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 excellent 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.
He backed away from her, the revelation shaking him. His heart pounded in his chest, his lungs burning for air. She was supposed to be captivated by him, not the other way around. He wasn’t about to give anyone that kind of power over him.
“Jake?” she said again.
He shook his head. “I’m heading for the office. I’ll catch breakfast in town.” He turned and went out the door without a backward glance, leaving her staring after him.
10
EMMA knew she had to stop obsessing over Jake. If she’d still been considering cancelling her date, Jake’s strange behavior all morning proved to her that he was far too complicated of a man for a woman like her. She wasn’t sophisticated and she didn’t have the ability to be a jet-setter or even be part of that side of his life. They thought differently. Jake thought differently. One moment he blew hot and the next cold. He was far too complicated for her and he was the type of man to break a woman’s heart if she let him.
Since Jake wasn’t having breakfast, she quickly turned off the stove and finished cleaning before going outside to join Susan and the children. If the children were outdoors, Jake required a bodyguard present, even on the property. If she took them off the property to the doctor’s office or anywhere else, he sent at least two of the men with them, sometimes three. Although she thought his precautions a little excessive, she decided to trust his judgment. If he had enemies, she didn’t want them getting to the children.
Evan smiled and waved at her as she approached. He was a big man, muscular, a former prize fighter, fast on his feet with tremendous upper body strength and quick reflexes, but he had a major speech impediment. Often he signed rather than spoke, and both Andraya and Kyle were learning to sign. They liked their “secret” language with him. He seemed to genuinely care for the children and never tired of pushing them on the swings or catching them sliding down the winding tube slide.
Emma watched him for a minute as Susan chattered away in French, which he clearly didn’t understand. He smiled a lot, flashing a ready grin, but his attention was clearly on his surroundings. He dressed like an authentic cowboy and he probably could ride, but he wasn’t babysitting and he wasn’t working the ranch. He was watching over his charges and taking his job very seriously.
She crossed her arms, a sudden shiver going down her spine. What did Jake know that she didn’t? Who was he afraid of?
“Ma’am?”
She spun around so quickly she tripped and nearly fell. Hard hands caught at her arm, fingers biting deep to prevent her from falling. Ordinarily she had acute hearing and a heightened sense of smell, but she hadn’t realized anyone was near her.
“I’m sorry, Miss Emma.” The man released her immediately. “Jake told me to introduce myself when you came out. I’m Conner Vega.”
The man stood straight, his large frame too thin, his hair shaggy and thick, one half of his face quite beautiful and the other covered in four deep scars that ran from his hairline to the side of his jaw, as if something had tried to rake his face from his skull. She forced herself to look at him, at the masculine beauty on one side of his face and the horrendous damage done to the other. He was quite pale and gaunt, as if he’d been ill for a long time. He didn’t look like a cowboy or a bodyguard, and he certainly wasn’t a businessman, not with the merciless slash of his mouth, yet Jake had hired him.
Emma held out her hand. Her arm hurt where he’d grabbed her, and she knew she’d have bruises. He was enormously strong for someone so gaunt. “It’s good to meet you. Are you hungry? There’s always coffee ready in the kitchen and I usually have fresh bread baked or cookies to grab on the run.”
“Jake gave me one of the cabins with a kitchen. I brought a few things with me so I’m good, thanks.”
“He keeps food supplies for the men in the common pantry. Did he show you where? When you take anything from there, just check it off the list. It makes it easier for me to replace the supplies so we keep them from running low.”
He nodded, then stepped back and lifted his hand slightly. “I just wanted to introduce myself to you so you wouldn’t think a stranger was hanging around the children.”