Lauren took her cue of dismissal and stood as she said, “Yes, thank you, Mrs. Lockett.”
She summoned all of her poise as she nodded to them in turn and then glided to the heavy panels of the door. Olivia called her name sharply. “Miss Holbrook.”
“Yes?” Lauren said tremulously as she turned back to face them.
“There’s something I must know.”
“Olivia, please—” Carson interjected. He was ignored.
“Were you my husband’s mistress?”
Mistress! The word screamed at her, echoing in her head and ricocheting off the walls of the room. Had Olivia thrown stones at her, Lauren couldn’t have felt more abused. Her cheeks flamed with color, but her whole body had turned cold.
“No!” she gasped. “Whatever…? No, no.” She was too astonished by the question to deny the allegation more eloquently.
“I didn’t think so,” was Olivia’s only reply. “We’ll see you at dinner.”
Retracing her way to her room, Lauren barely held on to a tenuous thread of composure. When she was in her room, she collapsed on the bed and cried. She felt mortification for her naïveté and Olivia’s surmise. All too recently similar words had been flung at her, and had been equally unjust. Why was she suspect?
She grieved for a man whom she had trusted and who had deceived her. Trepidation for an ominous future consumed her.
Two months! What had Ben expected to happen in that time? And at the end of those sixty days, what was she to do?
* * *
She dressed carefully for dinner, wearing one of the two nice dresses in her wardrobe. It was made of soft lilac voile. Slender pleats and tiny pearl buttons adorned the bodice, and a high, lace-lined collar reached to just under her jaw. The skirt fell in soft folds to the instep of her white leather slippers.
Elena assisted her with her toilette. It seemed almost natural now for the Mexican girl to help her bathe and dress. Lauren had always been more or less alone, but these last few days seemed the loneliest of her life, and she was grateful for her new companion.
The dining room was decorated with the same elegant understated taste evident in the rest of the house. If either Carson or Olivia noticed Lauren’s reddened eyes, they didn’t mention them as they took their seats.
The meal was served by an obese Mexican woman who Lauren supposed was Rosa, Elena’s mother. Each time she carried in a platter of food, she looked at Lauren and smiled with open friendliness. Lauren smiled back thankfully.
The food was sumptuous and she ate everything except the beans and picante sauce, which seemed to be a staple at every meal except breakfast.
The conversation was limited to trivial, everyday topics, and since Lauren had supervised many dinners similar to this in the Prathers’ parsonage, she was at ease. She wondered at the absence of Jared Lockett, and started violently the first time Carson made reference to him. His not being there seemed of no concern to them. Olivia mentioned to Carson in passing that Jared would be at Keypoint for several days.
Olivia was relieved to see that Lauren Holbrook exhibited good manners at least. If someone came to call, she wouldn’t have to explain a gauche, stupid strumpet, which was how she had pictured the girl when Ben had first told her about Lauren. She was obviously well read, and maintained her composure this afternoon even when she resorted to that weak, feminine trait of crying. How sweet, how captivating, thought Olivia sarcastically. Carson had naturally succumbed to the tears, as all men did. They couldn’t resist a vulnerable woman.
Carson Wells had indeed felt compassion for Lauren’s pitiful state this afternoon. She wasn’t the scheming, devious woman he had feared she would be. He had expected a floozy who would drop a baby on the Locketts’ doorstep, declaring Ben’s paternity and demanding a sizable purse.
Lauren Holbrook was an innocent, a victim of circumstances. Olivia could have spared the girl the question about her relationship to Ben. He hadn’t wanted her for a lover, Carson was certain of that. Ben had liked them lusty, naughty, and buxom. This fragile, doe-eyed young woman could melt a man’s heart with her delicate beauty, but she would never have stirred the loins of Ben Lockett.
As for Carson, there was only one woman for him. Always had been. But no man was ever going to possess her. No man. Still, Carson loved Olivia Lockett. After all this time, after all the pain she had put him through, after having to bear the guilt of betraying his best friend, Carson loved her.
The talk turned to business, and Lauren listened distractedly, not really grasping or caring about the subject. Instead, she speculated on which chair Jared sat in when he ate in this dining room.
A few facts did manage to arrest her attention. The Locketts owned the Coronado Bank. They were trying to get a railroad trunk to Coronado, though there were some obstacles involved. Keypoint was managed by someone named Mendez, though the Locketts were apprised of the profits and liabilities to the penny.
Carson was speaking in an emphatic voice. “We’ve got to get Vandiver out here and wine and dine him, Olivia. He’s the power behind it. Without him, we don’t get the railroad. Now that Ben… well, now is the time to approach him again.”
“We’ll have to come to terms with the water rights, you know,” Olivia said coolly.
“That’s something we’ll face when the time comes. The important thing now is for us to let them know we’re interested. What about Jared, Olivia? Do you think he’ll object?”
“Jared will do whatever we tell him to,” she snapped. “There may be some resistance but he knew that Ben wanted the railroad. I think that’s the point to
stress to him.”