Her mother’s voice went low and throaty. “He’ll pick you up and carry you to his bed and his arms will be so strong you will think he could break you in half if he wanted to.” Her lips stretched into a smile of pleasure. “His body will be fine. So fine it will make you ache with wanting him. His chest will be hard and thick with a pelt of hair as black as soot. And when he enters you, when he takes you, he will give you the kind of pleasure no mortal man ever could.” Maxine’s face contorted. “Ahhhhhh!”
The heat withdrew in a rush of coiled spite.
“No!” the older woman gasped. “Please!” She shivered, moaned in abject disappointment as she squeezed her thighs together, her hand clutching desperately at the material covering her legs. Her vision rolled into focus, and she became aware of her daughter staring at her. She tore her gaze from Lauren and tried to still the thumping of her heart inside her chest, tried to quell the intense sexual heat flooding her lower body. A thin trickle of drool was oozing down the corner of her mouth and she snatched up a napkin from the holder on the table and blotted her face.
“Mama?” Lauren questioned, taking a step toward her mother.
“The devil’s spawn, he’ll be,” her mother whispered as she wiped her mouth on the napkin. “And he’ll take your virgin body with a cruelty and lust you can not imagine!” She stood up, pushing away from the table with a grunt. “And what will you have after you lose your maidenhead to a man like that, missy?”
Lauren gaped at her mother, jerking as Maxine Fowler’s next words were flung at her like pelting stones.
“A whore! That’s what you’ll be! A whore just like Angeline Hellstrom! You will be his whore for as long as he wants you!”
Lauren’s mouth dropped open as her mother stormed out of the kitchen. She followed her, amazed. At the door, her mother turned and pointed a finger at her. “You’ll be just like her, missy. Just like her!” She rushed through the screen door and hurried to her car as though the hounds of hell were on her heels. The door slammed on the car and the motor ground as her mother twisted the key too hard in the ignition. As her daughter watched, Maxine Fowler peeled away from the curb, tires squealing in protest, and sped away.
He watched the look of confusion and alarm leave Lauren’s face as he stood across the street and observed her. He ached to reach out, to touch her in a similar way to the way he had touched her mother, but he knew he wouldn’t. Knew he couldn’t. As much as he wanted her, he wanted her to come to him as any human woman would come to her mate. He wanted her to want him as much as he wanted her.
His dark, fathomless gaze moved away from Lauren as tires squealed around the corner at the far end of the street. A humorless smile touched his full lips and his attention moved gently back to the woman who stood on her porch, shaking her head.
“Lauren,” he whispered.
He saw her head come up and he stepped back into the shadows, away from her searching look. She had answered his call, not even knowing from whence it had come, not really hearing the soft sigh of her name on his lips, but feeling it deep in her soul.
“My Lauren.” The whisper was like the soughing of the wind and he smiled as she shivered, wrapping her arms about her as she stepped away from the door her home. His eyes turned hot as a blazing inferno.
“Mine,” he claimed her and then blended into the lush foliage behind him .
Chapter Eight
Angeline Hellstrom smiled. “Sales at the store are doing quite well since you took over as manager.” She took a sip of her coffee, viewing Lauren over the rim. As she returned the cup to the table, she smiled again. “I believe I made a very good choice in picking you.”
Lauren looked down at her plate. “Thank you.” She couldn’t seem to look the woman in the face today not after yesterday afternoon’s talk with Syntian Cree.
Angeline’s smile slipped slowly away. “Is something wrong, Lauren?” she asked, reaching out to touch the young woman’s arm.
The cool touch of Angeline Hellstrom’s fingers on her flesh drove the fleeting thought of Syntian deeper into Lauren’s mind and she glanced up at Angeline, shaking her head. “I guess I’m just tired,” she answered. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
The older woman sat back in her chair and regarded Lauren for a long, silent moment until Lauren blushed under the intense scrutiny. Lowering her head once more, she let the long wave of her unbound hair obscure her face from Angeline’s gaze.
“He’s not worth it, Lauren,” Angeline said. When the young woman’s head came up and her wounded eyes speared straight into Angeline’s, the other woman shrugged. “Your sleeplessness, dear. Syn is very good at what he does, but he’s not worth losing sleep over.”
Lauren’s blush deepened and she tried to turn away from the gentle look coming from Angeline Hellstrom’s probing stare but the older woman reached out to take her chin and force her to look at her.
“I know Syn can be a very stimulating man, Lauren. He’s a remarkable man, a pleasure to be with, but he can be very cruel and unfeeling sometimes, not even meaning to be.” She smiled, sighing ruefully. “Women to him are an avocation. He needs variety and I can accept that. Can you?”
The stain turned scarlet red on Lauren’s cheeks. “There’s nothing between us, Mrs. Hellstrom.”
“Though not for lack of trying on his part, I would imagine,” Angeline said.
There was great hurt and sadness in Lauren as she forced herself to return Angeline’s look. “I’ve never had a man be nice to me like he’s been,” she confessed, the admission making her face screw up with embarrassment. “I didn’t know how to react to it.”
“Something upon which Syntian unconsciously acted,” Angeline said. At Lauren’s look of puzzlement at the remark, the older woman leaned forward. “You are a challenge to him, dear. He’s used to women falling all over themselves to gain his attention. You, on the other hand, have had very little experience with the opposite sex.”
“No experience at all,” Lauren admitted.
Angeline’s lovely face clouded. “None?”
Lauren mutely shook her head.
The gleam of understanding in Angeline turned to pity for the girl. “Not even dating?”
“No, ma’am.” A single lonely tear eased its way down Lauren’s cheek as she opened her eyes.
Something akin to contrition shot through Angeline’s being and she drew in a long, wavering breath. “And Syntian’s little flirtations must have seemed a Godsend to you,” she said in a soft, understanding voice.
Lauren looked up. “I really thought he was interested in me.” She couldn’t go on for her eyes were blurring with tears.
“He seemed sincere, didn’t he, dear?”
“Yes,” came the whispered, ashamed answer.
Angeline lifted her head and gazed out over the restaurant. No one was looking their way; no one to observe the softly crying woman sitting beside her. The older woman’s lids were slit with compassion, an emotion she had not thought herself capable of feeling. The empathy she was experiencing with the young woman made her acutely uneasy and she regretted her use of Lauren Fowler in her effort to punish Syntian. “Have the two of you been friends long?” she heard Lauren ask.
Angeline looked at the girl. “Do you mean have we been lovers for very long?” At Lauren’s wince, Angeline almost felt ashamed. “I’ve known him for thirty years. We’ve been lovers off and on for most of that time.”
A frown of confusion wrinkled Lauren’s smooth forehead. “Thirty years?” She gazed into Angeline’s unlined face. Although the woman had an expert hand in applying her makeup, the fine lines and wrinkles around her eyes and mouth gave away telltale signs of her age. Lauren thought her to be in her mid-fifties, but Syntian? He couldn’t have even reached his mid-thirties yet.
“He’s older than you think,” Angeline said gently. “We both are. You’re what? Forty-four?” At Lauren’s nod, she smiled. “I meant to send you a birthday card, but things were just s
o hectic that week.”
“You did?” Lauren asked, amazed, not knowing the subject of age had been deftly cast aside.
“Of course, I did,” Angeline smiled. She reached out to pat Lauren’s hand. “Why wouldn’t I? I like you, dear. You remind me so much of myself when I was younger.” Her smile turned thoughtful. “I was horribly shy and unsure of myself.”
“You?” Lauren gasped.
Angeline laughed. “Why not? I was such a shrinking violet I walked down the school halls with my eyes on the floor, my shoulder pressing against the walls, and my books clutched so tightly to my chest my mother never had to press the bodices of my dresses!” At her tinkling laugh, she saw Lauren’s lips twitch. “Can’t you just picture it?” she asked. “Here’s this scrawny little reed of a thing huddling along the hallways, books clasped to her flat little chest; pimples spread out like wildfire over her plain face; hair so lackluster and limp it defied curlers; a body that was ungraceful and gangling and nondescript. Not once was I ever asked out in high school. You know how it feels not to be asked to your proms?” At Lauren’s solemn nod of understanding, Angeline sighed. “I was so desperate to go, I finally screwed up my courage and asked one of the nerdy boys who I knew wouldn’t have the guts to ask anyone to go with them. I was crushed when even he turned me down.”
“But you’re so lovely,” Lauren protested. “I can’t imagine you looking any other way.”
“It wasn’t until I went to college that I began to bloom,” Angeline explained. “I took some courses in ancient religions and one day Syntian walked in.” Her vision clouded for a fraction of a second before she blinked and refocused. She seemed to mentally shake herself.
“He went to the same college?” Lauren wondered at the look that had come over her employer’s face.
Angeline shook her head. “He came to class one day, interested at the course on demonology that was being taught. He sat down next to me and when he smiled...” She sighed. “You are aware of what that smile of his can do to a woman!”
Lauren ducked her head. “I’m afraid so.”
The older woman finished her coffee before she spoke again. “You know, Lauren, he’s not a gigolo.” As the young woman’s head snapped up, Angeline shrugged. “He called me to demand what it was I possibly could have said to you that made you think such a thing of him. He was mortally offended, I’m afraid.” She chuckled softly. “The man has a massive ego and to have a woman think him a boy toy absolutely devastated him.”
Lauren’ flinched. “I shouldn’t have accused him. I didn’t mean to offend him.”
“He’s not angry at you,” Angeline hastened to say. “He’s furious at me!” She laughed. “He was telling you the truth, Lauren. It is a business deal between the two of us.”
“I don’t understand,” Lauren admitted.
“I know you don’t, dear, but what is between Syn and me has nothing whatsoever to do with the way he feels about you.” She put her hand over Lauren’s and squeezed. “There will always be a connection between him and me because we have a long, long history together.” She withdrew her hand. “He really would like to take you out, Lauren. If you wish to accept his offer of a date, I think I can manage to sever our sexual relationship.” She looked away a moment. “There are many more where he came from.”
Her mother’s words cut through Lauren like a hot knife through melting butter. She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can accept a date with him under the circumstance. My mother—”
“Did you know your mother and I went to high school together?” At Lauren’s look of surprise, Angeline nodded. “Graduated the same year from college, too.”
“But that would make you as old as my mother!”
“I told you I was older than you thought I was,” Angeline laughed. She blotted her lips with the linen napkin then tucked it beside her plate. “I’m sixty-eight.” One lush, dark, perfectly tweezed brow lifted at Lauren’s look of stunned surprise. “Don’t look so shocked, dear. I think I’ve held together rather nicely, myself.”
“Of course you have!” Lauren gasped. “I just would never have imagined.”
Angeline smiled. “I take better care of myself as I get older. It’s hard holding back the hands of time, but it can be done very effectively if you just know the secret.”
“You’ve found the Fountain of Youth,” Lauren teased.
The older woman’s face glowed. “You might say I have.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “His name is Syntian Cree.” When the blush returned to Lauren’s face, Angeline shook her head. “We’ve got to work on that blush, dear. It keeps giving you away!”
“You said you went to school with Mama,” Lauren said, wanting to change the subject.
“Maxie Grant was the prettiest girl in school. She had all the boys eating out of her hand, so therefore, never lacked for a date on the weekends. She was head cheerleader, prom queen, homecoming queen. She had so many titles I couldn’t keep up with them.” A frown passed over Angeline’s lovely face. “I envied her.”
“I’ve never seen her yearbooks,” Lauren confessed. “She never mentioned high school to me.”
“She was the belle of the ball every year,” Angeline said. Her voice was filled with a slight hint of anger. “She had the tendency, even back then, to act as though she was better than anyone else. But she met your father our first year at FSU and I’m afraid he was her downfall.”
“He wasn’t a very likable man,” Lauren said, her voice soft.
“He was a bastard,” Angeline told her. She seemed to shudder. “He was as bad a man as any I’ve ever met.”
“And he turned my mother against men,” Lauren added.
Angeline shook her head. “It wasn’t him who did that, Lauren. It was another man.”
Lauren’s brows lifted. “I didn’t know there’d been anyone but my father.”
“Oh, yes,” the older woman said, nodding. “A man Maxie fell hopelessly in love with. She fell so hard for him it wasn’t funny. She would have done anything for him.”
“Can you tell me about him?”
Angeline smiled, but to Lauren, the smile was filled with a large amount of revenge. “They were quite the item around campus. She was dating both him and your father, but it was that man she wanted and set her cap for.” She gazed intently out the window. “There was another girl.” Her face puckered with remembrance. “A lonely, sad girl who caught his attention. He went to her, wanting to help her, needing to help her, but when your mother found out what he had done, she caused a lot of trouble for the poor thing.” Angeline closed her eyes. “He was infuriated when he learned what Maxie had done. After that, he wouldn’t have anything more to do with her.” She opened her eyes and turned to look at Lauren. “He became my lover, instead.”
Lauren could not dredge up a picture of her mother as a young woman, especially a woman in love, but she could picture a bitter woman who had been hurt badly by the man she loved. “How did she take that?”
“She was devastated, I can assure you. Ever since she’d been in her early teens, she’d always gotten whatever it was she went after. She’d found the secrets to making life go as you want it to long before I did, but I’m afraid the teachers she had weren’t nearly as good as mine.” Angeline smiled again. “When she realized what had happened, that I had taken the man she wanted away from her, using the same tactics she’d always used to get men to notice her, she was absolutely livid.” A small, dry laugh escaped Angeline’s pretty mouth. “She sent out these ridiculous flyers all over campus accusing me of being a witch and having put a spell on the gentleman in question.”
“That sounds like my mother,” Lauren observed in embarrassment. “She thinks everyone she dislikes is a witch.”
“It takes one to know one!” Angeline chuckled.
“What happened to him? The gentleman?” Lauren wanted to know.
“Oh, he’s still around. I see him now and again.” She shook her head
. “He’s not the marrying kind.” Her eyes locked with Lauren’s. “At least not with me, he isn’t.”
“So then Mama married Daddy,” Lauren stated.
“On the rebound and to leave school, I suppose.” A nasty little twitch moved her expressive mouth. “She was pregnant with your sister so that may have had something to do with her marrying so quickly.”
Lauren was floored; she’d had no idea her sister had been conceived out of wedlock. “Was she his child?” she stammered.
“Was it our mutual lover’s child?” Angeline asked. An amused smile flitted over her expressive mouth. “It’s highly possible.”
“That explains why Mama talks about men the way she does,” Lauren said, almost to herself.
“And because I took her lover away from her, she calls me a whore.” Angeline laughed. “And sometimes I am.” When Lauren looked up at her with shock, Angeline shook her head. “Don’t worry, dear. I have no intention of corrupting you, but I’d be willing to bet Maxie’s warned you that I might.”
“I don’t make value judgments, Mrs. Hellstrom,” Lauren said. “I’ve had enough made about me that I know how it feels.”
“I know, dear,” Angeline said, sobering. She enclosed Lauren’s hand with hers. “That’s why I think you should accept Syn’s friendship. He’s a perfect gentleman and he wouldn’t do anything to harm your reputation.”
“I don’t think it would be appropriate.”
“If you’re worried about the relationship between him and me, don’t. We’re old friends, Lauren, and nothing can ever change that, but I don’t own the key to his heart.” She squeezed Lauren’s hand. “I don’t think anyone has for a long, long time, but I see a glimmer of hope when he speaks of you that I’ve never seen before. He really cares for you.”
“I shouldn’t,” Lauren whispered. “I don’t know him very well at all.”
“The only way you’re going to get to know him, Lauren, is to go out with him!” Angeline reminded her. “What harm will it do? Let him take you to supper, to a movie. But I warn you he’s a horror movie buff. You’d better do the choosing or you’ll wind up watching Jason shearing off some poor teenager’s noggin’!”
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