Secret Love - Brenda Jackson [43]
Her gaze met his. “Trust me, I do.” Diamond suddenly felt the need to switch subjects. Remembering Samuel’s betrayal only brought pain. She stood. “It’s getting late, Jacob. I guess it’s time for me to get back to the cabin.”
A part of Jake wasn’t ready for her to go back. He wanted her to stay here with him and spend the…
He sucked in a deep breath to rid his mind of that thought before it fully formed. He refused to break the “house rule” that he had established for himself. He had made a decision over twenty years ago that no woman would ever share his bed at Whispering Pines in this house that he had built. Any affairs he got involved in would not take place under this roof. This house was his sanctuary, his haven against the wiles of any woman, their demands, their greed, their betrayals. He never wanted the complications that getting serious with a woman caused a man. His bedroom, like his boots and hat, was private. He didn’t want the memory of any woman left there to haunt him.
But the truth of the matter was that Diamond’s memory was already there in his bedroom, and had been ever since Blaylock had informed him that she had taken a nap in his bed.
Jake took another deep breath, deciding to take her back to the cabin and away from the ranch. He had to put a stop to this madness once and for all. Diamond was getting to him. Thoughts of her were consuming his every waking moment. And even while he was asleep, she invaded his dreams. He had thought that making love to her would help rid his body of wanting her, but it had only increased his desire.
“Jacob?”
He looked up at Diamond when she called his name. “Yes?”
“Are you ready to take me back to the cabin?”
Jake opened his mouth to say yes, but instead he said, “No.”
He saw her eyes draw together quizzically. “No?”
“No.”
He slowly stood and walked around the table to stand in front of her. Lifting his hand, he fingered the side of her face, the smooth skin there. As always he was stunned speechless by her beauty. She was everything he should be avoiding—sleek and sophisticated. But then again, she was everything he wanted, and admitted defeatedly that he would willingly break every rule for her.
He leaned down and let his lips hover close over hers. “Stay with me tonight, Diamond,” he whispered huskily. “Stay here. In my home. I want to make love to you in my bed. I want to wake up beside you in the morning, here. Say you’ll stay.”
Chapter 12
D iamond could not respond.
Although she didn’t fully understand what was happening between them, she was intuitive enough to know Jake was asking for more than her to spend the night with him. The relationship they shared had escalated beyond a mere physical attraction. She had acknowledged that for herself in accepting she loved him, but now looking into his dark eyes she saw more than desire there, and what she saw took her breath away. She knew he was inwardly acknowledging some feelings for her, too, although it was obvious that he was fighting them.
She had a gut feeling that spending the night with him would mean more than the two of them satisfying some basic urges. During all the times they had made love, it had always been more than that to her. Oh, there had been the satisfying of wants and needs, but she had always felt there had been more. There were those unspoken and unaffirmed feelings lurking deep down that neither of them had wanted to surface or explore. Whenever they had made love, there had been the tenderness, the sensitivity and the passion. He had made love to her with all the things she had been missing in her life from a man. They were feelings she hadn’t hidden, although a part of her had known revealing them would lead nowhere. Considering everything, there was still no way they could ever have a future together. She knew it and accepted it. But she wanted her memories. She would need them. It would be the memories of her time with him that would sustain her for the rest of her life.
She met his gaze and said, “Yes, I’ll stay here with you tonight.