"The Siren? No, I. . ." Recalling another fragment of her dream, she suddenly blanched. "You don't . . . No, that isn't possible . . . It was a dream!"
Jason's expression was frightfully solemn. "No, sweetheart. It was all quite real, though you may not remember much of it. Kyle married us last night."
Lauren stared at Jason in horror. "No," she breathed. "You're lying."
His lips tightened momentarily, but his tone was gentle. "I'm afraid not. There were witnesses, if you care to ask them. Tim Sutter and your own friend, Veronique. They will confirm that the ceremony did indeed take place and that it was all quite legal. You signed all the proper papers. You even behaved like a willing bride."
"But I couldn't have!" Lauren said frantically. "I would never have agreed to marry you."
Jason shrugged. "Regardless, you are now my wife. Mrs. Jason Stuart, or Lady Effing, if you care to use the title."
Apprehension and dread rose up before her like specters. She couldn't have married Jason! She was a bastard and he a marquess. She was a penniless orphan, possibly even a criminal. Lauren clutched the covers to her defensively. "I don't care to use your title! I don't want anything to do with you! And I don't remember signing any papers."
"I have our marriage lines, if you would care to see it."
"Yes!" She grasped at that suggestion. "Yes, I would. You probably forged my signature and—"
Lauren broke off, staring at the piece of paper that Jason was holding up for her perusal. She couldn't deny that the handwriting was hers but . . . she had signed it Andrea Carlin! All the document proved was that Jason had married someone who didn't exist!
Vastly relieved, Lauren didn't even stop to consider her next words. "The marriage isn't valid!" she exclaimed with exultation.
Carefully folding the proof of the ceremony, Jason returned it to the pocket of his dressing gown. "Why should you think that?" he asked curiously.
"Because, I'm not—" Lauren clasped a hand to her mouth, horrifyingly aware of what she had nearly divulged. She took a deep, steadying breath. "Because you tricked me," she prevaricated. "Because you . . . you deliberately made me drunk so that I wouldn't fight you."
"I only finished what you started, my love."
"See, you just admitted that you coerced me! I won't be manipulated, Jason."
Amusement flashed in his sapphire eyes. "I admit that you had a touch too much to drink, but there is no law against a man sharing a glass of wine with his bride. I'm sorry, Lauren, but we are well and truly wed."
"Then I'll have the marriage annulled."
His brows lifted. "On what grounds?" he asked politely.
Lauren flushed, pulling the sheet up to her chin. "Because it wasn't . . . I didn't . . ."
Jason grinned wickedly. "Oh, yes. It was and you did. Don't tell me you've forgotten the consummation, too? I can assure you, I can't so easily forget, sweetheart." He leaned closer, his compelling gaze warm and intimate. "You were far from the iceberg Howard thought you. In fact, I've never known a more passionate—"
"Don't touch me!" Lauren yelped when he would have stroked her cheek. Jason's expression hardened slightly, but his hand dropped away. Hastily Lauren rolled off the far side of the bed, dragging a bedsheet with her. "And don't try to stop me from leaving here, either," she warned in the most chilling tone she could muster as she wrapped the sheet around, sarong fashion.
Jason stretched his long legs out in front of him and cocked his head to one side. "How swiftly you vacillate, my love. You were quite different last night, even going so far as to reveal your deep, dark secret to me."
Lauren froze as a familiar fear raced along her spine. Slowly she turned to face Jason, her gold-flecked eyes wide and wary. "What secret?" she asked, not daring to breathe.
His eyes widened innocently. "You have more than one? What a mysterious woman I married."
"What secret?" she demanded again.
"Why," he said, his gaze never wavering, "your admission that you love me, of course. Or did that conveniently escape your memory, as well?"
Lauren let out her breath in relief. Then realizing she was still trembling, she made an effort to calm herself. "That is absurd," she protested. "I never said such a thing."
"But you did, Lauren. Ergo, I arranged a hasty wedding. I didn't want you to have time to change your mind."
Dragging her defenses in place once more, Lauren presented her back to him. "If I did indeed say anything so ridiculous, then it was the wine talking."
Jason watched her as she moved purposefully toward the tall armoire. "It truly is a shame," he said softly, "that we have to depend on spirits in order to have any honesty between us."
She ignored his remark as she flung open the armoire. Seeing at once that it was empty, she whirled. "Where are my clothes, Jason? Have you taken them again?"
"What need have you for clothing on your honeymoon, my sweet?" he asked provokingly.
Lauren flashed him a look calculated to freeze the blood in his veins. Then, with angry determination, she proceeded to search the rest of the room.
Jason made no move to stop her. Recognizing the frigid set of her features, though, he mentally sighed. But then he hadn't expected this to he easy. "Your gown is being laundered, Lauren," he admitted at last. "But I don't intend to return it to you. At least not until I can be assured you won't try to run away."
Lauren slammed shut an empty drawer to the bureau. "I will not run away. I will scream the house down."
"Go right ahead. The servants all work for me."
Lauren tossed her head, sending her golden mane flying. Defiantly, she turned to the door Jason had used earlier, but she had only opened it a mere crack before Jason came up behind her. His arm shot around her waist, and before Lauren could marshal her thoughts for a battle, he had effortlessly lifted her off her feet. "You aren't going anywhere, my love," Jason stipulated, "unless I have your promise to give this marriage of ours a chance."
Ignoring her gasp of outrage, he carried Lauren back across the room. "How dare you put your hands on me!" she cried. "Release me at once!" But Jason seemed totally deaf. Lauren struggled then, but he easily thwarted her attempts to break his iron hold. Depositing her in the center of the big bed, he followed her down, pinning her with his weight, the powerfully muscled length of him covering her completely. When she tried to strike him with her fists, he captured her hands above her head.
Lauren fought him to no avail; Jason wouldn't budge. He even had the audacity to grin in her face. "Oh, you insufferable . . . savage . . . beast," she sputtered, glaring at him furiously.
"Yes, but you love me."
She would have scratched his laughing eyes out, but she couldn't free her hands. "I despise you, you knave!" she hissed. "Now let me go, or I'll have you arrested for kidnapping!"
Jason seemed amused by her threat, for he kissed the tip of her nose. "I regret to inform you, sweetheart, that you won't find any support for your case. The law accords a husband certain rights and privileges—one of which is the authority to see that his wife honors his wishes." Jason lowered his lips to her right ear. "And just now I very much wish to have another glimpse of the wildly sensuous woman you were last night."
Lauren squirmed, trying to escape the touch of his warm mouth. "You would force me?" she cried as Jason's tongue followed the inward swirl of her ear.
His lips moved lower then, searing a path down her neck. "Perhaps," Jason murmured as he nuzzled her throat, "I merely plan to repay you for driving me to distraction these past weeks. Call it settlement of a debt, if you like."
The next moment he had shifted his weight, sitting up to straddle her hips. Before Lauren could divine his purpose, he had shrugged out of his robe and thrown it aside. Her sheet became the only remaining barrier between them.
Momentarily distracted by the broad expanse of chest above his lean, flat belly, Lauren glanced down. She nearly gasped when she saw Jason's magnificent erection, and redoubled her efforts
to escape.
But Jason stretched his long body out again, pinning her hands at her sides. Feeling his swelling hardness against her thigh and realizing she was only arousing him further with her thrashing, Lauren stopped struggling. Although she was breathing hard, she forced herself to lie rigid and unresponsive beneath him. His knee pressed between hers then, moving with deliberate slowness. The sheet rasped against her hidden passion, but still Lauren resisted the erotic stimulation, willing her body not to quiver.
Jason appeared undaunted by her lack of response. His eyes glowed with a warm, determined light as his lips renewed their leisurely attack, playing upon Lauren's mouth.
Clenching her teeth against his gentle assault, Lauren tried to turn away, but Jason's hand moved behind her head, holding her still. She couldn't escape the warm pressure of his lips. His teasing tongue probed for entrance, stirring sensations Lauren found increasingly difficult to ignore.
He changed tactics then, in a single deft movement drawing the sheet down, baring the enticing fullness of her breasts and her long, slender limbs. Pressing boldly against her, he made Lauren feel the burning heat of his body. When she opened her mouth to protest, Jason took full advantage, sliding his tongue between her teeth, probing, searching for some chink in her frozen armor. His other hand was slowly stroking a silken thigh, intimately caressing her smooth skin. Tracing a tantalizing path, his hand slid between their bodies. Unerringly, his searching fingers discovered the reflexive wetness that proclaimed her readiness.
When she remained rigidly still, he whispered against her mouth, "Open to me, Lauren. Let me in. Let me love you." He knew he had won when her lips began to tremble beneath his. Jason raised his head and gazed tenderly into her eyes, trying to tell her without words that he was surrendering as much as she.
For a long moment their eyes held. Then Jason gently nudged her knees apart. When his velvet spear pressed for entry, Lauren once more tried to move away, but Jason stilled her with another languid kiss. He pressed against her slowly, powerfully entering her, his penetration intentionally unhurried. And when he was deep inside her, he remained totally motionless, as if to savor the moment. Then slowly, he drew away and began the hypnotic motion again, his loins sweetly caressing hers, inviting, urging a response.
A moan rose unbidden to Lauren's throat as her body turned traitor. Jason's slow, languid strokes had kindled a fire within her, melting her ice to a fiery heat. She began to answer his thrusting hips, arching against him.
Jason prolonged the exquisite torture for a time, until he lost control. At once his kisses became hungry and demanding, and when Lauren sobbed and strained against him, Jason grasped her buttocks and drove deeply, fiercely, into her, as if he would pierce the very core of her soul.
Their frantic passion mounted, white-hot, till Lauren thought she would scream with the sweet agony of it. When release at last came, the resultant explosion sent her rocketing to the sky, carrying Jason along with her. Shuddering, drenched in perspiration, they held tightly to each other until the final vibrations faded away.
"Ah, my beautiful wife," Jason murmured in her ear. "Can you doubt that we were made for each other?"
Though his words wrenched her heart, Lauren forced herself to answer coldly. "Nothing has changed, Jason. You tricked me. And if this marriage cannot be dissolved, I will seek a divorce. I mean to see a lawyer."
With a sigh, Jason pushed himself off her and rolled to his feet. To Lauren, the separation felt as if a limb had been severed from her body, and she nearly begged him to come back. But she would get over her weakness, she told herself.
She would get over it.
Watching Jason shrug his muscular body into his dressing gown, Lauren was reminded that he had taken her clothes. "I would like to get dressed," she said with renewed hauteur.
Jason looked down at her, his gaze sweeping her lovely body, his eyes feasting on Lauren's nakedness before she quickly covered herself with the sheet. Amused by her misplaced modesty, Jason tied the sash to his robe. "As you wish, my sweet," he replied. "I'll return shortly with your clothing. Perhaps you would care for some privacy in order to freshen up. You'll find water on the washstand, and a brush and comb on the dressing table."
He was gone before she had a chance to reply. Lauren wondered suspiciously why he had given in so easily, but she took advantage of his absence to wash hurriedly. She was sitting at the dressing table, brushing the tangles from her hair when he returned and tossed a number of garments onto the table before her.
Examining them, Lauren wasn't at all pleased to discover several filmy muslin nightdresses, trimmed with lace and ribbons. There were also matching peignoirs, but even worn as sets, they would be transparent enough to appear almost sheer. Lauren's lips tightened. "And just what are these?"
Thrusting his hands in the pockets of his robe, Jason grinned at her. "Proper attire for a bride, of course. Ideal for spending the day in bed with a new husband—or so I was told. I had them made for you along with the rest of your wardrobe, only it wouldn't have been proper of me to give them to you then."
Lauren was dumbfounded by his audacity. Jason was boldly admitting he had been confident of his success all along! "I will not wear these!" she ground out between her teeth.
Jason leaned indolently against the bedpost, surveying her. "Suit yourself, Cat-eyes. I think I like you better in the bedsheet myself. It's easier to remove."
"So you mean to keep me your prisoner!"
His jaw tightened momentarily. When he finally spoke, his tone was gentle, but there was a ring of steel beneath the velvet. "Perhaps we should get a few things straight at the outset, sweetheart. You are my wife, not my prisoner. This house is your home now, as much as it is mine. You will have the freedom of it when I have your promise not to disappear."
Lauren's features had completely iced over. "A promise made under duress isn't worth the breath it takes to utter it," she observed scathingly.
"I will trust your word."
"And if I refuse to give it? How long do you plan to keep me here?"
Jason's gaze never faltered. "For as long as it takes. And since I obviously can't go away and leave you to your own devices, I mean to remain here with you. Though honestly, I can't say that I mind. I can't think of a more delightful prospect than being confined to a bedroom with my lovely new bride. I expect you will soon become accustomed to having me around. Perhaps you might even learn to enjoy my company."
When Lauren continued to regard him in frigid silence, Jason pointed to one of the two exits. "That is the door to the hall. You will discover it unlocked, but I warn you, Sutter has taken up a post on the stairs, and I expect he will be more prepared this time if you try to leave. Certainly you won't find it quite so easy to render him senseless. The adjacent room is a sitting room, but it also leads to the hall. And if you look out the window, you will notice that we are rather high up. The jump is too great to make without risking an injury."
With a sinking heart, Lauren realized that he seemed to have every avenue of escape covered. But surely Lila and Jean-Paul and Matthew wouldn't let him keep her here against her will. That hope, however, was dashed by Jason's next words.
"Don't count on your friends coming to visit. They mean to allow us some time together. They think, by the way, that you are happily married and enjoying your honeymoon with your lustful bridegroom."
Recognizing that further protests would gain her nothing, Lauren folded her hands in her lap. She wouldn't demean herself by begging. Instead she would remain coolly detached while she looked for a way to escape. Her chin lifted as she favored Jason with an arctic stare.
In response, he pushed his shoulders from the bedpost. "And now, if we have that understood between us . . ." His words hung suggestively in the air as he untied the sash to his robe.
In spite of her resolve, Lauren's eyes widened when Jason stripped off his dressing gown. She viewed his magnificent body with supreme wariness, determined to fight him t
o the death this time if he should dare lay a hand on her. But he merely flashed her a knowing grin and stretched his long, corded length out on the bed. Raising his head then, Jason cocked a quizzical brow at her. "Will you join me in a nap?"
She stared at him incredulously. "You're going to sleep?" she exclaimed, allowing the question to slip out unchecked.
"Have you something else in mind, wife?" When Lauren immediately resumed her pose of frosty disdain, Jason lay down again and shut his eyes. "You might not remember it," he murmured wearily, "but you kept me up most of last night."
Lauren bristled at the soft, satisfied smile that curved his lips.
Chapter Seventeen
Lauren had no choice but to spend the remainder of the morning listening to the soft, even sound of Jason's breathing. When at last he woke, her attitude toward him was not only chilly but hostile. Her anger at being tricked was only surpassed by her fury at being held prisoner. As for the question of their marriage, Lauren refused even to consider the ramifications of the ceremony which had been held on board the Siren until Jason set her free.
Jason, on the other hand, appeared to be enjoying the situation. The fact that all his conversations with her were completely one-sided didn't seem to faze him. He talked and teased and laughed, just as if Lauren weren't shooting shardlike glances at him from across the room.
Lauren managed to maintain a stony silence throughout the long day, in spite of Jason's occasional efforts to restore peace between them. She had no intention of even speaking to him, much less making him the promise he wanted. Still, she found it difficult not to respond to Jason's attempts to charm her and coax a smile from her.
She also found that her vow of silence had unsuspected disadvantages. She was thoroughly bored, for one thing, since she had refused to respond to his offer of cards or reading material. And no matter how maddening Jason's calm amusement was, or how insufferable his deliberate patience, she couldn't vent her frustration if she hoped to preserve a barrier of chill reserve between them.
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