Burning Wild
Page 30

“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 he was. He did make enemies easily, and he seemed ruthless in his business dealings with others. Emma didn’t fully understand the concept of buying and taking apart other companies, but she knew Jake was considered merciless when he conducted business.
She took another look at the birthday cake she’d decorated earlier, hoping Jake really would make it home this time before the weather brought another disaster. She wanted to surprise him with a small celebration.
“Just last month I saw Linda Rawlins and Jake get into a huge fight over you.”
Emma swung around, her eyes enormous. “Me? Why me?”
Susan immediately felt contrite. Emma was very small and slender with flawless skin; well, almost flawless. She had two very faint scars marring the perfection of her face, both on the left side, one up near her eye, the other a long, thin crescent ending near the corner of her mouth. Susan had never gotten up the courage to ask her about those scars and Emma had never volunteered the information. Emma’s past remained something of a mystery. Even her father didn’t talk about Emma.
Jake had brought her from somewhere on the West Coast to be his housekeeper. That was all anyone ever said. Susan adored her ever since their first meeting, when her father had gone to Jake’s house seeking campaign funds. She’d discovered Emma in the kitchen, laughing with the two toddlers. Immediately she’d pitched in to help and they had become good friends.
Her most secret desire was to have Emma’s incredibly large green eyes and silky red-gold hair curving around her own face and cascading down her back to her waist in waves. Emma was sweet and understanding; she was always ready to listen to anyone, whether it was one of the ranch hands, Susan, or one of the children. Yet Emma always looked very vulnerable. Even at sixteen, Susan felt protective toward her.
“I was just kidding,” Susan lied baldly, not liking the flicker of pain in the depths of Emma’s eyes.
“You may as well tell me.” Emma sighed, pulling a large barrette from the pocket of her faded blue jeans. She caught at the thick mass of hair and clipped it at the nape of her neck. The pulled-back style emphasized her high cheekbones.
Susan looked uneasy. “It’s only gossip, Emma, I didn’t believe it.”
“Believe what? Come on, Susie, you’ve gone this far.”
“Well.” Susan scuffed at the Mediterranean tiles with her foot uncomfortably. “I was in the hall, it wasn’t like I was eavesdropping on purpose or anything.”
“Susie.”
“All right, but I wasn’t listening on purpose. Linda waylaid Jake at this party and asked him to take her to the Bingleys’ party, which you probably know is the big event of the season.”
Emma didn’t, but she nodded anyway, trying not to wince when she heard the other woman’s name.
Susan grinned suddenly. “Can you believe it? I wished I’d had a tape recorder. The great Linda Rawlins actually having to ask a man to escort her. I could have made thousands selling that information to the tabloids. Little shipping heiress shunned by the oil king.”
“You read too many gossip magazines,” Emma scolded determinedly.
“Yeah, probably.” Susan was unrepentant. “But they’re so much fun.”
“Get on with it.”
“Jake was cool and very polite in that distant way he has, but you know, with that sort of bored, totally hot look he gets. He told Linda he was taking you and she blew up. Like, big time. Sky high. She was shrieking at him at the top of her lungs. She told him nobody in society would ever accept you, and that his own parents thought it laughable that he was with you and that he was only doing it to spite them. Then she called you a domestic servant. Jake looked down at her with that sort of contempt thing he does and then she really got nasty.”