Desire and Deception (49 page)

"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.