Secret Love by Brenda Jackson

microphone shoved in his face. If the media got wind that he was her new love interest they would never leave him or Whispering Pines alone. His every move would be watched, chronicled and reported. Pesky reporters would camp outside the borders of his land, the snooping paparazzi would fly helicopters overhead and the tabloids would offer money to anyone willing to divulge any kind of scoop on Jacob and his family, as well. They wouldn’t stop with the present, they would also dig into his past. And even worse, if they couldn’t find anything they thought would be interesting to print, they would go to the extreme and make up something. Their goal was to sell magazines and newspapers. In doing so, Jacob’s life would become an open book, and she refused to let that happen to him. She loved him too much for that.
    Knowing what would happen, she knew what she had to do. She would cherish the time she would spend with him on the land he loved and when she left to return to her other life, she would have her memories and there would be no regrets.
    With a determined and made-up mind, she headed for the bathroom to take the long, hot bath she so desperately needed.
     
    “Blaylock to Diamond. Blaylock to Diamond. Are you with me?”
    Diamond’s attention was pulled back to the older man sitting across from her as they peeled a huge basket of apples for the jars of fruit preserves he planned to make. “I am now,” she said, smiling over at him. She wouldn’t tell him that her thoughts had been on Jacob, but she had a feeling he probably knew it already.
    It had been five days since he and his men had left. What had started out as a three-to four-night trip had turned into six due to a heavy downpour of rain the day before. Blaylock had explained that when the rains came, an alternative route to the high pastures had to be taken, which would cost them another day or so. That had been the last thing she had wanted to hear. She was missing him something fierce.
    Blaylock had been kind enough to pick her up from the cabin each morning to bring her to the ranch. He claimed with everyone gone, he was dying of loneliness. The time she had spent with him had been special. She had enjoyed listening to him as he recounted his former days on the rodeo circuit.
    She smiled when she remembered the day that one of Jacob’s neighbors had unexpectedly dropped by. She’d had to hide out inside the ranch house a full three hours until he had left. But hiding out in the ranch house had been fun. Jacob had a beautiful home, and she hadgiven herself a complete tour of the place. All the rooms she had found to be enormous as well as immaculate.
    When she had reached the second floor, she had known the moment she entered Jacob’s room. It was everything she had expected it to be. A fireplace covered one wall, and his bed was bigger than king-size. The huge room was tastefully decorated and looked quite comfortable. Maybe that was the reason she had decided to get in his bed and take a nap that day. She had been totally embarrassed when Blaylock found her there sometime later. The older man had been dropping hints of something going on between her and Jacob ever since. She had neither admitted nor denied anything.
    “What were you asking me, Blaylock, before I became distracted?”
    He smiled at her like he had known just where her thoughts had been. “I asked how do you like the cabin?”
    “I like it. I can’t believe Jacob built it, but he’s never spent a night there.”
    Blaylock frowned as he stood and walked over to the stove. “He has his reasons. That cabin holds some painful memories for the boy.”
    Diamond looked a little puzzled. “In what way?”
    Blaylock turned from the pot on the stove. “That house was a present for his wife. When they married they had moved into the old house with Jake’s mama. It was supposed to be a temporary arrangement. It’s my understanding Jake’s wife thought living on the ranch was going