Cole Cameron's Revenge

“She’s fine,” Jergen had replied, and then his voice flattened and he said that Faith hadn’t been in the car. “Ted made the trip to Atlanta once a month and he always made it alone.”

“Always alone? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“We can talk about all of that when you get here,” the lawyer had said.

“We’ll talk about it now,” Cole had said coldly, and, finally Jergen had obliged.

“Your brother was seeing somebody on the side,” he’d said bluntly. “Nobody faulted him for it. That wife of his was cold as ice. She never showed him the, uh, the warmth a man’s entitled to in a marriage.”

Jergen told him about the separate bedrooms, about the lack of outward affection between Faith and his brother. Ted’s housekeeper had found the situation appalling and hadn’t hesitated to describe it to practically everyone in town.

“That sister-in-law of yours is some piece of work,” Sam Jergen had continued. “Hooked your brother by getting him to think he’d put a bun in the oven.”

“You mean, she said she was pregnant?”

“Come on, Cole. You don’t think your brother would have married her otherwise, do you? Then, after she was elbow-deep in Cameron money, she showed him just what she thought of him.”

“He had her sign a prenup, didn’t he?”

Jergen had laughed. “Woman got him to the altar in the first place by doing away with your brother’s ability to think. No, there wasn’t a prenuptial agreement. Worse still, he wrote a will leaving her everything. Well, you get the house but all the rest is hers.”

“Wills can be broken,” Cole had said with grim determination.

He’d come to Liberty to do just that. He knew he shouldn’t have hated Ted for marrying Faith. She was the one; she’d played them both for fools and now, she thought it was payoff time.

No way.

Faith had never been fit to be Ted’s wife. She wasn’t fit to be his widow. And that meant she sure as hell wasn’t fit to claim a dime of Ted’s estate. He’d fight her for every penny, win and give it to charity. Burn it. Anything, rather than see his brother’s widow get her hands on the money—and she probably knew it. No wonder she’d fainted at the sight of him.

She was still lying on the couch where he’d put her, as limp as a rag doll.

Jergen’s secretary skidded into the conference room, holding a tall glass of iced water and a wet towel.

“Is there anything else I can do, Mr. Cameron?”

Cole shook his head. “The lady fainted, that’s all.”

“Shouldn’t she have come around by now?”

He squatted down beside the couch. He was wondering the same thing. Faith’s face was shockingly white; he could see the swift beat of her pulse in her throat. Sweat beaded on her forehead. He looked at the heavy black silk suit and the cream-colored blouse, and muttered an oath under his breath.

“Damned fool woman, to dress like a nun on a day as hot as this.”

Somewhere in the outer office, a telephone rang and rang. “The phone,” Jergen’s secretary blurted.

Faith moaned softly.

“She’s coming around now. Go on. Do whatever you have to do. I’ll deal with this.” Cole wiped Faith’s face with the wet cloth as Jergen’s secretary shut the door behind her. “Faith.” He leaned closer. “Faith, open your eyes.”

Color was stealing back into her face. Cole hesitated, then began unbuttoning her jacket. He undid the top buttons of the blouse, too. Then he slipped his arm beneath her shoulders, lifted her toward him and worked the jacket off. She sighed and her head fell against his shoulder.

He felt the whisper of her breath against his throat and suddenly he remembered the last time he’d held her like this. It was the night they’d made love. Afterward, she lay curled in the curve of his arm, her breath warming his skin.

Abruptly, he pulled his arm out from under her and she fell back against the cushions.

“Faith,” he said sharply, “come on, Faith. If this is for my benefit…”

Cole’s voice faded away. Why had he opened her jacket? The blouse clung damply to her flesh. He could see the soft, lacy outline of her bra. In the old days, her bras had been plain white cotton but then, she hadn’t needed adornment. She was all the adornment a man could take. The first time he’d un-hooked her bra, the roundness of her breasts, the soft pink of her nipples, had almost made him lose control.

All these years, and suddenly he could remember the feel of her silky flesh in his palms, the taste of it on his tongue…

Dammit.

Cole shot to his feet. What the hell was he doing? He’d hated this woman far longer than he’d wanted her. She’d lied, cheated, seduced him and then Ted. She was the reason his brother had died on a rain-slick road and yet here he was, remembering things that had been lies…and turning hard as a rock, just the same.

No wonder she’d trapped Ted in her web. He’d have been pathetically easy, smart when it came to books and numbers but naive about women, shy to the point of avoidance. What chance would the poor bastard have had when a woman with the face of an angel and the instincts of a whore turned her wiles on him?

“Faith,” he said sharply, and as he did, she opened her eyes. They were blank at first but when they focused on him he saw fear splinter in their blue depths. She was right to be afraid, Cole thought, and shot her a quick, mocking smile. “Nice to see you again, baby. But you didn’t have to give me such a memorable welcome.”

Faith struggled to sit up. She moved too fast and the color began to seep from her face. Cole eased her back against the cushions. He didn’t want her to faint again. How could he enjoy what was coming if she ended up playing the scene like a heroine in a Victorian melodrama?

“Take it easy or you’ll black out again.”

“Black out?”

Her voice was small and shaky. Another minute, she’d have him feeling sorry for her.

“Yeah.” He took the glass from the table and handed it to her. “Black out, as in faint. Here. Drink this.”

“What is it?” she said, giving the liquid a wary look.

“Water.” Another quick smile that wasn’t quite a smile curved his mouth. “Arsenic’s too easy to trace.”

Anger flickered across her face like heat lightning and disappeared as quickly. She took the glass and drank half of the contents.

“Thank you,” she said stiffly.

“Don’t thank me, thank Sam’s secretary.” Cole folded his arms. “Do you want a doctor?”

Faith shook her head. A mistake, she knew, as soon as she did it. The room whirled but she sat up anyway, swung her feet to the floor and put the glass on the table.

“I’m fine,” she lied.

“There’s a damp towel, too, if you want it.”

“I said, I’m fine.”

She wasn’t. And she didn’t want a damp towel, she wanted to get on her feet. Cole would still tower over her but at least that would take away some of his advantage. She just didn’t know if she could manage that without falling down again—and yet, why was she so surprised to see him? Her husband was dead. Cole hadn’t bothered returning for the funeral but this was different. This was all about the disposition of the Cameron estate.

A sense of unease inched the length of her spine. Would he fight her for the money? Ted had been convinced Cole wouldn’t want it. She didn’t want it, either. She’d told Ted that but he’d said that money belonged to Peter. To her son. Her son, and Cole’s…

Cole’s son.

Oh, God.

She’d stopped thinking of Peter that way years ago, but here was a walking, talking reminder of the truth. She saw a copy of her son’s eyes in Cole’s face, the same hair falling over Cole’s forehead. Her son was only a little boy but already, he held his head the way Cole did. And there was the same tiny indentation in his chin, that same fullness to his mouth…

“Put your head down.”

“I’m—I’m fine.”

“The hell you are,” Cole said sharply. “Put your head down and take a couple of deep breaths.”

Gradually, the room stopped spinning. She lifted her head slowly. Cole was squatting in front of her, his hands cupping her shoulders.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes.” She pulled back. “What are you doing here, Cole?”

Slowly, he rose to his feet. “Making women swoon at the sight of me,” he said, with a cool smile.

“It’s the heat.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you wear black on a hot day. Or am I supposed to think you’re in mourning for my brother?” His mouth thinned. “The way I hear it, you wore pink to his funeral.”

“What would you know about it? You didn’t even bother coming home.”

“I didn’t know Ted was—that there’d been an accident until weeks after it happened.”

“No, of course not.”

“It’s the truth, dammit! I was in the field and…”

And Jergen’s message had to find him, first, but why tell that to Faith? He didn’t owe her anything but what she deserved.

“…and whatever scheme you were up to then was more important.” Faith stood up. The floor tilted slightly and she gave herself time to recover by smoothing down her skirt. “Not that it matters now.”

“Oh, it matters.” Cole folded his arms over his chest. “After all, today’s payoff time.”

“Payoff time?”

“Sure. Finding out how much the Cameron estate is worth.” His smile was all teeth. “Big doings, huh, baby?”

“And that’s the reason you showed up, isn’t it? To stake your claim?”

“Yes. Exactly. I’m here to claim what’s mine.” He let his eyes move over her with slow insolence. “You might want to button your jacket before we meet with Sam Jergen.”

She looked down at herself, then at him. He saw the soft rush of pink rise to her cheeks and he gave her a slow, knowing smile.

“I opened it after you passed out. You were warm. Warm, and wet.” Deliberately, he dropped his voice to a whisper. “That’s what you were always best at, baby. Being warm and wet for me.”

She bunched her hands into fists and he knew she wanted to hit him but she wasn’t a fool. This was her big moment. Faith wasn’t going to show what she was all about this morning. He saw her fingers shake as she closed the buttons but when she spoke, she sounded calm.

“It’s difficult to believe you and Ted were brothers. He was a gentleman.”

“That’s why you were able to fool him into marrying you.”

The cool facade dented. “I didn’t fool him into anything.”

“Sure you did.” Cole caught her wrist as she started past him. “I’d never have fallen for that trick.”

“Let go of me, please.”

“It’s the oldest game in the world.”

“Let go, Cole.”

“Telling a man he’s made you pregnant—”

Faith swung toward him. “That’s not the way it was!”

“—and after he’s done the right thing, married you and given you his name, you bat your eyes and say, whoops, sorry, I made a minor miscalculation—”

“What?”

“But Ted was a good guy. He was too decent to say, okay, the joke’s over and I want a divorce.”

She stared at Cole in amazement. Yes, she’d made Ted promise not to tell Cole about her child but was it possible he still didn’t know?

“‘Pregnant? Let me see a lab test,’ another guy would have said, but not Ted. How’d you work it, Faith? It couldn’t have been easy, first luring him into bed, then making him think you were having his baby—”

“Damn you! You know it all, don’t you?” Her voice trembled with rage; her eyes glittered with it. “But that’s not the way it was. I didn’t…” Faith stopped herself in midsentence. Why tell him more than she had to? “He said—he wanted to marry me.”

Cole’s hand tightened on her wrist. “What’d you think, huh? That maybe my old man would change his mind about a slut like you if he thought Ted was going to give him a grandson?”

“Let go of me!”

“You can’t run away, Faith. Not yet.” Cole grinned. “It’s payoff time, remember? The will. Don’t you want to know what you’re getting?”

She wrenched her hand free and this time he let her. “I hate to disappoint you,” she said softly, “but I already know. Ted told me.”

“Did he,” he said, but she knew it wasn’t a question.

“I never wanted the Cameron money.”

“Of course not.” Cole’s eyes narrowed. “Money wasn’t why you married my brother.”

I married your brother because I was pregnant with your child. The words were on the tip of her tongue but Cole would never know that. He never had to know she had a child at all. All she had to do was get through the next hour. He’d leave Liberty and she’d never have to see him again.

“Believe what you like,” she said. “It doesn’t matter to me. Nothing about you matters to me. I came here to see Sam Jergen, not to be insulted.”

Cole could feel his anger growing. She was playing at being a lady. She looked the part, even sounded it, but he knew exactly what she was.

“Damn you,” he growled, grabbing her shoulders and pushing her back against the wall. “The worst part of this is trying to figure out how the hell Ted and I could have been such fools.”

“Take your hands off me!”

“There was a time you wanted my hands all over you.”

“Stop it.”

“What’s the problem, baby? Don’t you like being reminded of how things used to be?”

“You—you bastard!”

Cole laughed. “Scratch the surface and find the truth. The lady bit is only skin deep.”

“Let go of me. Let go, or so help me, I’ll—”

“What? What will you do?”

His hands slid from her shoulders to her wrists. She winced and he knew he was hurting her but he didn’t care. She’d hurt him far worse, not that it mattered anymore. He’d been over her for a long time, purged himself of the memory of her scent and taste in the arms of a hundred other women. What he couldn’t get past was knowing that she’d made him hate his brother for so many years, and for what? There wasn’t a way in hell she’d ever been worth the pain she’d caused.

“What did you figure, Faith? That maybe, if you were lucky, I’d never come back? That way, you’d get it all. The name, the money…”

She was crying now, tears he knew were supposed to melt his heart and turn him to clay in her hands. She’d wept in his arms that night he’d made love to her.

“Don’t, sweetheart,” he’d whispered, feeling clumsy and helpless, afraid he’d hurt her, and she’d kissed him and said she was crying because she was so happy, because of how it felt to belong to him, at last.

“I didn’t want any of it. Not the name, not the money…”

“Sure you didn’t.” Cole clasped her face, forced it up to his. “You married my brother because you fell head over heels in love with him. Oh, yeah. I’ll just bet you did.”

“I told you. I don’t give a damn what you believe—”

“Did you sleep with him right away? Or did you tease him, the way you teased me?” He gave a quick laugh. “You were some actress, baby. You had me thinking that waiting was my idea, not yours.”

“I was a fool to have gotten involved with you. Everybody said you were no good. I should have believed them!”

“That’s why you and I made such a good pair. Neither of us was worth a damn.”

“I hate you, Cole Cameron. And I’m glad you came back because I’ve waited years and years to tell you that. I hate you, hate you, hate—”

Cole drove his hands into her hair, knotted the silky curls in his fingers. “That’s not what you said that last night.”

“Don’t do this. Don’t—”

“‘Touch me,’ you said. ‘Kiss me,’ you said. ‘Make love to me,’ you said—”

“I was young.” She was panting now, struggling wildly against him, conscious of the hardness and strength of his body, of his scent, his heat. “And I was foolish. I thought you were special, that you—”

“You thought I was your ticket out. Tell me, were you really a virgin, Faith? Or was it all make-believe, the way you blushed as I undressed you, the way you trembled in my arms?”

“I wish I’d never met you. I wish—”

“You were good, I’ll give you that.” His arms went around her and he pulled her tightly against him so that she could feel what she’d done to him. It was her fault that even the memory of that night could still turn him hard as stone. “You on your back, me inside you—” His gaze dropped to her parted lips, then lifted to her eyes. “Do you remember, Faith? How it felt when I moved against you? How it was to taste yourself on my mouth?”

A sob broke from her throat. “I hope there’s a special place in hell for you.”

“There probably is. And you can bet you’ll be there with me.” His hands tightened in her hair and he urged her head up. “Faith,” he said thickly, and suddenly it was that night all over again, he could feel the need twisting inside him, feel the heat building in his blood…

Dammit! What was he doing? Cole let go of her, swung away, opened the door—and almost walked into Sam Jergen.

“There you are,” the lawyer said. “You folks all right? My secretary said…” His voice faded as he looked from Cole to Faith. “Well,” he said, and cleared his throat, “maybe we ought to take a break for a minute or two.”

“No,” Cole said.

“No,” Faith said, in the same breath. “Just get this over with.” She turned toward Jergen. Her heart felt as if it were trying to beat its way out of her breast but she forced a polite smile to her lips. “You should have told me we weren’t going to be meeting alone.”

“The will concerns you both, Mrs. Cameron. I thought it would save time if we discussed the provisions together.”

“Discuss them, then, but this is all a technicality. I’m familiar with the terms of my late husband’s will.”

“I see.” Jergen ran a finger under his collar. “All its terms?”

“Of course.”

The lawyer heaved a relieved sigh. “Well, that disposes of that. But there are other factors…”

“What other factors?” She thought of Peter, waiting at home. “I have things to do.”

“What she means,” Cole said lazily, “is she wants to know exactly how much she inherits.” He smiled. “Am I right?”

“Okay. That’s it.” Faith headed toward the door. She knew she was making a mistake, letting her emotions take over, but too much was happening. The shock of seeing Cole again. The anger he could still stir in her. His conceit in thinking he could still make her respond to him…and the horror of knowing that maybe, oh maybe, he was right. “Seeing us together may have suited you, Mr. Jergen, but I don’t want any part of it. You can call me when you’re free.”

“From bereaved widow to outraged client.” Cole clapped his hands in slow cadence. “What a performance.”

She whirled toward him. “Listen, you no good son of a—”

“Mrs. Cameron. Mr. Cameron.” Jergen held up his hands. “Please. Calm down.”

“The lady’s in a hurry, Sam.” Cole looked at Faith. He was still smiling, but what she saw in his eyes made her breath catch. “So let’s cut to the bottom line. Hold off on counting your money, baby.”

“You’re insulting, do you know that?”

“You’re not getting it. Not one penny.” He folded his arms, rocked back a little on his heels. “I intend to fight my brother’s will in court.”

Faith stared at the man she’d once thought she loved, the man she hated with every bone in her body. You don’t have to fight it, she wanted to say. You can have the money, every cent…But there was Peter to consider, and the new life she had to make for him.

“Mr. Jergen?” she said softly, her eyes locked to Cole’s face. “Can he do that?”

“He can do whatever he wishes, Mrs. Cameron. But—”

“Forget the ‘but,’ Jergen.” Cole unfolded his arms and came slowly toward her. She wanted to back away but she knew what a mistake it would be to show him any sign of weakness. “I’m going to fight it, and I don’t care if it means the estate is tied up in litigation forever. That would suit me just fine. Watching you spend whatever money you already stole on court battles for the next umpteen years would be a pleasure.”

“Mr. Cameron. Please. If you’d let me speak—”

“Jergen, when I want your legal advice…” Cole let out a breath. “All right. What is it?”

The lawyer looked from one of them to the other. “There’s nothing to fight in court,” he said softly. “What I’ve been trying to tell you is that there isn’t any money left to inherit.”

CHAPTER THREE

FAITH stared at Sam Jergen. He had his finger inside his shirt collar again and from the look on his face, she knew he wanted to be anywhere but in this office.

“I don’t understand,” she said carefully. “What do you mean, there’s no money?”

“I mean exactly what I said, Mrs. Cameron. The money is gone. Well, unless you want to count maybe two thousand dollars that’s in your husband’s checking account…”

“That’s impossible!” Cole’s voice was whip-sharp. “You’ve made a mistake.”

“I wish I had. Unfortunately, the facts speak for themselves.” Jergen lifted a large file box from the floor and placed it on the conference table. “Here are all Ted’s bank and brokerage statements. I’ve been through them I don’t know how many times, alone at first and then with an accountant. Your brother’s accountant, in fact. You’re more than welcome to have your people go through the documents, too.”

Faith looked at Cole. His people? As stunned as she was, that almost made her laugh. Such a lofty phrase for a man who’d left town on a motorcycle and had probably returned on the bus, and never mind the expensive-looking suit. For all she knew, he’d talked some woman into buying it for him. Those were the only “people” he’d have dancing attendance on him.

“They can work here,” Jergen said, holding out his arms in a gesture that made it clear he was offering the entire suite of offices. “Naturally, I’ll put my staff at your disposal.”

“Yes,” Cole said. His voice was low, filled with authority as well as warning. “You will. But I want answers now.”

The lawyer’s string tie rode up and down as he swallowed. “Well, it’s a complicated story, sir…”

“Simplify it, then.” Cole’s smile was quick and chill. “You can do that, can’t you?”

Jergen blanched. “Yes. Certainly, sir.”

Sir? Faith looked from one man to the other. What was going on here? She was the sole beneficiary to Ted’s estate but Sam Jergen was treating Cole with deference and ignoring her. That was how it had gone since he’d entered the office.

“Unless you know the answer, my sweet sister-in-law.”

It took a few seconds before she realized Cole was talking to her. She looked at him. “Answer to what?” She blinked. “Are you asking me about the money?”

He leaned toward her, that chilly smile angling across his mouth again, and slapped his hands down on either side of the file box. The sounds, flat as gunshots, startled her, and she jerked back.

“That’s right,” he said softly, “I’m asking you, Faith. What happened?”

“How would I know? Ted handled the accounts. I didn’t have anything to do with those things.”

“You make it sound as if you weren’t interested in ‘those things,’ but we both know how wrong that is.” Cole narrowed his eyes at her. “You’ve had plenty of time to get your hands on my brother’s funds.”

“Are you accusing me of theft?”

“I’m accusing you of being one clever piece of work, baby. If you’ve been playing games with Ted’s money—”

“Your money. Isn’t that what you mean? You just said you were going to fight me in court.”

“Damn right, as soon as I figure out how you did this.”

“Well,” Jergen said cautiously, “that’s not exactly—”

“Stay out of this, Jergen. This is a private matter.”

“But—but…” Jergen cleared his throat. “You’re wrong, sir. Mrs. Cameron had no involvement in what happened.”

Cole stood up straight and folded his arms over his chest. “Prove it.”

“If you’ll just look at this…” The lawyer plucked a folder from the file case. Cole snatched it from him and began reading.

“I’m the one you should explain things to,” Faith started to say, but when she saw the look that transformed Cole’s face, her anger faded. “What is that?” she said softly.