Cole Cameron's Revenge

"Faith," he whispered, and suddenly it was a summer in the distant past when his kisses had meant everything, when she'd loved him. It broke her heart, to remember. And it made her want him with a desperation that drove everything else from her mind.

She made a little sound, one born of years of empty dreams, and wound her arms around his neck. Cole groaned murmured her name again just the way he used to, as if it were the only word he needed or knew.

"Faith," he whispered, "open to me," and she did, oh, she did, she parted her lips, sought his taste, took his tongue into her mouth eagerly. He slipped his hand under her jeans, his fingers hot on her naked flesh, seeking out the heat and dampness he knew awaited him. She groaned, moved against his questing touch.

"Yes," she said, "yes..."

"Mom?"

The whispered word exploded into the silence. They broke apart. Faith swung around and saw her son standing in the hall in his pajamas, his hair tousled, his old teddy bear hanging from his hand.

"Mom," he said again, "what are you doing?"

Faith wondered what would happen if she admitted that she couldn't possibly answer the question, not even if she'd been the one who'd asked it.

CHAPTER EIGHT

COLE was the one who finally came up with a response.

"Your mother had-she had something in her eye." Pathetic, he thought, even as he said it, but it was all he could think of. It seemed to work. Peter looked in his direction as if he'd just realized he was there.

"Hey," he said happily, "you came back!"

"Hey yourself, champ. I told you I would, didn't I?'

"Did you have a bad dream, sweetheart?" Faith held out her arms and tried not to think about what might have happened if Peter hadn't come downstairs. "Is that what woke you?"

"Uh-uh. I just thought I heard voices..." He grinned. "And I did," he said, and launched himself past her to Cole, who caught him and swung him around.

"How you doing, Pete? You okay?"

"Sure. I'm fine." The boy hesitated. "You said you'd watch that movie with me."

"I know." Cole set the child on his feet. "I'm sorry about that. I should have called to say I'd run into some problems."

Peter beamed up at him. "That's okay. You couldn't help it, right?"

"Right," Cole said easily.

Wrong, Faith wanted to say. Don't put your trust in this man, Peter. But she smiled instead and held out her hand. "Come on, sweetheart. I'll take you back to bed."

"Would you like some cookies?" Peter said, ignoring her. "Mommy always lets me have some, when I can't sleep."

"Sounds like a great idea."

"Peter." Faith cleared her throat. "Sweetheart, it's awfully late. And Mr. Cameron was just leaving."

"I'm s'posed to call him Cole. And I already invited him to have milk and cookies."

"He's just being polite, Peter. He doesn't actually want-"

"Sure I do." Cole ruffled Peter's hair. "I love cookies. Especially... I don't suppose you have Oreos, do you?"

Peter grinned and reached for his hand. "The double kind," he said.

Faith watched the man and the boy walk away. After a few seconds, she followed them to the kitchen, stood by stiffly as Peter got out the milk, two glasses and the Oreos. Cole swung him onto a stool at the counter, then sat down beside him. I might as well not be here, she thought, as she watched her child listening, enraptured, to the lies spewing from the lips of the man she hated.

"I'm sorry I didn't get back to see that video, Pete. I got caught up in business but I promise, it won't happen again."

Peter nodded and said he understood. But he didn't, Faith thought bitterly. How could an eight-year-old possibly understand that Cole would lie whenever it suited him? Not that it mattered. Cole could have brought the house down around their ears and her son would have found a way to explain it. Her little boy was knee-deep into hero worship of this stranger ... except, he wasn't a stranger. He was the man who'd fathered him.

"Peter!" She spoke more sharply than she'd intended. Both of them looked at her and she knew she had to be careful. She was dancing on the edge of sanity. If she wasn't vigilant, she'd give the whole thing away. "Peter, sweetheart, I want you to go back to bed now."

"Aw, Mom-

"It's okay." Cole touched the tip of his finger to Peter's nose. "Besides, we're going to be seeing a lot of each other from now on."

"No," Faith said quickly.

"Yes." Cole didn't bother looking at her this time. "How does that sound?" He hoisted Peter into his arms. "Would you like us to spend more time together?"