Secret Love - Brenda Jackson [110]
Chapter 22
Chapter 23 J ust like all the other warnings Jake had received, Alex Maxwell was taking this one seriously. He sat on the sofa in Jake’s office and closely studied all the reports he had gotten back over the past week. He shook his head. One thing was for certain, the individual wasn’t doing a whole heck of a lot to cover his tracks, which meant he had a few screws loose or he just didn’t care. Pushing the last of the papers he’d been reading aside, Alex concluded the person fit both categories, and nothing was worse than dealing with someone who felt he had nothing to lose. Alex glanced across the room at Jake, who was standing looking out of the window. Beneath the tan Stetson was a man who was a brilliant businessman, an expert rancher and a person with nerves of steel. He was also a man who had a stubborn streak a mile wide. It was that stubborn streak that Alex hated dealing with most of all. Jake was determined to protect Diamond, but was bucking all of Alex’s pleas to protect hi
Chapter 23
Chapter 24 F or one brief moment, Alex thought he saw a flicker of some deep emotion cross Jake’s face. Surely what he had just told him had had some effect. Being given the name of a person who was out to kill you would garner some type of reaction from most people. But not from Jake Madaris. After hearing the report he had given him, Jake hadn’t yet made a comment or shown any type of physical emotion. Alex shrugged. If he was in Jake’s boots, he’d be ready to hit something or hurt somebody. Alex cleared his throat. “Now that we have a suspect, especially one who can’t be found at the moment, I think we need to alert Sheriff McCoy in case Ammons is in this area. I have a few contacts at the Bureau who’ll help me on this one, and who’ll agree to keep things quiet for now.” Jake nodded. Conrad Ammons. Somehow, he thought, it all fit. The pointed questions, the cold looks, the hard stares. Alex’s report, his very thorough report, had provided everything. The camera manufacturer’s inform
Chapter 24
Chapter 25 D iamond stretched out on the bed and turned her head on the pillow to stare out of the window. She always thought the view of the mountains surrounding Sterling’s home was beautiful, but today she didn’t want to think about anything but Jacob and what he was enduring because of her. Sighing, she placed an arm over her forehead and shifted her gaze to the ceiling. A single tear rolled from the corner of her eye. What would she have told her child if anything had happened to Jacob? I’m sorry, but your father is no longer alive because of me… More tears filled her eyes as she gently rubbed her stomach where their baby rested. Why was the world so cruel? Why couldn’t people—fans, media, photographers—just leave her and Jacob alone to love each other in peace? Blast it! They would never have peace whether she was Diamond Swain Madaris, the movie star, or Diamond Swain Madaris, the ex-movie star. They’d had more peace from the prying eyes of the news-hungry press when their marri
Chapter 25
Chapter 26 S terling took one look at Jake as he descended the helicopter and knew the man had come to the mountain intent on claiming his wife. He shook his head, wondering just how Jake was going to handle the news that Diamond was no longer there. The closer Jake came toward him, the more Sterling saw his tired eyes and haggard face. “Where’s Diamond?” Jake asked when he finally reached where Sterling was standing. “She’s gone, Jake.” Jake lifted a dark brow. Sterling also saw the anger that suddenly appeared in his eyes and how his jaw tightened. “What do you mean, she’s gone?” “Like I told you on the phone, Jake, she was upset. She wanted to leave