"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 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 he
r 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."