Page 27 of Princess Redeemed

“Right.Okay.”

Dad helps me into the wheelchair and another moment later, I’m in an examination room with an ultrasound machine.

“How far along are you, ma’am?”a nurse asks.

“I don’t know.Not very.Please.Just save my baby.”

“We’ll do everything we can.”She helps me onto an examination table.“We’ll do a vaginal ultrasound.We get the best view that way.I just need you to remove your jeans and underwear.”

I nod, getting rid of the garments slowly, as the pain prevents me from moving quickly.The nurse covers me with a paper blanket and applies some lubricant.

“All right,” she says with a weak smile.“Let’s see what’s going on inside you.”

15

I winceas she inserts the probe into me.It’s not painful so much as it is uncomfortable.What hurts is the ache in my belly, and chills rake over my body.

I can’t lose this child.

I can’t lose Rogan’s baby.

The ultrasound technician presses the probe farther in, and I suck in a breath.

“Sorry,” she murmurs.“I want to get a good look.”

“Just do what you have to do,” I grit out.

Then the rapid echoing sound of the heartbeat.Thank God!

“Everything looks good.”She frowns.“But how far along did you say you are?”

“I don’t know exactly.I have a longer cycle than most.Thirty-five days, and I’ve been very…active lately.”

“You mean sexually active?”

“Yeah.”Really?Did she have to ask?

She turns the monitor toward me, and the flick of the heartbeat on the screen warms me.“Wow.”

“Your baby appears just fine,” she says, “but it’s measuring at around nine weeks.”

I drop my mouth open.Nine weeks?I haven’t even known Rogan that long.“I can’t be more than five or six weeks.It’s not possible.”

“If you’ve been active?—”

“I mean during the last couple weeks.Before that I wasn’t with anyone.”

“Hmm.”She wrinkles her brow.“We should probably do some tests.Gestational diabetes can make a fetus grow faster than normal, but that doesn’t usually show up until much later.”She looks me over.“You’re tall, but you’re far from obese.”

“Thanks,” I say dryly.

“By that I meant the size of the parents can affect fetal size, but again, it’s not usually apparent at this young fetal age.Is the father large?”

In human or wolf form?In both cases, the answer is yes, but he’s not abnormally large.

“He’s tall and broad, over six feet.”

She moves the probe around, pushing it against my cervix.Damn, that’s uncomfortable.