to meet them while I’m here.”
Jake lifted a brow. It surprised him that she would bother to take the time to do that. “I’m sure they’ll get a kick out of it.” He knew that was putting it mildly. His men would be overjoyed at the chance to meet her. Some of them were really big fans of hers.
After a somewhat lengthy pause, she asked, “How do you do that?”
Jake lifted his brow. “Do what?”
“Get your men to be so loyal to you.”
Jake shrugged before answering. “Loyalty, like respect, is earned. A lot of the men have worked for me for years. I believe if you give people respect and loyalty, they’ll give it back to you. There are three things my daddy always told me that have stuck over the years. The first thing is to watch older cowboys work; they know the simplest and least expensive ways to get things done, and they’ll appreciate you for taking the time to show interest in what they do. The second thing is to always hire cowboys who are smarter and more skilled than you are. And lastly, never hire a cowboy who won’t tell you when you’re wrong. I have that kind of relationship with my men. I’m the boss, and they know it. But they also know their thoughts and ideas count. I didn’t make Whispering Pines into what it is today by myself. I give my men just as much credit.”
Silence fell, and Jake knew it was time to withdraw. He had shared more about himself with her than he had intended to. “Look, I know you’re pretty tired, so I’ll let you go.”
“Thanks for calling, Jacob. Will I see you tomorrow?”
“Probably not, unless you need something. I’ll be out on the range most of the day. Blaylock, my housekeeper and cook, will be here, and he’ll be glad to help you anyway he can. Just pick up the phone.”
“All right. Is there any particular day that you might be expecting visitors to the ranch?”
Jake knew the reason she was asking. That would be the day she would want to stay out of sight. “My veterinarian comes by every Thursday morning between ten and twelve to check on the cows. And then there’s my family. They may drop by anytime. But most of them know that this time of year is a busy one for me here at the ranch and they usually limit their visits.” Jake let out a deep chuckle. “Except for my mother. She thinks anytime is the right time for her visits. Usually one of my brothers will let me know in advance of her visits since one of them has to bring her. I’m her youngest son, and she won’t let me forget it.”
“Sounds like the Madaris family is a rather close one.”
“We are.” He couldn’t help but grin when he thought about his brother and the nieces and nephews that he was close to. “It’s been nice talking to you, Diamond. Good night.”
“Good night, Jacob, and thanks again for calling.”
After hanging up the phone, Jake closed his eyes to visualize Diamond’s features, as he had last seen them that day. The darkness of her eyes, the full lushness of her lips and a mouth that had definitely been ripe for kissing had held him captive.
“Is there any reason you’re standing in the middle of my kitchen with your eyes closed and looking downright silly?”
Jake’s eyes snapped open. Blaylock, the elderly man who had worked for him more years than he cared to count, stood in the doorway staring at him.
“Uhh, no reason. Well…I guess I’d better finish up with this,” Jake said, holding up the book that contained the cows’ breeding records.
Before Blaylock could ask him any more questions, he quickly moved out of the kitchen, went into his study and closed the door behind him.
Diamond placed the mystery novel she had been reading aside. The plot was a good one, and the characters were interesting, but the book could not hold her attention. No matter how hard she tried to get into the story, her mind and thoughts kept drifting.
She could not get Jacob Madaris out of her mind.
Standing, she walked across the room to look out of the window. The night was lonely and black, and the smell of the rich, wet earth filled the air. She turned her attention back to the room and looked around. Once again she marveled at how beautiful the cabin was. Jacob had built it, yet he had never stayed in it.
Returning to the overstuffed leather wing chair, she curled her legs beneath her. What was there about Jacob Madaris that she found so intriguing, so overpowering and so beguiling? Oh, he was a good-looking man, there was no doubt of that, but there was something else about him that pulled at her.
It would be absolutely, positively foolish to deny she was attracted to him, but then it would be just as equally foolish if she even considered doing anything about it. She thought about all the hell she’d gone through in her short one-year marriage to Samuel. There had been the arguments, the accusations, the bouts of jealous rages and then the betrayal. In the end, a man she had loved, and whom she thought had loved her in return, had shown his true colors. He had shown her just what he was capable of and had ended up being her worst enemy.
And that had hurt.
During the days and months following her divorce, she had worked herself into a frenzy, making one movie after another, allowing no rest in between and not allowing time for her pain to heal.
Sterling, being the good friend that he was, had detected her turmoil. He had known she wasn’t as strong as she had pretended to be. And so, with her doctor’s advice, he had decided to do something about it. He had thought that three weeks in a secluded cabin on the grounds of Whispering Pines would heal all. But what he probably had not counted on was her having such a gripping and profound attraction to his friend.
Diamond gave a quiet laugh. In his haste to help her, Sterling had unknowingly placed her right smack in the middle of the lion’s den.
Chapter 3
As Jake rounded the corner of his barn, he came across a group of his men who were standing together talking.
“I’m telling you guys the truth. I did see Diamond Swain,” Lowell Brown was saying to the men gathered around him. “I saw her from a distance. She was in the south pasture picking berries.”
Jake stopped in his tracks and shook his head, frowning. It had been three days since Diamond had arrived and already there had been more Diamond Swain sightings on Whispering Pines than there were Elvis sightings around the country. At least half a dozen of his men claimed to have gotten a glimpse of her at one time or another. He couldn’t help but wonder if any of them had actually seen Diamond or if it was just a figment of their overactive imaginations. He doubted she had even left the cabin since she didn’t have any sort of transportation to do so. She was to call him when she wanted to use one of his horses to go riding. So far, he had not heard from her. Nor had he seen her since the day he had picked her up from the airstrip and taken her to the cabin. He had no idea what she’d been doing the last three days, and frankly, he didn’t want to know. Just like he had originally planned, he was trying his best to ignore the fact that she was there.
Hearing his men talk about her wasn’t helping matters.
“Don’t you guys have work to do?”
Just as he’d known they would, the group of men disbanded immediately. Jake continued inside the barn
