Leopard 03 - Burning Wild

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