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  “And we’re really going to stay here?” he asked. “You’re not going to change your mind again?”

  “I’m not changing my mind,” Cassie said firmly.

  He pumped a fist into the air. “All right!”

  When they were settled into a booth at Stella’s, Cassie beckoned her old boss over. “We need three large sundaes, two hot fudge.” She glanced at her mother. “Caramel or strawberry?”

  “Definitely strawberry,” her mother said.

  Stella reacted with shock. “No main course? Not even a burger?”

  “Not yet,” Cassie said.

  “Anything else?”

  “How about a job?”

  Stella’s mouth gaped. She stuck her order pad in her pocket, then scooted into the booth next to Cassie. “You’re looking for work?”

  Cassie nodded.

  “Well, hallelujah! That must mean you’re home to stay.”

  “I am.”

  “Then you can start tomorrow. With the parade and all, it’s going to be a zoo in here, and the teenage girl I had working for me announced today that she intended to spend the Fourth with her boyfriend whether I liked it or not.”

  “Did you fire her?”

  Stella chuckled. “I will now. Irresponsible kids need to be taught a lesson.” She patted Cassie’s hand. “Didn’t take long for you to catch on, did it? One warning had you in here right on time every single day you were scheduled.”

  “I liked the perks,” Cassie said with a grin. “All the ice cream I could eat.”

  “It was a small price to pay for a reliable worker,” Stella replied.

  After she’d gone off to fix their sundaes, Jake left his grandmother’s side to squeeze in next to Cassie. “If we’re gonna stay, that means I can spend more time with Mr. Davis, doesn’t it? My friends back home will be so jealous when I tell them I know him. I mean, he’s almost like a celebrity.”

  “In that case you should understand that you can’t go bothering him. I’m sure he has lots and lots of work to do,” Cassie said.

  “But I asked him if he would explain to me about computers and how they work and stuff, and he said he would.” Jake regarded her with an earnest, hopeful expression. “He said he wouldn’t mind at all.”

  Cassie exchanged a helpless look with her mother. Leave it to Jake to take matters into his own hands.

  “We’ll see,” Cassie said evasively.

  “I think we should go after lunch, before he forgets,” Jake said.

  “No, not today,” Cassie told him firmly.

  “When?”

  “I’ll talk to him and work something out,” she said, grateful when Stella appeared with their sundaes.

  The ice cream distracted Jake for maybe five minutes before he began to badger her again.

  “If you don’t drop this right now,” Cassie said finally, “you won’t see him at all.”

  “But—”

  “I said to drop it.”

  Tears welled up in Jake’s eyes, but he fell silent, shoving the rest of his sundae away in protest. Cassie’s appetite disappeared, as well. Only her mother continued to enjoy her sundae, or at least pretended to.

  Was this what it was going to be like living in Winding River, a constant tug-of-war with her son over his hero worship of a man he didn’t even realize was his father?

  By the time they left for home, Cassie had a splitting headache and a knot the size of Wyoming in her stomach. At this rate she was going to wind up in a hospital bed right next to her mother’s.

  Naturally Jake didn’t take her decision as final. Nor did the concession she made, allowing him to attend the parade and fireworks, appease him. She had to admit that had gone well enough. If Cole had been around, she hadn’t spotted him. And Jake’s delight had been worth every second of nervousness she’d experienced.

  But by the next morning the treat had been forgotten, and Jake was back on the subject of going to see Cole. Her repeated warnings that she didn’t want to hear another word about it seemed to fall on deaf ears.

  He continued to pester her for the rest of the week about going out to the Double D. He’d gotten his stubbornness and willfulness from her, no doubt about it.

  She steadfastly continued to refuse to take him to visit Cole, making up excuse after excuse, but Cassie could see that they were wearing thin. Even so, she was stunned when Jake disappeared on Saturday morning. She searched high and low, but finally had to admit there was no sign of him.

  “Mom, have you seen Jake?”

  “Not since breakfast. Why?”

  “He’s not in the house. He’s not working on the bike, and nobody on the block has seen him. I’ve looked everywhere I can think of.”

  “You don’t suppose he’s gone out to Cole’s ranch, do you?” Edna asked, as aware as Cassie of her grandson’s obsession.

  That was exactly what Cassie feared. “How would he get there, though?”

  “I imagine it wouldn’t be all that difficult to get somebody to give him a lift. Half the ranchers in town on a Saturday take that road back home. All the boy would have to do is ask one of them.”

  “Should I call out there?”

  “Why not ride around town first and see if anyone’s seen him,” her mother suggested. “No point in getting Cole involved if the boy’s just wandered off to get an ice cream cone or something.”

  But no one in town had seen Jake. Cassie was about to reach for the phone to call Cole when it rang.

  “You looking for Jake, by any chance?” Cole asked without preamble.

  “Oh, my God,” Cassie murmured. “He is with you. Is he okay?”

  “He looks fine to me, but I thought you might be worried. He was pretty evasive at first when I asked how he got here and whether he had your permission to come. I got the feeling he didn’t tell you before he hitchhiked out here.”

  “He what?”

  “Pete gave him a ride on his way back from Stella’s,” Cole explained. Then he assured her, “He’s okay, Cassie.”

  “That’s not the point. I’m going to wring his scrawny little neck. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

  “Take your time and cool off a little. Keep reminding yourself that there’s been no harm done.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do where my son’s concerned,” she snapped, and slammed down the phone.

  “He’s with Cole?” her mother asked.

  “Oh, yes.”

  “Should I come with you?”

  She shook her head. “No. Cole was right about one thing. I do need to calm down before I get out there. No telling what I might say.”

  Cassie made it to the Double D in less than the twenty minutes it usually took. The front door was standing open as if she were expected, so she went straight in. Oblivious to the grandeur of the antiques that generations of Davises had collected over the years, she went in search of her son.

  When she finally found the two of them in Cole’s office, heads bent over the computer keyboard, her blood ran cold. Jake looked happier than she’d seen him in ages. Just thinking about the bond the two of them were obviously forming made her knees go weak. She had to lean against the doorjamb for support.

  “Look right natural together, don’t they?” Frank Davis remarked, slipping up quietly to stand at her shoulder in the doorway.

  Something in his voice alerted her. She stepped away from the room and turned to study the man who had probably come between her and Cole.

  Frank Davis had a powerful build. His shock of dark-brown hair was streaked with gray now, but there was still plenty of spark in his blue eyes, and he wore that same arrogant, superior expression that had intimidated her as a girl. Oddly she discovered that he didn’t scare her now. She met his gaze without flinching.

  “What are you saying?” she asked in a cool, deliberate tone.

  Her reaction seemed to amuse him. “I’m saying I know.”

  “Know what?”

  He smirked. “One look is all it takes to
know that boy is my grandson. Even if your mama hadn’t told me the truth years ago, I would have seen it right off.”

  Despite her determination not to let the man get to her, Cassie felt faint for the second time in just a few minutes. This time she had to will herself not to lean against the wall for support.

  “My mother told you?” Her mother had never said a single word to Cassie about her suspicions, but she had discussed them with Cole’s father? What had she been thinking?

  “She thought I had a right to know.”

  More likely her mother had been desperate for advice from the one person she’d assumed had as big a stake in keeping the secret as she did. Oh, Mom, what have you done? Cassie thought as she stared into that confident gaze. And why didn’t you warn me?

  “Does Cole know?”

  “Not unless he’s figured it out in the last half hour.”

  “Why haven’t you told him?” Understanding dawned. “You haven’t hold him because even now you don’t think I’m good enough for him, because you don’t want him to know that I had his child. You’re afraid he’ll insist on marrying me. That’s why you came between us years ago, sending him back to school, then getting someone to write him a note saying I was breaking it off for good. That was you, wasn’t it?”

  Color rose in Frank’s cheeks, but he didn’t deny the accusation. “You two were way too young to get involved. Your mother and I did what we thought was best.”

  His words delivered yet another blow. The two of them had conspired, even before they had known about the pregnancy? She felt as if she were standing on a slippery slope and beginning to skid. Nothing seemed certain anymore.

  “My mother?” she repeated, needing to understand, praying she was mistaken. “What did she have to do with it?”

  “Who do you think wrote the note that Cole got? And who kept his note from you? No way I could keep Berta Smith from delivering it. She takes her duties at the post office real serious. But your mama got it out of the box and ripped it up.”

  “Oh, my God,” she whispered, brokenhearted at the thought of the betrayal that had changed not just her life and Cole’s but their son’s, as well. Maybe they wouldn’t have married if Cole had known about the pregnancy, but they’d never had a chance to decide things for themselves. Each had been convinced of the other’s betrayal. As a result the choices had been taken out of their hands.

  “Well, the lies are over now,” Frank said, a complacent expression settling on his face. “Cole will know about his son soon enough, and if I know my boy, he’ll be furious that you kept such a secret from him. He’ll fight you for custody.”

  Cassie felt sick to her stomach as she realized that even now the man was scheming against her. “That’s what you’re counting on, isn’t it? That he’ll reject me but claim Jake?”

  His eyes glittered with satisfaction. “That’s exactly right. You won’t stand a chance of keeping the boy, not in this state.”

  If she hadn’t been filled with such white-hot fury, Cassie might have been chilled by his threat or by the triumphant expression on his face. Instead, poking him in the chest, she backed him up against the opposite wall, oblivious to the difference in their sizes, oblivious to anything beyond the outrage that his smug remark had stirred.

  “You will never take my boy from me,” she said in a low tone, praying it wouldn’t carry down the hall. “Never. Not if I have to see you in hell first.”

  She must not have gotten the right note of warning in her voice, because she could still hear Frank’s chuckle echoing after her as she stormed into Cole’s office to claim her son.

  Chapter Eight

  Cole had heard Cassie’s raised voice in the hall but couldn’t imagine what she and his father had to fight about, especially since his father had been giving so much lip service lately to the prospect of Cole getting back together with her.

  Then their voices had dropped, and he hadn’t given the subject much thought since the boy sitting beside him was hurling questions at him so fast his head was spinning. The kid clearly had an insatiable curiosity when it came to computers, and he was smart, too. Cole didn’t have to talk down to him. Given what Cassie had told him about the trouble Jake had gotten into on a computer, he probably shouldn’t have been surprised, but he was.

  When he finally glanced up from the screen and spotted Cassie, his pulse took another one of those wicked lurches. She was wearing a sundress that showed off the satiny skin of her shoulders and her long, shapely calves. Her cheeks were flushed with color and her eyes sparkled dangerously. Whatever she and Frank had been discussing, it had rankled.

  “Jake Collins!” she said sternly, avoiding Cole’s gaze altogether.

  The boy glanced up at Cole, then gave a resigned shrug. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Do you have any idea at all how much trouble you’re in?”

  “A lot?” he said hesitantly.

  “Oh, yes,” she said. “You know you are not supposed to be here, that you are not supposed to hitch rides with strangers and that you are always supposed to tell me where you’re going.”

  “You wouldn’t let me come,” Jake said, as if that were excuse enough.

  “I had my reasons,” she said direly. “And that’s all that matters. You disobeyed me, and I won’t have it. Am I getting through to you yet?”

  Cole saw Jake’s shoulders slump and immediately felt sorry for the kid. He knew what the boy had done was wrong, but no harm had come out of it. Shouldn’t Cassie be thankful for that, at least? Ignoring the temper flashing in her eyes, he decided he’d better intercede.

  “He’s already assured me that nothing like this will ever happen again,” he said, gazing directly at the boy. “Right, Jake?”

  Clearly sensing a powerful ally, Jake nodded eagerly. “I’ll get permission next time.”

  “Not likely,” Cassie muttered. She leveled a stern look at Jake. “There will not be a next time, period. End of discussion.”

  Cole stared at her, curious about what had infuriated her so much. Was it Jake’s disobedience? Panic over what could have happened to a kid out hitchhiking, even in this relatively safe community?

  Or did it specifically have to do with him? This was the second time he’d gotten the feeling she didn’t want him spending time with her son.

  There could be any number of reasons for that, of course. A lot of responsible single mothers tried to keep some distance between their children and the men in their lives, at least until they knew if the relationship was going to lead somewhere. That didn’t seem to apply here, since he and Cassie weren’t exactly having a relationship and she’d stated quite clearly that she didn’t intend for that to change.

  Maybe it was just a case of protecting the boy from being disappointed by a man who had disappointed her in the past.

  Still trying to figure it out, Cole gave her a penetrating look, but her face was giving away nothing. Because he found that annoying, he deliberately set out to provoke an honest answer out of her.

  “What was that you said, Cassie?” he taunted mildly. “Something about there not being a next time?”

  She gave him a sweet, completely insincere smile. “That’s right. Jake knows he shouldn’t be bothering you.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  “Well, I do,” she said, her look meant as a warning that he wasn’t to contradict her. “We have to leave now. Jake, go to the car. I’ll be there in a minute. Cole and I have a few things we need to clear up.”

  Cole could hardly wait to hear what those were.

  “But, Mom—”

  “Go,” she repeated in a way that had her son scrambling from the chair.

  Jake skidded to a stop as he reached the door. “Bye, Cole. Thanks.”

  “Anytime,” he said, deliberately defying Cassie, his gaze locked with hers.

  There was no mistaking the storm brewing in her eyes. He felt a rare spark of anticipation. He’d been itching to get into a good old-fashioned, rip-roaring fi
ght with her for days now. It was the only time she let down those rock-solid defenses of hers. This seemed as good a battle as any, especially since she appeared as eager as he was to start it.

  The minute Jake was out of sight, Cassie marched up to the desk, then leaned down until her face was just inches above his. The effect was ruined somewhat by the way her sundress gaped, but she was clearly oblivious to that. She would have been appalled had she known.

  “I will not have my son out here, do you understand me?” she snapped. “Where he goes and what he does are my decisions.”

  “You are his mother,” he agreed.

  She scowled at him, then added, “He is my son and my responsibility.”

  “No question about that,” he said, then locked gazes with her. “Where’s his father? How much say does he have in things?” He’d let that issue pass once before, but he’d concluded it was time to get it out in the open.

  Dismay flickered briefly in her eyes, then vanished. “None of your business. All you need to know is that when it comes to Jake, I make the rules.” She shook her head, regarding him with evident distaste. “I can’t understand how I overlooked this years ago. You Davis men are all alike.”

  He stared at her, startled by the very real venom in her voice. Clearly he’d missed something. “What the hell does that mean?” he demanded. “Does this have something to do with the argument you and my father were having out there in the hall?”

  Something that might have been panic registered in her expression for just an instant, long enough to betray the fact that she wasn’t nearly as calm as she pretended to be when she shrugged. Then that cool mask he’d come to hate slid back into place.

  “Just a difference of opinion,” she said mildly.

  “About?”

  “I don’t want to get into it now.”

  “I do.”

  “Then this will be just one more instance in life when you don’t get what you want. Get used to it,” she said.

  The woman had developed a lot of spunk over the years; he had to give her that. Back when they’d been dating, she had been all brash bravado. Few people had ever seen past it to the vulnerable girl inside. Cole had. Now, though, her feistiness ran deeper, carried more conviction and self-confidence.