Emma shrugged. “Linda is apparently good friends with them and they don’t want to see you brought down by a nobody like me. They want to make certain I know that my children will never be welcome into their circle. As I wasn’t planning on joining any circles, I wasn’t too upset by it.”
She was lying. Jake could always smell a lie. The things Linda had said had hurt. No one wanted to be told they weren’t good enough to be part of a family. Jake cupped the nape of her neck, his thumb sliding along her soft skin. “You aren’t anything like those people, Emma. You’re so far above them you can’t even imagine. They’re all cruel and vicious. I don’t want you anywhere near them, unless I’m standing right beside you. And I don’t want the children exposed to them—ever.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“They would eat you alive. You have no idea what they’re capable of and I don’t want you ever to find out. I protect you all for a reason. I employ bodyguards for a reason. No one comes onto the property without my permission.”
“I understand, Jake. I really do, and I’m sorry. I should have protected the children better. It never occurred to me that Linda Rawlins would be involved in anything that could harm either of them. I don’t know her, but I’ve read about her in newspapers and magazines numerous times. She seemed a little haughty maybe, and frivolous, running from one party to another, but I honestly never thought of her as dangerous.”
“Anyone who runs in the same crowd, anyone connected at all to the people who gave birth to me, is extremely dangerous. Given the chance, they would harm either of the children, and certainly you.”
“I understand. It won’t happen again. I’m sorry it happened this time. I really am.”
Jake bent his head and brushed his mouth across her temple. “I should have made the situation much clearer to you. Joshua should have stayed in that room with you every moment and Jerico should never have allowed her onto the property in the first place.”
“Wait.” Emma caught at his arm as he turned away. “I told Jerico to send her up and Joshua was protecting the children. You told me I ran this household when you were away. If either of them gets in trouble for doing what I asked, I’ll have no authority at all. It’s my fault, not theirs.”
He kept his expression blank. Yes, the men were to do what she said, unless it involved her safety. Joshua acted as Emma’s bodyguard, not the children’s, although she had no idea. Drake looked after the children. Both men should have been present. He had a lot to say to both Jerico and Joshua, whether Emma liked it or not. But she had that anxious look that made him want to kiss her until the look disappeared.
“Don’t worry. I won’t do anything to undermine your authority.” He was just going to make it very plain that if anyone ever got through security again, he was going to beat both of them within an inch of their lives. And he would make them very aware that Emma was to be protected at all times. He forced a smile. “I won’t be home for dinner. I have an important meeting tonight. A few investors are very interested in acquiring one of my companies. The company hasn’t made any money, and they’re offering way more money than the company is worth, so they have something up their sleeves. I need to meet with them face-to-face to figure out what it is. Don’t expect me until late.” He also suspected that the company manager was on his enemies’ payroll, and he intended to find out for certain.
Emma nodded. She had planned to call Greg Patterson and cancel her date with him, but after what had happened between her and Jake, she wanted to see if she reacted to Greg. If she did, then her problem was simply that she’d gone too long without a man. Let that be it.
Jake turned back to her, a slight frown on his face. “What did you say?”
She blinked in surprise. “I didn’t say anything.”
He stood there in the hall, tall, as sexy as sin, remote, his golden eyes drifting over her body with a little too much possession in his gaze, until Emma pressed herself back against the wall to keep from sliding down it. His stare came back up to her face, to her mouth, and his hand moved to the front of his jeans, his palm sliding over the hard bulge.
“Sometimes you make me wish I was a decent man, Emma.”
Emma’s breath caught in her throat as he turned away from her, an oath slipping out from between his clenched teeth as he strode away. She held on to the wall, trembling, shocked at the way she reacted to him, to his crudeness and his blatant sensuality, when she’d always been attracted to gentle, kind souls. There was little gentle or kind about Jake.
She retreated to her room to pull herself back together before facing Susan and the children. She could hear them in the distance, laughing, and the sound allowed her to breathe again. She just needed to go back to what she did best. The children were her first priority. She loved them and she provided a home for them.
Jake needed someone, whether he knew it or not. Not sexually—not in the usual way he related to women—but on a more emotional, intimate level. He needed someone to make a difference in his life and make his house a home. Emma had been happy in her role as his housekeeper, but she had to begin slowly separating herself from the close and very strange relationship she’d formed with him over the past two years.
In her room, Emma pulled a thick sweater over her thin T-shirt and tried to put Jake out of her mind. Tonight she was going on a date with Greg Patterson, a nice, uncomplicated man, and she intended to enjoy herself. She needed to get out and breathe. She’d allowed the ranch to consume her and she had to think about making a life for herself outside of it.
For now, however, she was going to be the mommy and make certain her children and her houseguest were happy.
She hurried down the wide, curving staircase and paused halfway down to look at the bronze statue of a crouched leopard. It was snarling, lips drawn back to expose sharp teeth, eyes fierce with ropes of muscle rippling beneath the rosette-dotted fur. The bronze leopard stood in the midst of several plants and appeared lifelike, a fierce wild predator, still and focused, hunting prey and all too reminiscent of Jake when he looked at her.
Her head went up when she heard Andraya shriek and Kyle laugh. Susan shouted something and Andraya and Kyle let out another round of high-pitched glee. She ran to the kitchen, only to stop in the doorway and see cake all over the floor and the table. Kyle and Andraya sat in their high chairs covered in frosting, and what remained of the birthday cake was a mass of crumbs and frosting between them. She could see the marks of fingers in the cake where the children had scooped out handfuls and eaten them, thrown them and dumped them on their heads.
“Susan?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at the teenager.
Susan opened and closed her mouth several times. “They said you fed them cake for breakfast. I have no idea how to cook, or what babies eat.”
Kyle glared at her. “I’m not a baby. ’Draya is.”
“Kyle, don’t talk like that to Susan,” Emma said gently. She removed what was left of the cake from the table and tugged Susan over to the sink. “Children are not fed cake for breakfast.”
“They both threw it at me and then at each other.” Emma fixed a stern eye on the children. “They both will have a time-out and then apologize,” she said.
Andraya’s lower lip came out in a pout, but Emma ignored her while she removed as much cake as possible from Susan’s hair and clothes. “I think you’d better go take a shower while I clean up the little munchkins.”
“I want to hear all about Jake,” Susan protested. “What did he say about me staying here for a couple of weeks? Do you think he likes my hair?” She patted the sophisticated weave she’d gotten just before coming to stay at the Bannaconni estate.
“Jake doesn’t comment on appearances as a rule,” Emma said, trying to let Susan down easy. The teen had a major crush on the man, and it wasn’t as if Emma could blame her. She turned to Kyle and began cleaning him up. He was going to need a bath to get his hair clean, but judging from the bright eyes, huge dimples and baby
grin stretching from ear to ear, he looked as if he’d thoroughly enjoyed the morning.
Susan raced upstairs to shower while Emma cleaned the kitchen and children and then took them upstairs for a bath. By the time she was back down with them, Jake was pacing in the kitchen again like a caged cat, and Susan looked pale and wide-eyed, as if she might faint—or cry—any moment.
The children ran to Jake, who bent immediately to pick them up. “Susan made the coffee,” he announced grimly.
Emma turned her back, hiding a smile. Susan’s hero had feet of clay. He was a coffee drinker and he tended to be grumpy in the morning without it. Most of the men who worked close to the house were in the habit of dropping in to fill their travel mugs with coffee as well.
“I’m on it,” she said, biting down hard on her amusement. Susan sniffed and Emma put her arm around the girl. “Would you take the kids to the play yard? I think Evan’s here this morning to watch over them. He can help you.”
Susan perked up immediately. Evan was fairly young, looked like a “hot” cowboy in his jeans and boots and hat, and didn’t mind flirting with her even though she was a teenager. Although he rarely spoke, he gave off the impression of being the strong, silent type, which made him mysterious to Susan. “Of course, Emma,” she agreed, to show Jake she wasn’t as useless as he thought she was.
“Speak French to them. Only French,” Emma added deliberately, shooting Jake a clear reprimand over her shoulder. “Today is French day.”
Susan stuck her chin in the air as she reached for the two children, giving Jake her haughtiest look.
When Andraya protested, holding on to Jake’s neck tightly, he gently pried her loose, speaking in fluent French, telling her to go with Susan and play. Andraya sulked, but she always minded Jake and she went outside where Evan waited to escort them to the play yard.
“That girl can’t even make coffee,” Jake said.
“That girl has a name. It’s Susan. She has a housekeeper, three maids, a cook and no mother, Jake. Her governess, that horrible Dana Anderson woman, couldn’t care less about her and belittles her at every opportunity. Susan speaks three languages and happens to be studying at college level already. And you can’t make coffee either.”
Jake came up behind her, bending over her shoulder as she ground the fresh coffee beans. “What makes you think I can’t make coffee?”
“Because without coffee you’re a total grump and if you’re up before me, you still don’t make it.”
“Only because your coffee is so much better.”
“Susan made coffee this morning for you, you just didn’t like it.”
“I wouldn’t call what she made coffee.”
She drove her elbow back, hard, into his side. “Go away. You’re annoying me more than usual this morning.”
“I don’t like strangers in my house.”
“Jake. Really. Seriously. Susan is a teenage girl without a mother and her father is never home. Have a little compassion. She’s got a crush on you and you’re just mean.” She spun around, her back to the counter, and glared at him. “It’s just mean.”
Jake straightened his tall body, catching her at the waist with both hands to lift her, placing her on the countertop beside the coffeepot so she faced him. “I’ll be better with her. I’ll make an effort.”
“Do you promise?” Once Jake gave his word, he always followed through.
He hesitated. She’d known him long enough to know what he was thinking. “Don’t you dare use this as a bargaining chip. You should make an effort with Susan because she’s young and without much of a family. She’s a nice girl and she needs a little help right now, and not just so you can get your way.”
“You sound so sexy when you get bossy, Emma,” he teased. “I said I’ll make an effort with her and I will. I forgot to tell you I hired a new man. He’s a friend of Drake’s and Joshua’s and he’s been ill. He doesn’t talk much, but he’s a good man. Work your magic on him, will you? But don’t flirt.”
“I don’t flirt.” She glared at him. “Go to your office and get out of my kitchen. I’m liable to bake something for you and put arsenic in it if you keep this up.”
“I’m just edgy lately when it comes to you, so don’t hang out too much with the new guy. I don’t know him and he doesn’t know me.”
“You aren’t making any sense. If he’s Drake’s friend and you’re hiring him, I take it he’s been thoroughly investigated and you’re not worried he’ll cause any of us harm. What are you going on about?”
Jake lifted her from the counter and set her away from him, his hand sliding over her hip and along her bottom, his palm lingering, even rubbing. “Having to beat the living daylights out of a man I respect, or doing even worse than that. Just behave yourself.”
“Jake.” She spun around, pushing at the wall of his chest. “What was that?”
“What?”
“You just groped me on the butt. I’m not two, you know.”
“I wouldn’t be groping you if you were two.”
She put both hands on her hips and gave him her sternest look. “Are you aware that little feel you copped could be interpreted as sexual harassment in the workplace?”
“You wouldn’t take any money, remember, so technically you don’t work for me. You’re the mother of my children and you make the best damn coffee I’ve ever had in my life.” He flashed an unrepentant grin at her. “If I want more children, sooner or later I’m going to have to do more than grope your butt. You might as well get used to it.”
She tried to stay annoyed with him and not feel the flush of pleasure at being called the mother of his children, or feel happy that he thought of her that way. She’d refused to take money for running the household when he’d taken such great care of her, and then the settlement his lawyers had arranged for her and Andraya had been more money than she ever heard of. He had set up trust funds for both Andraya and Kyle, so money wasn’t going to be a problem. Truthfully, Jake had never really treated her like an employee—more like a pampered pet, indulged but still under his rule. Not taking his money always made her feel more on par with him. She didn’t have to obey his orders.
She sighed. He was so complicated, so difficult to be around all the time, with his edgy moods and his brooding silences. She knew him better than most people did, but she still found him difficult to read, particularly when he was in the kind of mood he was now.
She pointed to the door. “Get out. You’re outrageous this morning. I’ve got things to do.”
Perversely, he straddled a chair. “I’m starving. Feed me.”
“I thought you had things to do,” she objected, but she was already at the refrigerator, pulling out eggs, bacon and orange juice. “Didn’t you have some big meeting you had to prepare for? I figured you must have tons of lawyers to hand you documents so you can make an informed, knowledgeable decision.”
“Not on this one. They’ll give me the documents and everything I read will tell me the best thing to do is to sell the company. It’s a small real estate business and it seems to be losing large amounts of money. It acquires land and rarely sells it. The manager has brought me several deals in the last few months, advising me to sell. The lawyers agree with him.”
“But you’re not going to sell.”
“No, I’m not. We’ve acquired several pieces of land adjacent to the property I inherited from my great-grandfather in North Dakota, as well as land running from Pennsylvania to New York. I’m working on adding to that acreage, and suddenly I’ve got someone very interested in acquiring the business and all of its properties. Someone has been snooping around my properties and they’ve been bribing my manager.”
She glanced at him over her shoulder. Disloyalty was Jake’s biggest hot button. He could be ruthless and vindictive when he caught an employee spying or cheating. She’d seen his cold anger and she’d never wanted that brutal, merciless side of Jake ever directed toward her. He paid his employees very well and they had e
xcellent benefits and retirement and vacation plans. In return, he expected their best work and absolute loyalty.
“Jake.” She kept her voice low. Emma was certain he felt hurt when someone betrayed him, but he wasn’t aware that he did. He let intense anger and contempt rule him to keep from feeling any gentler emotion. “I’m sorry. This manager . . . did you consider him a friend?”
Jake stood there a long moment, studying her eyes, her emotions chasing across her face. She was so different from him. “I don’t have friends, Emma. Except for you. Maybe Drake and Joshua.” Although he couldn’t bring himself to trust any of them completely.
Emma’s lips curved and her smile warmed the inner part of him where sometimes he felt there was nothing but rage or the need for revenge. “I am your friend, and that’s why you should always listen to me. I give great advice.”
She was teasing him again, her voice mischievous, inviting. He’d heard her use that same exact tone with the children. She made them feel loved, made them feel important to her and precious, and somehow she did the same with him. Was he in the least bit special to her? Or did she make everyone around her feel that way?
“Jake?” The smile faded from Emma’s face, concern creeping into her expression. “Are you really upset about this meeting?”
He shrugged. Hell no, he wasn’t upset. Let the bastards come at him. He was ready for them. He welcomed ferreting out traitors, and his manager was taking someone else’s money. He’d find the reason soon enough and he’d set things right in his own way. He just liked that look on her face. He studied her expression, the look in her eyes. His heart contracted. He didn’t know what love looked like. He knew she was capable of great self-sacrifice and loyalty, and maybe that was what love was. If so, she was looking at him with something close to it.
She stepped closer, close enough that he could feel the heat of her body. In that moment, as his body reacted to her nearness, he realized she was the reason he couldn’t sleep at night. She was the reason no matter how many women serviced him, he couldn’t stop the aching hardness. Emma. His body demanded Emma and no one else would do. She was the reason he felt disgust with himself—and guilt—when he touched other women.
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