Free Always by Carol Rose Page B

alone watching Elinor through the crowd, an intent, heated look on his face.
    Elinor gasped as their gazes collided. There was no mistaking the recognition in his look.
    Anger flared in her, the age-old rage of a woman who's been led on. She looked away quickly, panic, excitement, and fury fighting in her chest. Without glancing up, she knew he was crossing the room to where she sat with Brad.
    Across the table, Brad had finished his meal and was launching into a story about his work.
    She smiled at him, nodding encouragingly to cover for her total lack of attention.
    A sizzle of sensation ran up her spine as she realized that Cole stood beside her.
    "Elinor?" The husky velvet of his voice stroked over her like a lover's touch.
    Brad stopped in midsentence, his pleasant face mildly surprised.
    "Hello, Cole." Her voice came out high and brittle as she glanced up quickly, unable to bring herself to look into his eyes. "I didn't expect to run into you this evening."
    "It's quite a lovely surprise for me, too," he answered, a questioning pause falling after his words.
    Elinor unconsciously pleated her paper napkin, catching sight of Cole's frown out of the corner of her eye.
    She dropped the napkin, hiding her hands in her lap.
    He'd obviously picked up on her agitation. Elinor cursed his perceptivity. There were few things more dangerous than a fickle man who could see into a woman's heart.
    Glancing up at him again, she struggled to keep a blank face as she held his needle-sharp gaze. "I'd like you to meet a friend of mine, Brad Thomas."
    Brad rose, offering his hand with an affable smile.
    "Brad, this is Cole Whittier. He grew up in Bayville," she said her words clipped as she maintained her composure with rigid control.
    The two men shook hands, exchanging conventional greetings.
    Cole turned back to Elinor. "Is something wrong, El?"
    "Of course not," she said between clenched teeth, frustrated that he didn't have the decency to acknowledge when he'd been caught in his own scheming.
    On the other side of the table, Brad still stood his pleasant face growing worried.
    Cole crouched beside her chair. "What's the matter, sweetheart?"
    "If you'll excuse me," Brad muttered. "I need to make a phone call."
    "I am not your sweetheart," Elinor snapped, throwing her mangled napkin on the table. "And you can get up from your knees," she hissed when he didn't move, "because I'm not buying it."
    "Not buying what?" he questioned slowly, his eyes narrowing.
    "This!" She gestured at his crouched posture. "And the soft, concerned words. Aren't you afraid that by coming over here you'll blow all your hard work with Norell?"
    "Could you at least give me a clue as to what we're talking about?" Cole asked, giving a good impression of trying to maintain his patience.
    "I doubt," Elinor bit out, "that you need any clues. It doesn't look like you've missed a trick."
    Cole rose to his feet, his face like stone as he towered over her. "What's the matter, Elinor?" he asked in a low-taunting voice. "Having second thoughts about last night?"
    "No," she shot back, rapidly approaching a towering rage. "I'm just realizing how accurate my first impression of you was. Why don't you go back to your influential dinner guest. She must be wondering where you are."
    Elinor made the mistake of allowing her eyes to meet his. She ducked quickly, not wanting to acknowledge the dawning realization in his expression. This was not about her being jealous. It was about Cole's scheming, manipulative, money-hungry behavior.
    Unless, of course, a voice whispered in her head, he's with Norell not because she's the mayor's daughter, but because she s gorgeous and sexy.
    "Oh, there you are, Cole!" a voice trilled from behind him.
    He turned slowly, the pleasant smile that appeared on his face not quite reaching his eyes. "Yes, Mrs. Stephens?"
    The mayor's wife, no less, thought Elinor bitterly, as the woman clutched at Cole's arm.
    "Oh, you naughty boy," Susan Stephens said