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person who had a heart of gold like Blaylock nor a man who could be trusted more. His job around the ranch was to keep him and the ranch hands fed and to keep the ranch house clean. Blaylock did both effortlessly. His only fault, as far as Jake was concerned, was thinking that anything that went on around Whispering Pines was his business. He thought of Jake as a son, and Jake had to admit that he looked up to Blaylock as a father figure, as did most of the younger men who worked on the ranch.
    “Don’t you have the dinner dishes to wash or something?” Jake asked. His question was gruff but he knew the teasing in it came through.
    “They’re all done. You barely touched your meal tonight. You’re not coming down with something, are you, boy?”
    Jake wanted to laugh. He was a long way from being a boy. “No, I’m not coming down with anything.” He saw no need to tell Blaylock he had ruined his appetite for dinner when he’d eaten about two dozen cookies and drank nearly a gallon of milk earlier that afternoon.
    “So, Jake, how’s your little actress doing?”
    Jake frowned. “I guess she’s doing fine, and she’s not my little actress.”
    Blaylock shook his head. “Now that’s where you’re wrong. Anything that sets foot on Whispering Pines is yours, and that includes Miss Hollywood.”
    Jake laughed unexpectedly. “I’m sure Diamond will be glad to know that.”
    “You and Miss Hollywood are on a first-name basis, are you?”
    Jake frowned. “Why wouldn’t we be?”
    Blaylock laughed. “Yeah, why wouldn’t you be indeed?”
    Without answering the man’s question, Jake walked off the porch toward the barn where he knew a lot of the men were finishing up their chores and getting ready to retire for the night.
    The night was dark, and Jake thought it was lonely. A shaft of moonlight spilled across the yard and the branches of a few trees stirred with the night’s gentle breeze. Jake stopped walking and inhaled the scent of magnolias and bluebonnets. Another scent was also entrenched in his mind. It was the scent of the perfume Diamond had been wearing when he’d seen her that day. It was a lush scent, an appealing fragrance.
    Silently Jake stood in the shadows and tried to recall the moments he had spent in her company that day. Their conversations over cookies and milk had been light and impersonal, until he had begun talking about his ex-wife. He had told her more about himself than he had intended.
    Jake stared long and hard into the night sky as Blaylock’s words came back to him: “Anything that sets foot on Whispering Pines land is yours….” The thought of Diamond being his made his heart pound and caused a tightening in his gut.
    Jake sighed as he moved out of the shadows and began walking back toward the house. He doubted he would get much sleep tonight.
     
    Diamond’s foot tapped to the sound of the Temptations as they bellowed out a song about their girl. Whoever had used the cabin before her had graciously left behind the CD The Temptations Greatest Hits. She had found herself dancing around the kitchen all afternoon while tidying it up and then later while baking her pies.
    Now, five hours later, she had ten blueberry pies baked to her credit and was feeling pretty pleased with herself. The music had stimulated her and the bakinghad given her immense pride and fulfillment. She hoped Jacob’s men would be pleased with the finished product.
    She looked around the kitchen, knowing she would have to clean it up again before retiring for the night. But that thought didn’t bother her. When she was through she would take a long, relaxing bath.
    As she tapped her foot to another Temptations’ tune about somebody’s father being a rolling stone, she couldn’t help but wonder what Jake was doing. Was he still up? Had he gone to bed for the night? Had he been thinking about the time he had spent with her that day, the way she had been thinking about it?
    Darned if she had been able to