DECEIT OF A PAGAN

by Carole Mortimer

  Templar was mesmerised. He didn't look like the Leon who had left here a few hours earlier. There was a certain rakishness to his expression, his hair wind­swept, his white shirt opened almost to his waist. He looked—he looked devilish!

  'Leon!' She stood up shakily.

  His gaze swung back to her. 'Yes—Leon. I doubt, by your conversation, that you were expecting me home just yet. You were perhaps hoping not to be disturbed for a while.'

  Neil flushed angrily at the other man's contemptuous tone, feeling at a distinct disadvantage sitting down. He stood up slowly. 'It isn't what it seems, Leon,' he began.

  Grey-blue eyes turned glacial. 'I am sure it is exactly what it seems,' he sneered.

  'Now look, Marcose-'

  'No—you look,' Leon said fiercely, taking a threaten­ing step towards the younger man. 'I wish to be left alone with my wife. You will kindly leave my house so that this is possible.'

  ‘I don't-'

  'You will leave now while you are able to do so,' Leon interrupted curtly. 'I have asked you politely so far, but the next time I may not even bother to ask. You under­stand?'

  Neil looked uncertain. 'Templar?'

  She pushed her hair back nervously. 'I——Perhaps it would be for the best, Neil.' She had never seen Leon in such a mood; he looked positively dangerous, and there was a certain glazed look to his eyes. Perhaps Neil was right and Leon had been drinking too much. There was certainly something wrong with him.

  Grey eyes raked her before passing on to Neil. 'You heard my wife, Adams. Leave.'

  'You're sure?' Neil looked at her worriedly.

  'I'm sure,' she answered hurriedly as she saw Leon's look darken threateningly.

  'So,' Leon mocked sneeringly once Neil had left. 'You are never at a loss for male company, are you? I am gone for a few hours and straight away you invite your lover over here. Unfortunately for you I noticed his absence at dinner.'

  'Really?' Templar looked away. 'I'm surprised you noticed anything, the state you're in.'

  His eyes flashed angrily. 'What do you mean?'

  'I mean you're drunk!'

  Leon gave a harsh laugh that owed nothing to amuse­ment. 'I am not drunk. It takes more than a few whiskies to get me in that state.'

  'You could have fooled me!' she retorted with more courage than she felt. 'And Neil is not my lover. He was just comforting me as a friend.'

  'Oh yes? Do all your male friends invite you to go and live with them?'

  'It wasn't meant that way and you know it!'

  'I know only one thing, I will stand no more of it. I have come to the end of my patience where you are concerned.'

  'Wh—what do you mean to do?' she faltered.

  He gave a cruel smile. 'You may well ask. Do not look so nervous, Templar. You may enjoy the next couple of hours,' he gave a shrug, 'but it is not import­ant that you do. Today I went to see Rachel Winter with the intention of accepting her blatant offer for me to share her bed,' his grin was even crueller at her gasp of dismay. 'Why so shocked? Is it not what you have always suspected of me ?'

  'Yes, but I-‘

  'Mm, well, today would have been the first time I have made love to a woman since we were married. And I would have taken her too—if I had not seen your face in my mind all the time!' He angrily slammed the French doors closed, locking them with a snap of the catch. 'I could feel nothing for her, nothing at all!'

  'I—I see.' She bit her top lip.

  'I do not really think that you do,' he said bitterly. 'You have made it impossible for me to make love to another woman, so you must be the one to satisfy me.'

  Templar took a step back at the determination in his face. 'No J' she shook her head desperately.

  'Oh yes. I will no longer be put off. The obstruction of Keri being your child has effectively been removed. There is no further reason why I should not have what any men have surely had before me.’

  'Oh no, Leon,' she choked. 'You can't expect-

  His eyes narrowed and his mouth tightened. 'I ex­pect you to go to your room and wait for me there!'

  Her face paled. 'I can't, Leon!'

  'You will do as you are told!' he snapped. 'I intend taking you if I have to fight you to do it. You will torment me no longer. Go to your room,' he repeated. 'I will come to you in ten minutes.'

  She gave one last pleading look at his determined face before turning to leave the room. Leon would not be moved by emotion, he had gone past that. He was a man set on an idea and he wouldn't be deterred by anything.

  'And, Templar ...' he halted her exit, 'do not imagine you can sneak out of the villa away from me. If you leave I will follow you and bring you back, no matter where you are. I intend ridding myself of this passion I have for you once and for all. Ten minutes,' he reminded her threateningly.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Templar sat down on the bed, tears racking her slender body. And she had thought nothing else could go wrong today! This was the worst of all. Leon in­tended taking her without thought of her feelings in the matter, without caring whether she wanted him in return.

  Her shoulders slumped. But of course he knew she wanted him—she betrayed her desire for him every time he came near her. Yes, she wanted him, and he knew it. He also knew she had no choice but to give in to hs demands.

  Well, he wouldn't find her lying dejectedly in the bed waiting for him when he came in here. If tonight was to be her wedding night then she was going to look the part.

  She found herself a sheer white nightdress, laying it on the bed before going to take a shower. She washed herself thoroughly before smoothing scented lotion' all over her body. Back in her bedroom she donned the nightdress and brushed her hair smoothly. A spray of perfume, the lights dimmed to the two side-lamps, and she felt ready to face her husband.

  She did not have long to wait, only a minute or two before he walked unannounced into the bedroom, his eyes narrowing as he took in the dimmed room and her body clothed in the sheer nightdress. Under that mock­ing stare Templar found she didn't feel quite so con­fident.

  'So,' he said softly. 'You have decided to play the virgin for me.'

  Templar flinched at the scorn in his voice but didn't retaliate. 'If you mean I've decided not to fight you then you're right,' she agreed softly. 'What would be the point?'

  'Admit you do not want to fight me.' He slowly re­moved his robe, revealing the only other garment he wore, a pair of cream silk pyjama trousers that rested low on his hip bones and emphasised the darkness of his skin.

  'I have no choice,' she replied obstinately.

  'No, you do not. Take off that ridiculous nightdress and get into bed. Did you expect me to feel remorse with you in virginal white?' he scoffed. 'What a mock­ery that is! You have no right to wear the colour, no right at all.'

  Colour flared in her pale cheeks. 'I have the right of a bride on her wedding night!'

  He gave that harsh laugh that was wholly taunting. 'You do not have the right when another man has al­ready taken the virginity that colour is supposed to im­ply. Now take it off and get into bed!' he ordered.

  Templar felt her courage begin to fail her at the callousness in his face. 'I can't do it, Leon. Not like this. Please, don't take me like this!' she begged him, her green eyes imploring.

  'I will take you any way I choose. I see no reason for you to enjoy it. Now will you take that thing off or do I have to rip it from your body?'

  'Like you did the last time?' she scorned.

  'Exactly as I did the last time, although this time you will not escape so easily.' He sat down in the bedroom chair, his eyes never leaving her body.

  She felt herself blushing under his intent stare. 1 can't do it with you looking at me.'

  'Well, I have no intention of turning the other way.'

  She set her lips, pulling the nightdress up over her head, her naked body bathed in golden light from the side-lamps. 'Are you satisfied now?'

  'Hardly,' he said dryly. 'I will not be that
until you are in bed and I have made you mine.' He stood up and , she moved hurriedly beneath the covers, but she needn't have panicked so quickly, he was merely stand­ing up to remove his pyjama trousers. She looked away from his muscled god-like body, blushing profusely.

  Leon came to stand beside the bed, looking down at her pale face. 'Perhaps I will make it pleasurable for you after all,' he mused softly, pulling back the sheet to reveal her naked body. 'To merely take you is not enough. I want you to beg for my possession of you. Yes,' he gave that cruel smile again, 'I will make you beg.'

  Templar felt herself tense as he lay beside her, the long length of his body pressed intimately close against her side. 'The lights, Leon. Turn out the lights.'

  He leant over her, kissing her throat with caressing lips. 'I want them left on. I want to watch you as I make love to you, I want to see your every emotion.'

  'Oh God, Leon!' she choked. 'Does it have to be a punishment?'

  One strong hand moved up to cup one full breast, his mouth moving slowly over her shoulder and down to its fullness. 'You do not expect me to take you with love, do you? To treat you as a real wife?'

  'No,' she shook her head from side to side, feeling

  her body begin to weaken towards him as his hand

  continued its exploration of her taut body. 'But I-

  'Be silent!' His tongue licked flames along her body. 'Before I have finished with you you will be saying something so much different.'

  He pulled her roughly against him, turning her into his arms so that their two bodies were moulded to­gether. His mouth claimed hers, forcing her lips apart and demanding she respond.

  She didn't want to do anything else with his fully aroused body pressed against her, his hands running caressingly up and down her body from shoulder to thigh. She shuddered as his hand claimed her breast, his fingers experienced when it came to the workings of a woman's body.

  'Do you like lhat, Templar?' he whispered against her parted mouth. 'Tell me you like it.'

  'I—' she gasped as he touched her again. 'I like it,' she admitted breathlessly.

  'Good. Now touch me, Templar,' he ordered. 'Touch me! Where is all the experience you are supposed to have? Do you not know how to caress and please a man?'

  'I know nothing of men. Nothing!'

  'Then I will show you!'

  He forced her hands on to his body, showing her how best to please him. Within minutes she felt dizzied by his kisses, almost dreamlike with the feelings he was arousing in her body. That he was an expert was ob­vious and she couldn't hold back her gasps of pleasure and her own fevered caresses.

  His was the only male body she had ever touched and she found him beautiful. That he found her equally desirable was obvious, and their mouths met and clung, met and clung, and Templar knew this could be the wedding night she had always dreamt of.

  At his insistent caresses of her breasts she felt a tension start to rise up within her, a feeling of tension that demanded release. That Leon was aware of these feelings she had no doubt, but he still continued those soul-destroying kisses, one of his legs pinning her to the bed.

  His face buried in her throat, he licked flames of fire along her skin, moaning his pleasure at her own caress­ing hands. 'Oh, God,' he breathed deeply, shuddering. 'I cannot stand much more,' he groaned. 'Ask me to take you, Templar. Beg me.'

  'Oh yes, yes! Take me, Leon,' she pleaded. 'I want you to take me.'

  ‘Beg!’

  'I'm begging you, Leon. I'm begging you!'

  She didn't even notice the weight of his body, not even in control of herself any more. She felt weightless, as if she were flying high on a cloud. His touch was gentle now, not punishing any longer as his own long­ing took over and he could no longer think of any­thing but the beautiful body beneath him.

  His mouth on hers could not wholly smother her cry of pain and he drew back, his face white with disbelief. He looked dazed. 'It cannot be,' he muttered. 'It can­not be,' he groaned.

  The first initial pain had faded now and she moved against him longingly, willing him on now that she was completely roused and mindless. Her movements were all he needed to lose control again and their passions mounted high until they burst in a flash of rainbow-coloured lights and a feeling of such intense relief that Templar felt faint.

  'That was beautiful, Leon,' she murmured sleepily. 'Just beautiful.'

  He moved away from her, his face still deathly white and his thoughts confused. 'You were untouched,' he stated bluntly.

  Templar turned to kiss his shoulder, frowning as she felt him flinch. 'Does it matter?' she asked softly.

  For answer he pulled out of her questing arms and stood up, swaying slightly in the aftermath of passion. He ran a hand through his ruffled hair, looking down at her widi tortured eyes before hurriedly covering her naked body with the sheet. 'I have never ever violated the body of an innocent!'

  She felt strangely like laughing at his grim expres­sion, lightheaded, her body languidly replete. Tonight she had become a woman in his arms, and it had been wonderful. 'Come back to bed, Leon. We'll talk in the morning.'

  'We most certainly will,' he said with suppressed violence. 'You will want to return immediately to England, I understand that.'

  'I will?' she frowned.

  'Yes, I—— Oh God, I am so sorry! Why did you not tell me?' he demanded.

  'Would it have made any difference? You wouldn't have believed me.'

  'No, I would not.' He threw on his robe. 'There is no way I can make up to you what I have just done, no way I can undo it But I will try, I will surely try.'

  'How?'

  'I will give you anything you want. I will buy you a house anywhere you want to live. I will pay you a large allowance,' he promised heatedly.

  It seemed he would give her everything but the one thing she really wanted, and that was to stay with him. 'You want me to go?' she faltered.

  'You must see it is impossible for us to carry on living together as we have been. It could no longer work.'

  Templar didn't see anything of the sort, but that Leon wanted her out of his life was obvious. He couldn't have felt the same way she did about their lovemaking. To him it had been a violation of an in­nocent body, not the beautiful experience she con­sidered it to be.

  That she owed much of her enjoyment to Leon's ex­perience she had no doubt. He knew exactly what to do to induce the right pleasures at the right time, and even though he wanted to forget it had ever happened she wanted to remember it for ever. It would probably be the only time she would ever know such delights. She knew she would never want any other man but Leon, and he no longer seemed to want her.

  'Why wouldn't it?' she asked huskily.

  'Because I can no longer bear to have you near me!'

  He wasn't looking at her, so he didn't see her flinch. 'All right,' she sighed her defeat. 'I'll get out of your life as soon as I can.'

  'There is no rush. We will have to talk in the morning. I cannot think straight at the moment.' He glanced at her fleetingly. 'Try to rest now and perhaps sleep will dull the memory of what I have just done to you.'

  'Leon, I-'

  'Please, do not say another word.' He wrenched open the door. 'We must both sleep on this. See how we feel in the morning,' he gave a grim smile. 'I have never met anyone like you for throwing me into a state of utter confusion.'

  'No, Leon.' Tears shimmered in her deep green eyes.

  'And, Templar ...'he turned to look at her, 'I am sorry.'

  She shook her head. 'Please don't...'

  'You are right,' he braced his shoulders. 'What I have done cannot be erased with an apology.' He quietly closed the door as he left.

  Templar turned over, burying her face in the pillows. She didn't want the memory erased, she wanted to remember and remember. Why couldn't Leon have felt the same elation and joy she had felt? To him she had been no different from any of the other women he had taken and then discarded. And that was the reason she had
to leave.

  She didn't want to be someone he made love to when in the mood, someone he turned to when frustration overtook him. If she couldn't be the one woman he loved then she didn't want to be anything in his life. She would leave now, get a flight to England and be back there before he even realised she had gone.

  It was early yet, only just ten o'clock, and a quick telephone call to the airport confirmed that there was a seat for her on the one o'clock flight. She got out of bed, moving with renewed vigour. It would be better this way, to take herself far away from Leon, far away from the temptation to be in his arms.

  She spent fifteen minutes with Keri, not knowing when she would see the baby again but hoping Leon would allow it to be soon. She could probably stay with Mary and Peter for a couple of days until she found somewhere of her own. One thing was certain, she wasn't going to live off Leon. She would find herself a job, perhaps go back to modelling and support herself.

  The one problem now seemed to be transport to the airport. Ten-thirty. Neil would probably be far from going to bed yet, and she thought he might like to help her.

  If he thought it strange to meet her in ten minutes outside the villa he didn't ask any questions on the tele­phone, although she knew he would be more curious when they actually met.

  He raised a questioning eyebrow at her packed suit­case, silently stowing it in the boot of the car. The airport?' He put the car into gear.

  'If you wouldn't mind.'

  'I don't mind at all,' he smiled at her. 'I'm only glad you turned to me for help.'

  'I had no one else,' she answered truthfully.

  'I can understand that You have that look in your eyes now,' he said suddenly.

  Templar blushed. 'I don't know what you mean.'

  'Yes, you do. Is that why you're leaving?'

  'Yes,' she told him shortly. What was the use of arguing with him? He was much too observant to be taken in by anything she said to the contrary.

  'It was my fault, wasn't it?' said Neil. 'He was angry at finding us together.'