Secret Love (Arabesque)

by Jackson, Brenda

  From the excited looks on everyone’s faces, he had a feeling that like his niece Traci, they thought he was about to talk profits. Most of them had an invested interest in Whispering Pines and knew that besides being a hardworking rancher, he was also a successful businessman. He was the financial adviser to most of them.

  “A year and a half ago something happened to me that I never expected to ever happen again. I met someone and fell in love.”

  Everyone stared at him in disbelief. Some people blinked in surprise, others’ mouths dropped open and one or two, like his nephew Clayton, wore a smug “I knew it had something to do with a woman” expression.

  Jake could not help but grin at the buzz that went around the room. He knew that everyone thought the idea of him falling in love was absurd and absolutely ridiculous. No doubt they were also wondering if what he had just told them was true, how in the world had it happen since he spent the majority of his time busting his butt on the ranch.

  Before they could recover and ask questions he continued. “After realizing just how much she meant to me, I knew I had to make her a permanent part of my life. And so I did.”

  There was a long silence, then his nephew Dex asked, “Just what are you saying, Jake?”

  Jake’s gaze moved around the room before coming to rest on Dex. He had a feeling Dex knew the answer to that question, but had wanted him to clarify it for those who didn’t. “What I’m saying is that the reason I invited all of you here was to let you know I got married over a year and a half ago.”

  “You did what!”

  “Over a year and a half ago?”

  “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “Who did you marry?”

  “Why did you keep something like that a secret?”

  Jake raised his hand to stop the outburst of questions that started coming at him from every direction. Everyone was talking at once.

  “You got married and didn’t let your family know!” his oldest brother Milton roared accusingly. His voice thundered loudly above all the others.

  Jake rolled his eyes and shook his head. He wasn’t surprised that the main person who took offense to not knowing about his marriage was his oldest brother, Milton. There was an eighteen-year difference in their ages, and being the oldest of the brothers, Milton felt it was his God-given right to know everything that went on within the family. And usually he did.

  “Yes, but there’s a reason the news of my marriage was kept a secret from everyone. And once I explain things, I’m sure you’ll all understand,” Jake assured them.

  “And I’m just as sure that we won’t,” Milton Madaris snorted, his feelings clearly hurt.

  “Who did you marry, son?” his mother asked after her initial shock had worn off. Unlike her oldest son, her feelings were not hurt. In fact, she was tickled pink that her baby boy was no longer single. “Where is she? Where’s this woman you’ve kept hidden from us all this time?”

  Jake turned toward the stairs. “I’d like to present to all of you, the woman who has made me believe in love again, my wife, Diamond Swain Madaris.”

  A sudden mixture of “Wh-wh-what” and “Ohhh” murmured across the room as a beautiful and dazzling Diamond suddenly appeared on the top stair on Jonathan Madaris’s arm. She was dressed in an elegant tea-length cream-colored gown and was a vision that put everyone in a daze. Even Jake was spellbound as he looked at her. A tightness gripped his throat, and his heart thumped in his chest. She was totally and incredibly beautiful.

  His Diamond.

  He felt so very fortunate, so very blessed to have discovered such a treasure as this diamond. And as long as he lived, he would give thanks to God for bringing her into his life.

  Their eyes met and held for the longest time. It was an automatic gesture on his part to slowly move toward the stairs. His mouth was set in a determined line and his eyes were filled with love when he came to a stop at the bottom stair and stood there. Like everyone else, mesmerized, he looked up at the woman standing next to his brother.

  The room went completely silent. Whether it was in awe or in shock, Jake wasn’t sure, nor did he care. The only thing he cared about was the woman returning his stare from under long lashes and who was smiling down at him. He gave her a long look, from the top of her head down to the bottom of her feet. His gaze moved back up again and followed her gown’s tempting neckline and the split that ran down the front.

  He swallowed. Breathtaking. She was simply breathtaking. A part of him trembled when she left Jonathan’s side and began slowly walking down the stairs to him. Alone. It was as if she was giving herself to him again, fully and completely. And she was taking it a step further by giving herself to him publicly.

  Unable to stand still, he began moving up the stairs to meet her.

  They met on the middle stair.

  “You are,” he started saying in a voice that was deep and husky, “everything that any man could ever hope for. You are more than I could ever hope for.”

  Diamond felt like she couldn’t breathe with Jake’s words. Her heart was beating with the amount of love she felt for him. Her entire body was pinned in place by the intensity of his gaze. He reached out and captured her hand in his and brought it to his lips.

  Her body slightly trembled with the emotions that overwhelmed her from his touch. Everyone else in the room faded in a haze the moment he released her hand and his arms slipped around her and he pulled her to him. She moaned when he captured her mouth in a searing kiss that nearly stole the very breath from her body. She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him as the solid rock in her oftentimes-hectic world. Her body was filled with joy. Complete joy.

  Ignoring their audience, Jake kissed her more deeply. Holding her tight in his arms he leaned back and lifted her feet off the stair.

  “Well, Lordy, look at that. I don’t believe it. Jake got himself a diamond,” Jake heard one of his brothers say from the crowd below.

  “And she got herself a Madaris,” one nephew’s wife added proudly.

  “And we got a movie star in the family,” a third person, a teenager, piped in.

  Catcalls, wild applause, whistles and shouts thundered loudly in the room, but all of that was lost on Jake and Diamond. Neither took them as interruptions. A hard wind could have blown the house down and they would not have noticed. For the moment, nothing else mattered to them but each other.

  Their secret love was not a secret any longer.

  Jake stood across the room, leaning against the wall, watching while Diamond stood comfortably talking to the women in his family. It was evident that everyone was completely taken with her. She had been so sure his family would not forgive her for holding him to their secret. But she had been wrong.

  Together he and Diamond had given his family and close friends the complete story. He knew that after listening to Diamond explain why she had wanted to keep their marriage, their special love, from under the media’s scrutiny, everyone had understood because they knew her fears of what the media would do were justified.

  His family had thought it amusing how they had eluded the media by letting them continue to assume that there was more between Diamond and Sterling than friendship. It had been a ruse that had worked until Sterling had gotten married.

  Jake was about to walk off, to go claim his wife when he found his way blocked by his nephew Dex.

  “You surprised the hell out of us, Jake,” Dex Madaris said as a slow smile touched his lips.

  Jake crossed his arms over his chest, and his own lips curved into a grin. “Figured I did. I guess I’ll be thanking Sterling for the rest of my life for sending Diamond to Whispering Pines to rest and relax.”

  Dex nodded. “Yep. Just like I’ll always be grateful to you for Caitlin. It was sheer luck that you had to go out of town on business that day, and I’m the one who had to interview her for that summer job here.”

  Dex looked across the room at his wife. Like most of the other women present, she s
tood in a crowd surrounding Diamond. “I think I fell in love with Caitlin the moment I laid eyes on her. I just didn’t know it at the time.” He chuckled. “It took me all of a little over two weeks to find it out, and with a little help from Clayton.”

  Jake chuckled, remembering. He looked over at the group when he heard Diamond’s throaty laugh. The rush of sexual desire that made him tremble from just looking at her didn’t surprise him. Only Diamond could do that to him. “I was a goner the moment Diamond walked off that plane onto Whispering Pines land,” he said to Dex. “Because of Jessie, a city woman was the last person I wanted to be attracted to. But after a mere few days, I came to the stunning realization that my mind was saying one thing but my heart had its own private agenda.”

  Dex studied his uncle for a long spell before asking, “So now that chances are high that your secret is going to get leaked to the press, how are you planning on handling the media? You may want to come up with some sort of game plan. None of us were prepared for what happened to Syneda. What the media put her and her father through was totally uncalled for.”

  Jake nodded in agreement. “Yes, and I’ve prepared myself. I’m just about ready to deal with anything. I’ve had to put up with a lot of garbage being written about Diamond, and none of it will stop just because she’s married to me. In fact, I’ve got a feeling things will get worse. Everything she’s tried to avoid and protect us from will happen once the secret gets out.”

  It wasn’t going to be easy, Jake realized. No doubt the media would not be too happy with them for fooling them these past eighteen months. Some facets of the press felt it was their God-given right to invade people’s privacy. They cared more for profits than they did people’s feelings.

  “If you ever need any of us, you know you can call at any time,” Dex said to his uncle. “Hopefully the media frenzy will eventually die down and you and Diamond will be able to have a normal marriage.”

  Jake chuckled. “A normal marriage with Diamond is too much to hope for, Dex, as long as she’s in the spotlight. But I’m determined that whatever we have to go through, whatever we have to endure, will make our love that much stronger and our marriage that much more solid.”

  Dex studied his uncle. Jake’s voice held the patience, willfulness and tenderness of a man hopelessly in love; a man who was determined to hold on to what he had, no matter what the cost because he had a woman he felt was well worth it. Dex knew firsthand how that felt.

  “If things get too rough around here and the media get the nerve to invade your space, remember your family and that no matter what, we stick together.”

  Jake met his nephew’s gaze, proud of the man he had become. “Thanks. I’ll remember that.”

  Jake fought back another yawn. It was time to rescue his wife, yet again. First it had been the women in the Madaris family demanding her time, now it was the men.

  Determinedly threading his way through the cluster of men surrounding his wife, he headed straight toward her. Finally reaching her, he came to a stop directly in front of her. “I came for my Diamond,” he said, moments before sweeping her into his arms, ignoring her gasp of surprise and the men’s startled looks.

  “Sorry, this conversation is over, guys,” he said, smiling.

  Milton Madaris shot his brother a hard glare. “Who says?”

  “I do, Milt. It’s late. Besides, whether any of you noticed or not, the party ended hours ago. Good night.” Jake then proceeded to leave the circle of men.

  “Wait a minute, Jake,” his brother Lee called out to him. “You can’t leave before your guests. Where’re your manners?”

  Jake shot his brothers and nephews a mellow grin. “Upstairs. And if all of you will excuse me, I’m on my way up there to join them.”

  He walked a little ways before turning back to the group. “If you leave to return to Houston tonight, do have a safe trip back. If you decide to spend the night, please make yourselves at home. Just don’t disturb me or Diamond. It was hard work planning this party and we’re completely exhausted.”

  Jake’s smile widened. Not for one minute did he think any of the men believed he was taking Diamond upstairs so the two of them could rest.

  Chapter 16

  “Did you get all the rest you needed last night, Jake?”

  Jake’s smile faded the moment he walked into his kitchen the next morning and found his nephew Clayton sitting at the table, drinking a cup of coffee. He walked over to the counter to pour his own cup. Ignoring Clayton’s question, he drawled teasingly, “I guess it was too much to hope that all of you had left last night.”

  “Yep,” Clayton said with a somewhat cocky grin. “Some of us decided to extend our visit for a day or so. It’s every man’s dream to be able to claim that he slept under the same roof as Diamond Swain.”

  “Diamond Swain Madaris,” Jake corrected, slanting a glance in his nephew’s direction. “She’s going to start using her married name.”

  “And you’re okay with that?” Clayton asked, studying his uncle while he sipped his coffee.

  Jake lifted a brow as he walked over to the table and sat down. “Why wouldn’t I be? She’s my wife, and that’s her name.”

  Clayton shrugged. “If for no other reason than for simplicity’s sake. She’s been Diamond Swain for so long, how do you think her fans will feel about the change?”

  Jake looked pointedly at his nephew. “I’m sure they’ll get over it. I would hope they can. And for those who can’t, tough.”

  Clayton shook his head. “With that kind of attitude, it’s good to know you’re very supportive of her career.”

  “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

  “What it means, Uncle dearest, is that the woman you’ve chosen to live the rest of your life with is a woman who happens to bring countless hours of joy to millions of people with her acting abilities, not to mention her heart-stopping beauty.”

  “So?” Jake asked, still not understanding where Clayton was coming from and most importantly, just where he was going with this. For some reason, Clayton’s attorney mind was at work. “What’s the big deal, Clayton?”

  Clayton took another sip of his coffee before answering. “The big deal may not be just the media. Oh, I think they’ll cause you some problems at first, but I see a bigger problem that neither you nor Diamond have thought about.”

  Jake leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankle. “Which is?”

  Clayton met his uncle’s stare. “Her fans. Her very devoted fans. They can be just as bad with invading your privacy as the media.”

  Jake frowned as he leaned forward. “Diamond always had fans. So I’m asking you again, what’s the big deal?”

  Clayton sat up straight in his chair. “The big deal is that those same fans will probably want to latch on to you because now you’re an extension of Diamond. Not only will you have the media to worry about, but you’ll have to deal with Diamond’s adoring fans, as well.”

  Not all of them are adoring, Jake thought, remembering the young man who had forced his way into Diamond’s home a few weeks ago. He sighed as he sank back onto his chair. “Is there any reason you’re telling me this?” he asked coolly, narrowing his eyes to slits. He had a feeling he was not going to care for Clayton’s answer.

  “The word is out, Jake. I don’t have the slightest idea which one of our family members was so overjoyed at the thought of Diamond becoming a Madaris that they shared the news with friends—who evidently thought nothing of leaking it to the press. Take your pick as to who the culprit might be. You have several of your talkative kinfolk to choose from. But the fact remains that someone did, and news of your marriage to Diamond made the front page in the newspapers this morning across the country.”

  Jake shrugged. He and Diamond knew that news of their marriage was bound to leak out once he had told his family. Like he had warned her, there were some Madarises who didn’t know how to keep secrets. “So it made t
he front page. That’s all?”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “No. The sheriff called to let you know that he stopped a convoy of reporters and fans who were headed out this way. He told them that Whispering Pines was private property and if they set foot on it uninvited, they could be arrested.”

  Clayton chuckled. “Let me rephrase that. He told them that they would be arrested.”

  Jake nodded. He would definitely have to remember Sheriff McCoy at reelection time. He got up and moved over to the sink to pour out his coffee. He’d suddenly lost the taste for it. “Sounds like everything’s under control then.”

  “Not quite.”

  Jake turned from the sink and met Clayton’s gaze. “What else is there?”

  When Clayton didn’t answer right away, Jake walked back over to the table. “I asked, what else is there?”

  Clayton took a deep breath before handing Jake the high-tech digital phone recorder. “You need to get your phone number changed as soon as possible. This call came in early this morning. I thought I’d better save it. It’s up to you as to what you do with it, although I’d be glad to offer suggestions.”

  Jake frowned as he took the tape player from Clayton. He pushed the button and a husky, somewhat muffled, male voice filled with anger began talking. “If you’re the Jacob Madaris who married Diamond, you’ll be sorry. I stood by and let her make a mistake by marrying that race-car driver but I won’t risk her being hurt. Get out of her life and leave her alone, or you’ll pay a price that could cost you your life.”

  The message ended, and Jake turned off the tape player.

  “Well?” Clayton asked as he strained to watch the emotions that crossed Jake’s face. There weren’t any. Like Dex he was an expert at hiding them.

  “Well, what?” Jake responded, taking the microchip out of the phone recorder and slipping it into the pocket of his jeans.