Stormy the Way (21 page)

'You could have said something - about Helena's visit, I mean,' said Tara at last, for the deep silence which had fallen on the room was now oppressive, even though through it there filtered the whirring of cicadas in the trees outside the study window.

'I was waiting for you to do so - waiting to see just how long you would continue to misjudge me.' He paused a moment, glaring at her darkly, mouth tight and thin. Tara lowered her head, wondering how she could have been so quick to condemn, without any real proof.

Intruding into these unhappy thoughts came the statement of the Greek girl about having slept here, at the villa, many times. This too was a lie. Tara had no doubts whatsoever about that now. What had taken place between her and Leon had done so on Aegina, not on Poros, where Leon's friends lived. Looking back, Tara failed entirely to understand how she could have taken in what she now saw must be an untruth. A man in Leon's position would never flaunt his amours so close to home. 'Heaven knows how long you would have put off the showdown,' Leon was saying, coldly, but without too sharp a sting to his voice, 'had I not come to the end of my patience and forced it by saying I was going to Aegina—'

'When you weren't! That was very mean and unkind of you!'

'Mean and unkind! What about you - and your treatment of me? What about the lies you believed, and the readiness to condemn - without even opening up and giving me the chance of defending myself?

Unkind, you say! I ought to give you a sample of what unkindness can really be - and by God I will if ever anything like this happens again! I'm not used to being branded a profligate, without decency or honour!' His eyes blazed again, and only now did Tara realize how hurt he had been by her silent condemnation.

'I do realize now that I should have spoken up,' she admitted in a small contrite voice. But then she went on to explain why she had kept silent, without at this stage mentioning Paul. She merely gave as her excuse her own humiliation at having to go home, admitting her marriage was a failure, and that of the hurt to her parents, which must surely result from her leaving her husband so soon after the marriage.

The explanation did have the effect of clearing his brow somewhat, but he scathingly reminded her that, had she spoken up, there would have been a clearing of the air and not, as she so stupidly supposed, an immediate ending of the marriage.

Tara nodded, and swallowed hard, then looked up into his face, her expression begging for forgiveness. For a long moment he seemed to retain a hardness which lent such austerity to his face that he seemed more inaccessible than ever she had seen him. But quite suddenly his features relaxed and as she watched with a sort of fascinated expectation and swiftly increasing excitement she saw that his anger was actually being replaced by a hint of humour. This was portrayed in the glimmer in his eyes, and the slight twitching at the corner of his mouth.

'I rather thought my mention of Aegina would produce some reaction, and it did. I should have done it before.' A pause as his amusement grew. Without sparing her he said, 'On a previous occasion when I was given a display of your wrath, I found you quite irresistible, remember?'

She coloured, as he knew she would, and anticipating her move to turn her head away he took her chin firmly in his hand and forced h^r to look at him. 'Don't worry, my dear, I'm not going to make love to you here, in the study. There's a much more pleasant time, and place.'

He watched with a sort of merciless enjoyment as her colour increased and her long lashes came down to conceal her expression.

'Why did you become engaged to Paul?' he asked unexpectedly, releasing her and taking a seat on the corner of the desk. He folded his arms; so cool and confident he looked, she thought, with all his superiority in evidence, and just a tinge of that innate arrogance that was so often seen in the marble statues of the Greek gods. 'Paul? I-I-'

'Before you go any further,' he interrupted in a very soft voice, 'let me give you some good advice. I'll expect the truth, and if I don't get it the first time, my cautious wife, I shall most certainly get it the second time. I hope I make myself clear?'

Her chin lifted and her eyes sparkled.

'Are you threatening me with violence, Leon?'

'Extreme violence,' was his cool but emphasized warning, quite putting his wife out of countenance, since she could find no retort at all to offer, much less the cutting one she would have liked to produce. She told him the truth, but omitted to mention how she and Paul met. It did not surprise her that Leon should ask about this and with a shrug of resignation she told him, adding swiftly as she saw him stiffen and colour with anger at her revelation,

'Don't hold it against Paul, Leon. And promise you'll never mention it to him, as I promised I wouldn't tell you about it-

'Ten pounds!' Leon exploded into her entreaty, seeming not even to have heard it. 'A paltry ten pounds -- to answer an advertisement, like a pauper—' Leon fritted his teeth. 'And you! I can scarcely believe you'd act so irrationally as to insert such an advertisement What kind of a girl are you?'

She hung her head, hearing not only her husband's scathing homily, but her brother's as well.

CI wanted to get my own back on Ricky,' she muttered when after a long and unpleasant silence it seemed that Leon was determined to have a reply. He made no response; she felt instinctively that he was unable to find words sufficiently cutting to convey his contempt. She ventured after a while to repeat her request that he should not hold anything against his brother,

'Not hold anything against him, you say? For your information I am at the present time negotiating with three moneylenders, one in England and two in Athens. That's the reason I have to go there tomorrow -- to see these sharks and pay them off.' She bit her lip.

'I do see now that you can't allow him to have control of his fortune,'

she said.

'I should be betraying a trust if I did.' His anger had once more died down and Tara sincerely hoped it would not come into evidence again, at least, not at present. 'Although,' Leon was adding as the thought occurred to him, 'my life would be far less complicated were I to wash my hands of him completely.'

'But you wouldn't?'

He shook his head.

'I only hope he'll improve with time, and that by the age of twenty-five he will be able to handle his money.'

'I'm sure he will. He's bound to realize the futility of such waste before he's very much older.'

'Yes, I believe you're right.' He paused and frowned. But his tones were much softer as he went on to say that this talk had certainly cleared up many puzzling things, adding that he had soon realized she had not been at all interested in Paul's money, while Paul on the other hand had certainly not become engaged to her because he was in love.

'The mystery grew when you made no requests to me for money. I tried to get an explanation from Paul, but it's easy to see now why he evaded my questioning.' He glanced sternly at his wife, but there was no sign of anger as he said, 'That you could lend yourself to such a trick! I can scarcely believe it. It's almost impossible that you'd take part in such a deception without even a thought to the possible consequences.'

Tara averted her head.

'It was the impression I got of you,' she said in a low, apologetic tone.

'It seemed, on the evidence I had, that you were being stingy with what was not yours, and that you were being most high-handed with your brother.'

'I was stingy and high-handed, eh?' A small pause and then, 'Well, I suppose I must forgive you both, since I would never have met you if the circumstances had not been what they were.'

'You - you're glad you married me?' Soft the question, and accompanied by a tender look of imploring. Within seconds she was in her husband's arms, just where she wished to be, and his lips had found hers in a kiss that was to leave her breathless and panting, and yet eager for more. 'Dear Leon,' she whispered close to his mouth,

'I'm sorry for everything—' The rest was smothered and for a long while the only sound was the whirring of the cicadas outside. But eventually Leon took his lips from hers and decided to finish her sentence in his own particular way.

'Sorry for wrong conclusions, for misjudging me, for throwing things at me. I rather think,' he decided presently, 'that I shall have to take you seriously in hand - give you regular reminders of that patriarchal society I earlier mentioned.'

She laughed shakily and clung to him.

'I'm sure you wouldn't, darling.'

Then just you wait and see,' he warned, but his eyes were tender as they looked deeply into hers, and she knew instinctively that he would never give her cause to be afraid of him again.

'When did you begin to love me?' she just had to ask, and Leon gave an amused laugh.

'Isn't it just like a woman to ask that?' he teased, adding that he really did not know just when it was that he had begun to realize that he cared. 'All I know is,' he went on to add, 'that when I heard of Ricky's having stayed here I was mad with jealousy.' He reminded her that she had denied ever having had a serious young man, and once again she hung her head.

'I had to lie,' she offered lamely. 'I loved you, you see, and didn't want you to know I'd been engaged to anyone before I met Paul.'

Leon nodded, as if he fully understood how she had felt on that occasion, but told her that in future there would never be any need for deception between them. His lips were close to her throat as he spoke; she felt a thrill of sheer ecstasy as his clean cool breath caressed her like the gentle touch of a summer breeze.

'Do you recall, my dearest one, that I said you and I had a need of each other?' Leon's question was answered with a nod and a sigh and he smiled tenderly down at her. 'I stressed that you had a need of me, after you had so emphatically denied it, do you remember, my love?'

'Yes, I remember.' A dreamy nod accompanied her reply. She really had no wish to talk, not just now.

'I didn't mean what you concluded I meant, Tara.' His voice became vibrant, and edged with emotion; deep tenderness looked out of his eyes. 'I meant that you needed my love, just as I need yours... for always, Tara, my own dearest wife... for always.'

She shone up at him, glowing, and even more beautiful because of the way she felt and because of the ecstasy of being in her husband's arms, and because of the way he looked at her with those dark attractive eyes. No words were spoken in response to his tender communication; Tara merely conveyed her agreement by tilting her head and offering him her lips.