DECEIT OF A PAGAN

by Carole Mortimer

  She laughed. 'No. Your medallion and my ring, they have the same engraving.'

  The frown disappeared from his brow. 'It is the family emblem,' he explained.

  'A bird of prey,' she said softly, looking at the soar­ing eagle engraved on both pieces of jewellery.

  'Yes,' he grinned, flashing white teeth in his deeply tanned face. 'Apt, would you not say?'

  'Maybe,' she agreed, smiling. She undid her beach-robe and threw it down on to the sand before running to the shoreline, self-conscious in the bikini's revealing design. 'Race you!' she challenged.

  He raised an eyebrow. 'And what is the prize to be?*

  She blushed at the deep look in his eyes. 'Whatever you want it to be,' she answered daringly.

  'In that case I accept the challenge.' He threw down his towel and joined her, running appreciative eyes over her slender body, from her long slender legs, over her narrow hips, flat stomach, and full breasts.

  'And the prize?' She waited for his answer, excite­ment in her look.

  Leon's eyes darkened. 'Whoever loses must rub sun-tan oil on die other's back,' he said mockingly.

  'Oh.' She did her best to hide her disappointment, sure that he had been going to say something different. 'I might just lose on purpose,' she replied brightly. 'I like oil rubbed on my back.'

  Leon laughed, a completely natural laugh. 'So do I, so it would appear it is to be a race to lose.'

  He won, as she had known he would; swimming wasn't one of her better activities. But she enjoyed rubbing the oil on his back anyway. His skin felt firm and smooth, and she loved the feel of it. Leon lay per­fectly still under her ministrations, the smile on his face evidence of his enjoyment.

  'Mmm,' he rolled over on to his back. 'You are quite good, you must have done this before.'

  'No, I—You're teasing me, Leon!' she admonished.

  'I am amazed at your capacity for blushing. I thought you a woman of the world.'

  That brought her up with a start. 'Excuse me,' she said sarcastically. 'I'd forgotten my role in life for a moment. It won't happen again.'

  Leon lay on his stomach, staring out to sea, his hair dried by trie sun. 'Again you are on the defensive. I was merely making an unbiased observation.'

  'Sorry.' She lay down a small distance away from him, her sunglasses pushed over her nose, her eyes closed.

  Her eyes flew open again as she felt a drop of water fall on her arm. Leaning above her, his face only inches away from her own, Leon looked darkly down at her. Her heart began to beat erratically at his close­ness, her breath suddenly constricted.

  'You are not sorry at all,' he said huskily. 'You deliberately bait me until I have to retaliate.'

  'W—what do you mean?' she asked breathlessly.

  His hand gently removed a strand of hair from her face, smoothing one creamy cheek. 'You force me to do these things, Templar,' he groaned. 'I have vowed to myself that I would not touch you, but lately I have found myself—' He swung away from her, staring bleakly out to sea again. 'This is madness'.'

  Templar put out a hand and tentatively touched his bare shoulder. 'What is, Leon?' She knew she was play­ing with fire, but something pushed her on, forcing her to reach out to him, to touch him somehow.

  He pushed her hand away angrily. 'Leave me alone, Templar! Do you not know when to leave well alone?'

  'But I-'

  He rolled back towards her, imprisoning her between his arms. He looked down at her, putting out one of his hands and running it caressingly over the smooth contours of her waist and hips. 'So soft,' he murmured as if to himself. 'Beautiful and soft.'

  Templar remained silent and still. His touch wasn't unpleasant, in fact it was rather stimulating. Apart from Ken, Leon was the only man she had been this close to in a year, although this was far from the only reason his touch affected her. In all her travels, abroad and in England, she had never met a man as fascinating and attractive as Leon.

  When she had first met him she had thought him-arrogant and stern, but she had learnt during the last weeks that his chilly exterior shielded a man who lived and worked alone, who pushed all personal things out of his life. But he could no longer do that, he now had a wife and child to think of, and those barriers he had erected about his emotions were slowly crumbling.

  'Leon ...' she said throatily.

  He seemed not to have heard her, looking down at her body as if fascinated. 'Your figure is—-perfect. Who would ever think you had had a baby just twelve short months ago?'

  But she hadn't. She hadn't! Her deception entered

  into their every conversation. 'Leon, I '

  'Do not interrupt, Templar," he told her deeply, slowly bending his head to caress her throat with his firm lips.

  Her pulse quickened and her skin burnt where he touched. She had never thought of herself as a physical person, and yet Leon's slightest touch was sending her into nerve-shattering ecstasy. She fought for control of her senses, but she could no longer think straight. His lips and hands were doing strange things to her body and her arms moved up to encircle his neck of their own volition.

  'Oh, Leon!' she sighed throatily.

  'Do you like my hands upon your body?' he groaned, his eyes a sleepy blue with his passion.

  'I—'

  'Do not answer!' he snapped tautly, rolling away from her in self-disgust. 'I had no right to ask you that, no right to touch you at all!' He pushed his hair away from his forehead. 'I am returning to the villa now, you must return when you are ready.'

  'But, Leon!' she cried desperately, sitting up in the sand as he gathered up his towel in preparation for leaving. 'Do you have to go?' she asked softly.

  He looked down at her with tormented eyes. 'I have to go.'

  Templar didn't see him leave, but nevertheless she knew he had gone, she could no longer sense his presence. Leon was becoming important to her—and she didn't like it! She and Tiffany had only ever relied on each other, but it seemed that both of them were to find the Marcoses the men they would rely on. But she didn't want to rely on him! Already she was beginning to depend on him too much, become too involved with their little family unit.

  What would a child of Leon's look like? Probably very like Keri, she thought dreamily. And it would look like her too, so much so that she felt sure no one would ever be able to tell the two children weren't actually brother and sister.

  She brought her thoughts up with a start. Whatever was she thinking of! There could never be a child be­tween Leon and herself. Never! Even if they became close enough for such a relationship to be possible, which she seriously doubted, she could not allow it to happen. Once Leon tried to go any further than a few kisses he would know she was completely inexperi­enced, and he would certainly know she had never borne a child. And he would never forgive her for lying about Ken's parentage. He wasn't a forgiving man.

  But could they live the rest of their lives without human warmth? She doubted it. Leon was a virile man, and she didn't like the thought of him making love to another woman, someone like Rachel for instance. No, she didn't like that idea at all.

  Leon avoided any personal subjects throughout dinner, both of them ever conscious of Marie as she waited on them. But once dinner was over it was a dif­ferent matter, Leon requesting that she join him in the privacy of the lounge for coffee. She poured him the desired black coffee, sipping nervously at her own milky brew.

  He seemed in no hurry to speak and as each moment slowly ticked by Templar became more and more agi­tated. Finally she sighed deeply. 'For goodness' sake, Leon! Just say whatever it was you wanted to say and get it over with.'

  His eyes were chillingly grey as he looked down at her from his great height as she sat in one of the white leather armchairs. 'I have, of course, to apologise for what happened this afternoon. It was not my intention to touch you.'

  Templar blushed. 'I—Please! It wasn't important.'

  'But it was,' he said firmly. 'My actions were not the ones you expected of
me, the man who promised you a completely uninvolved marriage.'

  'By uninvolved, you mean ...?'

  'I mean, no physical involvement. You have stood enough in your young life already without being forced into a physical relationship you would find repellent.'

  'Oh, but I-'

  'Please, Templar, let me finish! I wish you to forget what took place between us on the beach, try to put it out of your mind.'

  She shook her head. 'I couldn't forget it, Leon. Surely you realise it must change things between us?'

  Leon moved to the drinks tray, helping himself to a liberal amount of whisky before answering her. 'That I momentarily forgot our true state and found myself desiring you cannot be changed, but it must be for­gotten. And it will not be repeated,' he added sternly.

  'How can you be so sure?' she persisted perversely, perversely because she herself found this subject highly embarrassing. But she couldn't let the subject drop, forcing him to answer her. 'Leon ?'

  He slammed the glass down on the table. 'Because I will not allow it to happen again! I am not an impres­sionable schoolboy who can be aroused at the merest touch of a beautiful woman. I do have some control, even though you may doubt it.'

  'And what about me?'

  He looked surprised. 'What about you?'

  'I wasn't—well, I ' She stumbled over the words.

  His face became set. 'You were not unmoved?' he

  finished coldly. 'But I know that, I am not a fool. It

  was to be expected that you would eventually turn to

  me for what physical comfort you could find. A woman

  is much like a man in that respect. The human body,

  once it has known such pleasures, demands more. And

  I '

  'Yes?' she asked shrilly. 'You what?’ Her eyes sparkled dangerously as she stood up to face him. 'I've never heard such a lot of rubbish in my life! You talk about making love as if it's a clinical thing, not some­thing that happens impulsively, with breathtaking feel­ing and love. Yes, I was aroused by your touch, but I certainly wouldn't have let you make love to me. My body demands nothing, nothing at all!'

  She spoke the words with feeling, but she wasn't sure she meant them. When he had left her this afternoon she had felt bereft, as if she had been on the verge of a great discovery but had then been denied that know­ledge.

  'You are upset,' Leon said calmly. 'And you are say­ing things that if you thought about them, you would know for yourself to be untrue. It is a problem I have no answer to. I will not permit you to take a lover, that I just cannot allow.'

  Templar gave a choking laugh. 'Oh, God,' she choked. 'I don't believe this is happening! I don't want a lover, Leon! I just want to be left alone to live my life and bring up my daughter. It was you who intro­duced the subject of physical gratification—I had no thoughts on the subject.'

  'Do not delude yourself, Templar,' he scoffed. 'I have seen the way you look at me when you think I am not looking. I have seen the look of curiosity enter your eyes. Like all women, you begin to wonder what it would be like to be made love to by that man or this, and your attention has now come around to me. You are curious as to what makes me tick, are you not?'

  She was furious now. 'I know what makes you tick! That computer you have inside you for a heart. Do you have to analyse everything? Does nothing you do ever happen spontaneously?'

  'Sometimes. I am a man,' he answered simply. 'And men are prone to give in to the senses rather than the mind.'

  'Not you, Leon,' she said fiercely. 'You weigh every­thing up before coming to a decision, work everything out coldly until it meets your approval, and then carry it out.'

  'My actions this afternoon were neither clinical nor thought out.' He looked at her coldly.

  'No,' she admitted. 'Which means there may be hope for you yet.'

  'There will be no more lapses of that kind,' he told her haughtily.

  'We'll see, Leon,' she said softly. 'We'll see.'

  CHAPTER SIX

  Templar found her feelings towards Leon changing over the next few days. No longer did she think of him as the cold arrogant man of their first meeting, but as a sensually alive man who could be moved to passion like any other. And she had evoked those feelings, no mat­ter how much he tried to deny it. It had been her, and not just any woman, that he had reacted to. And she also knew he despised his weakness, fought against it with everything he could.

  She found herself looking forward to the long lazy days they spent together on the beach, Keri joining them until it became too hot for her to play in comfort. If occasionally Leon avoided being with Templar he never neglected to spend time with the baby, the two of them having become firm friends, a bond of love existing between them that could never be broken.

  On the fourth morning of their stay Templar re­ceived a letter from Mary. What she read there made her eyes fill with tears. She looked at Leon, her sudden stillness causing him to put down the newspaper he had been reading with his breakfast and look at her en­quiringly.

  'Is anything wrong?' He looked pointedly at the letter.

  'Why did you do it, Leon?' she asked brokenly.

  'Why did I do what?' He frowned his puzzlement.

  She held up the letter. 'This is from Mary.'

  'Ah!' His brow cleared.

  'It was such a kind thing to do, to buy them a house like that. I can hardly believe it!'

  'I have not bought them a house,' he corrected. 'For some reason they insist on paying me back the money. I wanted to make them a gift of the place, God knows I can afford it, but Peter would not hear of it. Not even when I said it was a gift for my godson.'

  Templar laughed lightly. 'A house is rather a strange gift for a month-old baby.' She sobered. 'Even for someone as rich as you are. What made you make such a strange gesture?'

  He shrugged, folding up the newspaper in readiness for leaving the breakfast-table. 'They are your friends,' he said simply.

  Her eyes widened. 'And—and that made you buy them a house?'

  'But of course. You were unhappy for your friend, especially now they have Daniel, I merely alleviated that unhappiness. As I have the money it was quite a simple thing to do.'

  'But not something many people would have done.'

  His eyes became distant. 'Do not make it more im­portant than it is. I have merely loaned them a sum of money, it is a business deal if you like.'

  She gave a half-smile. 'With you the loser. Mary says that you insist the money should be interest-free. That doesn't seem a very good business deal to me.'

  'I disagree with you. It has made you happy, has it not?'

  'Very,' she agreed.

  'Then it was worth every penny.' He stood up, cut­ting short their conversation. But Templar would not be put off so easily.

  'Why should you want me to feel happy, Leon? I didn't think that was part of your plans at all.'

  'We will not argue, Templar,' he said stiffly.

  'That's always your line of defence, isn't it? With­draw from me in your arrogant manner. I can't even have a normal conversation with you!'

  He looked down at her haughtily. 'This is not a normal conversation, none of them have been since I made the mistake of kissing you the other day. And it was a mistake, believe me.'

  'But you didn't—kiss me, I mean.' She blushed under his scathing look.

  'The fact that our lips did not meet does not mean I did not kiss you.' He turned away. 'I am sure you re­member very well what I did.'

  'You touched and caressed me! Is that a sin?'

  'You ask me that?' he shook his head. 'You have my brother's child,' he said with finality.

  Templar rose from the table too, twisting her hands together in her tension. 'And if I didn't, what then? Would you still have this aversion to touching me?'

  Leon's eyes became more distant with each word she spoke. 'As the situation does not arise I can really see no-‘

  'Would you!' she demanded between clenched t
eeth.

  He shook his head. 'I cannot answer that.'

  'Why?' Her eyes glinted. 'Because you're afraid to? Because you're frightened of admitting to any of the more basic feelings the rest of us are blessed with? You aren't a machine, Leon, no matter how much you pre­tend to be. So answer the question!'

  'Do not take that tone with me!’

  'Answer it, Leon!'

  The rigidity left his body and he turned away. 'You are like a child who will not be put off. If,' he chose his words carefully, 'If you were not Keri's mother then I admit, reluctantly, that I would find you very desirable. But you are her mother, so the situation does not arise.' He walked to the door.

  'W—where are you going?' she asked.

  'I will be out all day today. I have an appointment.'

  'Oh, yes?'

  'Yes,' his mouth tightened. 'A business appointment.'

  'Have a nice day,' she said flippantly. 'And don't— don't work too hard, will you?'

  Leon looked quickly at his watch. 'I do not have the time to argue with you further. We will have to con­tinue this discussion when I return.'

  'Hardly a discussion,' she scoffed. 'It can hardly be that when you run away from situations all the time. Oh, go away, Leon,' she dismissed.

  'You will push me too far one day, Templar,' he warned grimly. 'And when that day comes I will not be responsible for my actions.'

  'I can hardly wait,' she returned scathingly.

  His answer was to slam the door behind him as he left. Oh, damn! Templar looked down at her nearly full breakfast plate, no longer feeling even remotely hungry. Poor Leon, he couldn't even discuss personal subjects now without them developing into a full-scale argument.

  The trouble was she was too much aware of him now, aware of him as a man, as her own husband. He was a very attractive individual, with that dark over-long hair touched with grey at the temples, smouldering sexy eyes that could be icily grey or passionately blue, firm straight nose and mouth, with that full sensuous lower lip, and his tall lean attractive body. From the £rst moment they had met she had been wholly aware of him as a dominant personality, but now he was all male to her, all overwhelmingly male.