"I want to meet her again."
Instantly the air thickened with tension. Murderous rage swept through Jake, a tidal wave that shook him. Thunder crashed in his ears, his blood boiled and fire burned in his belly. He actually saw red. Beneath his skin, something wild broke free and ran, itching uncontrollably. His jaw filled with teeth; his lips drew back in a snarl. Jake turned his head away from Drake, knowing his eyes glowed a feral red. He took several deep breaths to try to control the rampaging leopard clawing to break free.
As the wild animal in him wrestled for supremacy, his horse reared, screaming in fear, then suddenly lunged and bucked, trying to dislodge him. Jake dug his knees in harder and controlled the animal, murmuring soothing words, grateful for the distraction.
When the horse was calm, he glanced warily at Drake. "You've met Emma several times." Drake wasn't like the other men, flocking around her, looking for handouts of fresh coffee, baked bread and cookies. Drake had a tendency to be a loner, keeping to himself, living in one of the smaller cabins on the property.
Drake shrugged. "If she's affecting you like this . . ."
Jake frowned. "I didn't say she was having any effect on me at all. I'm restless and bored, but women don't get under my skin."
Drake snorted derisively. If it had been any other man, Jake would have been tempted to knock him off his horse. But Drake was different. He held a certain respect for Drake, so he kept his vicious temper under check.
"I'll tell you straight up, Jake," Drake said, gathering the reins. "You're acting a hell of a lot like a man who has a mate going into heat." He pushed back his hat and turned his horse away. "If that's the case, the symptoms only get worse."
"I don't have a mate. And women don't go into heat."
Drake nodded. "So you say." He dug his heels into the horse's side and trotted away, leaving Jake staring after him.
"WHEN will he be here?" Susan Hindman hopped up and down excitedly, leaping from one foot to the other. "Honestly, Emma, how can you stay so calm?"
Emma smiled one of her slow smiles and continued kneading the bread dough. "He'll be here soon enough, if he's radioed in. Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to be with him. After all, you'll be here another four weeks." Susan was Senator Hindman's daughter, and he'd called and asked if they could watch her while the senator was out of the country. She was good company and Emma really liked her, but she had a terrible crush on Jake.
"Four weeks," Susan echoed, dramatically clasping her hands to her heart. "It's probably just as well he was gone when I arrived, I don't know how I'll stand it."
Emma laughed, a soft, pleasant sound that sounded melodic to Susan. "You're so silly, Susie. He's no different than other men." A dimple appeared along the right corner of her mouth, melting when she added, "Perhaps a little more of a tyrant."
"Oh, Emma." Exasperated that Emma didn't share her latest heartthrob, Susan shook her head. "I don't understand you. He's gorgeous. All those incredible muscles." She hugged herself ecstatically. "Muscles everywhere. Wide shoulders. And that tan and those eyes. He's to die for. You must be blind."
"It's a definite possibility," Emma agreed, laughing at Susan's drama.
"And he's richer than rich. He gets invited to the best parties, he's on the cover of magazines, in the newspaper. He knows movie stars and the president and, well, everybody. He knows everybody."
At sixteen, Susan was tall and lanky, without curves but with a coltish grace promising well for the future. Her hair was dark and curly, she had laughing hazel eyes with a generous spray of freckles across her nose. Jake wasn't aware of her visit yet, and Susan was anxious that he hurry home. He had called Emma three times a day, impressing Susan to no end, but Emma only seemed to find Jake very amusing and mildly exasperating instead of incredibly romantic.
"Your father has a great deal of money," Emma reminded mildly, "and he's always in the news. He certainly knows the president and more than his share of influential people."
"Oh." Susan dismissed her father with a wave of her hand. "Dad's just . . . well, Dad. Jake is different. He's so exciting."
Emma hid a smile, one inquisitive eyebrow going up. "Exciting?"
"Handsome. And all the rumors about him. People are afraid of him, you know. Daddy says he's one of the most powerful men in the world."
"Money and power aren't everything, Susie." It was a gentle reprimand. "And looks aren't everything either."
"Well, I know that. Daddy says he has such a brilliant mind and it's totally wasted on this ranch. He should be in politics, not just dabbling." She frowned. "But of course, he's got lots of enemies. Daddy says his kind always do. He says Jake is a barracuda in the boardroom and no one's business is safe from him. Better to be his friend than his enemy. Jake's just so fabulous and women chase him all the time."
"I'll bet your father didn't know your big ears were around when he said all that either," Emma said good-naturedly. She gave a last pat to the dough and went to the sink, shoving rather unsuccessfully at the unruly red hair spilling down her back in spiraling wisps, not to mention around her face and into her large eyes.
It bothered her that Jake was everything Susan's father had said he was. He did make enemies easily, and he seemed ruthless in his business dealings with others. Emma didn't fully understand the concept of buying and taking apart other companies, but she knew Jake was considered merciless when he conducted business.
She took another look at the birthday cake she'd decorated earlier, hoping Jake really would make it home this time before the weather brought another disaster. She wanted to surprise him with a small celebration.
"Just last month I saw Linda Rawlins and Jake get into a huge fight over you."
Emma swung around, her eyes enormous. "Me? Why me?"
Susan immediately felt contrite. Emma was very small and slender with flawless skin; well, almost flawless. She had two very faint scars marring the perfection of her face, both on the left side, one up near her eye, the other a long, thin crescent ending near the corner of her mouth. Susan had never gotten up the courage to ask her about those scars and Emma had never volunteered the information. Emma's past remained something of a mystery. Even her father didn't talk about Emma.
Jake had brought her from somewhere on the West Coast to be his housekeeper. That was all anyone ever said. Susan adored her ever since their first meeting, when her father had gone to Jake's house seeking campaign funds. She'd discovered Emma in the kitchen, laughing with the two toddlers. Immediately she'd pitched in to help and they had become good friends.
Her most secret desire was to have Emma's incredibly large green eyes and silky red-gold hair curving around her own face and cascading down her back to her waist in waves. Emma was sweet and understanding; she was always ready to listen to anyone, whether it was one of the ranch hands, Susan, or one of the children. Yet Emma always looked very vulnerable. Even at sixteen, Susan felt protective toward her.
"I was just kidding," Susan lied baldly, not liking the flicker of pain in the depths of Emma's eyes.
"You may as well tell me." Emma sighed, pulling a large barrette from the pocket of her faded blue jeans. She caught at the thick mass of hair and clipped it at the nape of her neck. The pulled-back style emphasized her high cheekbones.
Susan looked uneasy. "It's only gossip, Emma, I didn't believe it."
"Believe what? Come on, Susie, you've gone this far."
"Well." Susan scuffed at the Mediterranean tiles with her foot uncomfortably. "I was in the hall, it wasn't like I was eavesdropping on purpose or anything."
"Susie."
"All right, but I wasn't listening on purpose. Linda waylaid Jake at this party and asked him to take her to the Bingleys' party, which you probably know is the big event of the season."
Emma didn't, but she nodded anyway, trying not to wince when she heard the other woman's name.
Susan grinned suddenly. "Can you believe it? I wished I'd had a tape recorder. The great Linda
Rawlins actually having to ask a man to escort her. I could have made thousands selling that information to the tabloids. Little shipping heiress shunned by the oil king."
"You read too many gossip magazines," Emma scolded determinedly.
"Yeah, probably." Susan was unrepentant. "But they're so much fun."
"Get on with it."
"Jake was cool and very polite in that distant way he has, but you know, with that sort of bored, totally hot look he gets. He told Linda he was taking you and she blew up. Like, big time. Sky high. She was shrieking at him at the top of her lungs. She told him nobody in society would ever accept you, and that his own parents thought it laughable that he was with you and that he was only doing it to spite them. Then she called you a domestic servant. Jake looked down at her with that sort of contempt thing he does and then she really got nasty."
Emma twisted her fingers together. Lately she'd been emotional and upset, and for some strange reason Susan's gossip really upset her. She knew everyone gossiped about Jake; he just took it in stride. But she was always out of sight on the ranch where no one saw her and she saw no one. She rarely even left the ranch. Linda had come by to see her already and said very ugly things in spite of the fact that Emma had tried to reassure her she was just the housekeeper.
"Linda said everyone knew Jake was Andraya's father and he got both you and Shaina pregnant at the same time and he only kept you around because of his illegitimate brats." Susan was outraged all over again, her fists clenched at her sides. She was definitely loyal to Emma.
Emma paled beneath her golden tan. "What did Jake say?" It was one thing to say it to her, here at the house, but to publicly scream it to Jake at a party was something altogether different.
"He didn't deny it. He just looked Linda up and down sort of like she was a loathsome bug and he stalked off in that cool way he walks. He was so gorgeous. And Linda looked pathetic and jealous."
Emma passed a shaking hand over her face and sat down rather abruptly. She didn't want people using her or Andraya to get at Jake.
"Oh, Emma," Susan wailed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. Linda's jealous. It's just that Jake is so different with you. You never seem to notice, but he's"--she hesitated, searching for the right word--"indifferent toward women. He brushes them off like flies; he has no time for them. You never go to parties but you should see him. Honestly, I'd die if he looked at me the way he does at those women, with such contempt, as if they're so far beneath him."
In spite of herself, Emma had to laugh. "He can't be that bad or they wouldn't be falling all over him."
"Other people aren't like you, Emma," Susan felt compelled to point out. "They'd sell their souls for all that money and power. And he's so hot. Women would put up with a lot for that. Plus, I think there's something about taming the bad boy."
"That's insane. You've been reading too many novels, Susan. In real life, if the man is bossy and arrogant, he isn't all that easy to live with. And I doubt if women throw themselves at Jake just because of his bank account."
"Sure they do," Susan insisted. "Dad's a senator, and a widower. Believe me, I've seen the women go after him and know all the signs." She wrinkled her nose. "You met Dana when she brought me. My governess. Ha. What a crock. She's so after Dad, and you saw how stuck-up she was with you. She treats me like that, as if I'm so far beneath her, yet she thinks I'm going to let her be my stepmom."
Emma hadn't cared for Dana, although she wasn't going to admit it aloud to Susan. The woman was too cold and made too many cutting remarks to Susan for Emma's liking.
"Jake is different with you and it shows," Susan continued, warmed to her theme. "He's gentle and he laughs around you. He calls you three times a day and he kisses you. You just don't believe me because you don't see him away from here."
"Oh, for heaven's sake. I run his house. Of course he calls me. I have to give him his messages. And just for your information, he doesn't kiss me, he just sort of pecks me. We've lived here two years together. We're affectionate, that's all."
"Daddy said you nearly died when Andraya was born and Jake didn't leave your side once," Susan pointed out. "And he named Andraya while you were unconscious. And Andraya and Kyle look alike."
Susan was fishing for information, but Emma didn't take the bait. "Poor Jake. How awful of Linda to throw all of that in his face."
"Look alive, Emma." A short, stocky man with laughing blue eyes and a shock of sun-bleached hair stuck his head in the door. "Boss is on the way in, landed ten minutes ago." He grinned at Susan, letting out a slow, appreciative wolf whistle making the young girl blush wildly.
"Thanks, Joshua," Emma acknowledged dryly. "I'll have fresh coffee on."
Joshua saluted, winked at Susan and ducked back outside. Emma stood in the center of the room for a moment, staring out the huge picture window. Such an innocent conversation on Susan's part, yet it brought back a flood of memories Emma dared not think about. She shivered, remembering the feel of hard hands gripping her with incredible strength, the smell of gasoline, the loud roar of flames, the emptiness that never quite went away. It had been a long while since she'd allowed herself to think about that day.
"Emma?" Susan's concern was evident in her voice, drawing Emma back to the present. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, of course, honey. Run along and check those kids for me, will you? They were playing horses in Kyle's room but they're being very quiet. There're some things I need to do."
"You're sure I didn't upset you? Linda's just jealous, nothing more, Emma."
Emma forced herself to smile. "Linda doesn't bother me; it isn't the first time she's called me a domestic servant. I should have known she couldn't resist spreading gossip." She measured coffee into the filter with the casual ease of long practice.
"She called you that? To your face? How inexcusably rude."
"Check Kyle and Andraya," Emma reminded. "And don't be too upset, Susie. Linda is a close friend of Jake's parents, and they remind me every chance they get that I am a domestic servant. It doesn't bother me a bit to be called one. I'm certain Linda got that from them, and she thinks working for a living is something awful, but I certainly don't. I'm very good at running this house."
"You aren't a servant." Susan was horrified.
Emma spun around and hurried from the kitchen, down the hall, through the large family room and right out the front door. For once she wouldn't be greeting Jake when he came in. She wanted to be alone for a while. After two years of peace, she felt like she was waking up. She loved her life, the ranch that had become her home, and the two children. Kyle was as much hers as Andraya was. The problem was she thought of Jake as hers as well. Lately she'd become restless and moody, and just thinking of Jake could make her body come alive in ways it hadn't for the last two years.
Dear Jake, it was so like him to take the brunt of the gossip on his wide shoulders--to protect her and never say a word about the rumors. If she complained about anything at all, just a mere mention, whatever it was disappeared, was fixed or managed without a word.
She couldn't face him right now. She felt confused when she was near Jake--her body growing more and more uncomfortable in his presence. Every sense heightened when he came near. His scent, masculine and forbidden, tantalized her. The drawling sound of his voice was like a caress over her skin. Maybe it had happened so gradually she hadn't been aware of her attraction to him, but she'd lived comfortably with him for two years, and to her it seemed as if, all of a sudden, when he was near, her body reacted by coming alive. And when he was gone, she couldn't stop thinking about him.
She hurried across the driveway, running down the path to the stables. What a mess they would all be in if she made the mistake of allowing him to know she was sexually attracted to him. Kyle called her Mommy, believed she was his mother, and for all intents and purposes she was. She loved him as if he were her flesh and blood. Kyle and Andraya loved each other as brother and sister. And Jake was equally wonderful to b
oth of them. And she loved Jake. Really loved him. She had loved him long before she was attracted sexually. And falling for him that way would only ruin everything.
Emma laughed softly to herself, remembering Jake getting up night after night to help her with Kyle, to change wet diapers and feed him. Now, with Andraya, he still got up, even if Kyle stayed asleep. When he was home, he fixed her tea or chocolate and sat with her while she rocked the baby to sleep. He never seemed to actually go to bed, spending most nights in her room. Sometimes he stretched out on the bed beside her, and those nights had become a kind of private hell. She wanted him there, yet the temptation of his body was becoming dangerous.
He would have had sex with her. He was nearly always hard, always ready. It wasn't that difficult to see the impressive bulge in the front of his jeans, and he never bothered to hide it or appeared embarrassed or ashamed. But she didn't want to become one of his women. He treated them with total indifference, contempt even, and she couldn't live with that.
Emma caught up a bridle, running a practiced eye over the horses standing patiently in the stalls. She wanted one with stored-up, restless energy. Maybe if she took a long ride, she would be able to calm her body down and figure out why she was so restless and edgy and desperate for a man's body. Not just any man--Jake.
"Emma." A quiet, menacing voice made her stiffen. Powerful fingers bit into her shoulder, spinning her around. "What the hell's going on here?" Jake demanded. Diamond-hard eyes raked her pale features, noting the shadows lurking in her dark eyes, dwelling on the pulse beating frantically in her throat, touching on her soft, trembling mouth.
The sight of him always robbed her of breath. Jake was formidable, overpowering, dangerous. A rock for all of them, yet he moved silently, like a cat in the night. "I'm going riding, Jake," she answered, straining to keep her voice even. She loved looking at him, all that flowing power, the swift impatience, the way the corners of his eyes crinkled right before he smiled. But he could be very overwhelming when he chose to be intimidating--as he was doing now.
He swore, pulling her soft body right up against his tough, well-muscled one. He had a day's growth of beard, and up this close she could smell his outdoorsy, masculine scent. "Like hell you are. I haven't seen you in two long weeks. What's up?"
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