Secret Love - Brenda Jackson [69]
At least that was something everyone in the room agreed with.
Jake tipped into his bedroom and found Diamond still sleeping. The sun was shining brightly into the room through the blinds—however, the way they were angled kept any direct sunlight from hitting her.
He walked over to the bed. She was lying atop the covers in a short, very skimpy nightshirt that was unbuttoned. His breath caught in his throat when he looked down at her. He thought of his family downstairs, celebrating Clayton and Syneda’s news and wondered just how he would feel when the day came and Diamond told him she was carrying his child.
Jake knew that would be the happiest day of his life. He knelt beside the bed and reached out to touch her. Being careful not to wake her, he pushed her shirt aside and let his hands touch her flat belly. It was a belly that would one day grow with his child. He had never given much thought to fatherhood until he had met Diamond. Now he couldn’t help but think of anything else than them sharing a love and a product of their love.
He caressed her stomach, imagining a child growing inside of her. His child. He would love it, protect it and be the kind of father his father was to him, his brothers were to their children and his nephews were to theirs. He bowed his head in silent prayer, thanking God for sending this woman, this very special woman, into his life. And he made a vow that if they were ever blessed with a child, he would always be there for his son or daughter. Sealing his promise, he leaned over and placed a special kiss on her stomach.
Diamond mumbled in her sleep. “Jacob.” His name was whispered off her lips while she slept.
Jake placed a kiss on her lips. “I love you.”
Standing, he walked across the room and eased out of the door, knowing if he stayed he would be tempted to wake her and make love to her again and again and again.
The man was angry. He was more angry than he had been in a long time. He crushed the newspaper in his hand. If Jacob Madaris thought he was going to get away with this, he had another thought coming.
The man pushed himself back from the table, disgusted with the way things were going. If what he had read was true and Diamond had been secretly married eighteen months, then she had been at risk all that time. He could not let any man hurt her. Men could be physically brutal to women like her, and he would protect her with his life if he had to. He was determined that he would protect her the way he had not protected his sister.
“A girls’ night at the cabin?” Diamond asked her husband excitedly. “Oh, Jacob, that’s sounds wonderful. Whose idea was it?”
Not mine, that’s for sure, he thought as he sat across the bedroom in a chair and watched his wife get dressed. Damn, she looked good. She had slept most of the morning, and it was a little past noon. He watched as she struggled with the zipper on her jeans, thinking just how tempted he was to walk across the room to peel the things off her again.
Jake forced his mind back to what they were discussing. “I think it was Syneda’s idea, but then all the others jumped on the bandwagon about it.’
Diamond looked up from snapping her jeans at the irritation in Jake’s disgruntled tone. She studied his features. “I take it you’re not too crazy about the idea.”
One corner of Jake’s mouth lifted into a smile. “I’m not crazy about any idea that takes you away from me, even for a night.”
After slipping into her blouse, Diamond walked across the room and eased into her husband’s lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. “It’s just for one night, Jacob. Besides, you had mentioned that you and the guys would be playing poker all night anyway.”
He sighed heavily. “I know, but I still wanted you close by.”
“And I will be.” Diamond snuggled closer into his arms. “I’ve never been to an all-girls’ sleepover before. I think it will be fun.”
“You’re kidding—you