Do You Take This Rebel?

“I imagine you’ll be having a cherry cola, same as always,” Stella said, giving her a wink. “Coming right up. You all try to keep the noise level down back here. I’ve got tourists, and they like a little peace and quiet while they eat.”

“I’ll bet if you point out that they’re in the presence of a gen-u-ine movie star, they won’t care how much racket we make,” Gina told her.

Lauren frowned. “Stop it, you guys. Acting’s a job. It’s not who I am. If anybody ought to know that, you should,” she reminded them.

Cassie thought she detected an edge in her friend’s voice, but Lauren laughed just as hard as the rest of them at the teasing comments that followed. And when they plagued her with questions about her leading men, her responses were as ribald as the discussions they’d had about boys in high school.

When their drinks came, Cassie raised her glass. “A toast. To the Calamity Janes—may all our troubles be behind us.”

Just as the others joined in, Cassie’s glance strayed to the window looking onto Main Street. Cole Davis was standing on the sidewalk staring right back at her, his hands jammed in the pockets of his faded denims, his jaw set and an unreadable expression in his eyes.

“Uh-oh,” Karen murmured. “Looks as if that toast came too late. Trouble is about to come calling.”

All of the women followed Cole’s progress as he strode to the door and entered the diner.

Cassie swallowed hard and prayed that she wouldn’t make a complete fool of herself. It was just a chance meeting with an old flame. Nothing more. Nothing to cause this churning in the pit of her stomach. There was no reason for her heart to slam against her ribs or her pulse to ricochet wildly. Jake was safely at home with her mother, so there was no reason for this little lick of fear that was sliding up the back of her throat.

Get a grip, she told herself mentally as she lifted her gaze to meet his. Those unflinching blue eyes were just as devastating as ever. Her stomach flipped over. Her heart pounded. Her pulse ricocheted. Reason apparently had nothing to do with anything where Cole was concerned, not even after ten long years.

Tension swirled as she felt four gazes pinned on her, waiting to see what she would do. She drew in a deep breath and reminded herself she was a grown-up woman—a mother, in fact. She could handle a simple little exchange with a man, even if he did happen to be the father of the child she’d kept from him…even if she’d spent years nurturing her hatred of him.

“Cole,” she acknowledged with a slight nod.

“Cassie.”

His voice was as low and sexy as she’d remembered, his face more mature, his lips in that same straight line that had always dared her to try to coax a smile from him. His blue eyes were as cold as a wintry sky, though why they were eluded her. He was the one who’d walked out on her. If anyone had a right to be fuming mad, it was she. He ought to be on his knees apologizing, which was about as likely as the sun starting to rise in the west.

When it looked as if the conversation had run into a dead end before getting off the ground, Karen, ever the peacemaker, jumped in.

“How’s Frank?” she asked, as if the tension weren’t already thick enough without bringing up Cole’s father.

“Same as ever. Cantankerous,” he said, bestowing the smile on her that he’d refused Cassie.

“Still grumbling about getting you married off?” Karen teased. Cassie poked an elbow sharply in her ribs.

“The topic does come up now and again,” Cole said, amusement tilting the corners of his mouth.

“Your father always gets his way in the end,” Gina chimed in. “I don’t see why you don’t just get it over with. The way I hear it from my folks, every female in ten counties is after you.”

Cole grinned at her, a full-fledged smile, capable of breaking hearts. “Including you? How about it, Gina? Are you available?”

Cassie scowled as she waited for her friend’s reply.

“If you’d asked a week ago, I’d have turned you down flat,” Gina said. “Now, who knows?”

The flip remark drew stares from the others. Something wasn’t right with Gina, either. Cassie had sensed it from the moment they’d sat down, but there hadn’t been time to get into it. Whatever it was, it had to be serious for her to even joke about a willingness to leave her beloved New York and stay in Wyoming.

Cassie couldn’t give the matter any more thought just then, though, because she glanced up and spotted Jake and his grandmother coming across the street. After their talk yesterday, Cassie had thought there was no way her mother would bring the boy into town, but she’d clearly underestimated Jake’s powers of persuasion. He’d been pestering them for ice cream ever since Cassie had reneged on her promise of it the day before.

A sense of dread filled her as she watched their progress. She did not want Cole meeting her son—not today, not ever—though that was likely to be tricky if she decided she was back home to stay. After the awkwardness of the past few minutes, she was beginning to see that staying in Winding River might not be feasible. She couldn’t live with the kind of panic that had streaked through her when she’d seen Jake unwittingly heading straight toward his daddy.

“You guys, I have to run,” she said, dropping some money on the table and slipping out of the booth. “I have to get home.”

“But our food…” Lauren began, then glanced outside and fell silent.

Cassie circled around behind Cole, giving him a wide berth, hoping that her friends would keep him occupied just long enough for her to catch Jake and her mother and detour them away from the restaurant.

“I’ll call you,” Karen said.

“And we’ll see you tomorrow night,” Lauren added.

“Absolutely. I can’t wait,” she said before dashing off to intercept her son.

She was dismayed when she realized Cole had fallen into step beside her. Just outside the door, he gazed down into her eyes, his expression vaguely troubled.

“Why the sudden rush, Cassie? I didn’t scare you off, did I?”

His tone mocked her, but there was that contradictory flicker of concern in his eyes. She didn’t know what to make of either, and right now she didn’t have time to grapple with it. Disaster was less than half a block away.

“Of course not,” she said a little too sharply. “I just have to get home, that’s all. I promised my mother I wouldn’t be gone long.”

His expression softened. “How’s your mother doing?” he asked with apparent sincerity.

Cassie thought back to the special bond Cole and her mom had shared. It, too, had died when Cole abandoned Cassie. If she were a more generous person, Cassie mused, she might regret that. Cole, who’d lost his own mother at an early age, had basked in the attention Edna had given him.

Cassie glanced outside and saw that her mother was disappearing through a door down the street. Apparently she’d caught a glimpse of Cole and wisely hurried Jake toward the trendy new restaurant and coffee bar Cassie had noticed earlier. Cassie breathed a sigh of relief and turned her gaze back to Cole.

“Fine,” she said. “My mother’s just fine.”

He seemed startled by that. “Really?”

Something in his voice told Cassie he knew something she didn’t. She stared at him intently. “Why did you say that like that?”

He evaded her gaze, his expression suddenly uneasy. “Like what?”

“Stop it, Cole. Don’t play games with me. Is there something going on with my mother that I don’t know about? Is she keeping something from me?”

“You’ll have to ask her that.”

All thoughts of Cole’s near-miss encounter with his son fled as she stared at him and tried to read his deliberately enigmatic expression. He was hiding something. It was plain as day. “Dammit, Cole. Tell me.”

“I just inquired after your mother, Cassie. I was being polite,” he insisted mildly. “Don’t read anything more into it.”

“Nothing with you is ever that simple.”

“You’re a fine one to talk.”

Her temper flared, and her gaze clashed with his. “What is that supposed to mean?”