Desire and Deception (75 page)

"My mother and father were having a violent argument. He held something in his
hand
. . .
a stick, with a red tip . . . and he was threatening her with it. I saw Mama back away, but he grabbed her. . . . When he held the stick to her arm, she screamed . . . again and again. My father only laughed. I think it must have been a hot iron from the fireplace," Lauren said in a hoarse whisper. "I could smell her burning flesh."

Shuddering, she buried her face against Jason's bare chest. He stroked her hair wordlessly, offering silent comfort, but it was some time before she could go on. "I must have made a noise, for my father turned and saw me. Mama cried out for me to run, but he reached me before I could move.
He . . . he
burned my . . . hand." Lauren raised her left hand, palm up, and Jason caught it
in his own,
kissing it gently. "Mama tried to hit him," Lauren whispered. "When he let me go, I fled back to my room and hid in the trunk which held my clothes. It was so dark, and I couldn't breathe.
I
. . .
I don't . . . remember any more."

"Perhaps," Jason said after a moment, "that was when Jonathan went to Lancashire to see Elizabeth. You could not have been very old at the time. It's possible you witnessed him forcing your mother to give up any claims on him. He must have threatened to hurt you unless she agreed to forget there ever had been a marriage. I wouldn't put it past him. Burroughs said Jonathan Carlin wasn't a very likable man."

There was a hint of fury in Jason's tone, but he managed to repress his anger for Lauren's sake. Tightening his arms around her, he said firmly, "But all that's in the past, Lauren. Come now, you must try to forget. You have only to look to the future, one with me by your side."

His tender assurances lightened the pain in her heart. With tears sparkling in her gold-green eyes, Lauren lifted her face to his. "Love me, Jason," she pleaded in a whisper.

"Always, sweetheart," he said as lips found hers.
"Always."