Chapter 7
Jared was too astonished to react. She glared up at him, eyes wide and dark, chest heaving with agitation. At any other time, he would have found her anger ludicrous and would have been greatly amused. Now he stood statuelike as she said scathingly, “You are insufferable, Jared Lockett. Never, never,” she stamped a small foot for emphasis, “insult me as you just have.” She spun around and marched from the room, leaving Jared nonplussed.
As soon as she closed the door of the office behind her, Lauren ran toward the staircase and, quite unladylike, raised her skirt above her ankles and sped up the stairs. By the time she reached her room, her face was bathed with tears. “I hate him!” she professed in a grating whisper. “He’s abominable. They all are,” she cried. The pillows caught her when she fell across the bed. They absorbed her tears and muffled sounds of frustration and anger.
Why!? Why had he thought such a thing about her? What had she done in innocence that made them all suspect her of something evil? Olivia and Carson had been half-convinced that she and Ben had been lovers. Jared must have thought the same thing, and even attributed mercenary motives to her.
Even Abel and Sybil, who had loved her like a daughter, were ready to accept William’s vicious lies about her. Their first expressions of shocked disbelief when William had told his tale had turned to the same contemptuous frown that Jared had worn moments before. She had done nothing to warrant their severe judgment.
William. Even now, when his memory was beginning to fade from her mind, the pain he had inflicted came back with terrific force.
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&nb
sp; The day Ben Lockett left early after breakfast, the Prathers had decided on the spur of the moment to travel to Raleigh for the day. Abel had invited Lauren to accompany them, but the prospect of spending the day in close company with the parson and his wife, much as she loved them, was unappealing. Lauren gave the excuse of a headache and begged them not to change their plans on her account. Indeed, Sybil was already enumerating the stores she wished to visit and naming possible places for a late luncheon.
Lauren waved to the Prathers cheerfully when they finally departed. She was immensely grateful for the day she could spend alone. She needed to nurse her feelings about having given up the opportunity to seek a new life for herself.
The day passed too quickly. She became involved in a new piece of music and spent hours practicing until she played it to her satisfaction. She spent a quiet hour lying on her bed with a novel, but found her thoughts kept drifting back to Ben Lockett. She would never see him again, but he would forever be in her mind. He had been so kind. How she wished her father had been like that.
Resolutely, she shoved Ben to the further reaches of her mind as she cooked an omelet for her dinner. Since Abel and Sybil were to stay the night in Raleigh, she viewed the privacy as an unexpected but welcome gift.
After her light and, for once, well-seasoned meal, she was on her way upstairs when the bell at the front door rang. Accustomed to people calling at all hours seeking Abel for one emergency or another, she opened the door without hesitation.
William Keller stood on the porch.
She was tempted to slam the door in his pale face, but her innate good manners made such an action impossible.
Hoping to rid herself of his company, she said, “Hello, William. Abel isn’t at home.” She barred the door with her body and purposely didn’t ask him in.
The Prathers’ absence was no news to William. Abel had called him about a hospital patient who needed visiting before they left for Raleigh, casually mentioning that Lauren was staying home.
He looked at Lauren smugly and took a step through the door. She was forced to move aside or have her body come into contact with his, and that she would avoid at all costs.
“Good,” William oozed. “I’m glad that I’ll have a chance to speak to you frankly and privately.”
He deposited his hat and coat on the hall tree and proceeded into the parlor, unaffected by Lauren’s cool greeting.
Lauren hadn’t been in this room all day. Apparently neither had anyone else, for the drapes remained unopened and only narrow slits of violet dusk outlined them. The parlor was dim, stuffy, and close, and William’s presence made the atmosphere seem even more stifling.
“What do you want to speak to me about, William? I’m very busy,” she said in a shaky voice. She knew then that the one emotion William had always stimulated in her was fear.
That was ridiculous! What did she have to fear from him? She tilted her chin higher, determined that he would not see her nervousness at being alone with him in an empty house.
William stood in the middle of the room with his hands at his back as he faced her. “Abel has given me permission to ask for your hand in marriage,” he stated pedantically “Before you find yourself unable to resist the advances of men like this recent visiting cowboy. I have decided that we should marry as soon as possible.”
She was aghast at his words, and her nervousness gave way to anger. “Ben Lockett did not make advances to me. But whether he did or not is of no concern to you, William, for I have no intention of marrying you.” She paused to draw in a ragged breath and clasped her hands together at her waist. “This discussion is over. I’ll see you out.”
She turned and walked toward the portiere. Before she reached it, William’s cold hand gripped her arm above the elbow and whirled her around to face him. She was so surprised at his accosting her in this manner that she didn’t try to extricate herself, but only stared at him incredulously.
“Not so fast, Miss Priss,” he snarled. “I’m not finished with you yet.” His voice was a feral growl, and she leaned away from him in revulsion. “You may have everyone else fooled, but not me. What kind of proposition did Lockett make you out there in the rose garden?”
She tried to jerk her arm away, but his grip became painfully more restricting and she winced. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. He asked me to go to Texas for a visit, that’s all.”
“Oh, I just bet he did.” William smirked. “The only visits you’d be paying him would be to his bedroom.”
Lauren gasped. “I… I have no idea what you’re talking about.” This was true. She had only a vague notion of what his words implied, but she knew instinctively that the implication was ugly.