“The thought never crossed my mind,” he lied cheerfully, then dutifully averted his gaze, at least until her back was turned.
“You can’t have changed that much,” she retorted, shooting daggers at him when she caught the direction of his gaze.
“Maybe I have,” he said. “You haven’t spent enough time with me to find out.”
“And I’m not likely to,” she told him, slapping a wad of tape on the streamer, then sticking it to the wall before descending.
Cole stood right at the bottom waiting for her, just far enough back to give her a little room to maneuver her way toward the floor. Then he braced one arm on either side of the ladder so that when she reached the last step she was all but in his arms.
“Want to place a bet on that?” he taunted, his mouth next to her ear. She almost tumbled off the bottom rung and into his waiting arms, just as he’d anticipated. He was starting to enjoy keeping her off balance, literally and figuratively.
“Back off,” she commanded.
Cole recognized the heat in her tone. Cassie had always had a temper. It was slow to flare out of control, but once it did, it was as lively as the fireworks the town had planned for the Fourth of July. He’d missed that kind of excitement in his life.
He stood his ground. “Not just yet.”
She looked over her shoulder and straight into his eyes. “Why are you doing this?”
For the longest time he just lost himself in the depths of her furious, flashing eyes. He ignored the whisper of dismay in her voice, the cry of old wounds in his soul. Finally he sighed.
“I wish to hell I knew,” he said softly.
Then and only then did he take a step back and, after one last lingering look, turn and walk away.
It was a strategic retreat, nothing more, he told himself. He needed to spend a little time getting his head together before he had that confrontation with her he’d been thinking about for the past two days.
Otherwise he was liable to spend the time kissing her senseless, instead of getting the answers he wanted.
Cassie hadn’t felt this jittery since her first date with Cole more than ten years earlier. After he’d walked away, when she finally managed that last shaky step from the ladder, her knees all but buckled. She grabbed her shoes and fled to the ladies’ room. She was splashing cold water on her overheated cheeks when Karen wandered in.
“Here you are. Cole said you were around. How long have you been here?”
“Too long,” Cassie muttered.
“What?”
“Oh, never mind. I never should have come back to Winding River.”
Karen’s gaze narrowed. “Is Cole giving you a rough time? He hasn’t seen Jake, has he?”
“Not yet, but wouldn’t you know my son spotted him yesterday and knew exactly who he was. Apparently Cole is some hotshot computer guy, total hero material to a tech-savvy nine-year-old. Jake is furious because I won’t introduce them.”
“Oh, my,” Karen said, regarding her with sympathy. “That is a problem. Will Jake let it drop?”
“Not a chance, which is why I’m getting out of town first thing next week.”
“But your mom,” Karen began, then fell silent.
Cassie seized on the inadvertent slip. “What about my mother?”
“Nothing.” Karen turned away to concentrate on touching up her lipstick.
Cassie regarded her with impatience. “Dammit, not you, too. Cole started this same tight-lipped routine with me yesterday. What is going on? The doctor’s out of town, so I haven’t been able to get any answers from him.”
Karen sighed, then stepped away from the mirror to give her a fierce hug. “Talk to her.”
Cassie’s heart began to thud dully. There was only one thing that would have Cole and one of her dearest friends tiptoeing around. She held on to Karen and looked straight into her eyes.
“She’s sick, isn’t she?”
“Just talk to her,” her friend repeated, then fell silent. A moment later, before Cassie could even attempt to persuade her to open up, Karen subtly sniffed the air.
“School’s been out for a month. How is it possible that it still smells like sweaty gym socks in here?”
Cassie chuckled despite herself, then gestured to the array of air fresheners around the room. “Don’t tell Mimi Frances. She’ll die of embarrassment. Evidently she thought she’d solved that particular problem.”
Karen wrinkled her nose. “Not by a long shot.” She grabbed Cassie’s hand. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before the others come crowding in to see what’s wrong. I don’t know about you, but I do not intend to spend an entire evening in a room that stinks, not when there’s fresh air in the gym and a great band playing all our old favorites. I get my husband to myself too seldom as it is. I intend to make the most of it.”
Back in the gym, they found most of the Calamity Janes already dancing. Caleb gave Cassie a quick kiss on the cheek, then snagged his wife’s hand.
“Come on, angel, let’s see if you’ve still got those moves I remember,” he said.
Cassie watched enviously as he spun Karen onto the dance floor. At least one of her friends had settled into a happy relationship, she thought. Caleb might be older than his wife, but it was evident that their match was heaven made. Once Karen had set eyes on the rancher, all her dreams of traveling the globe had taken a backseat to her desire to become his wife.
Feeling blue and alone, Cassie wandered over to the bar and ordered a soda. Something told her she was going to need a clear head tonight, if not to deal with Cole, then certainly for that dreaded conversation with her mother.
The fast song ended, and a slow, oldies ballad began. Memories of another night, hot and sultry and filled with promise, stole over her. She felt a hand on her waist, felt the whisper of warm breath against her cheek and knew it was Cole behind her.
“Does it take you back?” he asked.
To a place she didn’t want to go, she thought but didn’t say. “Nostalgia’s a funny thing,” she said instead. “It tends to take away all the rough edges and leave you with pretty images.”
“Anything wrong with that?” he asked.
“It’s not real. It’s not the way it was. Not all of it, anyway.”
He stepped in front of her, his gaze steady. “Dance with me, Cassie.”
“Cole...” The protest formed in her head, but she couldn’t seem to get the words out.
“For old time’s sake.”
Drawn to him, caught up in the very nostalgia she’d decried, she slipped into his arms and rested her head against his chest. The feel of him, the clean, male scent, the weight of his arms circling her waist—all of it was incredibly, dangerously familiar. Their bodies fit together perfectly, moving as one to the music, connected in a way that hinted of another, far more intimate and never-forgotten unity.
“God, I’ve missed you,” he said, his voice ragged and tinged with regret.
Was it regret for time lost, though, or for emotions he couldn’t control? Cassie wondered.
The music played on for what seemed like an eternity, but when it ended at last, she