”

She looked up at him. “Yes, I would. I have nothing to hide, but we’re not married, and I’d prefer we didn’t get too personal…in case we don’t.”

He cupped her face. “Sweetheart, we will be married. And as far as I’m concerned, the sooner, the better.” He dropped to one knee. “Jessica Kirby, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

She looked down into his beloved face. “Yes, I will.” Her heart pounded, and she was suddenly moved to tears. They filled her eyes, but they were happy tears.

He rose and took her into his arms. “I love you Jessica Kirby. I’ve known it from the moment our hands first touched. You’re special. You’re the only woman I ever want to be with, Mrs. Sullivan.”

She noticed the soft pressure as he was careful of her bandages. She wrapped her right arm around his neck, even though the action made her left side ache. “I love you, too. I didn’t want to admit it. It’s so sudden, but I felt the same way when we touched the first time. Electricity shot through me. It…it was like nothing I’ve ever felt before. I still get a little jolt when we touch. Do you?”

“I do.” He kissed her.

“Poor Mannie, I think he might have actually liked her.”