Read Online Secret Love by Brenda Jackson - Free Book Online Page A

wild and reckless life filled with parties and shifting from one man to another, had died less than a year later when her lover, a depressed stuntman, had shot and killed her in a jealous rage and then had turned the gun on himself, ending his own life.
    Diamond had spent a lot of her early years with her paternal grandmother in North Carolina since Jack Swain traveled most of the time. Jennie Swain had been everything a grandmother should be. She was a warm, loving person, sensitive and considerate of others’ needs; a lady who was adored by anyone who knew her. One of the things her grandmother enjoyeddoing was giving plenty of hugs. She always said that a hug a day would keep whatever ails you away.
    Diamond smiled. Sterling claimed she had inherited her grandmother’s trait of being a huggy person, and she knew he was right. She would instinctively hug most people she met. It was something that sometimes got misread as a come-on to some men in Hollywood who saw a hug as an invitation to something else. Over the years, she’d had to limit her hugs to those she felt comfortable in hugging.
    Diamond released a huge sigh. With the passing of her grandmother four years ago, that left only her and her father, and they were a long way from being a family. Deep down she believed he loved her, he just had a strange way of showing it at times. Over the years, she had gotten used to his ways. However, that didn’t stop her from wishing things were different between them. She couldn’t help but envy the relationship Jacob had with his family. It must be a wonderful feeling to be a part of such a close group of people.
    Diamond touched her lips with her fingertip when she thought about his kiss. She had tried hard not to think about it and to forget it ever happened, but she couldn’t.
    And she doubted that she ever would.
    Unlike him, she had not regretted the kiss and had been honest with him and herself when she had told him so. She could tell he hadn’t been pleased with that bit of information from her, either.
    When Diamond finally dozed off to sleep a short while later, her mind was still filled with thoughts of Jacob and his kiss.

Chapter 7
    J ake Madaris was in a bad mood. A very bad mood. He knew it. Blaylock knew it. And his men knew it.
    But what Blaylock and the men couldn’t figure out was why. Of all the men who had been around Diamond at lunch two days ago, Jake had spent more time with her than anyone. So everyone couldn’t help but wonder what had him in a tiff. If anything, to their way of thinking, he should have been a man on top of the world. What man wouldn’t be in his shoes?
    All of them would have been surprised to know that Jake didn’t want to be in those shoes. He didn’t want to be the man Diamond had spent most of her time with that day. It was for that very reason that he had deliberately avoided her since then. The night he’d taken her back to the cabin was one he was trying hard to forget, but the memory of her taste wouldn’t let him.
    And that was the reason for his bad mood.
    The men were still talking about her visit and the pies she’d baked for them. There was nowhere he could go on the ranch without hearing her name or someone singing her praises. He knew she had baked another batch of cookies, this time for his men. It had been Blaylock whom she had called to pick up the delivery, not him. A part of him should have been overjoyed at the thought that he hadn’t had to see her again, but he wasn’t.
    It had been two days and two nights, and instead of feeling relieved, he was feeling annoyed. Which was one of the reasons he had deliberately not gone back to the ranch at midmorning like he normally did. Blaylock had casually mentioned at breakfast that he would be going to the cabin to fetch Diamond to the ranch for a cooking lesson in chili making.
    Jake shook his head. Although everyone knew that Blaylock made the best chili this side of the Mexican border, he couldn’t