He had stared at her all during dinner. Kurt had watched her, too. But his stare was cold and calculating, while Jared’s eyes had burned into her like tongues of golden flame.
Her whole body trembled under her nightgown. She closed her eyes, but Jared’s image was imprinted on the back of her lids.
Once again, she relived the moment when his hand had pressed against her breast. She felt his breath on her face, and tried to imagine how his lips would feel against hers. A long, shuddering sigh escaped her and she moaned into the pillow. She wanted to know what it was like.
And she knew that finding out would bring her perilously close to the brink of hell… or heaven.
* * *
The pendulum wall clock in the office chimed the hour of eight. It was the morning following the dinner with the Vandivers. To Lauren’s ears, the tolling chimes sounded ominous as she sat in silence with Carson and Olivia, waiting for Jared to join them.
Olivia looked full of resolve and purpose as she sat upright and grim in her chair behind the desk. Carson was nervous and uneasy, periodically wiping his forehead with a linen handkerchief. Lauren daintily sipped a cup of tea.
She had awakened early after her restless night. Her heavy maroon skirt and ecru shirtwaist were donned hurriedly, and without Elena’s help. Lauren had pinned her hair into a haphazard chignon at the nape of her neck and left her room. Her haste in making an appearance at breakfast was probably unnecessary, but she didn’t want her hostess to think her lazy.
Before she entered the dining room, Carson intercepted her and asked if she would please join him and Olivia in the office where they had interviewed her previously. She would always think of it as Ben’s office, for an aura of the man still clung to the atmosphere.
Lauren went in behind Carson and quickly poured a cup of tea, sweetening it liberally, intuitively guessing she would need some sustenance during this mysterious meeting. Carson’s full cheeks reddened considerably, and he wouldn’t look her fully in the eyes when he extended the invitation, which Lauren knew was not an invitation at all, but a command. Carson’s jitters were communicated to her.
Something was in the wind. And it obviously affected her. But how? She couldn’t imagine. Maybe in light of the events of last evening, they were going to ask her politely to leave. They would have their hands full for a while with the business of the railroad, and she couldn’t blame them for not wanting an outsider cluttering up their lives.
Why was it necessary for Jared to hear her fate? She’d prefer that he didn’t witness the interview. He, however, would undoubtedly relish any misfortune that befell her, she thought dismally.
Lauren started as she heard his boots echoing on the parquet floor in the hall. He stomped into the room and looked darkly at his mother.
“This better be damned important for you to root me out of bed this early when I got in late and feel as godawful as I do. I’m going to get some coffee.” He strode out of the room and no one spoke until he returned a few moments later carrying a steaming mug of coffee. He sipped it and cursed under his breath when it burned his tongue.
In contrast to Olivia’s military neatness, Jared was disheveled—his brown hair mussed, the wrinkled shirt hastily and sloppily stuffed into rumpled pants, the boots which had shone last night now scuffed and dull. He slouched in a chair in a posture Lauren was coming to know. He ignored her and Carson completely.
“If it weren’t important, Jared, I would not have disturbed you.” Olivia spoke as if no time had elapsed since he first came in and rudely addressed her. “Carson and I had a long talk last night after the Vandivers left. We have arrived at some conclusions and want to tell you our course of action that will resolve our problems with Parker.”
Carson once again mopped his perspiring brow, and licked his lips nervously as he watched Jared from across the room. If they were going to rehash the same argument, Lauren would prefer to return to her room and the correspondence she was doing for Olivia. Or start packing her bags.
“Why do I suspect that I’m not going to like our ‘course of action’?” Jared asked stonily. “You know how I feel about those jackasses. I don’t want them on one square inch of Lockett land.”
“I don’t particularly like them, either, and I trust them less; but I want that railroad, Jared. Carson does, too, and so did your father.”
“Ben didn’t want it bad enough to let a thief like Vandiver make the deals for him.”
“Jared, what your mother is trying to say is that we’ve got to give a little in order to gain a lot.” Carson looked at the younger man almost pleadingly. “I know why you hesitate about damming up even a small tributary of Rio Caballo. Some of the smaller farmers and ranchers will suffer setbacks, but we’ll work with them all we can. We’re not going to leave them high and dry.” He laughed skittishly at his own play on words, but Jared didn’t even smile.
Lauren had watched Jared since the discussion began and saw the same expression of conviction that he had shown last night. His jaw worked convulsively as he clenched his teeth.
Then he hung his head and swirled the coffee around in his mug. He studied it hard, a deep groove forming between the thick brows. When he looked up again, his face had completely changed. He looked at his mother with accusation, at Carson with disgust, and then assumed an attitude of complete indifference.
He shrugged insolently. “Do whatever you like. I don’t give a damn. The two of you will make great partners with Vandiver.”
He set the mug on the table in front of him and stood to leave, but Olivia checked him. “Jared, wait. I’m afraid it’s not as simple as that. Sit down.” Impatience was written on his surly face, but he slumped into the chair again and restlessly propped one ankle on the other knee.
“It seems, Jared, that some of the investors in this railroad of ours are concerned about your attitude. After word of your behavior last night gets around, I’m sure it will confirm their low opinion of you. You must be, or at least appear to be, behind this project one hundred percent. The power plant, as well as the railroad, needs your public endorsement now that you are taking over your father’s businesses.”
“Taking over? That’s a laugh,” he muttered caustically.
Olivia ignored the interruption. “Of course, Carson and I will be running things for you until you feel ready to assume responsibility. But to the world, you must present a credible air of authority and maturity.” She let all of that sink in, pausing dramatically before she said, “That’s why we feel you should marry as soon as possible. Marry Miss Holbrook.”
The words hung in the air, suspended on the palpable currents of differing emotions evoked in those who had heard them.
Rivers of blood rushed to Lauren’s head, causing a great roaring, and a fire consumed her eyes and ears even as perspiration covered her body in a chilling film.