“I say we take whatever money she’s got on her and get away while the getting’s good.” Brody leveled his gun at Lauren’s heart.
Panic washed over Lauren. She looked beyond Brody toward the door and caught sight of Jason standing there. His eyes locked with hers, conveying all his strength in that one look before he backed out of view once more.
“Well? She’s no good to us anyway,” Brody muttered.
Suddenly, Beth shrieked at Brody. “You won’t threaten my sister again!” She dropped the diary and grabbed the poker beside the fireplace, stunning both Lauren and Brody.
Before either could react, Beth brought the metal down on Brody’s head, the poker connecting with his skull. A sickening crack reverberated through the room and Brody fell to the floor.
Nauseated and stunned, Lauren stared at her sister. A stranger she didn’t know and probably never had.
“I warned him to leave you alone,” Beth said in a monotone voice.
Lauren swallowed hard. If this was how Beth looked after her, Lauren wanted none of it. She spotted the gun lying next to Brody and started for the weapon.
“No!”
Beth barked out her command and Lauren froze.
Slowly, Lauren straightened, her hands spread out in front of her. “Relax,” she said to her sister. “See? I’m not moving.”
“But I am.” Taking advantage of the chaos, Jason chose that moment to silently make his entrance. He couldn’t get near the gun, but he bolted across the room and grabbed the diary, the one thing Beth desperately wanted.
With a shriek, Beth raised the poker over her head, her gaze narrowed on Jason, who visibly braced himself.
For the blow?
Or to take Beth down?
Lauren knew he could probably handle Beth. He outweighed and outmuscled her, but Lauren didn’t want either one of them hurt.
“Beth, don’t!”
At the sound of Lauren’s voice, Beth paused. “Why not?” she asked, as if it were a reasonable question. “He’s standing in the way of everything. And besides, he’s a Corwin.”
“Because I love him!” Lauren yelled without thinking, her sole focus on stopping her sister.
Her words had the opposite effect. Beth screamed as if she’d been attacked and ran for Jason, poker in hand.
Acting on instinct, Lauren dove for her sister’s legs, knocking her down. The poker fell to the floor at the same time Jason took the diary and tossed it into the barely burning embers in the fireplace.
“No!” Beth scrambled to her knees, grabbed the poker and managed to drag the book out, but it was too late.
The journal had caught fire and Beth had jerked her arm back too hard. The book went flying at the old draperies.
Lauren watched in horror as the entire valance and hanging drapes went up in flames.
“The diary!” Beth wailed, and started crawling toward the fire.
“Don’t move!” Jason said, approaching Beth, gun in hand.
Lauren had been so consumed by the scene in front of her, she hadn’t seen him go for the weapon. Neither had Beth, apparently, and even now, her focus was on the diary, which had already burned.
“Let’s get out of here,” Jason said, warily watching the flames and Beth. “Lauren, go!”
She hesitated, not wanting to leave them, then ran for the doorway. At the same time sirens sounded. She paused and glanced back.
“I called the police,” Jason said. “Get going!” He wrapped his hand around Beth’s arm and began to drag her out of the room, kicking and screaming about losing the diary and the diamonds.
She was so hysterical, he needed all his strength to remove her from the burning room.
The one thing he didn’t need was the gun.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
DÉJÀ VU, Jason thought as the fire department worked to put out the quickly spreading fire inside the house. Outside, the police had taken over. Lauren and Jason were led to the ambulance to be checked by paramedics, for which Jason was grateful. He didn’t want Lauren to have to watch her sister’s ravings any longer than necessary.
They cleared him first and asked him to leave while they checked Lauren. He started to argue, but she waved him away. “I’ll be fine.”
From the pained look in her eyes, he doubted fine would happen anytime soon, but he gave her the space she needed because he could use some, too.
When he’d seen Lauren with a gun held to her chest, he thought he’d pass out right there. Fury had ripped through him along with frustrating impotence because there was nothing he could do. Any impulsive move could have cost her life. Since he’d already called the police, he’d waited for his opportunity.
Lauren had obviously waited for hers, as well. He couldn’t be more proud of her. She’d stunned him on many levels, not the least of which was her strength-of character, of body and of heart.
It was her heart that scared him most of all. A classic case of be careful what you wish for-the woman he loved also loved him back. And she’d gone on to prove it, tackling her sister in an effort to save him.
Love.
At one time he’d thought it was enough. The Perkins-Corwin differences hadn’t bothered him. His family’s negative feelings about Lauren and her sister had never mattered to him. Not even the Corwin Curse had been an issue. Lauren wasn’t her sister or her grandmother. They might share the same genes but she was her own unique person-giving, warm and special.
And therein lay the problem. She deserved a man who was her equal. Once upon a time he would have believed he was that man. Now when he looked in the mirror, he saw a man adrift and without goals. After the highs of competitive snowboarding, merely earning a living in his contracting business wasn’t enough. Neither was living off Lauren’s money and future successes.
He needed to redefine his own goals and dreams. Only then could he give Lauren what she deserved.
LAUREN PUSHED DOWN her sleeve and reached for her coat. Her blood pressure was fine considering the ordeal she’d just been through. She didn’t need oxygen. They’d escaped the fire in time. And though her cheek was sore from where Brody had slapped her, she had no other physical scars.
The emotional ones were another story.
Her sister was certifiably insane. Crazy. Why hadn’t Lauren seen it before? Why had she insisted on believing the best of a woman who had already demonstrated violent tendencies? At least she knew the answer. Because they were related by blood and someone had to believe in Beth if she were going to get better.
But what had Lauren’s Pollyanna attitude gotten her? She had no money left in her bank account, her beloved car belonged to a beautiful model in New York, and she had been finally and irrevocably disillusioned by the remaining family member she’d tried to have faith in.
She took little consolation in the notion that in Beth’s twisted mind, she’d believed she was protecting Lauren. They were family. But when she looked at the devastating consequences, it didn’t seem enough anymore.
“You’re good to go, Ms. Perkins,” the paramedic said.
Lauren nodded. “Thanks.”
She stepped to the edge of the ambulance. Outside, reality awaited her. The burning house, police interrogation and prying eyes.
She drew a deep breath and stepped into the cold night air. It had been too much to hope she wouldn’t have to face anyone. The entire Corwin clan had gathered around Jason.
With her house surrounded by police and firemen, she had nowhere to go in order to escape.
“Lauren, there you are!” Clara’s voice sounded first as she broke through the crowd and headed Lauren’s way.
Her red wool coat stood out from the rest of the group in dark jackets and she ran to Lauren, pulling her into a warm embrace.
At the motherly hug, tears Lauren hadn’t known she was holding back began to flow.