Leopard 03 - Burning Wild

property.
    Drake shrugged. “If she’s affecting you like this . . .”
    Jake frowned. “I didn’t say she was having any effect on me at all. I’m restless and bored, but women don’t get under my skin.”
    Drake snorted derisively. If it had been any other man, Jake would have been tempted to knock him off his horse. But Drake was different. He held a certain respect for Drake, so he kept his vicious temper under check.
    “I’ll tell you straight up, Jake,” Drake said, gathering the reins. “You’re acting a hell of a lot like a man who has a mate going into heat.” He pushed back his hat and turned his horse away. “If that’s the case, the symptoms only get worse.”
    “I don’t have a mate. And women don’t go into heat.”
    Drake nodded. “So you say.” He dug his heels into the horse’s side and trotted away, leaving Jake staring after him.

    “WHEN will he be here?” Susan Hindman hopped up and down excitedly, leaping from one foot to the other. “Honestly, Emma, how can you stay so calm?”
    Emma smiled one of her slow smiles and continued kneading the bread dough. “He’ll be here soon enough, if he’s radioed in. Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time to be with him. After all, you’ll be here another four weeks.” Susan was Senator Hindman’s daughter, and he’d called and asked if they could watch her while the senator was out of the country. She was good company and Emma really liked her, but she had a terrible crush on Jake.
    “Four weeks,” Susan echoed, dramatically clasping her hands to her heart. “It’s probably just as well he was gone when I arrived, I don’t know how I’ll stand it.”
    Emma laughed, a soft, pleasant sound that sounded melodic to Susan. “You’re so silly, Susie. He’s no different than other men.” A dimple appeared along the right corner of her mouth, melting when she added, “Perhaps a little more of a tyrant.”
    “Oh, Emma.” Exasperated that Emma didn’t share her latest heartthrob, Susan shook her head. “I don’t understand you. He’s gorgeous. All those incredible muscles.” She hugged herself ecstatically.
    “Muscles everywhere. Wide shoulders. And that tan and those eyes. He’s to die for. You must be blind.”
    “It’s a definite possibility,” Emma agreed, laughing at Susan’s drama.
    “And he’s richer than rich. He gets invited to the best parties, he’s on the cover of magazines, in the newspaper. He knows movie stars and the president and, well, everybody. He knows everybody.”
    At sixteen, Susan was tall and lanky, without curves but with a coltish grace promising well for the future. Her hair was dark and curly, she had laughing hazel eyes with a generous spray of freckles across her nose. Jake wasn’t aware of her visit yet, and Susan was anxious that he hurry home. He had called Emma three times a day, impressing Susan to no end, but Emma only seemed to find Jake very amusing and mildly exasperating instead of incredibly romantic.
    “Your father has a great deal of money,” Emma reminded mildly, “and he’s always in the news. He certainly knows the president and more than his share of influential people.”
    “Oh.” Susan dismissed her father with a wave of her hand. “Dad’s just . . . well, Dad. Jake is different.
    He’s so exciting.”
    Emma hid a smile, one inquisitive eyebrow going up. “Exciting?”
    “Handsome. And all the rumors about him. People are afraid of him, you know. Daddy says he’s one of the most powerful men in the world.”
    “Money and power aren’t everything, Susie.” It was a gentle reprimand. “And looks aren’t everything either.”
    “Well, I know that. Daddy says he has such a brilliant mind and it’s totally wasted on this ranch. He should be in politics, not just dabbling.” She frowned. “But of course, he’s got lots of enemies. Daddy says his kind always do. He says Jake is a barracuda in the boardroom and no one’s business is safe from him. Better to be his friend than his enemy. Jake’s just so fabulous and women chase him all the time.”
    “I’ll bet your father didn’t know your big ears were around when he said all that either,” Emma said good-naturedly. She gave a last pat to the dough and went to the sink, shoving rather unsuccessfully at the unruly red hair spilling down her back in spiraling wisps, not to mention around her face and into her large eyes.
    It bothered her that Jake was everything Susan’s father had said