He laughed at her evasion. ‘I don’t think it, Stacy, I know it. You left your mark on him for everyone to see.’
She blushed at his forthright manner. ‘Oh!’
‘He probably deserved it,’ he continued. ‘Jake tends to act first and think later.’
As far as she was concerned that hadn’t been the case last night. Jake’s actions had all been premeditated, very carefully thought out. He had had one thought on his mind, and that had been to make love to her.
‘You don’t agree with me.’ Brad was watching her closely. ‘Perhaps you’ve come to know a different side of him.’
‘Perhaps, I’m not sure. Jake seems to live by one set of rules and expects everyone else to live by another one.’
He looked interested. ‘Am I allowed to ask what you mean by that?’
‘Jake has—well, he has women in his life. No, please,’ she pleaded at his humour, ‘I’m trying to tell you. He has women, but he objects to the same women being involved with several men.’
‘Meaning you?’
‘Not necessarily.’ She didn’t want this conversation to become too personal to herself.
Brad pursed his lips. ‘What do you know of Jake’s personal life?’ he asked slowly.
Stacy shrugged. ‘After last night I don’t think I know anything about him at all, let alone his personal life. He’s an enigma, totally incomprehensible.’
‘He isn’t normally.’
Her eyes widened. ‘Are you saying I’ve made him like that?’
‘It would appear so. I’ve never seen him like this before. When he left you last night he went back to his suite and got stoned out of his mind. He was asleep in the chair when I went up to see him this morning. And he wasn’t in a mood to answer any of my questions. Needless to say your fingermarks still showed on his face.’
‘How did you know it was me?’ she asked curiously.
‘I tried mentioning your name and got my head bitten off. But let’s get back to why Jake is like he is. He’s had several women in his life—not nearly as many as you think, but there have been women. And you know he was married.’
‘Yes.’ She sipped her coffee. ‘I’m not really sure we should be talking about him like this.’
‘I think I have to try and explain his attitude to you. Jake has been a good friend of mine for years now. I’ve seen him triumphant and I’ve seen him in the depths of despair, and I don’t think that what I’m about to tell you can harm him in any way. He was married for twenty years to a woman who should never have been any man’s wife.’
Stacy swallowed hard, her face pale. ‘Twenty years?’ she repeated dully. It was a lifetime! She had thought perhaps he had been married a couple of years and it hadn’t worked out, but twenty years!
Brad nodded. ‘It’s a long time if you take it at its face value. In actual fact Jake and Margaret only lived together for a year of that time, the year it took Jake to learn she had a sickness no one man could satisfy.’
She blushed as his meaning became clear to her. ‘I don’t think Jake would thank you for telling me this.’
Brad smiled. ‘One day he just might do that,’ he disagreed. ‘He’s lived alone too long, shut himself away from emotion too long. And I’m not talking about physical emotion,’ he added as she made to protest. ‘A man as virile, as Jake would need an outlet physically, but that’s all it’s ever been. Margaret soured him for marriage, I’m afraid.’
‘I don’t think I want to hear any more. This is his private life and—’
‘And you love him.’
Stacy looked stricken. ‘No!’
‘Please don’t attempt to deny it,’ he said gently. ‘I’ve been a lawyer too long now not to know when someone is lying to me.’
She smiled wanly. ‘That must be very helpful in your cases.’
‘It can be frustrating when I know someone is guilty and yet I know I’m going to lose my case. But we’re getting away from the point.’
‘Yes,’ she sighed. ‘You said that Jake’s wife soured him for marriage. If he felt that way why didn’t he just divorce her and rid himself of her once and for all?’