LITMIR.BIZ

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      “Your anger won’t help Diamond, Jake. She needs you to be calm when you see her. She’s pretty shaken up.”

      “I’m on my way.”

      “No need. She’s on her way there. I’m sending her on my plane. In fact she should be arriving in less than an hour. Just be at the airstrip when the plane gets there.”

      Jake shook his head, angry with himself. He should have been with her tonight. He should have been there to protect her. Or better yet, she should have been here at his ranch, Whispering Pines, and not hundreds of miles away in California. He was her husband. The two of them should not be living apart.

      His shoulders slumped when he remembered that their living arrangements weren’t the tip of their problems. The real scorcher was the fact that very few people even knew they were married. His own mother didn’t know, and only one of his brothers knew.

      “I’ll be at the airstrip, waiting.”

      “Call me after you get her settled in, and let me know how she’s doing.”

      “All right and thanks.” As soon as Jake hung up the phone, he quickly began getting dressed.

      Slow down, calm down, he ordered himself, but it didn’t work. He moved around his bedroom, putting on his clothes at a frantic pace.

      When he and Diamond had married a little over year ago, he had gone along with her request that they keep their marriage a secret for a number of reasons. The main one had been for their privacy. If the tabloids knew that Hollywood’s most sought-after African-American actress, Diamond Swain, was married to wealthy Texas rancher, Jacob Madaris, they would have a field day at their expense. Diamond had not wanted their special relationship, their extraordinary love, scrutinized, criticized or placed under the media’s attention. She had been determined to protect the love they shared at any cost.

      “Yeah, but not this cost,” Jake muttered as he finished putting on his boots. He didn’t care about the media. But Diamond, who was always in the spotlight, and constantly hounded by the press and paparazzi, had felt differently. She had wanted a secret place she could always come to when she needed to escape. He and his ranch had become her loving and safe haven.

      Another reason for the secrecy was that there was no way he could ever give up his life as a rancher. Knowing that, he knew he could never ask her to give up her life as an actress. The decision to keep their marriage a secret had been a difficult one for him. The Madaris family was a close one. But he had gone along with her request, although he hadn’t liked it, because at the time all the reasons for doing so had seemed for the best.

      But now, none of that mattered. What mattered most was keeping her safe. As far as she was concerned, their secret had run its course.

      As he rushed out of the house, he couldn’t help but remember how it had begun. He couldn’t help but call to mind another time, nearly eighteen months ago, when he had gone to the airstrip to await Diamond’s arrival.

BOOK ONE

      Chapter 1

      He needed to have his head examined, Jake Madaris thought as he peered up into the sky. Dark clouds were forming, which meant there would probably be a torrential downpour later tonight. Evening was setting in, and with the possibility of bad weather, he had more things to do with his time that sit at the airstrip and wait on, of all things, a woman.

      Maneuvering the vehicle’s seat as far back as it could go, he stretched out his long legs and tilted his Stetson to cover his eyes. He frowned slightly and wondered how on earth he had let Sterling Hamilton talk him into this.

      Sterling had known exactly what he was doing during his last visit to the ranch, when he’d suggested that they play what was supposed to be a friendly game of poker. The stakes had been whatever either of them wanted from the other…within reason. Sterling’s desire had been a three-week stay at Jake’s ranch, Whispering Pines.

      Jake had simply shrugged upon hearing that, thinking Sterling’s request was an easy one. After all, since the time he and the well-known movie actor had formed a friendship over fifteen years ago, Sterling had been a frequent guest at Whispering Pines, often staying for weeks at a time.

      It was only after Sterling had won the poker game that he had dropped the bombshell that the three-week stay was not for him, but for a friend.

      A serious frown encased itself in Jake’s expression as he remembered that night two weeks ago. He had literally blown his stack when Sterling had announced just who that friend was. Jake shook his head, still ticked off when he thought about it. The last thing Whispering Pines needed was a visitor the likes of Diamond Swain.

      Granted, some people would be honored to have the most sought-after African-American movie actress as a guest. But he wasn’t one of them. Whispering Pines was not a celebrity resort or a dude ranch. It was a working ranch that encompassed hundreds and hundreds of acres of land for grazing cattle.

      The Whispering Pines ranch was known worldwide to raise only the highest quality grass-fed Texas Longhorn cattle. And although the ranch house was a real piece of art, a massive hacienda-style villa that he himself had designed, it was not a hideaway for the rich and famous. He had told Sterling that in no uncertain terms.

      But, as Sterling had pointed out, Whispering Pines was also like a fortress. No one got on its land unless Jake Madaris wanted them there. That meant there was no chance of Diamond Swain being bothered by pestering reporters. The other thing Sterling had been quick to point out was the fact that the people who worked for Jake were fiercely loyal to him and could be trusted. That meant news of Diamond Swain’s visit wouldn’t get leaked to the press.

      But Jake had not been appeased and had continued to put up a strong argument against her visit. Sterling had smoothly shot down every argument that he’d given, so here he was sitting and waiting patiently for the renowned Diamond Swain to arrive and not liking it one bit.

      Jake shifted in his seat when he saw the first signs of Sterling’s private plane as it jetted across the horizon. According to the media, Sterling and Diamond, who had appeared together in numerous movies, were an item and had been for years. Sterling had always flatly denied the rumor, claiming he and Diamond were nothing more than the best of friends. Her father, Jack Swain, was one of the few African-American movie directors to make his mark in Hollywood during the late sixties. Sterling’s first starring role, at the age of twenty-four, had been in one of Jack Swain’s films. That particular movie, made nearly ten years ago, had been the first ever to be directed by an African-American and nominated for Best Picture of the Year.

      As Jake watched the plane land and then come to a stop on the runway, he wondered just what he was going to do with Diamond Swain for three weeks. He shrugged, deciding it would probably be best if he just ignored her. According to Sterling, her doctor claimed she was on the brink of physical exhaustion and needed a rest from the high pressures of her hectic lifestyle of moviemaking and public appearances. If that was the case, then hopefully she would closet herself in the cabin he had arranged for her to stay in, and keep out of his way. It was roundup time, and he and his men would be extremely busy. No one had the time to baby-sit some stressed-out movie actress who was probably used to getting attention.

      When Diamond stepped off the plane and Jake took a really good look at her, he knew at that very moment that ignoring her would definitely be a problem. Oh, he’d known she was a beautiful woman. Like most people, he had seen many of her movies at one time or another. But what he hadn’t counted on was her beauty being so vivid, so rich and so knock-him-dead brutal. And he sure hadn’t counted on the sudden surge of desire that jolted his body.

      He watched her graceful stride as she moved down the steps of the plane, thinking how elegantly her taut body moved—the lush curves of her hips in black denim jeans, not to mention the long legs. Her hair hung like a silk curtain around her shoulders.

      Jake shifted in his seat, feeling sweat pop out on his forehead and perspiration form in his hands. A breath hissed forth from his closed teeth as he studied her almond-colored features that went above

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