Secret Love - Brenda Jackson [24]
“Hello, Jacob. It’s good seeing you again. How have you been?”
Infuriated with himself for letting her get next to him again, he folded his arms across his chest. “If you must know, ma’am,” he drawled with agitated politeness, “I haven’t been doing so hot. But thanks for asking.”
Diamond lifted her brow, and Jake saw a flash of comprehension form in her eyes. “Really, Jacob? Now isn’t that a coincidence. I haven’t been doing so hot myself.”
“Getting bored already?”
She smiled at him again—darn it. “I could never get bored here.”
Jake shook his head. He had heard that one before. “Well, don’t let me stop whatever the two of you were about to do. I’ll just run upstairs and take my shower.”
“I was about to take Diamond back to the cabin, Jake, but now that you’re here, maybe you could take her back. I need to get dinner started,” Blaylock said, reminding them of his presence.
Jake stared at Diamond for a second before making a decision. “Sure, why not. Are you ready to leave now, or can you wait until after I’ve showered?”
“I can wait.”
Nodding, Jake turned toward the stairs. “I’ll be back down in a half hour.”
“I didn’t mean to be a bother, Jacob.”
Jake had brought the Jeep to a stop in front of the cabin and instead of getting out, he had turned in his seat. He was staring at her, Diamond thought, and had even pushed his Stetson farther back on his head, away from his eyes as if to get a better view. He had not said one word since leaving the ranch house. But he didn’t have to, she concluded. What she saw in his expression spoke volumes. Desire, hot desire, flared in his dark eyes, and the sparks from it flamed her all over and took her breath away.
Diamond tore her gaze away from his. The heat penetrating from his eyes had become unbearable. The woman in her recognized his need. It was surrounding her, entrenching her. The woman in her also recognized his resistance. He didn’t want to have anything to do with her. She understood. Deep down she didn’t want to have anything to do with him, either, but the attraction was too strong, too overwhelming for either of them. She had realized that fact two nights ago when he had kissed her. She had realized it again today when she had seen him for the first time since that night. Even with Blaylock in the room with them, they hadn’t been able to mask the heat, the wanting, the desire. When he had mentioned that he hadn’t been doing so hot, she had wanted to go to him, stroke away the hardness that had formed in his cheeks and then soften his grim mouth with her own.
Diamond sucked in air as she fought her senses from leaping someplace they should not.
Jake took a long, deep breath. He recognized his needs, too. Normally he took care of them. After Jessie, he had learned to keep his business interests, his personal life and physical needs separate. And Rhonda Henry made it easy for him to do just that. Rhonda wasn’t a city woman, but she wasn’t a country gal, either, although her father owned one of the largest horse ranches in Wyoming. Rhonda fitted nicely somewhere in between. She could be as classy and sophisticated as she wanted to be one minute, then break in a horse or rope a steer better than any man the next. She was a woman on the move, a mover and a shaker who took her job as public relations administrator for her father’s prosperous horse-breeding business seriously.
She was a divorcée and was only four years younger than he. They had met a few years ago at a political fund-raiser in Washington for his friend, Senator Nedwyn Lansing. Like him, Rhonda wanted the separation of business, personal