DECEIT OF A PAGAN Page 8

  Templar's return to comparative good health had taken quite a long time and it was now nearly a month since she had first become ill. True to his word, Leon had carried her downstairs each day, but he had left her immediately on doing so, only returning to assist her back up the stairs. Templar felt that instead of at least getting to know each other in their marriage they were becoming further apart.

  Leon came through from the cockpit, a smile of satis­faction on his harsh features. 'And how is my little family?' He looked at her searchingly. 'Are you all right. Templar?'

  She laughed brokenly. 'I'll be fine once I get out in the fresh air.' She looked down as Keri began strug­gling awake in her arms, her face tearful.

  'Here,' Leon took the baby into his arms. 'You are not going to cry, are you, little one?' he crooned softly, and miraculously she didn't. Her flushed little face broke into a becoming smile, showing clearly her four white milk-teeth in the front of her mouth. 'That is better,' he chuckled at her self-satisfied expression. 'And now we have to get your mama out into the sun­shine and soon she will forget this part of her holiday and look forward to the rest of it, will you not?'

  Templar blushed in confusion, her thoughts far away as she watched the two of them together. 'I—I—well, I hope so.'

  'You will,' he promised her.

  As usual he was proved correct. She soon became enthralled with her new surroundings. A white limou­sine was waiting for them at the airport, and from the preferential treatment they were all given Templar could only assume Leon often visited here and was well known. He pointed out different places of interest on their drive along the coast, talking quite imperson­ally of other trips he had made to the villa.

  Templar loved the villa on sight, loving its one-floor ranch-like design. It was long and rambling, with pos­sibly half a dozen bedrooms or more, a huge lounge, two large bathrooms and a kitchen which Leon in­formed her was to remain solely Marie Duval's domain.

  'We do not want a strike on our hands,' he told her.

  As Templar had no intention of interfering she felt his warning was quite unnecessary. It appeared that the Duvals had their own living accommodation at the side of the villa. Templar had expected the villa to be much smaller than this and so instead of finding a cosy intimate atmosphere she was confronted with the same strangeness of their house in England. Just what had she been expecting, that this would be a normal happy family holiday like other people shared? If she had ex­pected that she was to be sadly disappointed.

  Leon handed the sleepy baby over to Lucy. 'Marie will show you to the nursery while I give Mrs. Marcose a cup of Marie's excellent coffee. Join us when you are ready, Lucy.'

  'Yes, sir.'

  Templar accepted the cup of steaming coffee, find­ing it just as delicious as he had said it would be. 'What do you plan to do with the rest of the day?' she asked conversationally.

  He shrugged his broad shoulders. 'What do most people do on holiday? I intend to have a leisurely lunch and then spend the afternoon soaking up the sun on the glorious beach at the back of the villa.'

  Her eyes opened wide, showing her surprise. 'You do? But don't you have any work you should be doing?'

  'Should I have?'

  She shrugged. 'But I thought this would be a busi­ness trip for you.'

  'Then you thought wrong. This will suffice as the honeymoon most people think we have anticipated^" He saw her shocked look. 'It is true. My friends have all accepted Keri as my child, and they all know that we have only been married a matter of weeks rather than years.'

  'Are they shocked?'

  'Why should they be shocked? I am a man and you are very much a woman.'

  'I'd be shocked in the same circumstances.'

  'You do not preach what you practise,' was his parting comment.

  Templar was more formally introduced to the French couple who looked after the villa at lunchtime, and found that although they understood English they spoke the language very little themselves. Marie seemed to be smiling most of the time and Templar thought she was going to prove very pleasant. Keri was an instant hit with both the Duvals.

  She looked at Leon as her attention was caught and held by the mention of Alex, Leon's brother. 'What did she say?' she whispered once Marie had bustled away. 'About Alex, I mean.'

  Leon shrugged. 'It was not important.’

  'But you look—annoyed.'

  He stood up, taking his freshly poured coffee with him. 'I am not annoyed. Marie merely said that now I have Keri perhaps it will help me over Alex's death.' He stared sightlessly at the beautiful golden beach be­fore him.

  'I see,' she bit her lip nervously.

  Leon turned sharply to face her. 'And just what do you see, Templar? I wish I could understand you, get behind that exterior of yours. Does the fact that your child's father is dead not worry you at all? Or did you just not care enough?'

  'I've told you '

  'Told me what?' His eyes narrowed to grey slits. 'You have told me nothing. When I ask if you loved Alex, you say that Keri was born out of love, not that you loved my brother, but that Keri was born out of love. You are evasive and you prevaricate. I ask what this girl Tiffany means to you and you say she was a friend. Does the death of a friend a year ago affect you more than the death of the man you were supposed to love? Does it?'

  'Tiffany was—she was a very close friend.' Templar was pale, she couldn't meet the fierceness of his gaze. 'Closer than Alex?'

  'Alex and—and I had parted company before I even knew about Keri. Tiffany was a lifelong friend.' She still kept her head lowered.

  'And Alex was your lover!'

  Templar hung her head. She had no way of getting herself out of this situation other than blatantly lying, something she had so far managed not to do. 'Alex was —He didn't love me!'

  'I know that!' Leon snapped. 'Alex loved a girl called Tiffany—a girl that you appear to know too. Did you know he loved this other girl?'

  She stared at him in wonder. 'How do you know Alex loved Tiffany?'

  'Because he chose to tell me so! Did you know about it?' he repeated.

  Templar shook her head dazedly. Alex had loved Tiffany! It seemed too good to be true. 'I—No—no, I didn't know. I knew Tiffany loved him, but not until— not until she died.'

  'Perhaps she was afraid to tell you, this friend of yours? Perhaps she was afraid that your jealousy would lead you to do something stupid, something that would take Alex away from her, perhaps inform him of your condition and so make him honour bound to marry you, as I have done. I take it your friend knew of the coming baby?' His eyes were rapier-sharp.

  She could almost have laughed at such a question if she wasn't feeling quite so inwardly elated at the shared love of Keri's parents. And yet there were still questions unanswered, questions that might never be answered now. Such as, if Alex had loved Tiffany why had he spurned her when she was to have had his child, and why two people so much in love had died not knowing of that love. So many questions, and no one alive to answer them.

  She couldn't look at her husband, hating more and more the contempt she never failed to see in his eyes for her even when he wasn't being taunting. 'Yes, she knew,'she told him bluntly.

  'I thought as much. So she made no effort to contact my brother because she knew you were to have his child?'

  'No, she didn't, she——' She broke off in confusion, realising she had almost said too much to this very shrewd man who was her husband.

  'Yes? She—what?'

  Templar shook her head. 'Nothing. It isn't import­ant.'

  Leon strode angrily across the room to stare furiously down at her. 'It may not be important to you, but it matters very much to me!'

  'Why?' she asked sneeringly, attack the best form of defence. 'So that you can at last be convinced that your brother never erred enough to love someone as worth­less as me? What do you want to know, Leon? That your brother loved Tiffany as she loved him, that she was good and kind and gentle and everyt
hing I'm not? Well, she was all of those things, every single one.' Her voice broke emotionally. 'And I loved her very much.'

  'Enough to take Alex away from her? Or did you just share him without this paragon of a Tiffany's knowledge?' His mouth turned back in a sneer. 'That is the answer, is it not? You and Alex were meeting each other secretly.'

  'We were not!' She shook her head. 'I don't have to answer any more of these questions. Leave me alone, Leon. Just leave me alone!'

  He forced her chin round roughly so that she faced him. 'No, I will not! This time there will be no escape for you. You will tell me of your relationship with Alex. All of it. And also what you know about this Tiffany that he loved. I never met her, I would be interested to hear about her.'

  Templar swallowed hard.'I—She-—‘

  'Come, Templar,' he said cruelly. 'Do not pretend hurt with me. I know you, remember? I know that you were not even sure of your own child's parentage, that you allowed your employer liberties not usual in such a relationship. And he was a married man too! Oh yes, I saw his wedding ring. Do you make a habit of stealing other women's men? Does it add to the excitement?'

  'Would you like me to say yes?'

  'I would like you to tell me the truth!'

  Templar stood up, glaring at him angrily. 'Then the answer is yes! I'm all the things you think I am. Now will you leave me alone? Before I married you things were hard moneywise, but I certainly never had to put up with the verbal abuse you dish out. I was quite well off really,' she laughed brokenly. 'If only I'd known what it was going to be like! I would never have sent that letter if I'd known Alex was dead. I would rather have starved than be married to a despot. But I wasn't given the choice, was I? Oh no, the mighty Marcose had to have it all his own way. Well, you have it all, Leon, a beautiful daughter and a shrewish wife. Does it please you?'

  'You are lying to me, Templar. You want me to think badly of you. Why? What do you hope to achieve by it?'

  'Freedom?'

  'Freedom to do what? Live without seeing your child grow up to be as beautiful as her mother?' He shook his head. 'You could not do it.'

  'No, and you know it. That's why you say these horrible things to me, why you ignore me whenever possible. It's because you know I can't hit back as I would like to do. You know I couldn't leave Keri, you've always known it. If I cared for her less I wouldn't be married to you and tormented at every turn.'

  'You are tormented,' Leon said tersely. 'How do you think I feel, married to a woman it is impossible to get close to?*

  Templar's green eyes widened. 'But you said—you

  said our marriage wasn't to be—to be '

  'It is not! But it would be more comfortable for both of us if we could become friends.'

  'Do you honestly think we could?' she asked in dis­belief. 'After all that's been said and done?’

  Leon shrugged. 'We could try. It would perhaps help if you would tell me about this Tiffany. How did you know her?'

  'She was a model too. We were friends. And she loved Alex, I know that. What I don't understand is why, if they loved each other, they were forced apart. And it wasn't through anything said or done on my part. I was out of the country at the time.'

  'I know that, not that you were out of the country, but that you did not break them up. I was responsible for that. Alex was already betrothed.'

  'But they were in love, Leon!'

  His face was a tormented mask. 'I thought it was a fleeting thing, that these feelings of love Alex professed to have for this girl would soon pass.'

  'So what did you do?' she asked softly, aware that he wanted to talk, to tell her of his brother as he had probably told no one else.

  Leon ran a hand through his thick vibrant hair. 'I asked Alex not to see this girl for three months, not to even get in touch with her, and see how he felt then.'

  'And how did he feel?'

  'He loved her still,' he said resignedly. 'I am sorry, this must be painful for you too. But Alex loved this Tiffany still. I had made him write her a letter saying he would see her no more. I told him that if they truly loved each other they would be together again after the three months.'

  'So you were testing Tiffany, seeing how she would

  react to such a letter?'

  'Yes! But I paid for it, I paid for it dearly.'

  And so had Tiffany, her baby making it impossible for her to go to her lover. She would never have known if he wanted her or. just felt responsible for the baby. 'What happened, Leon?' she asked.

  He was grey now, as if talking about it brought him pain. But she knew he wanted to talk. 'Alex waited the three months and at the end of that time, with my per­mission, he went to see her.'

  'But he—he didn't,' Templar shook her head. 'I was with her when she died and she hadn't seen him for months, not since that letter.'

  'She loved him still?'

  'Very much.'

  He took a deep ragged breath. 'Alex was killed on

  his way to see her,' he explained simply. 'So it was my

  fault, all of it. They would perhaps have been happy

  now, and instead they are both dead.' .

  Templar took a step towards him, hesitant about comforting him in case he rejected her. 'You can't blame yourself, Leon. Tiffany would have died any­way. I spoke to the doctor, so I know.'

  'It might not have happened if she had had Alex with her. But I also lost my brother, that is why Keri means so much to me—she is all I have left of him.'

  To Templar it seemed they had dwelt enough on die past. 'Let's go out on to the beach, Leon,' she sug­gested gently. 'You came away to relax, not blame your­self for something that happened in the past, something that is over and can never be changed. I can assure you that nothing could have been done for Tiffany, the doctor assured me that there was no hope. We'll go down to the beach now and begin our holiday.'

  He looked unapproachable. 'You might be able to

  forget it as easily as that, but I certainly cannot. My

  brother might still be alive if I had not '

  'Stop it, Leon! Don't torture yourself any more. Neither would have been happy without the other. You have Keri's future to think of now, not dwell on the past.'

  Leon nodded, some of the rigidity starting to leave his features. 'You are right. But I also have your future to think about too.'

  She smiled at him gently, more touched than she cared to admit that he had confided his feelings of guilt to her. But she meant what she had said, they must think of the future now, not think of the past. In a way they were both to blame for what had happened, she for leaving Tiffany alone in England when she could perhaps have helped Leon to understand this young couple's love for each other, and Leon for rejecting their emotions out of hand. Perhaps she, Templar, should feel hate towards this man for causing Tiffany all that misery, but somehow she couldn't do so. At the time he had felt he was doing the right thing for every­one, he had no way of knowing its outcome.

  'If that's so then we can easily settle my immediate future. I'd like to go swimming please.'

  He shook his head, smiling dazedly. 'You are very persistent, are you not?'

  'Very,' she agreed.

  'Then come, we will collect our beach things and do as you suggest. Keri will be perfectly all right with Lucy,' he answered her question before she even asked it. 'You must learn to designate some of her care to Lucy while we are here. After all, you are here to rest.'

  Templar laughed, feeling more at ease with him now than she ever had before. Perhaps this holiday was going to be a success after all. She followed him up to their adjoining bedrooms. 'I feel such a fraud,' she laughed. 'Here to rest! Why, I haven't worked in two months.'

  'You worked long and hard before that,' he spoke to her through the open connecting door as they gathered together their swimming clothes. 'Tell me, do you miss your life as a model?'

  She stared thoughtfully into the mirror in front of her, noting the'Still smooth complexion, clear
green eyes and long shining hair. She was still as beautiful as she ever had been, and yet there was no longer that drive within her, the need to get to the top. All am­bition had left her, and in its place she had the con­tentment of caring for the baby. She shook her head firmly. 'Not at all. Why?' she teased. 'Are you con­sidering sending me out to work?'

  'Certainly not! The Marcose women do not work.'

  She stood in the open doorway, watching his un­hurried movements. 'So I'm a Marcose woman now, am I?' she asked with amusement.

  'But of course,' Leon replied arrogantly. 'You are my wife. Now,' he quirked a mocking eyebrow, 'unless you wish to watch me undress, I suggest you go to your own bathroom and change.'

  'Oh—oh, yes!' Her face suffused with colour as she made her way hastily to the bathroom, followed by Leon's throaty chuckle.

  Her bikini was a new acquisition, bought for her by Leon on a shopping spree shortly before the holiday. There was a matching green beachrobe, and both matched her eyes perfectly, also bringing out the red colour of her long hair. She donned the beachrobe be­fore meeting Leon, feeling almost naked in the scanti­ness of the minute bikini. She only hoped it would stand the test of actually being in water, so many of them didn't nowadays.

  Leon felt none of her shyness, dressed only in royal blue bathing trunks. And looking breathtakingly at­tractive! Tall and lithe, his body was pure ripcord muscle, tanned, his stomach muscles flat and firm, his shoulders broad and powerful. The hair on his chest was thick and dark, a gold medallion secured about his neck with a thick chunky gold chain. They walked down to the beach in companionable silence, Templar glancing occasionally at the engraving on the medallion, sure that she had seen the markings before.

  'Of course!' she burst out excitedly. 'My ring!'

  He looked at her closely. 'You have lost it?' He frowned, lifting up her left hand and touching the wide gold band that adorned her finger. 'But no, you still have it. You are talking of another ring, perhaps?'