Do You Take This Rebel? Part 13

"I don't like the way she looks," Ca.s.sie said worriedly. "She's exhausted. She can't stay here by herself, and that's that."

"Well, we know she's not going to leave, so I'll just have to move in," Lauren said. "I imagine I can still do a few ranch ch.o.r.es."

They all stared. "You?"

"Why not me?" she asked indignantly. "I grew up on a ranch. It hasn't been that long. I still know one end of a cow from the other."

"But, Lauren," Emma protested, "what about your career?"

Lauren waved off the question. "It'll be there when I get back or it won't. I already have more money than I can ever spend. I'm staying here, and that's that."

Gina and Emma agreed to stay that night, as well, so Ca.s.sie left with her mother and Cole for the hundred-mile ride back to Winding River. It was late when they arrived, and her mother went straight to bed, but Ca.s.sie lingered on the porch with Cole. Jake was spending the night next door, so they were alone.

"Do you honestly think Karen will be able to manage that ranch on her own?" she asked Cole, settling into the swing.

He sat next to her and set the swing into a slow, easy motion. "Ranching is difficult work under the best of conditions. She's going to need help. I get the impression she doesn't have the money to hire on additional hands, and she flatly refused my offer to send one of my men over, even temporarily."

"Maybe she should consider selling. She always wanted to travel. In high school that's all she ever talked about." Even as she said it, though, she knew Karen would never sell the ranch that Caleb had loved. Even if it drained her financially and physically, she would keep it because it had been his dream. But Karen's misplaced sense of loyalty could wind up killing her.

"She won't sell," Cole said with certainty.

Ca.s.sie sighed and met his gaze. "I know, but it might be better if she did."

He tucked a curl behind her ear. "We don't always do what's best, even if it's plain as day to us what that is."

Something in his voice told her he was no longer talking about Karen. "What would you do differently if you could?"

"Fight for you," he said without hesitation.

Ca.s.sie's breath caught in her throat at the regret she heard in his voice. "Would you?"

His gaze locked with hers. "I should have done it back then. I knew it the second I left town, but by then it was too late. Then I got that note and, well, all I could do was hate you for what I thought was an even worse betrayal than my own."

Ca.s.sie debated telling him what she had learned from his father. Part of her was reluctant to stir up the ashes of the past, but he deserved to know the truth, especially after all he had done for Edna Collins in recent days. "My mother wrote that note," she said flatly, praying that it wouldn't change his commitment to helping with her medical expenses.

Shock washed over his face. "How do you know that?" he demanded.

"Your father told me. He admitted that they conspired to keep us apart."

Cole stood and began to pace. Suddenly he stopped and slammed his fist against a post. "Dammit! I should have guessed."

"How could you have guessed? I certainly never imagined it."

"I saw them with their heads together back then," he explained. "But your mom and I had always gotten along so well, I couldn't believe that she would be involved in splitting us up. I only saw my father's less-than-subtle touch all over it."

"Well, unless your father lied, which I seriously doubt, she was involved," Ca.s.sie said flatly. "I haven't spoken to her about it, but I will, once things settle down and she has her health back."

Her voice caught at the end, and she put her hands over her face as the tears, never far from the surface, flowed again. Cole sat back down and reached for her.

"It's okay," he murmured. "Don't cry. She's going to be fine."

"I know, but..." She looked at him, feeling an over-whelming sense of sorrow. "But Caleb won't be. Karen's lost him forever. How can I be so glad about my mother, when my best friend's husband is dead?"

"One has absolutely nothing to do with the other. Karen understands that. She's as happy as you are that your mother's prognosis is good. She would never begrudge you that. And she knows that you care about her and her loss. She's going to need all of you more than ever. It's good that you've come home. Even better that you and Lauren, at least, intend to stick around."

She dared to meet his gaze then and saw something else in his eyes, something she hadn't dared to hope for in years and years. There was tenderness and longing and hope.

"I'm glad you're back to stay," he said softly. glad you're back to stay," he said softly.

They were words she had longed to hear. His eyes promised things that she had yearned for. And yet she couldn't allow herself to be swept off her feet, caught up in a dream of what might be, now that she was back in Winding River. Not with Jake and the secret of his paternity standing between them.

Because if Cole knew the truth, that she had kept his son from him all these years, whatever fantasy he was spinning about their future would crash and burn under the weight of his justifiable fury. He might eventually forgive his father's actions, but he would never forgive her for keeping such a secret. Never. And if he was inclined to, Frank Davis would have quite a lot to say about having the Davis heir kept from them.

"I have to go in," she said, pulling away, putting a safe distance between them.

"Why? It's not that late."

"But I have to be at Stella's for the morning shift tomorrow," she said.

"Come on," he chided. "Surely you don't need that much beauty sleep."

"You'd be surprised."

"Then have dinner with me tomorrow night, you and Jake."

"No," she said, more harshly than she should have.

He regarded her quizzically. "Why not?"

"Because I need to go to the ranch to see Karen," she said at once, praying that he would accept the excuse.

"Then I'll drive you."

If she refused him, he would want to know why, and she didn't have a single answer that he would accept without dissecting it.

"Fine," she said with undisguised reluctance.

"Thank you, Cole," he mocked.

She sighed. "I'm sorry. I do appreciate it, really I do. You've been a rock through all of this. I know Karen is grateful, too."

He regarded her doubtfully, but let it go. "Then I'll see you about three. Does that give you enough time after your shift ends?"

"Three will be fine."

"Maybe I'll stop by earlier and spend some time with Jake."

Ca.s.sie's heart skidded to a stop. "I...I don't think that's a good idea," she said, scrambling to come up with a reason he would buy. None came to mind.

Cole studied her quietly for what seemed to be an eternity, then asked, "Is there a reason you don't want me around Jake? This isn't the first time I've sensed that you'd just as soon I steer clear of him."

"I just don't want him to start to count on you. It's hard on a boy if men come and go in his life."

His gaze narrowed. "Have a lot of men come and gone in Jake's life?"

"No, because I have been very careful not to let that happen."

"I won't let him down," Cole said.

"You say that, but you can't guarantee it."

"Any more than you can," he replied. "We're all human. We all disappoint the people we care about from time to time, even with the best intentions. But I swear to you, Ca.s.sie, I would never knowingly hurt him."

"You wouldn't mean to," she agreed. "But it's inevitable."

"You would rather deprive him of my company than risk having me hurt him?"

"Yes," she said flatly. "That's how it has to be."

"For a woman who once thrived on risks, you've grown up to be a cautious woman."

"I was burned," she said simply. "I learned my lesson."

He studied her with a disconcerting intensity, then asked, "Who did that to you, Ca.s.sie?"

She regarded him incredulously. "You have to ask?"

"It wasn't just me. It couldn't have been. Was it Jake's father? Did he disappoint you badly, too?"

"Yes," she said, seizing the explanation. He had no idea how true it was. "Jake's father made it impossible for me ever to trust another man."

Cole leveled a look into her eyes that burned right through to her soul. "I'm going to change that," he vowed. "Just wait and see."

But he couldn't, she thought as he dropped a tender kiss on her forehead and walked away. Of all the men in the world, Cole Davis was the one least likely to be able to change the way she felt about trust.

And if he knew the truth about Jake, he'd feel the exact same way about her.

Chapter Ten.

Cole took Ca.s.sie's reluctance to let him get too involved in her son's life as a challenge. Not only did he intend to convince her she was wrong about that, he intended to win her heart again.

Of course, trying to court a woman whose mother was ill and whose best friend was in mourning required a bit of inventiveness. Overt attempts to sweep her off her feet would, no doubt, be met with dismay. That left subtlety, something the Davis men were not known for. He'd inherited his father's inclination to go after what he wanted, no holds barred. Restraining that impulse was going to be tricky, but he could do it. He had to. The stakes were too high to risk losing.

As promised, he arrived at Ca.s.sie's promptly at three to drive her to Karen's. He came with a new computer game for Jake, flowers for Mrs. Collins and nothing at all for Ca.s.sie. A faint flicker of disappointment in her eyes was his reward. Next time he knew she wouldn't be so quick to turn down whatever token offering he brought for her.

Meantime, Jake was staring at the computer game with a mix of excitement and unmistakable frustration that Cole couldn't quite interpret.

"Anything wrong, pal? I thought you'd like that game. It's just hit the market. You don't have it, do you?"

Jake shook his head. "It's great, but..." He shot a condemning look at his mother, then muttered, "I don't have a computer. Mom won't get me one, especially after what happened where we used to live."

"Jake Collins, don't you dare imply that I refused to buy you a computer out of spite or something," Ca.s.sie said. "You know perfectly well it's not some sort of punishment. We simply can't afford one, though I have to admit you didn't display any evidence that you can use one responsibly."

Cole was about to speak, but one look at her face kept him silent. If he made an offer to buy the computer, it was evident she wouldn't appreciate it. Besides, he understood why she might be reluctant for the boy to have a computer after the trouble he'd gotten into on the Internet.

"Maybe we can think about getting a computer for Christmas," Mrs. Collins said.

"But that's months and months away," Jake protested. "This game is so cool. I want to play it now."

Cole locked gazes with Ca.s.sie. "How about if I loan you an old computer I have at the house for now? We can leave off the modem so there will be no Internet hookup."

"I don't know," she said, clearly hesitant.

"Mom, please," Jake pleaded.

"It's just a loan," Cole insisted. "And it's just gathering dust out at the ranch."

She sighed. "Okay, if you're sure you have it to spare. And definitely no modem."

Little did she know that he had half a dozen tucked away, thanks to the rapidly changing technology and his own need to be on the cutting edge of the industry. He could have supplied her with one that was state of the art without batting an eye, but he resolved to provide an older model that wouldn't get her dander up.

"No Internet," Ca.s.sie said pointedly. "Understood?"

Jake sighed heavily. "Okay."

Cole gave the boy's shoulder a squeeze. "I'll bring it by tomorrow, Jake. How will that be?"

"All right," the boy said eagerly. "And you'll show me how to write a program?"

"Sure, if you want to learn," he said, then cautioned, "It's a lot of work."

"That's okay. Someday I'm going to start my own computer technology company just like you." He grabbed Cole's hand. "Come look at my room and we can decide where the computer should go when you bring it."

Cole found Jake's budding case of hero worship touching. After living for the past few years with his own computer-illiterate father, a man who had absolutely no appreciation for his work, it was nice to have someone so eager to understand it and share in it. Jake was a good kid. Ca.s.sie had done a terrific job raising him on her own. Cole reminded himself to tell her that.

But when he tried to bring up the subject on the ride to Karen's ranch, Ca.s.sie's response was as touchy as always when he mentioned Jake. Cole told himself that her reaction was simply that of an overly protective single mom, but he was having difficulty believing it. Calling her on it would accomplish nothing. He'd already tried that, and she had only become more defensive.

Maybe he would ask Mrs. Collins. Her att.i.tude toward him seemed to be mellowing lately. Maybe she would give him a straight answer. If not, he would just have to count on the fact that one of these days, Ca.s.sie would trust him enough to be completely honest with him. By nature, she wasn't a secretive person.

At least she hadn't been ten years ago, he reminded himself. Ten years was a long time, especially when most of that time she had been raising a child on her own. The truth was, he had no idea how Ca.s.sie might have changed. He just knew that plenty of things about her were the same, enough to fascinate him all over again.

He glanced at her, distressed to see that she was staring out the window with a distant, sad expression on her face. Maybe she was merely thinking about her friend's loss, but he doubted it. He had caught that same expression even before Caleb's death. Something-or someone-had stolen her youthful vibrancy and optimism, and Cole wouldn't rest until he knew how that had happened.