Secret Love by Brenda Jackson Page A

to be a temporary thing altogether. She thought once they were married she could convince Jake to give up ranching and move back to Boston and work at her father’s bank.”
    A picture of Jacob in a business suit and carrying a briefcase formed in Diamond’s mind. She slowly shook her head. “I can’t imagine Jacob being anything but a rancher.”
    “Anyone who really knows the boy wouldn’t be able to see it either. Don’t get me wrong now, Jake’s got brains. He’s smart when it comes to that financial stuff and has made a bunch of money over the years with investments. He knows how to play the stock market like nobody’s business. If anything, that’s his second passion. He even got the men around here investing their money, and it pays off real nicelike for them. Why, I even got me some hefty stock in several profitable corportations thanks to Jake. And he acts as a financial advisor for others including his family and your friends Sterling Hamilton and Kyle Garwood.”
    Blaylock poured a cup of coffee as he continued. “But ranching is Jake’s first love. Yep. That’s the way it is for him, and that’s the way it’ll stay. He can wine and dine with the best of them city folks if he has to, but he prefers a bunkhouse to an opera house any day.”
    Diamond nodded. Of all the things she and Jacob had talked about that afternoon they had spent alone at his private place, his ex-wife had not been one of them. “Did you know her? His ex-wife?”
    Blaylock shook his head as he came back over to the table and sat down. “No, she was before my time. But I heard from his ma that she gave the boy a hard time of it, though. That was a pure shame since he truly did love her and all. She hated it here and didn’t carewho knew it. Jake went out of his way to make things nice for her here, but she didn’t care. She was a real city gal who enjoyed going to parties, the opera, sleek restaurants, those sorts of things. Jake’s just the opposite. He feels if it’s not here on Whispering Pines, he doesn’t need it.”
    Diamond thought about all the things that Blaylock was saying. A woman who truly loved a man would not ask him to give up any of the things he loved for her. Knowing what he had gone through made her even more determined that there could never be anything more between them than what they would share before she left. Her life was filled with movie premiers, jetting all over the country and the latest fashions—none of the things he would ever be interested in. In a little over a week, she would be gone and that would be the end of it. She would never pressure him to disrupt his calm lifestyle for her chaotic one.
    Diamond got up and walked over to the sink. She glanced out of the window. “Do you think the men will be returning tonight?”
    Blaylock nodded. “If not tonight, it’ll be early morning.” He turned around in his chair and gazed thoughtfully at her before asking, “Do you want to hang around here tonight and wait for Jake?”
    She couldn’t help but smile. She hadn’t fooled the old-timer one bit. “No, that’s okay. I’m sure he’ll be too tired when he gets in for company. I’ll go back to the cabin.”
    Blaylock chuckled. “I bet no matter how tired the boy is when he gets here, he’ll be glad to see you. Jake Madaris ain’t no fool.”
     
    It was near sunset when Blaylock returned Diamond to the cabin. Her earlier conversations with the man were still clearly in her mind. During the ride back, so many things were being debated inside of her all at once. First of all, she reminded herself, she was probably jumping the gun to think Jake had feelings for her. Just because they had made love didn’t necessarily mean anything. She was old enough to know that people slept together all the time with no special meaning other than the pleasure they would get out of it. Jake had not told her that he had any special feelings for her, so all her worry about leaving could be for