Borrowed plumes

by Elizabeth Ashton

'I think he's hateful!'

  Renata laughed merrily. 'I suppose he didn't waste any of his charm upon you, he'd have found you a poor substitute for me. Oh, I didn't mean to be unkind, but look at you, you won't even try to make the most of yourself.'

  'No one ever looks at me when you're around, so why bother?' Jan spoke without rancour, it was a fact of life she had become accustomed to. Renata was eyeing the roses reflectively.

  'I expect they're his way of making amends, and I'll have to thank him for them. Did he say he'd call again?'

  'No.'

  'Darling, you seem hipped,' commented Renata. 'Was he nasty to you?'

  'I was to him. I called him a chauvinist pig.'

  'Oh!' Renata clapped her hands to her mouth and stared at her cousin. 'Did you really? But what on earth did he say to cause you to say that?'

  'Oh, he discoursed about male dominance in a lordly way that needled me. Rena, that man regards women as inferior beings, he has a harem mentality. If you married him...'

  'Ssh! Renata flushed and glanced around her uneasily. 'He hasn't mentioned marriage ... yet.'

  'So I gathered.'

  'You seem to have had quite a heart-to-heart.' Renata looked at her cousin suspiciously. 'You understand it's early days yet. I hope you didn't put your foot in it.'

  Jan smiled wryly. Renata would be furious if she knew that she had dared to beg Alex to leave her alone. She looked searchingly into the beautiful, glowing face.

  'Are you in love with him?' she asked bluntly.

  Renata hesitated. 'I ... I'm not sure. He fascinates me, and I'm proud to have attracted him, you know how women run after him, but I'm a little scared of him. It would be marvellous to be married to him.' She turned over her purchases. 'Then I could buy all the lovely expensive things I want instead of this trash, and I should be envied for having such a handsome husband.'

  'Not very good reasons for marrying,' Jan observed drily.

  'I suppose you believe in undying love and all that sentimental nonsense,' Renata said contemptuously. 'That only exists between the pages of a novel, I'm down to earth, and out to make a good bargain. Of course he'll adore me, but that's different.' She smiled complacency.

  Jan began to put her papers together.

  'Have you thought that his intentions may not be honourable?' she asked diffidently.

  'They probably aren't,' Renata returned coolly. 'Oh, I know what's said about him, but I'm sure I can bring him up to scratch. But even if I can't ...' Her voice trailed away as she unwrapped one of her parcels which contained a gaudy necklace, a gilt ball studded with imitation turquoises. She held it up to the light wrinkling her straight little nose disdainfully. 'Cheap muck!'

  Jan looked at her lovely, petulant face, her slim but rounded figure. She looked seductive enough to achieve her aim, but recalling Alex's dark arrogance, his scornful words, she felt chilled, for she doubted her cousin was capable of handling him. Wasn't it more probable he would bend her to his will? Renata was not nearly as strong-minded as she sounded, and Alex had much to offer her apart from his hand in marriage.

  'Of course Denis is the nicer character,' Renata went on musingly, 'but he hasn't a bean, or only very few. Daddy hopes I'll marry Alex because then he may give him some more commissions.'

  Jan was shocked. 'But he wouldn't put that before your happiness!' she gasped.

  'Why shouldn't I be happy with Alex?' Renata countered.

  'Because he'll bully you,' Jan told her shortly. 'You wouldn't be able to call your soul your own, and he'd probably be unfaithful.'

  Renata's beautiful eyes widened fearfully.

  'Nonsense,' she said quickly. 'You've taken against him because his ideas are a bit old-fashioned. He's not a Turk, though I believe he did have a Turkish grandmother, and he was educated at an English school, so he seems English to me.'

  'Officially he's Greek, and Greeks still expect to govern their wives,' Jan pointed out.

  'So what? A clever woman can get round any man if she's subdued enough,' Renata said loftily. 'You don't understand how to manage men, Jan, you're too outspoken.'

  'At least I'm honest, and I'm not mercenary,' Janet declared, piqued by this criticism.

  'And you think I am' Renata asked. She moved to the window seat and gazed out pensively at the view. Keeping her head averted, she burst out:

  'Jan, I don't intend to be poor all my life. Oh, I know Daddy's got quite an adequate income, but I want to be rich. I want to have Jaguars, mink coats and diamonds. Alex has already given me this.'

  She pulled on the chain she wore around her neck and drew up from between her breasts a pendant she had thus concealed. She raised the gold chain over her head and held it out to Jan. The precious stones sparkled in the sunlight, an emerald set among diamonds.

  Jan recoiled from it as if it had been a snake.

  'Rena, you mustn't accept gifts like that! It must be very valuable.'

  'Don't be stuffy.' Renata put on the chain again and pushed the jewels into her bodice. 'Since I've been blessed with good looks you can't blame me for cashing in on them.'

  'But Rena, to accept jewels, you know what it means?'

  'Pooh, that pendant is no more to Alex than an ornament from Woolworths. It was a memento of a pleasant .evening out, he said. That's all.'

  She stood up, walked across to the jar of roses and sniffed at the velvet petals.

  'Mmm, delicious. I believe Alex is very generous to his mistresses.'

  'Rena!' Jan sprang to her feet. 'You wouldn't...?'

  'Wouldn't I?' The green eyes gleamed like the emerald in the pendant. 'Darling, don't be so terribly moral, it's so dated. Of course I'd rather be Mrs. Leandris, but I'm not going to lose Alex for want of a certificate. He's generous, he's willing to pay for what he wants, and I'm worth a high price.'

  'You're joking, of course,' Jan said quietly. She could excuse a girl giving herself for love, but still clung to her old-fashioned belief that love should wait for the church's blessing, to make it into a sacrament. But for Renata to barter her virginity for jewels was unthinkable. Her cousin often talked in this vein without meaning a word of it, partly Jan was aware in the hope of shocking her; she assured herself she was doing so now.

  Renata gave her a very naughty look, then she laughed.

  'Of course I was. You're so prim and proper, Jan, I can't resist teasing you. I can't return the pendant, Alex would be furious.' Again she looked scared. 'But I'm sure he didn't mean anything wrong.'

  'Then why don't you wear it openly?'

  'Because Daddy would jump to conclusions, and we aren't engaged ... yet. If Alex lets me down I can always fall back on Denis.'

  Jan had noticed her scared look. 'You might be happier with him. He's a nice boy.'

  'He hasn't the guts to be anything else,' Renata said scornfully. 'He treats me like a kind of goddess. Isn't that sweet?'

  'It's as it should be,' Jan told her severely.

  'But so dull. Since he can't afford to marry, and he says he loves me, you'd think he would at least make improper advances.'

  'I'd think no such thing. Like me, he perhaps still has ideals.'

  Renata put her head upon one side considering her cousin through narrowed lids.

  'Jan dear, you're way out of touch with modern trends,' she said sweetly. 'It's easy to preach virtue when you've never been tempted. I don't suppose you ever will be, I can't imagine you falling in love, or anyone being crazy about you. Never mind,' as Jan looked a little hurt. 'We can't all be glamorous and people like you are so necessary to keep the wheels turning. When I've gone, for of course I'll marry somebody, you can look after Daddy.'

  'I'll be very glad to do that.' Jan was grateful to her uncle for giving her a home, but such a future was not very exciting. It was true she had never been in love and could not conceive of herself being swayed by strong passion so that she forgot her principles, but she was only twenty-one, far too young to accept spinsterhood as inevitable. Renata had often dec
lared that she was a born old maid when her fastidiousness irritated her, but Jan had had her girlish dreams of a possible lover. If and when he appeared she was quite sure he would be the antithesis of Alexandres Leandris.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Alex came again on the following morning and Renata greeted him with profuse thanks for his lovely flowers and regrets for having missed him on the previous day. She chose to ignore their tiff, evidently considering a reconciliation was due. If she had expected reproaches for her desertion, which was meant to mark his displeasure, she was disappointed, for he never mentioned it, nor did he make any reference to Denis. Watching them from the balcony outside the sitting room window, whence she had retreated, Jan saw his mouth curl sardonically at Renata's placatory efforts and the predatory gleam in his eyes. He knew his prey was hooked, and he could brush aside her puny efforts to assert herself.

  He had given Jan a brief nod and a curt 'Good morning,' when he came into the room, his glance going immediately to Renata, and she had promptly withdrawn. He told Renata he proposed driving out to Ephesus to see how her father was progressing, and though she grimaced, Renata made no protest, fearing she had gone too far with her Izmir expedition. There was something very uncompromising about Alex's attitude that morning, which warned her to be acquiescent. To the surprise of both girls, he demanded that Jan should accompany them.

  'You should have a female companion,' he told Renata. 'There are men on the site well known to me, and as your father's daughter you must be circumspect.'

  'Oh, stuff!' Renata said rudely. 'I've been out alone with you before.'

  'Without witnesses,' he observed. 'The men working there are mostly Turkish, and we must preserve appearances in front of them.'

  'But I'm British,' Renata pointed out with a spurt of defiance. 'Why must I fall in with, stupid foreign conventions?'

  Alex said nothing, he merely looked at her, and her opposition melted.

  'Oh, very well,' she agreed. 'Jan will enjoy it, she likes ruins.'

  For the expedition Renata changed into a flimsy dress of patterned blue nylon over a silk slip. Jan remained as she was, clad in brown trousers and a cream knitted top. It suited her much better than her usual limp cotton dresses, she looked slim and boyish and the white linen hat she wore—such headgear was sold everywhere for tourists who had underestimated the heat of the sun—concealed her severe hair style and gave her a puckish air. Renata eyed her a little wistfully.

  'I'd love to wear pants, they're much more suitable for this sort of expedition, but Alex hates them on a woman. He wants me to look feminine, as he puts it.'

  'Well, thank goodness I don't have to dress to please him,' Jan remarked. 'But you should be more independent, Rena, you're not engaged to him yet.'

  'But I want him to admire me,' Renata retorted, 'not look at me with repugnance.'

  Jan assured herself not very successfully that she did not care how repugnant she appeared to Alex, and in any case he never seemed to notice her to approve or disapprove, so it really did not matter what she wore. But upon this occasion he did, for when he came to collect them and the maid showed him in, he kissed Renata's fingertips with one of his flowery compliments which always sounded to Jan to be so insincere, then turned to her cousin. The strange cat's eyes surveyed her from top to toe with a curious intentness. Jan might be too slim, but she was graceful, and her long legs were flattered by her outfit, although she was lacking in curves.

  'I must apologise, Miss Reynolds,' he said with a slight drawl. 'I see I was mistaken about you, you are very much younger than I took you for. You're not much more than a child.'

  Jan flushed angrily. First he considered her to be a desiccated spinster, now he thought she was an adolescent!

  'I'm the same age as Rena,' she said shortly.

  'Really?' He glanced admiringly at Renata's rounded limbs. Later she might need to watch her weight, but at that time she was just right. 'A case of arrested development,' he murmured.

  Apparently an aside, Jan knew he had meant her to hear. He was retaliating for her chauvinist pig. She flushed angrily.

  'Do you have to be insulting?' she flashed, her eyes intensely blue. 'Hitherto you've hardly been able to bring yourself to look at me, now do you have to be rude?'

  'Oh, I don't think he meant to be,' Renata intervened hastily. 'But you do look more like a boy than a girl in that get-up, and very young.' She looked archly at Alex. 'It's fashionable to be flat as a board, but I know you prefer curves.'

  'I certainly like a woman to look like a woman,' he agreed. 'I didn't mean to insult you, Miss Reynolds. I was taken aback to see that Renata's chaperone looks more in need of a guardian herself.'

  'Oh, come off it, Alex,' Renata cried irritably. 'Guardians and chaperones are dead as the dodo. We aren't like your Greek women who expect to be provided for and cherished, we're independent modern girls—and for heaven's sake call her Jan!'

  Alex smiled, the attractive smile that so altered his face.

  'With your permission, Jan, I'll be charmed to do so,' he said gallantly.

  Her name on his lips gave Jan a quite unexpected pleasure, and she had to admit that his smile was devastating when she was the recipient of it. Mollified, she told him:

  'Please do, and I apologise for my prickles. You and I seem to rub each other up the wrong way.'

  'Chauvinist pig,' he murmured, and there was a glint of humour in his eyes.

  'That was most uncalled for,' Renata cried wrath-fully.

  Alex shrugged his shoulders. 'She was not flattering, but after a surfeit of sugar, vinegar can be stimulating. Shall we go?'

  His remark pleased neither girl. Renata feared he might be finding her cloying, and Jan would rather have his indifference than his interest.

  The ruins of Ephesus lie along a valley between two hills, Mount Pion and Mount Koressos. The famous temple that was once one of the seven wonders of the ancient world was situated outside its walls in the village of Selcuk. In those days the sea washed its steps and reflected its honey-coloured pillars, and also filled the city harbour, for Ephesus was a thriving seaport. Now the sea has retreated four miles away and all that is left of the magnificent temple is a solitary pillar (reconstructed) and a few stones lying in a marshy pool; a number of the others were shipped to Istanbul to adorn the interior of St Sophia.

  Ephesus had been pagan, Christian and Islamic. Above the site of the pagan temple is the basilica of St John, and St John's tomb—there is quite a lot of that still standing—and further up the hill, enclosed by Byzantine walls, a mosque. The excursion coaches stop at the massive stone gate leading into the ruins, and when due respect has been paid to the Saint, they continue to where the old city begins, drop their passengers, and meet them again at its further end. It is quite a long walk, for Ephesus was a big city, down through the piles of ruined masonry, some of which like the portico of the Temple of Trajan and the Library have been reconstructed. Downhill past the Upper Agora, the visitor walks, along the street of the Curetes, where on the left five-storied terraced houses once stood, now exposed to their cellars, along the marble street, and it is marble, to the huge amphitheatre, past baths and brothels, and finally turning at a right angle, along Harbour Street flanked by the broken pillars of the Lower Agora, the market place, which leads to the flat plain that was once part of the sparkling Aegean Sea. It is a ghost city, originally Greek, but Rome and Byzantium have left their mark, but the statues and valuables that once adorned it have been taken to the museums of Izmir and Istanbul to preserve them.

  A road leads off Harbour Street to a parking place, and it was at that point that Alex left his car on that lovely morning. Renata immediately flew to the souvenir shops, of which there were many clustering round the entrance to the town. Alex and Jan followed her more leisurely and Alex stopped to make a purchase at a stall. It was a miniature replica of the goddess whose statue had once adorned the vanished temple, several copies of which had been excavated. He presented
it to Renata with a flourish.

  'Diana of the Ephesians, madame.' .

  Renata stared with distaste at the quaint figurine with its breastplate of what looked like a mass of oval eggs.

  'But I thought she was classical, the moon goddess, a graceful figure with a crescent in her hair.'

  'So the Greeks pictured her, but Ephesus had a polyglot population. Their Artemis became confused with a fertility goddess, the original Earth Mother of the earlier cults. She was more fundamental than moon nymphs. After all, that is what most men marry for— progeny.'

  He was warning Renata what would be expected of her if he married her, but from her expression it was not her idea at all. There was a teasing light in the golden eyes, but she did not see it. She was staring in disgust at the effigy. Jan momentarily envisioned tall golden-skinned sons with dark wavy hair. Surely that would be an achievement of which any woman would be proud? But Renata was not a maternal type. She made as if to throw the figure away, then, catching Alex's sardonic eye, dropped it into her handbag.

  'We'd better find Daddy,' she said coldly. 'That's what we've come for, isn't it?'

  Alex enquired of a guide at the gate, who waved vaguely towards the hillside above the city.

  'He's up by the old walls,' Alex told them. 'As I can't bring my car in here, you'll have to walk, I'm afraid.'

  Jan was agreeable, though Renata pouted. She set off gaily along the broad road, leaving the other two to follow. The sky above them was a clear blue, the surrounding hills were gently rounded shapes of green and brown where sheep grazed. It was a pastoral peaceful scene where the streams of tourists were dwarfed by its spaciousness and the vastness of the ruined town. Up the broad steps into Marble Street, turning right past the Library of Celsus, the most ambitious piece of reconstruction so far, and uphill, where the ruined houses leaned on the slopes of Mount Koressos. Here where the partially restored Temple of Hadrian lifted a magnificent arch into the blue sky, Renata came to a halt.

  'How much farther do you expect me to go?' she demanded, for her high-heeled sandals were quite unequal to the terrain. 'My feet are killing me!'