Hidden Fires

by Sandra Brown

  She snuggled against his warmth as he pulled a blanket higher over them. He caressed the hair that spilled across his chest. As his eyes roamed the soft form cuddled against him, he laughed ruefully to himself. Who would have thought this of Jared Lockett? That he had spent the entire night with a woman was unusual in itself. As soon as he had satisfied his initial lust, he was always anxious to leave any woman he had been with before. Last night he had wanted to stay. With this woman.

  Never had he lost himself so completely with a female as he had with Lauren. He always enjoyed the act, certainly. But his thoughts were often elsewhere: on a card game, business, another woman.

  Last night, however, he had been aware only of the woman beneath him, responding with only a trace of virginal shyness. The feel of her, the scent, the texture, the taste had all combined to totally capture his senses. His absorption had been so tremendous that he hadn’t wanted it to end.

  In a million years, he would never admit that last night had been a first for him, too. It was her initiation into the rites of loving. She had been a virgin. And it was the first time Jared Lockett had ever been with a virgin. It was a gift he had never expected to receive and one he didn’t feel he deserved, yet she had given herself to him.

  Why? After the abuse he had heaped on her, why had she come to him, offering herself? He bent his head and brushed his lips across her forehead as the question continued to haunt him.

  Her fingertips smoothed the crease between his thick, brown brows. They’ll be shaggy like Ben’s when he gets older, she thought. Twenty-four hours ago, she hadn’t even known that it was possible to be as intimate with another human body as they had been. Now they were lying with arms and legs entwined, and she felt no shyness or modesty or guilt. What had happened to all her rigid scruples? No matter. She didn’t want them back. Even now, she wanted to discover what further delights his body could offer hers.

  “Jared, when?… I mean, how long?… Does it?…

  He smiled. In answer to the question she couldn’t quite bring herself to ask, his mouth sought hers. That first real kiss since the night before generated the same stirrings, the same exciting anticipation of things to follow. She allowed him unlimited access to her body. He found her secret places and caressed or kissed, eliciting moans of pleasure from them both.

  Shyly at first, then encouraged by his soft groans of ecstasy, her fingers traversed the forested chest. Lightly she fanned the crinkly hair. His skin was warm and stretched tautly over contoured muscles which she massaged with fingers suddenly grown talented in the art. Air hissed through his teeth when she encountered the turgid brown nipples. She withdrew quickly, but his hand went to the back of her head and brought her back. Nuzzling her face in his neck, she traced it with her tongue. As she leaned over him, his strong fingers splayed over her hips and pressed her against him to meet his virile force.

  “I want you again, Lauren. But I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, anguished.

  “You won’t, you won’t.”

  Strands of her hair were still wound around his neck as he almost fiercely rolled her to her back. Poised above her, he sought her eyes and demanded, “Say my name, Lauren. Let me see my name on your lips. Say my name, please.”

  Reaching up, her fingertips played upon his cheekbones as she whispered, “Jared. Jared. Jared.” The last syllable was a plea.

  When he entered her, it was slowly and deliberately. There was a remnant of soreness, but none of the burning pain she had experienced before. Jared moved against her like a well-trained machine whose only purpose was to bring sensuous pleasure.

  His hands gently kneaded the fullness of her hips as he lifted her up and forward to meet his sublime invasion. He plunged more deeply than ever before, stroking the walls of her femininity, the gate of her womb, withdrawing to tease and tantalize the portal, only to bury himself within her again.

  Lauren felt her spirit rising, floating above the surface of the bed, climbing higher and higher toward some pinnacle still nebulous and mysterious but desirable. It frightened her, this abyss she hovered over. She squeezed her eyes shut.

  “No. Lauren, come with me,” he urged breathlessly. “Come… with… me…” He held her tight as his passion, beyond the point of restraint, emptied inside her, laving her with living fire.

  He rested only a moment. Then, with a hand on the small of her back, he eased them to their sides. Still entrapped within that honeyed cave, Jared stirred himself arousingly.

  “Can you feel me, Lauren?”

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes.”

  “Do I hurt you?” He moved inside her again.

  Oh, Lord. “No, it’s… it feels nice.”

  “Then why did you stop?” he asked in a solicitous whisper. “You were on the brink of incredible joy. Are you afraid of it?”

  Unable to meet his probing eyes, she nodded into his shoulder.

  “I see,” he said quietly. Confident of his own abilities, he knew he could bring her to completion even now, but decided she wasn’t ready to accept it. He eased himself away from her, aware that, in spite of her denial, she must feel bruised and battered.

  He brushed the hair away from her temples and kissed her forehead and eyelids. “Let’s take another nap.” Turning her away from him, he drew her back against his chest.

  He fell asleep breathing in the perfume of her hair.

  Chapter 19

  Olivia knew immediately upon seeing Jared and Lauren together at lunch that her worst fear had come about. The household staff was buzzing about something, but she had never taken it upon herself to learn Spanish. She didn’t understand their excited whispers.

  At the meal, however, the secret smiles, the oblivion to everything around them, and the dark smudges under their eyes testified to her how Jared and Lauren had spent the night.

  Damn! How could her son succumb to that hothouse flower? He always preferred boisterous, blowsy girls, girls with scandalous reputations. What did he see in this fragile, ladylike paragon of virtue? Well, it didn’t matter if he slept with the chit as long as he didn’t form a lasting affection. Or—God forbid—if she should conceive a child. Hopefully, Jared was smart enough to prevent this from happening.

  She watched them as they excused themselves and started upstairs for a “nap.”

  “Jared, could I have a word with you?” she asked quickly, folding her napkin beside her plate as she stood. “Yesterday Parker and I talked over some plans amidst all that insanity at the groundbreaking, and I think you should be kept apprised of the developments.”

  Jared looked wistfully toward Lauren, but begrudgingly complied. “All right, Mother. I’ll see you later, Lauren.”

  After her daughter-in-law left the dining room, Olivia suggested that Jared follow her into the office. When he was relaxed and seated in a deep leather chair and smoking a cigar, she told him their new scheme.

  * * *

  “Really, Jared, I think you overreacted this afternoon.”

  They were at dinner, and Olivia was speaking in well-modulated tones that belied the underlying turbulence in the room.

  “I’d rather not discuss business now, Mother.” Jared’s voice was clipped and terse. Lauren had been dismayed to find that all his lightheartedness of the morning had disappeared after the meeting with his mother. They had been sequestered in the office for over an hour and, when Jared had returned upstairs, he made no effort to see her. He had gone straight to his room and then later left the house. He had returned just before dinner. She hadn’t seen him alone since before lunch.

  “We certainly have no secrets from Lauren, do we?” Olivia asked sweetly, glancing at her daughter-in-law. “After all, she is your wife, Jared.”

  Lauren blushed and looked unseeingly at her plate. Did Olivia know about last night? How would she react to the consummation of their marriage?

  “Do you think some of our plans will shock her?” Olivia asked her son coolly.

  “Dammit, Mother!” Th
e lines around Jared’s mouth seemed to be carved of granite.

  “You see, Lauren,” Olivia continued, undisturbed by Jared’s anger, “the Vandivers and I have reconsidered the optimum location for the power plant. The new site will require damming up the river above Pueblo instead of below it. Naturally this will greatly affect the community. We fear an outcry of public disapproval, since the community’s source of water will be cut off. Therefore, we have taken measures to assure that Pueblo’s destruction be seen as a blessing.”

  Lauren had placed her fork on her plate and was staring from mother to son with blank, uncomprehending eyes. Olivia returned her stare levelly. Jared wouldn’t look at her.

  “I don’t think I understand.” Lauren licked her lips. “What measures are you taking?” She didn’t want to know. But she had to know.

  “Lauren, stay out of this. It’s none of your concern,” Jared barked.

  “Of course it concerns her, Jared. My dear,” Olivia said, addressing her again in that pleasant, conversational voice, “we are going to round up a gang of desperadoes, mercenaries, whatever name you choose to call them. I think you get the idea. They will go into Pueblo and, posing as citizens, cause a ruckus. They will be instructed to burn, loot, injure, anything they deem necessary to bring about a riot. The ghetto will destroy itself. Our mercenaries will help it along by igniting some well-set fires. I thought it up, of course. Parker thinks it’s a brilliant idea. He’s asked Jared to come to Austin to organize the men. Jared frequents places where such characters might be found.”

  Lauren’s face had drained of color. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. When she spoke, her voice was barely more than a hoarse croak. “But people could get killed! And think of all the homes that would be destroyed.”

  Olivia shrugged. “I suppose they will, but it will be no great loss, will it?”

  “But it’s unnecessary! Why can’t the power plant be built where originally planned?”

  “It could. It’s just that I don’t wish it there.”

  “Then it is unnecessary. You would have a whole town destroyed on a whim. Why?” She slumped back in her chair and stared at the woman across the table from her with perplexity. Olivia’s face was hard and ugly, filled with hate. Suddenly Lauren understood. “Revenge,” she wheezed. “You’re taking out your hate of one woman on a whole people.”

  Olivia glared at her. “I don’t know what you’re babbling about, Lauren,” she said.

  “Of course you do. Maria Mendez. You can’t bear it that Ben loved—”

  “Shut up!” Olivia screamed and thumped her fists on the table. Glassware and china clattered.

  “No, I will not shut up. You would have let Elena and Isabela die in the streets before caring for them. At the time, I thought it was the epitome of heartlessness and cruelty, but now you surpass even that. Perhaps I can see why you would feel the way you do about Maria, but to unnecessarily—”

  “It’s necessary if I say it is,” Olivia broke in. Her chest was heaving with emotion. “I don’t have to justify myself to you, or to anyone else on earth.”

  Lauren was struck then by the passion in the woman. She was driven to hate, to destroy. It was useless to try to reason with someone so obsessed. “No, you don’t have to justify yourself to anyone on earth,” Lauren said, stressing the last word. She knew then that she would never fear Olivia again. Distrust her, dislike her, but never fear her. Olivia was a lost cause, but there was still hope for Jared.

  During the heated exchange between his wife and his mother, he had continued to stare into the candle flame lighting the dining table.

  Lauren turned toward him. “Jared? Jared, you can’t endorse such a horrendous scheme?” The words came out as an incredulous question.

  “I told you to stay out of it, Lauren,” he growled. “You don’t understand these things.”

  “I understand everything!” she shouted. “I understand that what you propose is heinous and criminal and—”

  Jared jumped from his chair, knocking it over and upsetting a glass of red wine onto the table. “Goddammit, get off my back.” He strode toward the door leading into the hall, but Lauren was right behind him. She stepped in front of him, placing both hands on his chest, searching his eyes.

  “Tell me that you will have no part in this. Please tell me that.” When he didn’t move, she went on, “Jared, think. There are families there who will be hurt. Elena, Rosa, and Gloria have friends and relatives who live there. Surely you would not condone anything that would harm them?”

  On top of what his mother had ordered him to do, he didn’t need this. He didn’t need Lauren looking up at him with an expression that was both pleading and accusing.

  Last night he had wanted her with a passion that surpassed anything he had ever experienced before, and the culmination had been earthmoving. Memories of the hours they had spent in his bed still stirred him.

  He didn’t need that, either. He didn’t want her to be special. To feel the way he was coming to feel toward her would be dangerous with any woman, but with her, it was insanity. She had come to Texas for Ben Lockett, not his son. And she had only married him for the twenty thousand dollars; no doubt she’d leave as soon as she got the money. His face became an ugly sneer and he threw off her hands, sending her reeling backward.

  “Who the hell are you to tell me anything about it? Have you lived here all your life? Have you ever been down to see the way those people live? It’s a cesspool, Lauren. The dregs of society. Whores and gamblers and thieves. You don’t know what you’re talking about when you plead with me to save it.”

  “I’m sure that element of society is there. But there are innocent people who will suffer needlessly.” To emphasize her words, she gripped his upper arms again.

  “Don’t presume to interfere in my life,” he hissed and impatiently flung off her hands. His gesture carried more impetus with it than he had intended and he watched in bitter remorse when his hand flew up and caught her in the lip, cutting the tender flesh on her teeth and drawing blood.

  They were held suspended in surprise, stunned by what had happened.

  Jared was the first to rouse himself. He reached into his breast pocket and withdrew a handkerchief, extending it toward her. “I’m sorry, Lauren. Here—” He reached to blot up the thread of blood.

  “Don’t touch me!” She jerked away from him and slapped his hand away. The handkerchief fluttered to the floor. “I don’t want anything from you. You’re just like the rest of them. Leave me alone.”

  Animosity lay between them like a great gulf. Her gray eyes, stormy and hostile, met his hard and unyielding gaze. “So be it,” he said after a long silence. “You won’t be bothered with my touching you ever again.”

  She fled the room and rushed for the stairs. She was halfway up when Jared halted her. “I’m going to Austin tomorrow. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

  She looked down at him. In spite of her disillusionment, she loved him. During their argument, his hair had become mussed and hung over his forehead, shadowing his eyes, making their expression indiscernible. His booted foot was resting on the bottom step, his arm draped over the bannister. His dishevelment only added to his handsomeness. Her heart cried, “Jared, I love you!”

  But she said nothing. Not even goodbye.

  * * *

  “I’m leaving for Keypoint tomorrow and I’m taking Elena with me.” Lauren faced Olivia across the wide expanse of Ben’s desk. She had made a decision and was now daring Olivia to protest her action. “I think Gloria will need all the help she can get with her new baby coming. Elena and Carlos need to live together, like the family they are. I shall ask Rudy to give them one of the cabins on the ranch.”

  “The foreman doesn’t make decisions for Keypoint, Lauren.” Olivia was seething. How dare she mention that bastard and his brood to her? Lauren was deliberately provoking her as she had done for the past several days.

  The morning Jared left, Lauren had
launched her campaign. Before Olivia was privy to her intentions, Lauren had organized a church committee strictly for the purpose of aiding and abetting the community of Pueblo.

  Lauren’s head wasn’t in the clouds. She realized that if the citizenry of Coronado had really been concerned about their Mexican counterparts, they would have done something long before now. She used her new last name to its full extent. Sweetly she asked for help as Jared Lockett’s wife on a project they had conceived. Her victims were powerless to refuse.

  She had coaxed a reluctant Pepe to drive her through the streets of the town and she had been appalled at what she saw. In the bright sunlight, all of Pueblo’s ugliness and deprivation were displayed like open wounds. Lauren had been shocked at the lack of sanitation, the poverty, the sickness, the squalor.

  Under Lauren’s direction, the church ladies commissioned other social groups to start charitable projects of their own. Old clothing was collected and distributed. Lumber—albeit used—was donated for construction projects. And Lauren wrote to the university in Austin, asking them if medical students would consider establishing clinics for the treatment of the sick and to teach basic lessons on hygiene.

  When Olivia heard about Lauren’s efforts from a guileless bank customer, she barely made it home before her temper erupted with the impetus of a volcano.

  She began the interview in the office with, “You will desist from your ridiculous project immediately.”

  Lauren didn’t pretend to misunderstand. She had come into the office well armed for combat. “I will not sit here and discuss anything with you until the drapes behind the desk are drawn.” Whether Olivia was shocked by Lauren’s bravery or too stunned by anger to object, she sat silently while Lauren calmly went to the windows and drew the drapes. When she returned to the chair opposite the desk she said, “Now, Olivia, I believe you have an opinion on my activities in Pueblo.”

  “Your interference in that community is sheer lunacy!” Olivia fairly screamed. “Whatever ‘committees’ you have organized will die a sudden death, starting now. Am I understood?”