Borrowed plumes

by Elizabeth Ashton

  Alex silently pointed upwards where above a flight of steps, to the side of the temple, was a view of the hillside and a stretch of the Byzantine wall that had once enclosed the city. Leaning against it, binoculars in hand, was a white-clad figure crowned by a panama hat—Jeremy Reynolds.

  'I'm not going up there,' Renata said firmly. She sat down on a marble block, spreading her skirts around her. 'Perhaps he'll come down if you shout.'

  'I'll fetch him.' Jan shot away like an arrow up the steps and threading her way between blocks of stone and pillars, out on to the hillside. It was very steep and rough going, but she had the sure-footed agility of a goat. Suddenly she became aware that Alex was beside her. She stopped, troubled by his presence; he was a disruptive element in a place which always stimulated her imagination, and she wanted to be alone with her fancies. From the hilltop she could reconstruct the once prosperous city in her mind's eye and dream herself back into the past, as she had hoped to do, once she had delivered her message to her uncle.

  'I wonder you dare leave Rena,' she told him.

  They both looked down at the seated figure. A party of young Americans was straggling past her, the masculine half of it finding her more interesting than the ruins. Even from a distance her complacent attitude was discernible; she was enjoying their admiring glances. Alex's expression was indifferent.

  'She won't run away, and a man likes his property to be appreciated.'

  Jan threw him a questioning glance. 'So you consider she's your property? Are you engaged?'

  'We're not, but she's mine for the asking.'

  'Then you ought to be,' Jan said severely. 'You've no right to play fast and loose with her affections, Mr. Leandris ...'

  He held up his hand to check her.

  'Spare me your recriminations, miss. We had words upon this subject before and it bores me. You're not your cousin's keeper, and it's her father's place to ask me my intentions, not yours.'

  He was quite insufferable, Jan decided. Only her acute anxiety on Renata's behalf had" prompted her words, words which would have been better unspoken. Her uncle would never question Alex's motives. He had convinced himself they were all they should be, and he had not seen the diamond pendant.

  With her cheeks burning from his rebuff, Jan sped away from him up the hillside, but Alex soon overtook her and with ease.

  'No reason to give yourself a coronary because you don't like home truths,' he said derisively. 'That won't do anyone any good.'

  She came to a halt, noting with annoyance that while her exertions had left her breathless, Alex showed no sign of strain. He must be in excellent physical condition, she admitted grudgingly. Indulgence had not impaired it—but was he self-indulgent? She was judging by his fine yacht and big car; he might work very hard to earn them for all she knew, though he seemed to have had plenty of leisure since they had come to Kusadasi.

  'You're wondering how a man in my position manages to keep fit,' he stated. Tm an abstemious eater and I take a lot of exercise.'

  She was disconcerted that he seemed able to guess her thoughts, and she said coldly:

  'I'm not really very interested in your way of life, Mr. Leandris.'

  'Then you ought to be, as I'm a prospective suitor for Renata's hand, but you'll never get a husband if you don't control that tongue of yours.'

  'Nor am I particularly interested in getting a husband,' she retorted, 'but do you mean you are serious about Renata?'

  'Definitely so, but there are other relationships between men and women besides matrimony.'

  Jan turned away and began to plod steadily upward. His last sentence was ominous, and she knew she could not influence her cousin. Renata would go her willful way regardless of consequences, and even her father couldn't control her. Was it any use trying to warn him?

  'And don't you go telling tales to Daddy,' Alex told her, catching her thought with an almost uncanny rapport. Rapport with this forbidding stranger? Absurd idea. 'He won't be sympathetic.'

  'No, you've taken care of that,' she said bitterly, and stumbled over a stone. He caught her arm to steady her, and a quiver ran through her at the contact of his lean brown fingers with her bare arm. It was not distaste, but an electric tingling of her nerves. Damn the man! —she could feel his magnetic attraction much as she disliked and distrusted him.

  'Thank you,' she muttered, and rubbed her arm where he had held it.

  He said: 'You have a soft skin, smooth as satin.'

  That was so unexpected that she gaped at him.

  'Did you expect it to be prickly?'

  'Outside as well as in?' His smile was devastating, lighting up the hard planes of his face, and displaying even white teeth. 'You're not a hedgehog.'

  'I'm afraid I am a bit thorny at times,' she admitted. 'But Rena's a sore subject.'

  'Then suppose you leave it alone.'

  She sighed. 'I haven't much option, but oh, I wish we'd never met you.'

  'Another prick?' He grinned. 'But if you hadn't, you wouldn't have come to Kusadasi. Aren't you enjoying your visit?'

  It was on the tip of her tongue to retort, 'Very much, if it weren't for you,' but she bit the words back; he was impervious to her rudeness, and she had done Renata no good. Again he guessed her thought.

  'I'm afraid I'm the serpent in your Eden,' he observed.

  'Since you say so, you are, but it's not me you're tempting.'

  He gave her a sly look.

  'It might come to that. You're quite fetching in your boy's clothes.'

  Incorrigible flirt, she thought, he had to try to charm even her unprepossessing self when no other woman was present. She said coolly:

  'I'm impervious to flattery, Mr. Leandris, and you know you consider I'm a dowd, if not next door to a freak.'

  'You're mistaken, and no woman is indifferent to compliments, unless you're quite exceptional.'

  'Oh, I am,' she declared. 'Didn't you know, I'm unique!'

  Which piece of bravado brought them up to Jeremy, who was fiddling with his camera and his field glasses. He was a spare man, of medium height, with hair and small beard of a ginger hue. His eyes were green like his daughter's.

  'Wonderful birds' eye view of the place from up here,' he said to Alex as if his appearance was expected. 'Has it ever struck you, my boy, how pervasive the female element is in Ephesus? First it was famous for its worship of Diana, the goddess's temple was the focal centre of the district, then St John was reputed to have brought the Virgin Mary here. That is her supposed house over there ...' He swung his glasses to focus it. 'Nice little church they've built, and a fine statue. The natives, I fancy, identified her with Artemis.'

  'Don't we all worship lovely womanhood?' Alex asked solemnly, but with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

  Jeremy looked at him suspiciously.

  'I don't believe you worship anything,' he said bluntly, 'and your lady friends adore you.' He suddenly noticed Jan. 'What are you doing here? Where's Rena?'

  'She stayed down below, she couldn't face the climb,' Alex explained, 'but this niece of yours skipped up like a chamois.'

  'Jan was always a bit of a tomboy,' Jeremy remarked absently. 'Now about this model, it's to be of the original Greek city, of course ...'

  As the two men became engrossed in talk, Jan wandered away over the short turf. She felt disturbed. Not only had Alex been able to read her thoughts, but she was dismayed by the effect his touch had upon her senses. Dimly she glimpsed forces within herself the existence of which she had not suspected. Modern literature is full of descriptions of passionate urges and the responses they elicit in the opposite sex, but she had had no personal experience of such emotions, she had not even suffered from schoolgirl crushes. As a teenager she had been shy and awkward with boys, while grown men filled her with awe. Her uncle was the only male she had ever known intimately, and she was all the more vulnerable because her sexual feelings had been repressed. That Alexandros Leandris of all people should be the agent to stir her sleep
ing womanhood was sheer disaster. She disliked the man intensely, believing him to be arrogant and overbearing, though his position offered some excuse. A man could not rule a vast mercantile empire without becoming despotic, and she could not deny that he had physical charm. She had an uneasy suspicion that if he ever turned it on in her direction, she might succumb to it. She had no wish to join the ranks of his adorers to which her uncle had jeeringly referred. But she was quite safe; Renata was Alex's objective, and he had only talked to her today because she happened to be beside him. Unconsciously she sighed.

  Unwillingly her eyes kept turning towards the bulky remnant of the old Byzantine wall that had once encircled the city beside which the two men were talking earnestly. Her gaze lingered on Alex's lithe figure. No man had any right to be so good-looking, she decided; it was not fair to his female acquaintances. He wore neither hat or sunglasses, the strong sunlight did not seem to affect him. His short-sleeved casual shirt showed the strong column of his throat, his brown neck, and his sunburned arms. His hands were thrust into his trouser pockets as he idly kicked at a stone while he conversed. Even standing at a distance, she caught his aura of leashed power. Occasionally he glanced towards her, but she did not think he really saw her.

  With another sigh she turned to look for Renata, who was visible in miniature down below. One of the bolder of the tourist youths had engaged her in conversation and she was laughing and talking animatedly. Jan glanced fearfully at Alex. Had he seen? Apparently not, for he appeared to be quite unconcerned. But that might be a mask for his real feelings. She decided she had better go down and break up the party before he vented his displeasure upon her cousin. He had not approved of the Izmir expedition with Denis Wood. She scrambled down the steep hillside and as she came nearer she recognized the youth as Denis. Had he come by chance or had Renata found a means to let him know where they were going before they set out? She was foolish to incense Alex further by encouraging him, but perhaps she did care for him after all, and he would persuade her to throw off the dark spell the men by the Byzantine wall had woven about her. That would be a wonderful solution of her cousin's future, Jan thought as a block of buildings obscured her view of the couple, but when she had negotiated her way back on to the road, Denis had gone and Renata was demurely sitting alone.

  'What an age you've been,' she complained as Jan came up to her. 'I'm bored to death!'

  'But you had company,' Jan pointed out.

  'So you saw?' Renata giggled. 'You can't blame me if Alex goes off and leaves me alone. So lucky Denis was passing.' She looked sharply at her cousin. 'You seemed to be having quite a flirt with Alex of your own up there.'

  'Oh, don't be ridiculous,' Jan said crossly, hoping she had not blushed. Her arm still tingled where Alex had grasped it. 'As if he'd look at me!'

  'He was looking at you, though it may have been with revulsion,' Renata drawled, 'and he seemed in no hurry to shake you off. Don't trespass, darling, he's my property.'

  'He considers you're his.'

  Renata smiled complacency. 'So he told you that, and my warning was unnecessary.' She stretched her shapely legs. 'This stone is hard. I fancy it won't be long before Alex publicizes his claim.'

  'That'll be a relief,' said Jan, although she felt misgivings. But once Renata and Alex were officially engaged there would be no danger of the alternative, and their marriage might turn out all right. Her flighty cousin, needed to be controlled and might not resent being dominated if she had plenty of money to spend. Jan believed that a happy marriage depended upon partnership, a sharing of each other's lives, and she could not see Renata sharing interests with Alex, but she probably would not want to do so. She was sure that the Greek held women in contempt though he was dependent upon them for his pleasure. Perhaps that was why; they were too eager to oblige him and accept what he offered. Renata's motives, she feared, were more mercenary than loving too, but Alex seemed generous enough. Not an ideal union, but perhaps it would work. She gave a long sigh as she flopped down on the block of stone beside her cousin.

  'You've tired yourself scrambling up that hill,' Renata said more kindly. 'You should have stayed with me. That's what Alex expected you to do.'

  'I didn't anticipate he'd come after me. I was going to tell your father to come down here to you.'

  If she had stayed put she would not have had that moment of revelation. Absently she stroked her arm.

  'People never do what you expect them to, do they, Jan?' Renata remarked with a hint of malice. 'They fall short of your ideals and so you're always being let down. Thank goodness I haven't got any. Ah, here's Alex.' She stood up shaking out her skirts. 'I thought you'd deserted me.'

  'That is impossible,' he said gallantly, but strangely his eyes were upon Jan. 'Your young cousin seemed determined to break her neck by her precipitous descent.'

  Knowing that she had hurried to warn Denis off, Jan looked uncomfortable.

  'Oh, Jan's always so impetuous,' Renata said carelessly.

  'Now you do surprise me, I believed Jan's actions were always premeditated. Even her haste just now had a reason.'

  So he had seen and recognised Denis. Jan glanced at him nervously, expecting an explosion, but he remained calm and suave. Possibly he considered a young man who fled at his approach was a poor creature and need not be feared as a rival. The significance of his last remark had not penetrated Renata's intelligence, for she said brightly:

  'If you've finished with Dad, let's go somewhere more amusing. I'm sick of staring at those stones.'

  'You're hard to please, Madame,' Alex observed drily. 'People come half way across the globe to stare at the stones of Ephesus.'

  'Probably they weren't brought up on ruins like we were,' Renata retorted. 'Pompeii, Crete—Dad's crazy about the lot, but Jan and I prefer something modern.'

  Alex turned quizzical eyes in Jan's direction.

  'Do you share your cousin's views, chamois?'

  Jan hesitated. She didn't, but she did not want to support Alex. Renata caught at the name he had called her and saved her the necessity of a reply.

  'Chamois?'

  'She's as surefooted as a goat, but chamois sounds prettier.'

  'If we're going to have a menagerie—pigs and goats, what do I resemble?' Renata tilted her head provocatively.

  'A bird of paradise,' he returned promptly.

  She preened herself. 'Very pretty.' She took a couple of steps and stopped. 'Give me your arm, please, these stones are crippling me!'

  They proceeded back the way they had come, Alex and Renata arm in arm with Jan trailing behind, but when they reached the broad steps leading down into Harbour Street, Alex halted.

  'Take my other arm, Jan,' he crooked it invitingly. 'You look as if you didn't belong to us.'

  'Thank you, Mr. Leandris, but goats don't need sup-port.'

  Alex laughed. 'Is that rankling?'

  'Oh, don't be so touchy,' Renata scolded. 'Alex is only trying to be friendly, but you persist in snubbing him.'

  'She's seeking to deflate my swollen ego,' Alex explained with a wicked grin.

  'She's being stupid.' Renata was not sure what he meant.

  'Oh, very well, just to show there's no ill feeling,' Jan slipped her arm through his,'... Alex.'

  'That's much better,' he approved.

  Bare skin touched bare skin, Alex's naked forearm and Jan's soft flesh. Again she had the sensation of an electric shock. The contact caused a vivid awareness to run through her whole body. It was almost shocking to discover that this man whom she was determined to dislike possessed a powerful physical magnetism which affected every quivering nerve. Was he affected too? She glanced at his profile, but his face was turned towards Renata and he seemed to be oblivious of her presence, so she decided he was not. But when having descended the steps she sought to withdraw her arm, deeming she had made her gesture, he clamped it close to his side. A natural reflex? His reaction towards prey which sought to escape? But it was not she he was tryin
g to capture, and absorbed in Renata he had probably forgotten who she was.

  'We must look ridiculous,' she protested, 'like the Three Musketeers or something!'

  She made a more definite movement to free herself and he let her go.

  'Renata is coming to have lunch with me on the Artemis,'' he told her, naming his yacht. 'Will you join us?'

  'Thank you, but no, I've work to do. If you'd drop me at the villa.'

  'Jan is always so conscientious,' Renata observed.

  Alex gave her a long, considering look.

  'That's her trouble,' he said cryptically. 'But you and I, darling, are not overburdened in that way.'

  Back at Kusadasi, Jan looked down at the graceful shape of the Armetis anchored in the bay. It made a charming picture with the small island with its sixteenth-century fort forming its background. She wondered if she had done the right thing, for alone on the yacht Alex would have ample opportunity to seduce Renata if so inclined. But if he were so inclined there would be plenty of others, and she would have suffered embarrassment feeling herself de trop. It might be he was going to propose and Renata would come back engaged. She wondered why such a satisfactory prospect left her feeling so cold.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Renata did not come back engaged. Jan watched her closely, but she had neither the appearance of a satisfied lover nor of a prospective bride; she was moody, almost morose. Jan's anxious enquiries were met with irritable replies. She was perfectly well, she declared, but she was sick of Kusadasi, it was a one-horse little place and she wanted to go somewhere more lively. Alex might have found them accommodation in Izmir, which was more exciting. Jan thought he probably considered she would have too many other distractions there, but his courtship seemed to be hanging fire. He visited them most days, and entertained Renata and her father on his yacht, giving Jan perfunctory invitations to join them, which she always refused; he only included her out of politeness, and she had no wish to watch him flirting with her cousin.

  Jeremy, in addition to the model he was going to make of ancient Ephesus, was writing a book about the history of the place, and Jan had plenty to do arranging his notes and typing his preliminary manuscript. Their stay was nearing its end. Jeremy had collected all the data and photographs he required for both projects, and drawn the designs for his model which was to be made at home. Denis Wood had gone back and Jan wondered if his departure had anything to do with Renata's dejection, since the situation between her and Alex remained unresolved.