She leaned back out of his arms and looked up at him. “You should have told me what was going on.”
He nodded. “Yeah, maybe I should have, but I made the decision not to because I didn’t want you to worry about it…or blame yourself.”
He pulled her back into his arms. “Our life together won’t be easy, Diamond. But we knew that in the beginning and chose to love each other anyway. We can’t and we won’t let anyone change our plans on that.”
Diamond looked up at him. He was right. They had to believe their love was strong enough to endure anything. “No, we can’t and we won’t.”
Jake kissed her again. He then released her and walked over to the door and locked it. He hadn’t slept all night. He had tried closing his eyes on the plane, but each and every time he did so he’d seen Diamond. He walked back over to her.
“I love you,” he whispered softly.
“And I love you, too.”
He picked her up and placed her on the bed. Turning her into his arms he kissed her again. He wanted to remove her clothes, but she wanted to keep right on kissing him, so he obliged her. She wanted to take the lead and set the pace for them and so he decided to grant her her wishes there, too.
She began unbuttoning his shirt. Once that was done she opened it up and ran her hands lightly down his chest.
He shivered at her touch and sucked in a deep breath.
She then began unfastening the fly of his jeans, slowly easing down the zipper. Kneeling above him on the bed she tugged the denim down his legs. She made sure his briefs quickly followed them. She settled back on her heels and looked at him, her expression passionate, serious. “For always?” she asked quietly, softly.
He met her gaze for the longest moment before reaching behind her head and bringing her mouth down to his. “And forever,” he responded hoarsely. “Diamonds are forever.” And then he kissed her again, long and hard.
After he released her mouth he watched as she leaned back and untied her robe and removed it. Her gown soon followed. Then she once again rose above him until she was covering him with her body, straddling his hips. He inhaled deeply when her body touched his, surrounding him. And when she joined their bodies, sheathing him inside of her, he shivered uncontrollably at how she was making him feel. He clutched at the bedspread, wadding the material in his hand as she rode him into a place where mindless sensation after mindless sensation awaited him. What she was doing to him and the way she was making him feel was pure ecstasy.
She held his gaze and looked into his eyes as she continued to move over him, stroke him, love him, pleasure him. When her movements became faster, hotter, wilder, he gently flipped her on her back and took over the dominant role, taking them to a place where total fulfillment and utter abandonment dwelled.
His breathing quickened when he felt her femininity clench him and hold him tight within her. “Sweet heaven,” he moaned. He couldn’t think of any other place he would rather be at the moment but inside of her. He no longer felt tired. He felt like he was being plunged straight into an earth-shattering abyss. The primitive rhythm of their mating accelerated until there was only one place to go.
And they went there together as ripples of fulfillment and shocks of passion tore through both of their bodies.
They knew that even without being at Whispering Pines that they had come home. Home was where the heart was, and at the moment it was in each other’s arms.
When Jake awoke it was daylight outside the window, and Diamond was no longer in bed with him. Before he could clear his sleepy mind to wonder where she had gone, the bedroom door opened and she came in carrying a tray loaded with food.
She looked up and saw that he was awake and smiled. “All during the night you and I pretty much took care of one type of hunger, and I thought I’d better take care of the other while you were sleeping. Since I’m eating for two now I ate breakfast with my father. Here’s something for you to eat.”
She placed the tray of food on the nightstand next to the bed. “You’ve been sleeping for a long time.”
Jake sat up in bed. “What time is it? How long have I been sleeping?”
Diamond sat on the edge of the bed and faced him. “It’s past noon and since you last made love to me around four this morning, you’ve been asleep ever since.”
Jake’s brow lifted. Nearly nine hours? He’d been asleep that long? To a rancher that was almost an entire workday. He hadn’t been aware of just how tired he had been.
“Are you ready to eat?” Diamond asked, interrupting his thoughts.
He smiled over at her. “It depends on what you’re feeding me,” he said huskily.
Diamond sighed as she stood and removed her robe and gown and crawled back in bed with him. “Daddy’s cook prepared you a tasty lunch since you missed breakfast.”
Jake wrapped his arms around her. “Yeah, but nothing is more tasty than this,” he said, kissing her.
After his long, deep kiss Diamond pulled herself out of his arms and looked at him. “I understand you and my father had a long talk last night.”
Jake stared at her. “Who told you that?”
“He did,” she said, studying him. “You want to tell me about it?”
Jake reached out and fingered a curl that had drooped down on her forehead. “What did he tell you?”
“Only that the two of you had talked.”
Jake smiled at her. “Yeah, we talked. And we both understand each other’s position. He’s your father, and I’m your husband. Our roles in your life are different.”
Diamond nodded and snuggled against him. “I think he likes you.”
Jake chuckled. “That’s good to hear, although I’m not going to lose much sleep over it if he doesn’t. He made you unhappy a few times, and I can’t forget that.”
Diamond looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Please try. I think he’s regretting some things, and I’m willing to meet him halfway. He’s my father, and I love him. Our child is his grandchild.”
Jake nodded. He knew from his conversation with the man last night that he loved his daughter and intended to make a number of changes in his relationship with Diamond. They were changes that Jake approved of. “We’ll talk more about your father later,” he said, pulling her into his arms.
“Are you ready for lunch?” Diamond asked, smiling at him.
“Not yet.”
He pulled her into his arms to show her exactly what he was ready for.
Epilogue
It seemed that all of Hollywood had come out for the premiere of the predicted summer blockbuster movie, Black Butterfly, that had Diamond Swain and Sterling Hamilton in the starring roles.
A number of stars attended the pre-premiere reception. Afterward they began migrating from the plush and elegant restaurant in limousines to the theater where the movie would be shown. Sterling was throwing an after-premiere party at his home in Malibu Beach, and everyone was definitely looking forward to that.
Movie critics had given the film excellent reviews. Some considered it Sterling and Diamond’s best work yet, and a number of them predicted their performances had guaranteed them Oscar nominations. Movie tickets were to go on sale within a week. Already ticket lines had begun forming at various theaters around the country. There were those who predicted the movie would be even more successful that last summer’s blockbuster, that featured Will Smith and Julia Roberts in the starring roles.
The photographers had a field day when the tall, handsome and dashing Texan, Jacob Madaris, and his gorgeous, sophisticated and beautiful wife, actress Diamond Swain Madaris, descended from the limo. Smiling for everyone, they dazzled the crowd of people that greeted them at the theater. Diamond returned the thumbs-up sign a number of her fans gave her for encouragement.
Amid the glow of bright lights and photographers’ flashing bulbs, a number of poses of Jake and Diamond were captured on camera, then the reporters began throwing out their questions.
“Mrs. Madaris, is i
t true you’re pregnant?”
Diamond smiled up at Jacob before answering the reporter’s question. “Yes, it’s true. I’m almost three months along. And according to my doctor I’m doing fine, and if all goes well Jacob and I will have a little Madaris this November.”
“Mr. Madaris, how do you feel about your wife’s pregnancy?”
Jake thought that was a pretty dumb question for the reporter to have asked but decided to keep his opinion to himself as he held Diamond’s gaze. Her smile widened to let him know that she’d known just what he’d been thinking about the reporter’s question. “I feel like a very blessed man. What man wouldn’t feel that way with a beautiful and talented wife—and a baby on the way.”
Another reporter asked, “Mrs. Madaris, what do you think of Conrad Ammons’s attorney’s insanity plea?”
Diamond took a deep breath as she looked out over the group of reporters. For a number of years she had grown accustomed to seeing Ammons among them. “I read the article in the paper. What happened to Mr. Ammons’s sister was unfortunate. And although it wasn’t his fault, he loved his sister deeply. A part of me understands him for wanting to blame himself for it all these years,” she said sadly. She didn’t add that she understood because a few months ago she had been ready to walk away from her true love because of misplaced blame.
“So,” she continued, “I have no problem with it if the court goes along with the plea. If they do I just hope he gets the proper medical treatment to recover. I believe he was a fine reporter.” She couldn’t help but grin. “He certainly kept me on my toes with his questions whenever he interviewed me.”
Jacob’s arms around Diamond tightened. His wife was such a warm, caring and forgiving person. He was glad the reporter hadn’t bothered to ask him that particular question. He would have told him straight out that it would not have bothered him in the least if they locked Ammons up and threw away the key. But then, he thought, that was why he loved Diamond so much. It had been her incredible ability to care so much for others that had made him realize just how different she was, and had made him fall head-over-heels in love with her.
“Mr. Madaris, is it true that you and Kyle Garwood have formed some sort of a production company and that Sterling Hamilton will take the role of producer and put together a movie that will be filmed on parts of your ranch, Whispering Pines?”
Jake lifted a brow, wondering if there was anything that could be done without the media finding out. He smiled. Yes, he knew of one thing—his and Diamond’s marriage. Their secret love. For eighteen glorious months, they had outsmarted the news-hungry press.
“It would be premature for me to discuss any business deals regarding me, Kyle Garwood and Sterling Hamilton, especially since nothing has been finalized yet.”
He then smoothly and tactfully changed the subject by asking, “Have any of you seen Black Butterfly and if so, what do you think of it?”
Diamond smiled at the positive responses they received and how Jacob was expertly handling the reporters. He was not a person to let anyone, including the media, get an upper hand. She shook her head, thinking how at one time she actually thought she had to protect him from them.
“Only one more question, you guys,” she said cheerfully. “We don’t want to be late for the movie. The opening scene is one of my favorite parts.”
“Mrs. Madaris,” a reporter jumped in. “Are you still giving up acting?”
Diamond looked up at Jake and smiled warmly. “Yes, I’ll be too busy raising our family for a while, but I’m not going to say I’ll never venture into acting again. If Sterling does trade in his acting shoes for a pair of producer’s boots, then I’d love doing a project for him. Sterling and I enjoy working together.”
A few minutes later, Jacob escorted his wife inside the plush theater. “Well, how did I do?” She leaned closer and whispered to him.
“As always you were wonderful, sweetheart.” He leaned over and placed a kiss on her lips.
It was a loving gesture that was captured on camera by a photographer who thought the snapshot would be picture-perfect, just like the couple.
SECRET LOVE
An Arabesque novel published by Kimani Press/February 2009
First published by BET Books in 2000
ISBN: 978-1-4268-2743-3
© 2000 by Brenda Streater Jackson
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Secret Love (Arabesque) Page 24
