Desire and Deception

by Nicole Jordan

  Lauren frowned. "But the document you showed me. . . . It was signed Andrea Carlin."

  "A forgery, I'm ashamed to admit. You married me as Lauren Carlin, as you would have known had you checked the Siren's log."

  She stared at him, her gold-flecked eyes wide with bewilderment. "But why?"

  "Why the forgery?" Taking Lauren's gloved hand in his, Jason carried it to his lips. "At the time I thought I might need it to deal with Regina. And I also thought by showing it to you, you might confess who you were." He held her palm against his cheek, holding her gaze as well. "Instead, I drove you further away."

  The remorse in his tone made Lauren's heart turn over. She wanted to reassure him, to tell that she had loved him in spite of her fear of trusting in him, but the coach drew to a halt. Knowing their conversation would be overheard by the servants, Lauren withheld her comments and allowed Jason to help her down. When she saw him glance uncertainly at the house, she asked somewhat worriedly, "You will stay, won't you?"

  The teasing grin he flashed her was more reflective of the Jason Lauren knew. "Of course—if I'm invited."

  "You don't need an invitation to stay in your own house," she returned in an exasperated undertone.

  It was some time before she had further opportunity for private conversation with him. Morrow, of course, was stationed in the foyer to receive their outer garments, and Jason was required to acknowledge the butler's polite greeting. Then Lauren had to wait impatiently while her husband spoke pleasantly to the housekeeper and the third footman. She dismissed all the servants then, but when Lady Agatha swept regally down the stairs, demanding an account of what her scapegrace nephew had been up to, Lauren had had enough.

  She waited till the elderly lady had proffered her slightly withered cheek for Jason to kiss before interrupting the fond exchange between aunt and nephew. "Aunt Agatha, I'm sure you will excuse Jason until tomorrow. He is so very tired after his long voyage."

  Jason raised an amused eyebrow as he met Lauren's gaze. "Oh, yes, exhausted," he agreed blandly.

  The knowing gleam in his blue eyes made Lauren flush with warmth, but fortunately, Lady Agatha required no more falsehoods to understand their wish to be alone. After extracting a promise from Jason to tell her all about his adventure in the morning, the elderly lady took herself off to bed.

  When his aunt mounted the stairs and disappeared around the corner, Jason slipped an arm around Lauren's waist.

  "Well, wife?" he murmured, bending to brush her earlobe with his lips. "Am I too tired to make love to you?"

  Lauren's blush deepened, but she ignored his teasing. "Kyle said you meant to spend the night on board the ship," she remarked as she led the way upstairs.

  "With you so close?" He seemed to be fascinated by the curl at the nape of her neck, for he wouldn't leave off kissing it.

  "Then why didn't you come? For the past nine hours, I've been imagining that you hated me, that I might never see you again."

  "I was just leaving the ship to come here when you arrived at the docks. And, if you must know, I was trying to get up enough courage to face you, to find the nerve to beg your forgiveness."

  "But none of it was your fault," Lauren insisted. "I never blamed you."

  Jason shut the door to his bedroom behind them and immediately began to remove the pins from Lauren's hair. "Perhaps not, but I blamed myself. And I was desperately afraid you might want out of our marriage, I spent the last nine hours trying to think of logical arguments I could use to convince you to stay with me." Tossing aside the last pin, he loosened her hair from its elegant coil and spread the golden mass about Lauren's shoulders, then gently drew her into his arms. "Now I remember but one," he whispered, holding her gaze. "That I love you, that I've always loved you."

  Dazzled by the compelling light in his blue eyes, Lauren looked up at Jason searchingly. His gaze was filled with tenderness and love, leaving no room for doubt. She knew his love was mirrored in her own eyes.

  "I think that is a perfect reason," she returned softly, sliding her arms up to encircle his neck.

  When he bent her head and brushed her lips, Lauren curled her fingers in his thick chestnut hair, anticipating a passionate kiss, but Jason only allowed himself a brief taste of her mouth. Determined to go slowly this time, he drew away, controlling the pace.

  Leisurely, one by one, he removed each of Lauren's garments till she was standing naked before him. Then stepping back, he drank in the sight, his eyes moving slowly over her curving beauty, admiring every facet of it.

  His warm perusal set Lauren's pulses throbbing, but she no longer felt impatience. She was suspended with Jason in an exquisite, private time, and like him, she wanted to savor it, to draw out the moment.

  She helped him undress, letting her fingers roam over his sleek, muscular torso as he shrugged off his shirt, delighting in the knowledge that he was hers to touch, to find pleasure in. And when his other clothes followed, her heartbeat quickened. The breathtaking impact of his tall, powerful body, his flat, hard belly and lean hips, his proud, swollen erection, made her feel warm and weak all over.

  Jason came to her then, and drew her against his magnificent length, the shock of his heated, bare skin making her shiver. His eyes locked with Lauren's for a long moment, before he bent his head again. His mouth was gentle, his kiss as light as gossamer, but his breath was hot against her lips, and she could feel the explosive power he held in check. With exquisite slowness, he traced her lips with his tongue, then parted them, seeking out the secrets hidden to him. The heady invasion aroused a deep pulse of pleasure in Lauren, making her senses spin.

  By the time he led her to the bed, she was quivering with desire. But still Jason refused to rush the moment. He pressed her down, then lay beside her, and began to move his roughened palm gently over her body, softly stroking. Her breaths came more quickly under his skilled ministrations, and the ragged sound could be heard in the silence of the room. When he cupped her breast in his hand, bending to kiss the aroused peak and flick it with his tongue, Lauren whimpered. "Jason, please," she pleaded, trying to pull him closer.

  "Not yet, my love," he said with a smile. The hoarseness of his whisper told Lauren how very close he was to losing control, but he maintained a tight rein on his desire as his lips nibbled a tortuous path down her body. His hand moved slowly along her slender thigh, then urged her to open for him.

  He fondled her intimately, while Lauren's body grew taut with uncontrollable excitement. When his kisses moved lower, and his breath whispered against the golden curls below her abdomen, she gripped Jason's tawny hair and again begged him to take her.

  But his caressing tongue had found the center of her passion. Holding Lauren's writhing hips still, Jason lapped at her slowly, like a contented cat licking cream. The sweet torture was unbearable, and when his tongue gently penetrated her, Lauren's passion exploded. She floated high above him, gliding ever so slowly.

  Only then did Jason stretch out to slide deep within her, renewing his claim on the moist, inner reaches of her body. Kissing her flushed cheeks, he waited till Lauren opened her magnificent amber-green eyes. "Take me deeper, sweetheart."

  "Yes," she gasped, trembling as Jason filled her completely with his rigid fullness. Then her eyes glazed over again with passion as he began to move his hips with a slow, deliberately escalating rhythm.

  His tantalizing thrusts unleashed yet another sweeping wave of desire in Lauren, but the limits of Jason's endurance were exceeded, as well. His hands slid under her to pull her up fiercely, while his sweat-slick body clenched and contracted, raking her, his shudders violent enough to make him cry out her name, before he finally collapsed, his passion at last spent.

  It was some time later before he could find the energy to lift his weight from her. Lauren's arms were wrapped around his neck, though, and she wouldn't let him go.

  Jason managed to roll on his side, facing her. "Now I truly am exhausted," he chuckled, letting his eyes close.
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  Curling against his damp, sinewy body, Lauren sighed with contentment. She had almost dozed off when her stomach began an insistent clamoring. "Jason?"

  "Hmmm?" he responded drowsily.

  "I'm afraid I'm hungry."

  "Give me another minute and I'll try to satisfy your insatiable appetite."

  "That isn't what I meant," she returned wryly. "I really am starving. I haven't had anything to eat today. I was too worried."

  Prying open one eyelid, Jason regarded her with a baleful glare. "I told Aunt Agatha to take better care of you than that."

  "It wasn't her fault. She did try, several times."

  Lauren got out of bed and retrieved a filmy peignoir from the armoire. Watching her, Jason sat up, fully awake now. "Where are you going?"

  "To the kitchens to find something to eat. Would you like me to bring you anything?"

  "No, I'm coming with you. I haven't been eating too well lately either. Besides"—Jason grinned a mischievous little-boy grin—"I know where Cook keeps the scones."

  Hand in hand, unsuccessfully smothering their laughter, they made their way downstairs to the kitchen. Jason found enough food to feed an entire ship's crew, and shortly he and Lauren were seated at the wooden table, enjoying cold pheasant, leftover kidney pie, and a bottle of vintage Burgundy. Eyeing the date on the label, Jason declared the wine must have been aging in the cellar since the last time he had sneaked a midnight snack fifteen years previously.

  "You never did tell me what happened to Rafael," Lauren said when her hunger was somewhat assuaged.

  "No," Jason agreed in a grim tone. "Suffice it to say that he was punished for his crimes." He avoided Lauren's gaze as he raised the bottle to his lips and drank deeply; he didn't plan to tell her about the challenge he had made to the pirate.

  Rafael had been captured during the fall of Algiers and sentenced to hang, but Jason had offered to fight him for his freedom. The offer had been accepted, but evidently Rafael's fellow pirates hadn't favored the idea that their leader might escape their own fate. That same night, Rafael had been butchered in his cell by his own men. It could not have been an easy death, Jason had realized upon seeing the bloody remains of the body. But perhaps, after all, it was a fitting end to a man who had lost any regard for the value of human life. Jason meant to spare his wife the unsavory details, however.

  "Is that all you intend to say?"

  Jason looked up to find Lauren watching him intently. Instantly his grim expression vanished and a teasing smile curved his lips. "For now, Cat-eyes. Someday I'll tell you what happened, provided you give me no more trouble for the next fifty years."

  Lauren realized she was being fobbed off, but decided to let the subject drop. "I knew you would find some means of getting your way!" she remarked, matching his light tone. "Very well, then, I have a bargain for you. I get to hear the entire story when I present you with your first son."

  "Make it my first grandson and you have a deal."

  Smiling provocatively, Lauren rose and walked around to Jason's side of the table. "That will take too long."

  "Not if we work at it," Jason pointed out as he drew Lauren down onto his lap and kissed her. "But this isn't the place," he added huskily when he raised his head. "I don't intend for the servants to walk in and find me fondling my wife."

  Lauren sighed. "It was much easier being poor without a great name to uphold."

  "Certainly more private," he agreed. "Don't be disappointed, sweetheart. I fully intend to take you upstairs and ravish your body again, but we have a few things to discuss first."

  She raised a delicate eyebrow. "Such as?"

  "Such as George Burroughs." When Jason felt Lauren's body stiffen, he tightened his hold around her waist and went on doggedly. "Before he died, Burroughs made two last requests of me. One was that he be buried next to his sister Mary. The other was that I explain to you his reasons for using you as he did. He greatly regretted his actions toward you, Lauren. He wanted your forgiveness."

  Lauren searched Jason's face, noting how serious his expression had become. When he seemed to be waiting for her permission to speak, she nodded solemnly, knowing that the past had to be dealt with before they could look to the future.

  "It began with your parents' marriage," Jason said quietly. "Jonathan Carlin was visiting friends in Lancashire when he met your mother and married her. It wasn't common knowledge, though, since he returned to London without her. Shortly afterward, Jonathan . . . seduced Burroughs's sister Mary.

  "Burroughs was livid when Mary came to him in tears, claiming she was pregnant. He wanted to call Jonathan out, but Mary declared she loved him and wanted him for her husband, so Burroughs gave in. He was a major partner in the Carlin Line by then, and he threatened to withdraw his entire investment unless Jonathan married his sister. As a result a ceremony was held. The marriage was meaningless, though, since Jonathan already had a wife."

  Lauren gave Jason a puzzled frown. "But why didn't he simply admit it?"

  "Because, my love, an unlawful marriage to Mary gave him the perfect leverage. Burroughs couldn't pull his capital out of the company, not as long as Jonathan held the threat of scandal over Mary's head. Bigamy is illegal, but Mary would have suffered far more than Jonathan if the truth had come out."

  "So that's why he destroyed the proof of his first marriage?"

  "Not destroyed, confiscated. He had the page of the church registry removed in case Elizabeth decided to go to the courts. The record is back where it belongs, incidentally. Jonathan had kept it hidden along with a will naming you his sole heir. . . . But I'm deviating from the story. Elizabeth was growing desperate since Jonathan hadn't returned any of her letters, so after your birth, she came to London to see him. She was refused admittance to his house, but she managed to find out about Mary and Andrea. Elizabeth went to the Carlin offices then, and confronted Jonathan in a big scene. He lied to her, of course, told her their marriage had been a sham. And Burroughs didn't contradict him."

  "Burroughs knew the truth, though, didn't he?"

  Jason nodded. "But his overwhelming concern was to protect Mary. She was his only sister and he felt responsible for her, especially since her had insisted on the marriage in the first place. He was determined that Mary should never find out that her marriage was illegal. As far as I can tell, she never did. At any rate, Burroughs never saw Elizabeth again. Jonathan went to see her some years later, after she had written him asking for money, but when he returned, he told Burroughs he had settled the matter."

  Lauren looked away, fixing her gaze on a point beyond Jason's shoulder. "All that time . . . my parents really were married," she murmured.

  Gently, Jason took her face in his hands. "That's right, sweetheart. You were Lauren Carlin before you became Lauren Stuart. You never were illegitimate."

  "But why? Why didn't he tell me?"

  "Burroughs, you mean? Because he didn't want any shame attached to his sister's name, even after her death."

  "But what about my mother? What about her shame? Her family disowned her because of the disgrace!"

  Jason's gaze was sympathetic. "I'm not condoning what Burroughs did. I'm just telling you his reasons for keeping silent. Later, he had Andrea to consider. She became his responsibility when Mary and Jonathan were murdered, and he, felt it his duty to protect her inheritance. After Andrea died, he decided that you should have the Carlin fortune."

  "Not because it was rightfully mine, but because he wanted to keep it from Regina!"

  Jason reached up to stroke Lauren's hair. "For both reasons. By then he suspected Regina of being an accomplice in the Carlins' deaths, and was determined that she shouldn't benefit from her crimes. He also wanted to protect you from Regina, which is why he arranged your marriage to me. He meant to explain it all to you when we were safely wed."

  Lauren's eyes clouded with pain. "But I would have understood. I would have helped him thwart Regina, had he told me the truth. Instead he threatened to lo
ck me in the cellars to ensure I would do his bidding. And he called me 'Jonathan's bastard'."

  "I expect he was still grieving, my love. You were a living reminder of Jonathan's duplicity, and he probably blamed you—wrongly—for even existing. Besides, he didn't know what a loyal friend and ally you could be."

  Lauren shook her head slowly. "It isn't just what he did to me, Jason, but what he did to my mother. He let her suffer needlessly. We couldn't even afford to buy laudanum so she could sleep with the pain. I don't know if I can forgive him for that."

  Pulling Lauren more closely against him, Jason rested his cheek against her hair. "Well, he did do one thing for which I'll always be grateful. He arranged our marriage. If not for him, I might never have obtained the Carlin Line."

  Lauren heard the teasing note in his voice and knew Jason was trying to ease her distress. She sighed, realizing it was foolish to let the past upset her. She had Jason now and that was all that mattered. Drawing back to gaze at him, she let her eyes roam lovingly over the noble features of his face. "Well," Lauren replied, making an effort to smile, "I suppose we made a fair exchange. I ended up with a title."

  Jason returned her gaze as he took a strand of her hair and drew it softly over his lips. "I hope, Cat-eyes, that you finally believe that I love you for yourself and not for whatever wealth you have."

  "I do, Jason. And I hope you realize how much I regret not having more faith in you. I had a great deal of time to think about it while you were gone, I came to realize why I was so afraid to trust you. I was afraid to expose myself to the kind of hurt and pain my mother knew. But I should have told you the truth."

  "Well," he murmured, "we've had too many secrets between us, but that's behind us now. You do, however, have a decision to make concerning what to say about your own past. You could tell the truth, or you could let the world assume your mother passed away before Jonathan remarried."