Do You Take This Rebel? by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online

longer a part of it.”
    Disbelief washed over her. This was ridiculous. Why would he make up such an absurd lie? No doubt to soothe his own conscience.
    “I never wrote such a note and you know it.”
    “Really?” he said scathingly. “Remind me to show it to you sometime. I’ve kept it all these years as a reminder not to trust a woman’s pretty words of love, especially when she says them in my bed.”
    Before she could recover, he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Cassie staring after him, wide-eyed with shock. Not one single word he’d said made a lick of sense. She’d never gotten any letter from him. Nor had she sent a reply. But it was clear that Cole believed otherwise.
    She felt a blast of cool air as the door to Stella’s opened behind her. “You okay?” Gina asked, draping an arm around her shoulders.
    “I’m…” She thought about what had just happened. “Confused, I guess.”
    “About what? Your feelings for Cole?”
    “No. He said some things. Things that didn’t make any sense.”
    Gina’s gaze narrowed. “What things? If he upset you, I’ll get the others and we’ll beat him up for you.”
    The comment drew a weak smile. They would do it, too. “I don’t think that will be necessary,” Cassie said. “But I love you for offering.”
    “Come back inside and eat your burger.”
    “I can’t. I need to find Jake and my mother. I wantto make sure that Cole didn’t catch a glimpse of them.” She thought then of his odd reaction to her claim that her mother was fine. “I need to talk to Mom about something else, too.”
    “But you’ll be at the party tomorrow, right?”
    “I’ll be there,” Cassie promised. She met Gina’s gaze evenly. “You and I need to have a long talk.”
    “About?”
    “Whatever’s going on with you.”
    “Don’t worry about me,” Gina said, giving her a hug.
    “Then what was that remark to Cole all about? You sounded as if you might actually consider hanging around Winding River instead of going back to New York. I can’t believe you would ever walk away from your restaurant.”
    “I was joking,” Gina insisted. “Surely you didn’t think I would seriously consider marrying your guy?”
    “Cole’s not my guy, and that wasn’t the point. You might have been joking about that, but you sounded serious about the rest, about staying here.”
    “So?” Gina said, her expression defiant. “It’s home. Are you telling me that the thought of staying here hasn’t crossed your mind since you’ve been back?”
    “That’s different.”
    “How?”
    “It just is,” Cassie said. She looked up and saw Jake and her mother emerge from the restaurant down the block carrying ice cream cones. They caught sight of her and headed in her direction.
    “We’ll finish this conversation tomorrow,” she warned Gina. “I’m not buying a word you’ve said so far.”
    “And I’m not buying for a second that you’re overCole Davis,” Gina retorted. She waved at Cassie’s mother, then retreated inside Stella’s.
    Cassie sighed. Gina was right. If she’d learned nothing else in the past half hour, it was that she was a long, long way from being over Cole Davis.

Chapter Four
    “M om!”
    Grappling with the discovery that her feelings for Cole were as powerful as ever, Cassie barely registered Jake’s cry. Then she felt an impatient tug on her arm and gazed down into her son’s eyes, eyes the same shade of blue as those of the man who’d just dropped a bombshell, then strolled away.
    “What, Jake?” she asked, still distracted by her realization that not even years of bitterness had dimmed what she’d once felt for Cole Davis. Add to that Cole’s charge that she’d been at fault, that he hadn’t abandoned her at all, but rather she had turned her back on him, and it was little wonder that she was confused. How could he have gotten it so wrong?
    “Mom!” Jake said impatiently. “You’re not listening.”
    “I’m sorry,” she