Secret Love

“So, Jake, how’s your little actress doing?”

Jake frowned. “I guess she’s doing fine, and she’s not my little actress.”

Blaylock shook his head. “Now that’s where you’re wrong. Anything that sets foot on Whispering Pines is yours, and that includes Miss Hollywood.”

Jake laughed unexpectedly. “I’m sure Diamond will be glad to know that.”

“You and Miss Hollywood are on a first-name basis, are you?”

Jake frowned. “Why wouldn’t we be?”

Blaylock laughed. “Yeah, why wouldn’t you be indeed?”

Without answering the man’s question, Jake walked off the porch toward the barn where he knew a lot of the men were finishing up their chores and getting ready to retire for the night.

The night was dark, and Jake thought it was lonely. A shaft of moonlight spilled across the yard and the branches of a few trees stirred with the night’s gentle breeze. Jake stopped walking and inhaled the scent of magnolias and bluebonnets. Another scent was also entrenched in his mind. It was the scent of the perfume Diamond had been wearing when he’d seen her that day. It was a lush scent, an appealing fragrance.

Silently Jake stood in the shadows and tried to recall the moments he had spent in her company that day. Their conversations over cookies and milk had been light and impersonal, until he had begun talking about his ex-wife. He had told her more about himself than he had intended.

Jake stared long and hard into the night sky as Blaylock’s words came back to him: “Anything that sets foot on Whispering Pines land is yours….” The thought of Diamond being his made his heart pound and caused a tightening in his gut.

Jake sighed as he moved out of the shadows and began walking back toward the house. He doubted he would get much sleep tonight.

Diamond’s foot tapped to the sound of the Temptations as they bellowed out a song about their girl. Whoever had used the cabin before her had graciously left behind the CD The Temptations Greatest Hits. She had found herself dancing around the kitchen all afternoon while tidying it up and then later while baking her pies.

Now, five hours later, she had ten blueberry pies baked to her credit and was feeling pretty pleased with herself. The music had stimulated her and the baking had given her immense pride and fulfillment. She hoped Jacob’s men would be pleased with the finished product.

She looked around the kitchen, knowing she would have to clean it up again before retiring for the night. But that thought didn’t bother her. When she was through she would take a long, relaxing bath.

As she tapped her foot to another Temptations’ tune about somebody’s father being a rolling stone, she couldn’t help but wonder what Jake was doing. Was he still up? Had he gone to bed for the night? Had he been thinking about the time he had spent with her that day, the way she had been thinking about it?

Darned if she had been able to think about much else the rest of that day. And the funny thing was she kept telling herself that the thought of getting mixed up with him during her three-week stay on the ranch would serve no purpose. Although the media claimed otherwise, she was not one to engage in casual affairs. Her father had done that enough over the years for both of them. Being discreet had never been one of Jack Swain’s strong points.

Diamond shook her head and let out a deep breath as she tried convincing herself that an involvement with Jacob Madaris was the last thing she wanted.

Chapter 5

Jake stopped his horse at the end of the path and looked down at the cabin below. He raised his eyes toward the heavens and saw that the dark clouds he’d awakened to that morning were now moving away. He was grateful for that since his steers would need to graze in the pastures the majority of the day.

He fixed his gaze again on the cabin. He was tempted to go down and pay Diamond a surprise visit like he had done yesterday but talked himself out of it. He was too old to go sniffing behind a woman like a stallion in heat. Besides, it was too early. Chances were she was still asleep.

Jake frowned. He hadn’t been able to get a good night’s sleep. Visions of black hair, dark eyes and kissable lips had kept him awake. He turned slightly, about to lead his horse away, back up the path, when a movement caught his eyes. The door to the cabin opened and Diamond stepped out on the porch. Even from a distance, he could see that she was holding a mug of steaming hot coffee in her hands. She was dressed in a denim work shirt and faded jeans. Her feet were braced apart with her free hand tucked into the front pocket of her jeans. Her stand emphasized the soft curves of her body.

Jake sat in the saddle, transfixed. Even dressed like a cowgirl, everything about Diamond spelled feminine. “Oh, for heaven’s sake!” he muttered in annoyance to himself. “You have more things to do, Jake Madaris, than to sit here and spy on a woman.”

He released a deep, heavy sigh. He had always prided himself on being able to handle any female relationships. Caught in the thought that he was deviating from the norm bothered him. His dreams had always centered around Whispering Pines and not some woman’s warm arms and soft body—like they had last night.

Jake spared one last glance at Diamond before turning his horse back toward the pastures. There was work to do.

When Diamond heard the sound of the vehicle’s engine, she took a deep breath. Jacob had arrived. She had called for him earlier and had spoken on the phone to Blaylock. He was such a nice man. He had told her that Jacob had ridden out early that morning and wasn’t expected back until midmorning. He said he would give him the message when he returned that she wanted to see him, and to come via way of his Jeep and not horseback.

She felt the knot in her stomach clench. Never before had she allowed any man to get next to her like Jacob Madaris was doing. She frowned. He was just a regular man. But that thought didn’t stop her from taking another deep breath when she heard the sound of his knock on the door. She walked over to the door and opened it.

Diamond’s breath caught in her throat. There was nothing regular about Jacob Madaris, she thought as she studied his features. They were the same features that had invaded her dreams every night since she’d come to Whispering Pines. But for some reason, today those features appeared more manly and prominent. Today he looked like the quintessential cowboy/rancher. If anyone could combine the two successfully, it would be the handsome man standing before her.

“Hello, Jacob.”

“Diamond.” Jake breathed in her scent. It was warm, sweet, seductive. She was still wearing the cowgirl outfit he had seen her in that morning when he’d watched her from high on the mountain while she’d stood on the porch drinking a cup of coffee.

He cleared his throat when it suddenly became apparent that neither had said anything else to each other for a full minute after their initial greeting. “Blaylock said you wanted me.”

Diamond blinked. She wanted him all right, she thought, willing her pulse to stop beating so rapidly. “Pardon me?”

“Blaylock said you wanted to see me and to bring the Jeep.”

“Yeah, right,” she said, getting her mind back on track. Relax, she commanded herself, or Jacob will think you’re one ditzy woman. “Please come in. I need help with the pies.”

“Pies?”

“Yes. Remember I told you that I would bake them for your men; ten of them from the blueberries I picked.”

Jake frowned as he walked into the cabin. “You actually did bake them?”

Diamond chuckled. “I told you I would.”

Jake glanced around. A huge vase of roses sat on a nearby coffee table. He frowned when seeing the roses brought back memories.

Diamond saw his frown and didn’t understand the reason for it. “I picked them yesterday,” she said, explaining. “I would have gotten your permission first had I known that picking them would upset you. There were so many of them, and they were so beautiful. It was strange seeing them growing all around. I first noticed them when I went out picking berries a few days ago.”

Jake nodded. “I don’t have a problem with you picking them. Sorry if I gave you that impression. My ex-wife took a notion to plant over a thousand rosebushes on this land right after we got married. She was used to seeing roses where she came from and said Whispering Pines looked dreary without them.”

Now it was Diamond’s time to frown. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing dreary about Whispering Pines. “I happen to disagree with her. This land of yours of beautiful, Jacob,” she said, leading him to the kitchen. She then motioned to the clean and spotless kitchen. “No mess this time. No fight with flour.”

Jake smiled. “I’m impressed.” In all actuality, he was. It seemed everything about Diamond was beginning to impress him, especially when she had defended the beauty of his land. All Jessie had ever done was to put Whispering Pines down. She had hated it here. And she sure as heck would never have given thought to doing anything nice for his men. She had told him on more than one occasion how she detested them. She saw them as a group of men who barely had a high school education. She thought they were irresponsible men without any goals in life other than to play cowboys without the benefit of Indians. Jessie never had a word, kind or otherwise, to say to any of them. She had placed herself on a higher level than they were. But Diamond was a well-known movie star, who was known worldwide, and whose film credits were remarkably impressive. Yet she had taken the time not to bake just one pie, but ten of them for his men.

“I talked to Blaylock to be sure it would be okay since I didn’t know what type of menu he had planned for them today. I didn’t want to overstep my boundaries since he’s their cook.”

Jake nodded. That was another thoughtful gesture on her part. He was beginning to realize that Diamond Swain was a very unique woman.

“He’s really a nice man.”

Jake frowned. “Who?”

“Blaylock. I talked to him on the phone for over an hour. He gave me a recipe for vegetable soup. I’m going to make some tonight.”

Diamond felt a fluttering in her heart when Jake smiled. “Well, once you get the pies in your Jeep, we’ll be ready to go,” she said, as she began placing the pies inside a huge cardboard box.

“You’re coming?” Jake asked her in surprise.