Tomorrow's Promise (The Hawks Mountain Series) Read Online Free

be disfigured. But then, she found that she liked the idea that Cole wasn’t perfect. It made him more human, more approachable, more . . . No! She couldn’t go there. Everyone had scars, some more than others, and some that couldn’t be seen.
    The handsome sheriff and Doc Amos had shown her more kindness than she’d seen in the last few years. But it was only kindness. Nothing more. Carson had always looked after its own. She’d do well to remember that. And right now, her battered emotions could use all of the TLC anyone doled out to her.
    While she waited for the sheriff to come back, she sorted through long-forgotten memories.
    Cole might not remember her, but she certainly remembered him. Images of him surrounded by adoring teenage school girls after a Friday night football game drifted through her mind. He’d exuded charm back then, and, even if he hadn’t noticed her, she’d soaked it up like a dry sponge.
    But Sloan Phillips had oozed charm, too, when she’d first met him in the small sandwich shop outside the Greyhound Terminal on the day she’d arrived in Atlanta. Wide-eyed, a bit scared, and totally in awe of the big city, she’d been flattered that this handsome stranger had offered to take her under his wing and introduce her to her new hometown. She’d moved into his apartment, temporarily, and never moved out until yesterday when she and Lizzie had left Atlanta.
    Faith had fallen hard for Sloan’s good looks and charm. And look where that had gotten her . . . a single, penniless mother reduced to living off the charity of others.
    No, it was better for everyone if she kept the sheriff at arm’s length. She’d been bitten once by male charisma. Now she knew that a handsome face and a breathtaking smile didn’t always mean the man behind it was happiness material.
    She pushed Cole from her mind and concentrated on the life she’d make for her and her daughter in Carson. Maybe she and Lizzie could finally find a little happiness to call their own. Faith wasn’t thrilled about taking charity from Doc, and only after he’d promised to let her pay rent as soon as she found work, had she agreed to move into the cottage. She smiled, knowing she had at least two friends in Carson.
    Then she raised her gaze to follow the sheriff’s retreating figure and amended that number to a possible three. Cole sure was a handsome man, what with his nut-brown skin, whiskey eyes, and coal black hair. The kind of man women flocked around. But, she reminded herself, not this woman. Friendship it would be. Nothing more.
    Faith had had her fill of handsome men. Sloan had swept her up in his dreams of making a fortune, dreams that included her, dreams of a golden tomorrow. Always making plans for the “big deal” that never materialized. Finally free of her stifling mother and her strict rules and religious do’s and don’ts, Faith had foolishly believed in his promises and prepared to begin a glorious, happy future.
    Little had she known the night that naïve country girl climbed into Sloan’s car with her battered suitcase and impossible fantasies where it would lead. It never crossed her mind that they would be driving toward a future filled with heartache for both of them and a tomorrow that never came.
    But Sloan was permanently out of their lives now, and she had to stop thinking about him.
    No matter how handsome and charming Cole was, she could not, would not allow herself to fall into that trap again.
    The sharp pain of Lizzie trying to untangle her sticky fingers from her mother’s hair yanked Faith from her dismal past. Just then, the black and white sheriff’s car pulled up at the curb beside her and the object of her musings jumped out and smiled at her. Deep down inside, a spot that had grown cold and numb warmed just a fraction.
    Faith pulled her gaze away. She didn’t want to feel anything for Cole. Didn’t want to acknowledge that he might have the power to stir up her emotions.
    Cole