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he realized what was happening.
    Jessie Barton was throwing up.

CHAPTER 5
    JESSIE HEARD SOMETHING MOVING THROUGH THE TALL grass and turned in time to see Teagen swing off his horse. Straightening, she wiped her mouth as she fought down the need to vomit again. She thought the weeds were high enough that no one would notice. She’d been quiet.
    “What’s wrong?” he snapped. “Are you sick?”
    “It’s nothing.” She raised her hand, hoping he wouldn’t come closer. “I tried to get far enough away from the house so that no one would see me.”
    He grabbed his canteen and held it out to her. “To hell with anyone seeing you. What’s wrong?” The worry in his eyes didn’t match the anger in his tone.
    “You know,” she said and then realized he probably didn’t. “It’s morning sickness, that’s all.”
    Teagen shoved back his hat and stared at her. “What kind of sickness comes only in the morning?”
    “Didn’t your sister-in-law have it when she was pregnant?”
    “No.” He thought a moment. “I don’t know. What does her being pregnant have to do with you tossing your breakfast? You can’t be pregnant. You’ve been widowed for three months.”
    Jessie closed her eyes, wishing the sun would stop swirling in the sky. “Yes, I’m afraid I can. If I’m guessing right, I’m almost to my fourth month.”
    She couldn’t believe she was telling a stranger her secret. No one knew. When she ran from Chicago, she hadn’t even suspected.
    He offered the canteen again. “How long have you known?”
    “A month, maybe a little longer. I’ve never been regular and . . .” Jessie realized what she said and added the heat of embarrassment to nausea. No woman in her right mind would admit something so private to a man.
    If he understood a word she’d said, he showed no sign. “Here, drink some water. I’ll walk you back to the house. It might help if you got out of the sun.”
    She nodded and took a long drink. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone.”
    “Who would I tell?” he asked, still looking at her as if he were seeing someone dying.
    “I’ll be all right,” she managed. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be past this part soon.”
    “We don’t have a doctor in town, but I could ride to—”
    “I don’t need a doctor. I’m not sick. I’m pregnant.” She almost added that she’d had this disease enough to know there would be only one cure.
    She started back toward the house. He fell into step beside her. “Sure, okay,” he said. “If your people come soon, you can deliver the baby in California. If you’re four months, you’ve still got five months to go, right?”
    She didn’t answer. Her first child had come a month earlier than she’d thought. If she was counting months, she’d guess she had less than five to wait.
    “How often do you do this?” He glanced back to the weeds.
    “Most mornings. But once it’s done, I feel better.”
    “Good.” They reached the house. “Should you go in and lie down or something?”
    “No,” Jessie said. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. I’ve kept you from your work long enough.” She stepped inside and let the door close behind her.
    Leaning her back against the wall, she prayed he followed her advice and left. How could she have ever gotten into such a mess? When they ran from Chicago, she really hadn’t thought her plan through. The loss of Eli, the closing of the store, the threats from her mother-in-law to take her children, it all piled up until the only thing she could think about was getting away. In her mind, the one place of safety had always been the ranch described by a man she’d never met. How could she have been dumb enough to expect Teagen to welcome a woman and three children he never knew existed?
    No. Correction, three and a half children.
    During the journey, when it had crossed her mind that there might be no Teagen McMurray or he wouldn’t be the man he appeared to be in the letters, she’d said