Master of Comus

by Charlotte Lamb

  'All law can be savage,' he said.

  'How easily you say that! How smug and narrow- minded you can be, Paul Caprel.'

  He surveyed her through his pale lashes. 'Your aunt refused to let you come to Comus. She was just as ruthless as Argon.'

  'At any time in the last eighteen years Argon could have visited England. My aunt wouldn't have refused to let him see me. She's a strong-minded lady, but she's fair. When I agreed to come here it was on her advice.'

  'Perhaps she felt she had cheated you of your inheritance,' Paul said coolly. 'You were cut out of Argon's will because she refused to send you here, you know.'

  'You don't know my aunt or you wouldn't imagine that money has any significance for her. She brought me up to be independent and earn my own living. She has no time for rich and idle people.'

  He grinned. 'Like me?'

  Her brown eyes answered silently. She turned and walked away up the stony path. He watched her with an abstracted expression. Her back was elegantly straight, her carriage graceful, the black hair dried by the sun and flying loosely as she moved. Paul rolled over and picked up a handful of sand, letting it trickle through his long fingers. The blue eyes were serious as he watched the silvery sand sift downwards in a fine shower.

  In her room Leonie changed into a simple, sleeveless peach-coloured linen dress. Clyte had told her that Argon had breakfasted and was eager to see her. Brushing her hair, she studied herself in the mirror, then swept up the black locks into a neat, classical chignon and pinned them securely. The hairstyle restored her usual image. On the beach she had felt herself changing in some way, her emotions fluid and disturbed. She needed to establish a base from which to explore these changes without committing herself. How much Paul had to do with her new attitudes she was not sure. That he had already begun to affect her deeply she was forced to admit, and the realisation worried her. She had enough emotional problems coping with the discovery of her Greek roots. She did not want a further complication in the shape of a man.

  Argon welcomed her eagerly, his brown face split with a wide smile.

  Instinctively Leonie bent and kissed his cheek. He put up a gnarled hand to catch her fingers and pressed them.

  She sat down beside the bed on a comfortable, silk upholstered chair and smiled at him.

  'So. You are settling in?' he asked.

  'Yes. My room is delightful, thank you.'

  He brushed the thanks away with a graceful gesture. 'Clyte tells me you have been on the beach with Paul this morning.'

  'Yes. I swam and sunbathed.'

  His brown eyes watched her with curious attention. 'And what is your opinion of Paul?'

  She hesitated, then shrugged. 'I'm afraid we rub each other up the wrong way.'

  His eyes brightened. 'Ah? There have been clashes?'

  'Shall we say we exist in a state of armed neutrality?' she put it lightly.

  He nodded. 'That is good.'

  Leonie was taken aback. 'Good?'

  'But of course. Between a man and a woman there can only be one relationship—the sexual one. What people call the platonic friendship is only another name for indifference. Had you and Paul become friends it would have meant that you did not find each other attractive.'

  She felt her cheeks burn. 'I thought I explained. I don't find Paul attractive. If anything, I dislike him...'

  The door behind her opened and Paul himself came into the room. Leonie swung round, startled, and their eyes met. Paul bowed mockingly.

  'Please, don't mind me, dear cousin. Do go on. I am riveted.'

  She turned back to Argon, her back rigid with irritation. Argon chuckled, looking from one to the other of them. 'I am glad you have joined us, Paul. I have something to say to you both. Sit down beside Leonie.'

  Paul drew up a chair and lounged back in it, his long legs thrust out. Beneath his lashes he glanced at Leonie, approvingly inspecting her dress and hair. It did not escape his attention that she had restored herself to her original English look, and the fact amused him.

  'Leonie, when your aunt refused to let you come to Greece, I warned her that I would cut you out of my will, and I am a man of my word. By the will of God, Paul has proved to be my only male heir, and so for some years my will has made him my chief heir, as he knows. Indeed, as the world knows.' Argon looked directly at Paul. 'I left you free to choose your own path, Paul. I am going to speak freely in front of Leonie, since she is one of the family. I have not been pleased with your manner of life. You spend too much time in idle pleasure. Your business has been neglected in consequence, and judging by past experience, if I left you the lion's share of my holdings you would fritter a large part of my fortune away on your pursuit of pleasure.'

  Paul was sitting upright now, his brows drawn together in a straight line. The blue eyes had lost their smile. The mouth had straightened and the chin was clenched.

  'I will not argue with all that,' he said coldly. 'I do, however, dispute your right to haul me over the coals in front of a girl we neither of us knew a week ago.'

  'I chose to speak in front of Leonie for a reason,' Argon said harshly. 'Bearing in mind your past record, I have decided, having now met Leonie and seen what sort of girl she is, to leave everything to her.'

  Paul made no sound. Leonie, totally astounded, made a movement of angry protest. 'No!' She stared at her great-grandfather. 'You can't do that! That isn't fair. You've promised Paul all these years...'

  Paul interrupted her fiercely. 'Please! I can fight my own battles. I don't need a woman to do it for me. My great-grandfather has the right to dispose of his property as he sees fit. I don't need his money. My company has not gone bankrupt, even though he is right when he says it has not been too successful. I can manage to survive with what I have now.'

  'But I don't want the beastly money!' She glared at him, her face now reflecting all the passionate nature he had suspected.

  He shrugged. 'That is beside the point. You have as much right to it as I have. The people who run the companies now will go on doing so for ever. You will only need to sit tight and let the money accumulate.'

  Leonie looked at Argon. 'I'm sorry. I appreciate the gesture, but I truly do not want you to do this. I would hate it.'

  He smiled at her. 'You have a good heart, but Paul has had his chance to prove himself, and has failed. I could not allow the family fortune to be squandered on his pleasure. Having met you, I am sure you would be far more careful with my money.'

  'I'm sure Paul will change when...' she began.

  'He is thirty, not a boy,' Argon broke in flatly. T, too, thought that he would change, settle down, become more responsible. But the years have passed and Paul goes on in the same way. All he cares for is pleasure.'

  Paul stood up. 'I accept your decision, Argon. I'll leave you to talk to Leonie alone.'

  'No,' she protested, rising, too. 'Argon, please, don't do this ...'

  'There is another way,' Argon said softly.

  She turned to look down at him hopefully. 'Yes?'

  Paul waited, too, his hand on the door. Argon looked from one to the other, his eyes watchful.

  'Marriage,' he said.

  The word dropped into a silence which lengthened. Then Paul wrenched open the door and went out of the room like a charging lion. Argon called him back in a sharp, angry voice, and Paul stopped dead, his back to them.

  Leonie was scarlet with mortification and anger. Before she could speak Argon went on quickly. 'By a marriage between the two of you I could provide for your future and be sure that the Caprel fortune would be secure. You are not so close in blood that it should matter—you are only second cousins. Paul has shown no signs of choosing a wife for himself, and you, Leonie, have no husband in mind. I realise that arranged marriages are a thing of the past, but I am sure you will both realise how sensible this arrangement would be.'

  'Sensible!' Paul's voice was smothered, hot with rage. He still stood with his back to them so that Leonie could not see hi
s face.

  'All I ask is that you consider the idea,' Argon said gently. 'Take your time. But remember, I am very old, and I may not live much longer. I want to get the matter settled soon,'

  'What if we refuse?' Leonie asked huskily.

  Argon shrugged. 'I shall leave everything to you.'

  She swallowed. 'I could refuse the inheritance.'

  'I will provide for that contingency. I can always leave my money to found museums, remember.'

  She was horrified. 'You can't mean you would cut Paul out altogether! Leave the money away from the family?'

  Argon's jaw set. 'I mean just that.'

  'He could dispute the will,' she protested.

  Argon laughed. 'Paul would not do that. He has too much pride.'

  'I would not dispute it,' Paul agreed flatly. He turned at last and stared at Argon with a stony face. 'As to my pride, do you really think I would sell myself to my cousin for your money?'

  'If you marry Leonie the money becomes yours,' Argon said softly.

  Paul's face stiffened. Leonie was bewildered. 'But ...' she began.

  Argon held up a veined hand. 'Paul will have to have your consent, however, to make any major changes in the companies, and he could make no large withdrawals without your consent, either.'

  'In fact, although I would nominally own Caprels Leonie would have the final say in decisions,' Paul suggested icily.

  Argon nodded. 'Exactly. I would leave real control in Leonie's hands, but you would be master of Comus.'

  Paul laughed bitterly. 'An empty title, however.'

  'The choice is yours,' said Argon. 'I am tired now. Come back later and tell me what you have decided to do.'

  They left the room in silence. Paul led the way down to the garden and stood on the bright, smooth lawn staring at the sky with a guarded expression.

  'He can't be serious,' Leonie said, growing tired of the moody silence.

  'Argon never makes idle jokes about money.' Paul thrust his hands deep into his pockets. He paced to and fro with the restless gait of a tiger, then turned suddenly and faced her. 'Well? What shall we do?'

  She stared at him wide-eyed. 'Do? Why, we refuse, of course. You couldn't allow him to dictate your life like that.'

  'So you will get the Caprel money,' Paul said coolly. 'My dear cousin, congratulations.'

  She went white. 'I shan't accept it, don't worry.'

  'Greece will acquire a wonderful new museum, then.'

  'I just don't believe he would do that,' she protested. 'He's too fond of you.'

  'Where business is concerned Argon has no emotions. He has found me wanting. He will not change his mind now.'

  'I wish I'd never come here,' she whispered.

  'Too late to wish the past undone,' Paul said crisply. He glanced at her out of empty blue eyes. 'Again I ask you, cousin. What will you do? The decision must be yours.'

  She met his eyes hesitantly. 'Are you suggesting that we accept this marriage?'

  'I am suggesting that I am willing to marry you if you wish it.'

  'You would do that for the money?'

  His face set like marble. 'My reasons are my own business. You must make the choice.'

  'I have a right to know the reason for your decision,' she insisted. 'Earlier you seemed adamant in refusing. Why have you changed your mind?'

  'Perhaps I don't share your rooted objection to arranged marriages,' he said.

  'You've changed your tune suddenly. Didn't you say you would never sell yourself for money?' The words flew out before she had considered them and she wished she could recall them, but too late. Paul's set cold face warned her that he resented being reminded of his words.

  'I've had time to think, perhaps,' he said, dropping the words in glacial syllables?"

  'Oh, was that all it needed?' She felt a surge of wounded rage as she looked at his wild, handsome, sullen face. She had respected him when he refused to consider marrying her in order to regain his position as heir to the Caprel fortune, but now she bitterly despised him once more. 'A little time goes by and you're ready to put yourself up for auction? A pretty plaything for a rich woman? Well, I suppose the way you've lived so far has prepared you for such a bargain. I expect you've bought love yourself before now. But I am not accustomed to the ambience of the love market. I've never considered purchasing a human being before.'

  Paul's face slowly hardened into a golden mask out of which his brilliant blue eyes glittered icily at her. 'Then you will have to consider it now.'

  Leonie turned away angrily and moved towards the end of the garden and the start of the beach path. She wanted to be alone to think, to work out what it was she really felt. Paul followed her swiftly. Out of sight of the house, under the shifting shade of the pine trees, he caught up with her and stopped her in her tracks, his hands gripping her shoulders.

  'Let go of me! I can do without your company. How can I think when you're with me?'

  'Do I disturb you, my dear?' he asked softly.

  'You annoy me,' she flung back. 'You're spoilt, odious and spineless!'

  'Thank you,' he said very quietly. 'Obviously I'm a poor bargain for you.' The blue eyes stabbed her. 'A pretty plaything of little value, I gather. No wonder you're not in a hurry to pay the purchase price.' His mouth twisted wryly. 'Especially since you can have the Caprel fortune without the annoyance of marrying me.'

  She winced. 'Oh, stop feeling sorry for yourself!'

  She felt a black misery oppressing her, and she was too tired to examine the reasons for this misery. She only knew that she wished she had never come here, never met Paul or Argon. Had she had any suspicions as to her great-grandfather's plan she would have stayed in England. A loose lock of black hair drifted from its moorings and fell over her pale face. She pushed it back out of the way and it floated down again a moment later. Paul deftly pushed it back into its pin, his long fingers lingering on her hair. She shivered.

  For some reason this appeared to enrage him even further. He shot back from her, stiffening. 'I'm sorry you find my very touch repulsive,' he said angrily. 'If the idea of the intimate side of marriage is a stumbling block we can always make a pact to keep our marriage purely platonic.'

  This seemed to Leonie to be so insulting that she barely knew how to answer him. Her throat was stiff with outrage. In a low, bitter voice, she said, 'I assure you that if I did agree to this absurd proposal, it would only be on that condition.'

  Paul laughed harshly. 'Naturally. A marriage of convenience, then, on both sides.'

  'Leaving us both free to have the marriage annulled if we want to marry Someone else,' she added, feeling the desperation of one who is burning her home down rather than surrender it to an enemy.

  'Agreed.' Paul pushed his hands into his pockets and rocked on his heels. 'Is it a deal, then?'

  She hesitated. 'You' 're rushing me,' she protested.

  'Argon, will want a reply as soon as possible,' he said.

  She made a gesture of despairing resignation. 'Oh, very Well.'

  Paul spun on his heel and walked back towards 'the house without another word. Leonie, overwhelmed by a sudden feeling of sick anxiety, called out to him to wait. 'I'm not sure ... I can't ... I need more time.'

  He did not turn or even appear to hear her, striding on at a speed that soon took him out of sight. Leonie sank down on the earth and weakly burst into tears.

  The events of the last hour had been too much for her nerves. This visit to Comus had been a sufficient strain without the addition of such a burden. Argon's arbitrary decision had taken her breath away. She could not believe him to be serious at first, but once realising that he meant every word, she had barely time to think about his plan before he had gone further and completely stunned her with his suggestion that she marry Paul.

  Her childhood adoration of her cousin had left her with a certain hidden softness towards him of which she was only partially aware. Argon's suggestion outraged this secret tenderness just as too early a spri
ng can sometimes blight a flower. Had she been as indifferent to him as she had pretended she would not have been so disturbed, but faced with the necessity to choose or reject him as a husband she had been made miserable by an unadmitted feeling that she was ruining her chances of happiness with him. Paul was a proud man, and he would not enjoy being put in this position. Their relationship would never be the same again.

  Some time later she returned to the house, having scrubbed from her face all traces of tears. She found Paul in Argon's room. Argon held out a gnarled, blue-veined hand to her, smiling warmly.

  'Paul has told me. I am very pleased, my dear. You will see, all will work out very well in the end.'

  She allowed him to kiss her cheek, trying not to meet Paul's eye. She was filled with embarrassment at the sight of him.

  'The wedding shall be soon,' Argon said. 'I have little time. I want to see you safely married before I die.'

  'You're not going to die,' she told him gently.

  He sighed. 'My doctor has given me three months, my dear, no longer.'

  She was stricken. 'Oh, Argon! Why didn't you tell us? You must have a second opinion. He may be wrong.'

  Argon shook his head. 'He is as good a doctor as I am likely to find anywhere in the world. No, he only told me what I knew already. That is why I am in such a hurry. I want my estate settled before I go.' He took her hand and firmly handed it to Paul, who held it lightly between both of his. 'There! Kiss her, Paul, to seal the bargain.'

  Stiff and white-faced, Leonie lifted her face. Paul's mouth brushed hers, cold as ice against her lips. Both of them knew that troubled waters lay ahead.

  CHAPTER THREE

  IT was Argon's decision to make the wedding a quiet ceremony which would take place on Comus itself. He explained to Leonie that if they had the ceremony in Athens he would have to invite a great many people whom he had no longer any wish to meet. 'Although I have so few close relations, I have many distant ones, all of whom would expect to be invited to your 'wedding—not to mention my old friends and acquaintances, who are legion! I am too tired to go through all that. All I want is to see you married to Paul here in our own little church, according to the ancient rites.' He surveyed her anxiously. 'You will marry Paul in our church, my dear? I know your aunt has brought you up in the English church, but our family has always been Orthodox and the people on Comus would not understand if you did not agree to be married as all the Caprels have been.'