Read Online Secret Love by Brenda Jackson - Free Book Online

you enjoy your pie?” she asked him again to get conversation going. She needed something—anything—to break the deep attraction she was feeling for him. She licked her lips.
    That single gesture pushed Jake over the edge. It had been an edge he had been dangerously close to falling off of all day. “Yeah, I liked the pie,” he said. “And I think I’m going to like this here even better.”
    His mouth was halfway to hers when the meaning of what he said hit Diamond. She was more than ready for his kiss and tilted her mouth up to meet him as he leaned toward her.
    First he softly kissed the corner of her mouth before closing his full mouth over hers, gently inserting his tongue for the sweet taste he knew awaited him. His desire for her suddenly became overwhelming. He intensified the kiss when he heard a soft moan escape her throat, then wondered if the sound had really come from her and not him.
    Their lips continued to fuse together hotly for a long, delicious moment. Neither was in a hurry for this time to end as rampant, hot and heavy emotions tore into them. Jake deepened the kiss even more, and his fingertip lightly traced patterns on the back of Diamond’s shirt.
    Her hands were busy, too, as they encircled his neck. Her fingers caressed the side of his face underneath his ear. Both of them were drowning in the smoldering depths of the devouring kiss, their need spinning, raging.
    With a deep tormented moan, Jake broke off the kiss to breathe. Heavily. Forcefully. Getting air past his lungs was a struggle not only for him, he noticed, but for Diamond as well.
    When the impact of what had transpired between them hit him, he took a step back. He’d always been able to hold back and control his desire. But not this time. In the instant that he had touched his tongue to hers, his masculine urges had become dominant.
    And he didn’t like it.
    Diamond Swain, he thought further, was not the type of woman he wanted to get involved with on any level. Now or ever. She was more than just a sophisticate, she was totally dangerous to his peace of mind. Jessie had literally destroyed his belief that ranching and city women mixed. For a brief time, he had forgotten how he had learned the hard way not to become involved with a woman who could never accept him for what he was—a man born of the land. There was no way there could ever be a future for him and Diamond. She was who she was and he was who he was. Nothing would ever change that, so why go through the hassle. He knew that having a nostrings affair with her was out of the question when there was a chance he could lose his heart completely.
    “Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that,” he said apologetically, knowing it sounded lame and out of place when deep down he wasn’t sorry at all.
    Diamond reached up and touched his lips with her fingertips. “Well, I’m glad you did it. Good night, Jacob.”
    Speechless, Jake watched her go into the cabin and close the door.
     
    Later that night while in bed, Diamond thought about her afternoon at Jake’s house. At first he hadn’t seemed pleased when Blaylock had invited her to stay for dinner, but had been a gracious host nonetheless. To avoid getting in anyone’s way, she had found solitude in his huge study.
    In addition to being a place where he managed the business side of the ranch, the room had also been filled with a large collection of various books, several antiques and photographs of his family. From studying the numerous framed pictures that decorated one huge wall in his study, it was evident that he was a man who truly treasured his family. And if the photographs were any indication, the Madaris family was a rather large one. It was one he was truly proud of.
    Diamond thought about her own family. Up until her fourth birthday, her mother had tried using her as a pawn to milk money out of her father. He had ended her cruel game by fighting for custody of her and winning. Her young mother, who had lived a