He continued to stare at her, not taking his eyes off of her even while he gave his order to the waitress. Faith fought the urge to squirm, as well as the even stronger urge to look at Matt. She could feel his eyes on them. Protective. Watching. Waiting.
She felt his presence as keenly as if he’d been sitting beside her, giving her the strength she needed. Her son. Practically a man. And though Nathan might be Matt’s biological father, he had absolutely no claim whatsoever on the young man eyeing them warily.
And it made her realize something else, too: Nathan Longstreet couldn’t hurt her anymore. Whatever hold he once had over her was long gone. She no longer felt the anger, the betrayal, the hurt that she once did. If anything, she felt a kind of detached gratitude. If not for Nathan, she would have never had Matt. If not for Nathan, so many things would have been different. What happened made her stronger, and, she hoped, a better person because of it.
“I just can’t get over how young you look, Faith. So young and sexy and beautiful.”
She didn’t bother thanking him again. The waitress brought more coffee and a plate of biscuits covered in sausage gravy, placing the plate in front of Nathan. Automatically, Faith tried to picture Kieran eating that and couldn’t. Kieran took great care of his body, keeping to naturally low-fat and organic foods. She bit back a smile, recalling how much he had raved about her cooking, how he liked that so many of her dishes were filled with fresh vegetables from the farmer’s market and those she’d canned from her own garden. Of course, it probably never occurred to him that she did so because meat was so expensive...
Faith shifted uneasily. It seemed that everything reminded her of Kieran. No matter where she looked, there was something that made her think of him, or something he said, or the way he looked or smelled or laughed.
Nathan continued to stare at her across the table, and that only served to increase her discomfort. Only Kieran had the privilege of looking at her like that - like he wanted to taste her. She liked when he did it, but Nathan’s ill-concealed appreciation was unwelcome.
Damn it, she cursed inwardly. She’d just gone and done it again. Couldn’t she go five seconds without thinking of Kieran Callaghan?
“I’m sorry about your father, Nathan,” she said finally, because someone had to say something. “He was a good man.”
Nathan nodded, but his expression hardened as he no doubt remembered the circumstances that had precipitated this meeting. “He was. But he was also a soft-hearted old fool,” he said. Faith wondered how his eyes could go so quickly from blatant admiration to suspicious accusation and still remain condescending the entire time.
He watched her carefully for a reaction. She offered him none. Ethan Longstreet had been kind and generous to her and Matt, both with his time and his money. Faith always refused more than the bare minimum she needed at the time, and always paid it back with interest when she could.
“Are you married?” he asked suddenly, shooting a glance toward her left hand.
“No,” she answered simply. She supposed it would have been polite to inquire in kind, but the truth was that she didn’t really care, especially when it had absolutely no bearing on the reason she was here. All it took was a brief glance downward to note the gold circlet around his left ring finger anyway. She wondered idly if he had married Carla Martin; her daddy had a lot of strong political connections.
The interest in his eyes increased. “Why not?”
She could tell him it was because she’d never met the right one, but that wasn’t true. She had. It just so happened that something between them wasn’t possible, especially since she had pushed him away. Kieran hadn’t tried to contact her in several weeks. Some part of her believed that if what he had said were really true – if they really were soul mates – then nothing would have kept him away, not even her panicked decree. Faith took absolutely no pleasure in being right.
And how ironic was it that each passing day had her missing him more, and him getting on with his life? She was now convinced that Kieran had been the right one – her true soul mate – just as Kieran was discovering that she wasn’t his.
Regardless, she hadn’t the slightest wish to discuss any of it, and certainly not with Nathan. It was irrelevant.
“Nathan, the reason I wanted to speak with you was because - ”
He held up his hand, halting her. “I know why, Faith.”
“You do?” Faith couldn’t help but steal a glance over at Matt. His body was still angled away, though she could tell by the way he held himself he was listening intently. The baseball cap he wore did a good job of covering his dark coppery locks, but it was probably unnecessary. Nathan hadn’t looked his way even once.