Pagan Lover (15 page)

‘He was going on business and I wasn’t really interested,’ she lied glibly as she swept a hand, inviting him to sit down again. She took a seat by the window, feeling oddly shy and tongue-tied, for after all she and Nico were still almost strangers to one another. And yet here had been that indescribable bond of which she had been aware, sure that he felt it too. And now as he looked at her across the room she wished she could confide in him at this moment instead of waiting. Yes, somewhere at the back of her mind she knew she would one day confide in him.

And if that were the case, then why not now? There had to be an opening, and this would never come while this awkwardness existed between them.

It was Nico who eased the moment by asking how she and Leon had come to meet.

‘I’d have asked him the other evening,’ he added, ‘but knowing him, I was cagey.
Leon has never cared for being questioned, not about anything at all.’

‘We met when I was a nurse,’ she answered, smiling at him. ‘
Leon had had an accident, and was occupying a private ward in my wing.’

‘It’s incredible that he should have wanted to marry you after such a short acquaintanceship.’

She laughed and only then did he realise he had not been very tactful.

‘Sorry,’ he said with a rueful grimace. ‘Unless I think well before I speak I tend to forget tact.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ she smiled. And then, ‘You came because you thought I’d be glad of the company?

‘Something of the sort,’ he admitted. ‘I felt you must be lonely, here on your own. Perhaps you preferred it, though, seeing that you didn’t want to go with
Leon to
Athens?’

‘I
was
lonely, Nico—I own to it. I’m glad you came; it was nice of you to think of me.’

He was pleased by her words and it showed in the way his eyes lit up.

‘There’s a mystery, isn’t there?’ he was emboldened say after a slight hesitation.

‘A mystery?’

‘About your marriage to
Leon—’ He stopped as if uncertain about continuing, but
Tara, curious to learn anything she could, said encouragingly,

‘Do go on, Nico. I’m interested in what you have to say.

He looked at her perceptively.

‘So I was right; there is a mystery. You see,
Tara,
Leon and Elene have been close friends for the past year and everyone had begun to take their marriage for granted. Then suddenly he went to
England on business and came back with you. It’s a nine days’ wonder among all the people who know him, not only friends but business acquaintances and employees. Elene was very controlled that evening when we came here, but she was very upset when
Leon phoned to tell her he was married.’

Tara stared at him for a long moment, going over in her mind what he had said.

‘Did they quarrel?’ she asked eventually.

‘I believe they had a tiff. Elene’s very beautiful and the men run after her. She allowed one to take her out——’ Nico spread his hands and shrugged. ‘It’s just a rumour I heard which might or might not be true. I do know that Elene attracted
Leon more than any of the other——’ He stopped and coloured slightly. ‘I’ve done it again,’ he said almost despairingly.

‘I know that
Leon’s had other women,’ she said casually. ‘It’s only to be expected, isn’t it?’

‘I suppose so. But one doesn’t remind a man’s wife of such things.’

‘Forget it,’ she advised. ‘Tell me some more about Elene.’

‘Well, as I said, she was very upset.’ He paused and looked speculatively at her. ‘You really want to know more?’ he asked doubtfully.

“Yes, I do, Nico.’

‘She believes that
Leon married you on the rebound.’

‘I see.... So she obviously believes he was in love with her?’

He nodded.

‘We all believed he was in love with her.’

‘Leon is not the man to fall in love,’ Tara stated, and, watching for Nico’s reaction, she saw his brows shoot up, but then he immediately nodded, not in agreement, but as if he had made a discovery.

‘So he isn’t in love with you?’

‘Neither of us is in love.’ It was out, and she knew full well that some explanation would be called for. She was still vague about enlisting his help but was sure that she would attempt to get assistance from him.

‘How did he come to ask you to marry him?’

Tara hesitated, feeling that to tell him everything might be risky since she had no idea just how deep the friendship was between him and Leon. She thought of what the consequences might be should Nico, after listening to her story, then go to Leon and repeat it all, out of a sense of loyalty. She had no wish to suffer again from her husband’s fury, for the fear he could put into her was very real. Nico was looking at her; he said she had gone pale and asked if she was all right.

She nodded, still hesitant, still afraid. At last she said,

‘How deep is your friendship with Leon, Nico?’

‘We’re not really friends. We live here, on this small island, so it was natural we should get to know one another, and that we’d mix socially. But apart from that we have little in common. Elene has a luxurious house here but spends most of her time in
Athens, modelling clothes for the famous fashion house of which
Leon is the head.’ He paused, examining her face for a moment.

‘You can trust me, Tara,’ he assured her eventually. ‘I feel that you need to confide in someone, but it’s natural that you are hesitating. Did you not sense a sort of— How can I describe it?’ he said, considering. ‘A bond if you like?’

‘That’s exactly how I felt, Nico! I’m glad you felt that way too.

‘So we’re friends?’

‘Yes, we’re friends.’

‘Then you can answer my question without any fear of my ever repeating anything I hear.’

‘
Leon did not ask me to marry him,’ she said slowly, Nico’s surprise bringing a thin smile to her face.

‘He didn’t ask you?’

‘Nico, you’re not going to believe the story I’m about to tell you.’

‘I don’t think you would lie,’ he returned emphatically. ‘In any case, to do so wouldn’t serve any purpose, would it?’

‘No,’ she agreed. ‘But to tell you the truth might just serve a purpose.’ She stopped, but he said nothing, and
Tara also remained silent because she had no idea how to begin such a fantastic story. However, her uncertainty soon passed and she began at the beginning, and carrying on through the little exclamations that periodically issued from her companion’s lips.

‘He actually kidnapped you!’ gasped Nico when at last she had ended her story. ‘Good lord—no one would ever believe such a thing of him! He’s a well-known distinguished figure in the capital, respected— I can’t believe it,
Tara!’

‘You just said you didn’t think I would lie,’ she reminded him.

‘I know....’ He seemed dazed still, and his brow was knitted in a frown, as if he were endeavouring mentally to accept what he had heard.

‘On your wedding day,’ he murmured slowly. ‘What a dreadful thing to do! You must have been heartbroken?’

‘Of course I was, and very frightened.’

‘But now ...? You seem to have got over it?’

‘So much has happened that I seem to be living all the time in the present, and the past is vague. David is often real but just as often forgotten completely.’ Mainly when her husband was making love to her, she thought, but naturally kept that to herself.

‘So you’re a prisoner here?’ Automatically he glanced through the window. Davos was over by the fountain, clearing some weeds from the pond.

 
‘Yes, I’m a prisoner.
Leon wants me to promise not to try to escape and if I do promise he’ll take the guards away.’

‘It’s diabolical! What the devil got into him! Was he so mad with Elene that he married the first woman he set eyes on?’

‘I couldn’t have been the first woman he set eyes on, could I? He’d travelled from
Greece to
England.’

‘He was over there on business and I believe Elene should have gone with him; she often did. But what possessed him to commit a criminal act like that? If he merely wanted you he could—’ Nico stopped, looking embarrassed, and
Tara eased the moment by asking if she could give him some refreshments. He said he would have
ouzo
, and this was brought on a tray after
Tara had rung for a maid. A
mezé
came with it, as it always did.
Tara had fresh orange juice. She was not hungry, she said when Nico offered to share the
mezé
with her.

‘I wonder why he went to the lengths of marriage’ Nico decided to say presently. ‘He could—’ He stopped again and shrugged.

‘Have had what he wanted without?’
Tara shook her head. ‘As he explained, he’d have been in serious trouble with the law, because once he had—er—cast me off I’d naturally have gone to the police.’

‘You can still do that.’

‘Only if I escape—and he won’t give me any freedom at all until I promise not to escape.’

‘But you’d not keep the promise,’ he said in astonishment. ‘Make it, and then get away.’

‘I couldn’t go back on my word, Nico.’

‘Then you must be crazy! You couldn’t possibly consider yourself bound by a promise like that!’

‘I could, and
Leon knows it.’

He looked at her, his eyes wide with admiration. A flush rose to highlight the beautiful contours of her face and she noticed a sudden movement in his throat, the slow pulsation of a nerve.

‘You’re a very wonderful person,’ he said softly. ‘I wish....’

‘Yes?’ she prompted, hope high within her.

‘I could like you very much,
Tara.’

She said in response,

‘Will you help me to escape, Nico?’

‘You’d go back to your fiancé, I suppose?’ His voice was bleak, and very quiet.

‘I don’t know.’ She thought of the possibility that she was having a baby. ‘He might not want me, after I’d been married to someone else.’ She tried to focus David’s face but failed to do so. How very strange that she had reached a state of mind where she was not torn with anguish any more! It seemed disloyal to David not to feel desolate at the idea of what she had lost.

‘There’d have to be a divorce, or an annulment, and it would take time.’

‘All I want at present is to get away from this island,’ she said. ‘What I do with my life after that is a matter to be decided later. Will you help me?’ she asked again.

He looked at her and she knew a struggle was taking place within him.

‘You’d denounce
Leon to the police. He’d be ruined.’

But she was shaking her head even before he had stopped speaking.

‘I couldn’t denounce him to the police, Nico.’

He looked puzzled.

‘Don’t you want revenge?’

‘I did at first, but not now.’

‘You’ve not fallen in love with him?’

‘Of course not!’

‘Many women have. He has an attraction that’s quite exceptional.’

She said nothing, but to herself she admitted the truth of what Nico had said.
Leon’s attraction
was
exceptional; it had brought her to surrender too many times for her to deny it.

‘I promise I won’t denounce him, Nico... please help
me.
’

 
‘I feel I ought to, Tara, but
Leon will find out it was me.’

‘How can he?’

‘You’ve thought of some way that I can help you without his knowing?’

‘No, unfortunately I haven’t. But surely we can think of something?’ She was a trifle breathless, with excitement. She had known, somehow, that Nico would help her, known because of that bond that had come between them only a few days ago, at the dinner-party.

‘It’s not going to be easy.’

The shadow of a bird flashed across the sunlight on the floor and he looked towards the window.
Tara, following the direction of his gaze, saw not only Davos, but one of the gardeners as well. Of course, it was only to be expected that the gardener would be working out there, but she had become so conscious of being watched that she resented even the sight of any of her husband’s servants.

‘I agree it’s not going to be easy,’ she said, ‘but, Nico, I shall go mad if I don’t get away soon.’

He stirred uneasily in his seat.

‘What a mess! The man must have been out of his mind to do a thing like that! It’s so uncharacteristic of him; he’s level-headed, law-abiding—usually,’ he added as he saw the lift of
Tara’s brows. ‘How long is he going to be in
Athens?’

‘Until Saturday, so he told me,’

‘Three days more....’ Again Nico’s eyes wandered to the window. ‘How the devil are we to get rid of these fellows?’

‘I don’t know. Davos probably sleeps in the corridor all night, so he can be on hand if I try to leave my bedroom.’

‘My God! I’m beginning to feel sure that
Leon’s mad!’

Tara knew that was not so, knew that the reason for any action of Leon’s that concerned her was the result of his all-consuming desire for her.

‘I could probably get out of the window,’ she suggested thoughtfully. ‘If you could come when everyone’s in bed and put a ladder outside for me. There, are several ladders in a shed at the bottom of the orchard—’ She looked at him anxiously. ‘Could you do that, Nico?’