Do you take this rebel - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,49

together—at least that’s what I was hoping for. And still you kept silent.”

“I was afraid,” she admitted.

“Of what?”

She didn’t dare voice it. She couldn’t tell him that she was terrified that he would do as his father expected, that he would want to claim his son, that he would try to take Jake away from her. Saying the words might plant the idea in his head.

“I just was,” she said, leaving it at that.

Cole regarded her with disgust. “The old Cassie would never have given in to fear. The old Cassie would have trusted me with the truth.”

“But don’t you see?” she said softly. “The old Cassie doesn’t exist anymore.”

Cole sighed heavily. “And it’s plain that I don’t know the new one at all.”

Chapter Eleven

How could he have been so blind?

Cole asked himself that a hundred times on the drive back to his ranch. Now that he knew the truth, he could see that the boy was the spitting image of him, not just in looks, but in interests and attitude.

The photo albums at the Double D were probably stuffed with pictures of him at Jake’s age, all taken shortly before his mother’s death. He’d bet that any one of those would have shown the unmistakable resemblance. Of course, all those albums were gathering dust in the attic and had been for years. His father wasn’t an especially sentimental man.

Still, Cole should have seen it. It had been so clear in that split second between the time Jake had uttered his wistful cry about wishing Cole were his father and Cassie’s own cry of dismay. He hadn’t needed to look into her eyes to know the truth, but he had, and it was there, plain as day.

And if he were being honest, he had also seen the genuine fear, and a part of him understood it, even sympathized with it. He didn’t want to, but he did. Davis men took what they wanted. His father’s reputation for ruthlessness was widely known. Cassie had no reason to believe that he was any different. Though she hadn’t said it, it was evident that she was terrified that he was going to take her son away from her.

“What are you going to do?” she’d asked just as he’d walked off. There had been no mistaking the fear, the vulnerability, behind the question, or the slight hitch in her voice.

He’d turned and faced her, his thoughts in turmoil, his heart aching. “I don’t know,” he’d told her honestly.

Until tonight he had truly believed they were getting past all the old hurts and betrayals and building something solid this time, something that could last. It was what he had desperately come to want over the past few weeks. Years ago they had loved with the reckless passion of youth. Since Cassie’s return, he’d started to anticipate a future built on the more mature love of two adults who knew their own minds and hearts, two people who would no longer let anything or anyone stand in their way.

Now he’d discovered his fantasy had been spun from a web of lies and omissions. It was the latter that were the most painful to bear. For weeks now his own son had been right under his nose and he hadn’t known, hadn’t had a clue. Shouldn’t he have had at least an inkling, a tiny suspicion? He blamed himself for that, but he blamed Cassie for more—for nine long years he’d lost forever.

He thought of all the suspicions he’d had, the evidence that Cassie had been trying her level best to keep him and Jake apart. Now he knew why, but it was the one reason that had never once crossed his mind, because a deception of such magnitude had seemed impossible. Cassie had always been the one person who was unfailingly straight with him, the one person he could count on to say exactly what she meant. His father? That was another story, but Cassie had always spoken from the heart. That was why he had taken that letter at face value years ago.

When he walked into his house after the long drive home from Cassie’s, all he wanted was a stiff drink and some time to himself, time to wrestle with this new turn of events.

Instead, his father greeted him. “You look like something the cat dragged in. You and Cassie have a spat?” he asked, zeroing in on the problem with unerring accuracy.

“Something like that,” Cole said wryly. It was definitely a massive understatement.

His