“Do you honestly think they’ll buy it?”

“What else could have happened? We have wounded and dead horses. We have Drake in surgery and you and Kyle alive with very evident wounds, and four dead human bodies, three killed together and one off by itself, dragged from a tree by a leopard from behind, all with wounds consistent with a leopard attack. They’ll believe it. They won’t be so happy we burned the leopard carcasses, but they’ll be very understanding with a man who just lost his parents. Every hand on the ranch will back up the story because they already believe it.”

“I just want to go home, Jake,” Emma said. “I’m exhausted and still upset and I want to see Andraya. Susan’s father should be called and she’ll need reassurance too.”

He reached around his son and framed her face. “I’m sorry, Emma. I should never have gotten you involved in this.”

She turned her face so her cheek rubbed along his palm and she brushed her lips over the pad of his thumb. “He’s my son too. You’re mine. I’m not letting someone take either of you from me. And that was my choice, Jake.”

His heart contracted as he leaned in to kiss her and then pulled her against him, right next to Kyle. He still couldn’t say it out loud, because he was afraid something might take them away from him once he actually acknowledged the emotion, but he knew what love was—and it was in his arms, living and breathing, sheltered next to his heart.

20

JAKE hung up the phone and took a long, thoughtful look at the stairway. Emma wasn’t feeling good—again. The news on Drake was very good. All of them should have been elated, but Emma had only given Drake a few encouraging words and handed off the phone to Jake—very unlike her.

The police had come and gone, their investigation seemingly over after a few days of intense scrutiny. Hopkins had already pleaded guilty to embezzlement, hoping for leniency. The children had settled back down. Even Susan had gone back home to see her father. Things should have begun to slip back into normalcy, but his Emma wasn’t the same. Twice he’d caught her in tears, although she’d said nothing was wrong. She stayed close to the children, almost as if she was afraid something might happen to them. She hadn’t objected when he tightened security and asked Brenda to work more days for a while, which was totally unlike Emma—she never wanted anyone else in her home doing her job.

She was moody and edgy and snapped at him more than once today. He sighed and walked to the stairs, rubbing the hand rail back and forth as he started up the stairs. The children were in bed—she’d read stories to them until they both fell asleep—and there was no longer a barrier between them, preventing them from talking, but she still refused to come to him and tell him what was wrong.

He took a breath and let it out, all too aware of his heart pounding with dread. She must have been so frightened. And they could have lost both children. He hadn’t warned her of his parents, not really. He’d never shared his childhood with her. He never trusted her enough to give that part of him to her, yet he’d expected her to live with him and with the danger surrounding him. He sank down onto the bottom stair and covered his face with his hands.

He couldn’t lose her—not now. Not when he knew she was his world. He had gone from a man selfish enough to maneuver her into his life for all the wrong reasons, pretending to love his son, to loving his son because of her. Emma had shown him how to love. She brought joy into his life. Tenderness. Laughter. He looked forward to every evening, to waking up in the morning. He looked forward to life.

She couldn’t leave him. She just couldn’t. He had to find a way to let her know what she meant to him. He wasn’t certain he could take that step yet. He could at least admit it to himself, but was he already too late? It couldn’t be. He lifted his head, determination sweeping through him. She was so close in her leopard’s cycle and yet she seemed to be fighting it every step of the way, so much so that she was keeping Jake at a distance.

Could that be the problem? She had told him to accept his cat, to merge and become one, but had she become frightened of her own leopard? How the hell did men ever understand women and their moods?

He stalked up the stairs, determined to force her to talk to him. Emma sat in her favorite chair in her room, the lights off, only moonlight spilling through the window illuminating her face as she stared out into the night. Jake closed the door and locked it, drawing her immediate attention.

“What’s wrong, Emma?” he asked quietly.

Her mouth tightened. She took a breath, pushed a hand through her disheveled hair. “Nothing. I’m just enjoying the solitude.”

A clear order to leave her alone. He tilted his head, his gaze drifting over her body. She had the allure that females got when they were in need of their mates. When he inhaled and pulled her scent into his lungs, he felt his body stir. She was definitely in her cycle and more than ready, yet she was resisting, sitting stiff, fingers twisting together.

Emma glared up at him. “Quit staring at me, Jake. I’m not in the mood.”

“You’re in the mood, all right, you just don’t want to admit it.” His voice purred at her. “If you want me, honey, all you have to do is say so. There’s no need to get all moody on me.”

Her gaze jumped to his face. “She’s in the mood. She’s the one edgy, not me. She’s insane right now and I’m not letting her out. She was like a sex kitten, rubbing herself all over everything, and I swear in another few moments she might have let that horrible man mount her. She was that bad.”