Secret Love - Brenda Jackson [23]
And she doubted that she ever would.
Unlike him, she had not regretted the kiss and had been honest with him and herself when she had told him so. She could tell he hadn’t been pleased with that bit of information from her, either.
When Diamond finally dozed off to sleep a short while later, her mind was still filled with thoughts of Jacob and his kiss.
Chapter 7
J ake Madaris was in a bad mood. A very bad mood. He knew it. Blaylock knew it. And his men knew it.
But what Blaylock and the men couldn’t figure out was why. Of all the men who had been around Diamond at lunch two days ago, Jake had spent more time with her than anyone. So everyone couldn’t help but wonder what had him in a tiff. If anything, to their way of thinking, he should have been a man on top of the world. What man wouldn’t be in his shoes?
All of them would have been surprised to know that Jake didn’t want to be in those shoes. He didn’t want to be the man Diamond had spent most of her time with that day. It was for that very reason that he had deliberately avoided her since then. The night he’d taken her back to the cabin was one he was trying hard to forget, but the memory of her taste wouldn’t let him.
And that was the reason for his bad mood.
The men were still talking about her visit and the pies she’d baked for them. There was nowhere he could go on the ranch without hearing her name or someone singing her praises. He knew she had baked another batch of cookies, this time for his men. It had been Blaylock whom she had called to pick up the delivery, not him. A part of him should have been overjoyed at the thought that he hadn’t had to see her again, but he wasn’t.
It had been two days and two nights, and instead of feeling relieved, he was feeling annoyed. Which was one of the reasons he had deliberately not gone back to the ranch at midmorning like he normally did. Blaylock had casually mentioned at breakfast that he would be going to the cabin to fetch Diamond to the ranch for a cooking lesson in chili making.
Jake shook his head. Although everyone knew that Blaylock made the best chili this side of the Mexican border, he couldn’t figure out why on earth Diamond would want to know how to do it. She had enough money to hire the most expensive cooks that money could buy. Why would she want to learn anything about cooking chili?
Just for the novelty of it, an inner voice told him. It’s something new and different to her. It’ll wear off soon enough, and she’ll be just like the other sophisticates, bored as sin. Who knows. She may even become bored enough to shorten her three-week stay at Whispering Pines.
Jake’s jaw tightened and the muscle there began to twitch at the thought of her leaving before she was supposed to. He suddenly became irritated with himself yet again for even caring what she did. Totally frustrated, like he had been for the past two days, he stomped out of the barn and walked toward the house.
Opening the door, he paused in the doorway when he heard the sound of voices. More specifically he heard Blaylock’s chuckles and a woman’s laughter. No one had to tell him that laugh had come from Diamond.
Jake frowned. Blaylock had assured him Diamond would be gone when he returned to the ranch later that afternoon, so what was she still doing here? He decided not to even find out. He was about to ease out of the door and go back to the barn before anyone realized he’d come in, when Diamond and Blaylock walked out of the kitchen into the hallway. They looked over in his direction and saw him.
Jake swore beneath his breath as his gaze met Diamond’s. He suddenly felt the walls crashing in on him, tumbling his world as he knew it. His breath got lodged in his throat. Heat gripped his entire body. Waves of awareness washed over him. All these things were happening, it seemed, all at once. And it didn’t help matters that she looked so darn beautiful.
Taking a deep breath, he forced