Page 11 of A Baby for the Billionaire Cowboy

Nesting, huh? He’d done research last night on pregnancy, but knowing the stages of fetal development hadn’t prepared him for this. Still, it probably wasn’t that different from when a rabbit shredded and fluffed material into a comfortable space for giving birth. Rabbits didn’t climb up on step stools when their center of gravity was awkwardly balanced, but then Daisy didn’t appear to be pulling out her own hair to make her nest, so maybe it was a fair trade.

Daisy had been disappearing into her new room after dinner. Xander had assumed she was exhausted from being around new people, or out of energy in general. But maybe she’d been cleaning and organizing then too, turning the room that used to be Cody’s into her own nest. He’d noticed the new shampoo and conditioner in the shower, with lotions and so forth lined up tidily in the medicine cabinet.

Maybe they should turn Cody and TC’s old rooms into a suite for Daisy and the baby, with their own bathroom. He’d talk to Mama about it.

At the moment, he wanted to distract Daisy from working so hard. But he’d already learned that she wouldn’t take kindly to a suggestion that she put her feet up or take a nap.

“I’ll explain the filing system later,” he said. “How about a tour of the rest of the ranch while it’s still cool out? The beef cattle are out in the fields, but we have horses in the barn and chickens and rabbits nearby.”

He’d looked up the risks to pregnant women from being near or handling animals. Daisy should be safe as long as she avoided feces and didn’t milk the animals or help them during births. He’d remind her to wash her hands after touching anything, as an extra precaution. Fortunately, rabbits were generally safe for healthy people to handle, and he could vouch for the health of all their rabbits except the ones in quarantine. He’d make sure they were disease and parasite free before introducing them to the other rabbits, or to Daisy.

“Oh, I’d love that!” Daisy practically danced as she put the last mug in the dish drain, pulled the plug in the sink, and rinsed her hands. She grabbed the hand towel and turned toward him, cheeks pink and eyes glowing. She really was fresh and pretty as a daisy.

“And I want y’all to know, I’m happy to help with chores too.” She chuckled and patted her belly. “I might be a little clumsy for a while yet, but you’ve welcomed me into your home, and I’m happy to clean the kitchen or feed the chickens or... I don’t actually know all that much about ranch work, but I can learn.”

The idea that Daisy might actually try to shovel out the horse stalls or scrub the floor literally knocked Xander back a step. “You don’t need to do that. We have cleaners come in every week for the house. Mama says it’s the best thing about winning the lottery. And if no one feels like cooking, we go over to TC’s ranch. He has a cook to feed all the hired hands. You just focus on the office work.”

“Okay, but know that I’m happy to do whatever needs to be done.”

He glanced down at her feet in their cute little strappy sandals. “Right now, I suggest you put on some real shoes. The kind with closed toes, I mean. If you want rubber boots, there’s some in the back mudroom. It’s not real muddy out right now, but they’ll keep off the dirt and all.”

He couldn’t believe he’d already gone from assuming Daisy would only do a little light work as an excuse to get a paycheck to begging her to organize their files rather than clean the house. Come to think of it, pregnant women must do house and yard chores all the time, and even ranch work. Most of them couldn’t afford to hire someone else. No doubt Mama had kept doing the cooking and cleaning, and some of the animal care, all while wrangling the older boys and taking care of Xander as a baby. He ought to order her a big bouquet of flowers.

Women were really incredible.

But that didn’t mean he had to let Daisy work that hard, when it wasn’t necessary.

They stopped by the house so she could change shoes. Then they started at the rabbit hutch, which was close to the house for afternoon shade. She would have passed by it on the way to the office building, but as far as Xander knew, she hadn’t actually gotten to know any of the bunnies.

“We have two main hutches, for spayed females and neutered males,” he said. “The hutches can be moved around so they have fresh grass and we can adjust to the weather. Any new rabbits start out in quarantine until they get fixed. I keep sick rabbits and newborns in the house for their safety and so I can check on them throughout the night if needed.”

She looked down at the rabbits in the female pen. “They’re so fluffy with their long hair!”

“The two close here, Obi-Bun Kenobi and Bun Solo, are Angora. They’re the best for wool, plus they’re a favorite with the 4-H kids. We have some chinchilla and other breeds as well.”

She put a hand on his arm to steady herself as she crouched. Stephen Hopping, a light brown rabbit with a little mane like a lion, hopped closer. Daisy cooed at it. Then she stood, still holding his arm for balance. “You get them all fixed? Don’t you want to breed more rabbits?”

“We get enough new rabbits from other people who bred them by accident.” He bent down to scoop up a black-and-white rabbit. “Anyway, we’re not raising them for meat. I comb out the loose hair and sell it to weavers. When they die, we can sell the pelts as well, and the meat gets cooked for the dogs. Rabbit manure is a good fertilizer, so it goes in the garden and we sell the extra.”

“I didn’t realize they had so many uses. It’s nice that you don’t have to kill them for the meat.” She held her fingers near the bunny’s twitching nose. “I know this is a ranch, and y’all have to be practical and make money, or at least you did, but I’d have trouble not thinking of bunnies as pets.”

He nodded. “I’ve been raising rabbits since I was a little kid. Daddy said they had to earn their way, but fortunately you can do that with small-scale rabbit farming. This is Fibunacci. Do you want to hold her? It should be safe. For the baby, I mean.”

She bit her lip. “Are you sure? To hear Auntie Rhonda tell it, I shouldn’t touch animals unless they are well cooked, and then there’s still a whole list to avoid. I’m not sure where she gets her information. I think she figures that if anyone anywhere has ever said something might be potentially dangerous for a pregnant woman, I should avoid it.”

Xander stroked Fibunacci’s soft ears. “I looked it up. You shouldn’t change the cat’s litter, but rabbits and horses are safe. You shouldn’t help when the cows give birth either, not that we’d ask you to, and that will mostly be later anyway, after your baby is born.”

She smiled at the rabbit and then up at him. “Well, in that case, I’m ready to cuddle!”

He handed her Fibunacci and bent down to pet Sheldon and Leeloo—and hide his hot face. He knew she meant she wanted to cuddle the rabbit, but her words had still given him a vivid image of snuggling up with her on the couch. He shouldn’t be thinking like that.

After she’d had enough bunny time, they walked to the barn. The dogs, Buddy and Lucky, bounded over to them and demanded pets. Then they raced off looking for another adventure.

“We have a couple of barn cats,” Xander said. “They keep the rodents down. Animal shelters are always looking for homes for feral cats they trap in cities, the ones that wouldn’t make good inside pets.”

“I guess you don’t have to worry about cleaning their litter boxes.”

“No, but watch what you touch on the ground, and wash your hands after—” He broke off. Was he starting to sound like Rhonda Gillespie? Daisy had wanted this job in part to get away from her aunt. She didn’t need someone else nagging her.

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