“You aren’t a servant.” Susan was horrified.

Emma spun around and hurried from the kitchen, down the hall, through the large family room and right out the front door. For once she wouldn’t be greeting Jake when he came in. She wanted to be alone for a while. After two years of peace, she felt like she was waking up. She loved her life, the ranch that had become her home, and the two children. Kyle was as much hers as Andraya was. The problem was she thought of Jake as hers as well. Lately she’d become restless and moody, and just thinking of Jake could make her body come alive in ways it hadn’t for the last two years.

Dear Jake, it was so like him to take the brunt of the gossip on his wide shoulders—to protect her and never say a word about the rumors. If she complained about anything at all, just a mere mention, whatever it was disappeared, was fixed or managed without a word.

She couldn’t face him right now. She felt confused when she was near Jake—her body growing more and more uncomfortable in his presence. Every sense heightened when he came near. His scent, masculine and forbidden, tantalized her. The drawling sound of his voice was like a caress over her skin. Maybe it had happened so gradually she hadn’t been aware of her attraction to him, but she’d lived comfortably with him for two years, and to her it seemed as if, all of a sudden, when he was near, her body reacted by coming alive. And when he was gone, she couldn’t stop thinking about him.

She hurried across the driveway, running down the path to the stables. What a mess they would all be in if she made the mistake of allowing him to know she was sexually attracted to him. Kyle called her Mommy, believed she was his mother, and for all intents and purposes she was. She loved him as if he were her flesh and blood. Kyle and Andraya loved each other as brother and sister. And Jake was equally wonderful to both of them. And she loved Jake. Really loved him. She had loved him long before she was attracted sexually. And falling for him that way would only ruin everything.

Emma laughed softly to herself, remembering Jake getting up night after night to help her with Kyle, to change wet diapers and feed him. Now, with Andraya, he still got up, even if Kyle stayed asleep. When he was home, he fixed her tea or chocolate and sat with her while she rocked the baby to sleep. He never seemed to actually go to bed, spending most nights in her room. Sometimes he stretched out on the bed beside her, and those nights had become a kind of private hell. She wanted him there, yet the temptation of his body was becoming dangerous.

He would have had sex with her. He was nearly always hard, always ready. It wasn’t that difficult to see the impressive bulge in the front of his jeans, and he never bothered to hide it or appeared embarrassed or ashamed. But she didn’t want to become one of his women. He treated them with total indifference, contempt even, and she couldn’t live with that.

Emma caught up a bridle, running a practiced eye over the horses standing patiently in the stalls. She wanted one with stored-up, restless energy. Maybe if she took a long ride, she would be able to calm her body down and figure out why she was so restless and edgy and desperate for a man’s body. Not just any man—Jake.

“Emma.” A quiet, menacing voice made her stiffen. Powerful fingers bit into her shoulder, spinning her around. “What the hell’s going on here?” Jake demanded. Diamond-hard eyes raked her pale features, noting the shadows lurking in her dark eyes, dwelling on the pulse beating frantically in her throat, touching on her soft, trembling mouth.

The sight of him always robbed her of breath. Jake was formidable, overpowering, dangerous. A rock for all of them, yet he moved silently, like a cat in the night. “I’m going riding, Jake,” she answered, straining to keep her voice even. She loved looking at him, all that flowing power, the swift impatience, the way the corners of his eyes crinkled right before he smiled. But he could be very overwhelming when he chose to be intimidating—as he was doing now.

He swore, pulling her soft body right up against his tough, well-muscled one. He had a day’s growth of beard, and up this close she could smell his outdoorsy, masculine scent. “Like hell you are. I haven’t seen you in two long weeks. What’s up?”

With an effort, Emma managed a faint smile. “Nothing, Jake. I was shirking duties, that’s all. How was your trip?”

Swift annoyance spread across his sensual features. She could feel the tension in his large frame. “Come on,” he snapped impatiently, whirling around, taking her with him. “If we’re going to spar, we may as well be comfortable.”

He moved with the lithe, flowing grace of a prowling jungle cat, power and coordination combined. Emma, with her shorter legs, was forced to run to match his lazy, long stride. He glanced down at her bent head, his eyes a glittering gold, and deliberately slowed his pace to accommodate her. Casually retaining possession of her arm, he dropped his flat-brimmed hat on a chair as they went through the family room.

“Was that Susan Hindman I saw upstairs?” he demanded abruptly, releasing her as they entered the kitchen. “She was peeking over the banister and making eyes at me.”

Emma nodded, rubbing absently at the marks of his fingers on her arm. “She’s staying with us while her father’s away in London. He asked me right after you left. I didn’t think you’d object. Her governess, Dana Anderson, brought her along with a gentleman they said was her tutor, a Harold Givens.” Jake didn’t like strangers on the ranch.

“What’s she been saying to you?” Jake’s handsome features were set and hard. He looked very formidable. Even so, he reached out to take her arm in the palm of his hand, his touch gentle as he examined her skin for finger marks. The pads of his fingers stroked caresses over the marks, his touch lingering, sending tingles of arousal along her nerve endings to spread through her body.