Pagan Lover

by Anne Hampson

  ‘You—still love me?’ The hesitant start convinced her that he had re-phrased the original question that had come to his lips. He had intended asking if she was in love with her husband.

  ‘All I want at present, David,’ she returned frankly, ‘is to get away from here, back to England, where I can begin getting over the ordeal.’

  ‘I understand, darling. Well, we can take you away at once.’

  She gave him a smile, reflecting on those occasions when his endearments thrilled her and when she had never believed the day would dawn when they would leave her cold, as his use of the endearment did at this moment.

  If only Leon had used it.... He would not know I how! She felt sure he had never used the word darling in the whole of his life.

  ‘How long will Mr Petrides be?’ the Greek policeman wanted to know. ‘Although there’s no case, we shall have to ask him a few questions, and then tell him we’re taking you away.’ He paused, looking directly at her through faintly narrowed eyes. You’re sure you want to leave him?’ he asked, and David gave a start, at the same time uttering an angry exclamation.

  ‘Certainly she wants to leave him! Hasn’t she already made that quite clear?’

  Tara rose from her chair, offering to get the men some refreshment. Oscar Stewart wanted a cup of tea, while his Greek counterpart asked for ouzo and a mezé’. David had a stronger drink—a brandy.

  These were brought by Stamati, who had obviously been told about the visitors by Davos, because he was looking extremely worried.

  ‘Why don’t you go and pack your clothes?’ suggested David. ‘We don’t want to miss the next ferry and have to spend the night at the hotel down there, on the quay.’

  She looked at him, frowning at the idea of spending the night at the hotel when her husband’s house was here. It was stupid, and yet surely she wanted to get away with all speed, shake the soil of that garden off her heels? There had been many lonesome hours spent out there—a prisoner, constantly watched. And now she was free to leave it all and return to her own country. She found herself thinking of the hospital, and of all the gossip there would be, and she decided she could never go back, nor could she take up with David again. What would she do, then? As before—and as she had just mentioned to David—she resolved to take first things first; she would get away from here and then sort out plans for her future.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  IT seemed impossible that her husband could put fear into her at a time like this, when she had the protection of three men, two of whom were from her own country. And yet there was a most uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach when, from the window of the sitting-room, she saw Leon crossing the lawn. In his hand was a large cardboard box, the contents of which I would have been exciting to most women.

  Davos ran to him; she saw him stiffen, dart a glance towards the window, then come forward again with much longer strides than before. Well, he obviously had no fear within him—but then she had known he would accept the present situation in a way that, at first, could possibly disconcert the enemy.

  He strode in, his tall figure towering above those of the other three, men, all of whom had risen from their chairs. Leon was soon told who they were and the nature of their business. Watching him intently, Tara never once saw any sign that he was anxious or apprehensive. His eyes were continually finding hers while the two policemen talked to him, but on a couple of occasions Leon’s black eyes became fixed on David’s pale face, and a sneer would settle on his own. How confident he was! Tara could not stem the flow of pride that this confidence brought to her. It would seem that whatever the circumstances he would ride them with all the supreme arrogance of the pagan gods which his ancestors had worshipped.

  When the two men had finished speaking—and asking questions which Leon had answered either in monosyllables or not at all—he looked at his wife and said,

  ‘Apparently you have told these men that you married me willingly?’

  ‘Yes, I have.’ She looked away without knowing why, for there was neither censure nor arrogance in his expression—on the contrary, there did seem to be a hint of sadness in his eyes. Perhaps it was this which she just had to avoid.

  ‘In which case, you have absolutely nothing to complain about?’

  ‘She has a hell of a lot to complain about!’ shouted David hotly. ‘Your damned treatment of her in taking her off on the day of her wedding—only an hour or so before she was to have been married to me!’

  The tall lithe frame swung round.

  ‘Tara promised to marry me long before her wedding day,’ he informed him calmly. ‘She jilted me to marry you, which I could not accept. She knows in her heart that I did the right thing in carrying her off—’

  ‘She was engaged to you!’ David looked from the dark face of the man who had stolen his bride, to the face of the girl herself. It was fused with crimson colour, and tiny beads of perspiration stood out on her temples. ‘This isn’t true! It can’t possibly be—I’d never heard of this man until you mentioned his being in hospital!’

  ‘Is this true?’ from Oscar Stewart with a deep frown. ‘You were engaged?’ intervened the Greek policeman, shaking his head. ‘If this is correct then—’ He broke off and shrugged heavily. ‘In Greece an engagement is almost the marriage. It is never broken—or almost never broken,’ he amended after a swift moment of thought.

  ‘I was never engaged to Mr Petrides,’ said Tara in a stiff little voice which was nothing like her own.

  ‘I didn’t mention the word engaged.’ Leon looked at her, and when she lowered her head he had the arrogance to step forward and, in front of them all, jerk her head up with a possessive hand under her chin. ‘You promised to marry me.’ So slow the words, and challenging. A thrill of apprehension rippled along her spine. ‘I assume you are not going to lie, wife! Did you or did you not promise to marry me?’ He was towering above her, a menacing figure with whom none of the three men seemed inclined to interfere as he gave his wife’s chin another jerk, just to remind her that he expected an immediate answer to his question.

  ‘Yes—yes, I d-did promise to—to m-marry you,’ she admitted chokingly.

  ‘You couldn’t have—! ‘David was shaking his head dazedly. ‘What the hell’s going on?’ he demanded of Leon. ‘How long have you known her?’

  ‘We met when he was in hospital,’ said Tara, white to the lips and wishing she could escape to some quiet spot and collect herself, restore her jagged nerves. ‘He believed we—we were meant for one another, and he did convince me at one time that he and I were—were suited—’

  ‘When was this, for God’s sake?’

  ‘About a week before the date arranged for your wedding,’ answered Leon suavely and with a glance of amused satire thrown in his wife’s direction. ‘She promised to give you up and marry me.’

  ‘It’s … impossible,’ protested David: ‘Tara, say it. Deny it all—’

  ‘She can’t,’ interrupted her husband, walking away and standing with his back to the window. ‘She has just admitted that she promised to marry me. She did marry me, willingly, and we’re expecting our first child—’

  ‘No!’ David started forward, then stopped, raising a hand viciously as if he would have liked to strike the man standing there by the window, a look of arrogant mockery in his gaze. ‘Tara, you’re not—’ Suddenly he seemed to sag, and he found a chair and sank into it. Looking from his shrunken figure to that of her husband Tara could not help comparing the two and finding her former fiancé greatly wanting. And yet pity in abundance filled her heart, because he had loved her dearly, and even though she was convinced that he could never have picked up the threads any more than she, there was no doubt in her mind that he was suffering agonies from what had happened. She said quietly, looking at her husband,

  ‘It so happens that I am not expecting a child. My husband has made a mistake there,’ she added, transferring her gaze to David.

  Leon’s glance was sharp, piercin
g and disbelieving.

  ‘Is this right?’ he demanded.

  ‘There is nothing to bind me to you, Leon’ was her soft and sad reply. ‘So I’m leaving with these men on the next ferry. If you’ll excuse me—?’ She looked around, her glance embracing them all. ‘I’ll go and pack for the journey and I’ll be down in less than fifteen minutes.’

  ‘Tara—wait!’ The command was snapped out imperiously from her husband. ‘You are not leaving me, do you hear?’

  ‘There’s nothing to stop her coming with us.’ Oscar Stewart spoke at last, in firm and even tones. ‘You took her away illegally, and—’

  ‘Would you make charges against me?’ broke in her husband, eyeing her curiously.

  ‘I....’ Her voice faltered. She would have liked to give him a few moments of anxiety, but she could not stand here and tell him she would charge him when she had no intention of doing any such thing.

  The merest hint of a taunting smile hovered on his lips as he said,

  ‘You have often said you would like to see me in jail, my dear. Are you still of the same mind?’

  It would be what you deserve.’

  ‘You haven’t answered my question.’

  ‘I shall not charge you with anything,’ she returned quietly, and heard an angry exclamation escape from Oscar Stewart’s lips.

  ‘So you are not now of the same mind?’ Leon’s smile was withdrawn and his whole manner became serious. ‘No?’

  ‘Time has passed since I said those words. I no longer want to see you in jail.’

  ‘Then there’s no need for any questioning, even,’ decided Phivos Meriakis. ‘This lady promised to marry him, then changed her mind and went off to marry someone else. It seems to me that she does not know which one she wants. In Greece she would be called fickle and no man would look at her. She would have to be a single lady all her life.’

  Tara flushed, aware of Leon’s laughing eyes fixed upon her. There was an audacious, devil-may-care attitude about him which Tara found extraordinarily attractive—although not for one moment would she have admitted it.

  ‘I’m going to pack,’ she said, and went out before Leon could utter another command. But within three minutes of her reaching her bedroom he was there, standing in the doorway between the two rooms, one hand resting carelessly on the jamb, the other thrust into the pocket of his blazer-type jacket.

  ‘What do you want?’ She had to speak, to break the silence, which frightened her, since it seemed like the calm before the storm. Even now she was scared of him, terribly afraid that, somehow, he could prevent her from getting away.

  ‘Is it true that you’re not pregnant?’ Soft the words and challenging. She would not have dared to lie to him.

  ‘Yes, it’s true. For once fate has been kind to me.’ She had a suitcase on the bed and was absently throwing things into it from a drawer in the dressing-table. ‘I’m free at last, Leon, so you’ve lost the last round.’

  ‘I never admit defeat, Tara.’

  ‘This time you’ll have to.’ A pair of tights and an underslip were tossed into the case. ‘I’ll send all these back to you later—in the suitcase—’

  ‘Shut up!’

  She swallowed, wishing her heart would not throb so.

  ‘What are the policemen doing?’ she asked, just for something to say.

  ‘I have no idea. Arguing, I shouldn’t wonder. Your Englishman’s mad that he can’t arrest me.’

  ‘I wouldn’t have had you arrested.’ She turned to take more underwear from the drawer.

  ‘Why?’ queried her husband briefly, and disconcertingly.

  ‘I don’t bear a grudge to that extent.’ A nightgown was bundled into the suitcase and then she closed the drawer and stood till, a terrible depression flooding over her. From outside came the trilling of cicadas, and the happy song of a bird. What drew her to the window she never knew. Perhaps she wanted to take one last look at the water over which she would be sailing before another couple of hours had passed.

  Her husband said,

  ‘Come here, Tara.’

  She shook her head and went to one of the wardrobes, from where she took out a dress and a coat, putting the former into the case and the latter on the end of the bed. As she turned Leon was there, towering above her, close—oh, so close that there was no possibility of escape! His arms were painful in their strength, and so were his sensuous lips. Her quivering mouth parted at his command and his lips tantalised, sending ripples along her spine, awakening desires already.

  ‘You can’t leave me,’ he stated confidently. ‘You’re mine, Tara—my possession! I shall never let you go— never!’

  ‘Nothing you can do now can keep me here,’ she managed to say before her lips were crushed again, with unbridled brutality this time.

  ‘By God, but you do try me! Do you suppose I shall allow my wife to leave me—to go off with another man— I’

  ‘Another man?’ she repeated, staring at him.

  ‘That jellyfish cowering down there in a chair! He’s not for you, you little fool! You need a man! You need me!’

  ‘I need neither of you!’ she flashed, managing with a supreme effort—and the advantage of surprise—to free herself from the savage grip of his hands. ‘I shall never marry—if that’s any consolation to you!’

  ‘You are married.’

  ‘In a few months’ time I won’t be!’ Running to the bed, she closed the lid of the case and snapped the two locks. She picked up the coat, throwing it over one arm, and took up the case with the other. When she turned Leon was barring her way. A sort of terror filled her and she let out a piercing scream.

  ‘You blasted—’ Leon stopped at the sound of footsteps racing up the stairs. The door crashed open and the three men crowded through the doorway into the room.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ David, his face a greyish mask, put the question to her and for answer she passed the case into his hand.

  ‘Take me away,’ she sobbed, her nerves shattered, her heart hammering painfully, loudly, against her ribs. I want to o back to England!’

  Leon seemed uncertain, and for a moment Tara thought he would do battle with the three men standing there. But at last it seemed to register that, strong as he was, he could never be a match for three men, plus any help which she might decide to give.

  ‘This isn’t the end. You’ll be back!’ Her husband’s confident assertion was the last thing she heard as, turning, she left the room, followed by David and the two policemen.

  She was on the boat when David said, avoiding her gaze,

  ‘That man has some influence over you, hasn’t he?’

  She nodded, unwilling to lie. In any case, there was no need.

  ‘Yes, David, it was apparent from the moment I saw him in that hospital ward.’

  ‘Yet you said nothing to me.’

  ‘It wasn’t the sort of thing one talked about,’ she returned reasonably, and with a hint of apology.

  ‘You tried to shake off the influence?’

  ‘Of course. I wanted nothing more than to marry you.’ Her eyes wandered to where the two policemen stood by the rail. Phivos Meriakis was going back to Athens, and Oscar Stewart to England. He was furious with her, having believed he would have a case against her husband. Of course, there would have been a case—a serious one—if Leon had not married her.

  ‘But you don’t want to marry me now?’ David was saying.

  ‘You don’t want to marry me,’ she challenged, and saw him nod. ‘It would have been a mistake, although at the time we truly believed we were made for each other.’ He said nothing and she added, in that low sweet voice he had once loved so well, ‘It’s sad, David, but better for us to have found out beforehand, isn’t it?’

  He frowned and answered in a pained tone of voice,

  ‘If that swine hadn’t carried you off we’d have been married, and I feel sure we’d have been happy.’

  ‘For a time—yes. I’m as sure of it as you are. But, later, it w
ould have gone wrong, David.’

  ‘How can you say that?’

  ‘Because we’ve both discovered that we don’t love one another.’

  He made no denial, but gave a small sigh instead.

  ‘Let’s go and have a meal in the restaurant,’ he suggested. ‘It’ll be the last one we shall have together,’ he added on a bitter note, and it was Tara’s turn to sigh; but she agreed to have the meal and they went off, leaving the two policemen standing by the rail, chatting together. It was arranged that Tara, David and Oscar Stewart would fly to England together, but when Oscar Stewart made enquiries about a flight he was told that all seats on the evening flight were booked, and even on the following day there was only one seat available.

  ‘It means we’ll have to put up at an hotel,’ growled Oscar, still furious that he had not managed to get a case. ‘More waste of time!’

  ‘We might as well, see something of the city,’ Tara suggested to David. ‘Let’s go up to the Acropolis.’

  Reluctantly he agreed; it was a sombre interlude and long before they returned to the hotel Tara was wishing she had gone on her own.

  ‘I believe you’re glad we can’t fly back to England at once,’ said David sourly as they wandered across the site, making their exit.

  ‘That’s a silly thing to say.’

  ‘I don’t think so. You seem to me as if you’re glad you’re still in Greece—his, country!’ She sighed and said nothing and after a pause he went on, ‘He still exerts his influence over you, even though he’s miles away. Are you sure you’re not in love with him?’ he added with a hint of scorn. And there was a sneer on his lips, the first she had seen since she had known him—and she could not blame for it.

  ‘If you must know,’ she replied frankly, ‘I am in love with him.’

  ‘I knew it!’ The contempt spread to his eyes. ‘Why, then, are you running from him? It’s plain that you enjoy being domineered—— God, the way he handled you—pushing your face up like that! Yet you never murmured one word of protest, Tara. What kind of a woman are you?’