Borrowed plumes

by Elizabeth Ashton

  The weather became hotter and dustier, and Jan found it debilitating. She became wan and was obviously wilting, but the only person who noticed her distress was Alex, Jeremy and Renata being too absorbed in their own interests.

  'You should go home,' he told her, one morning when he was waiting for Renata. 'The climate evidently doesn't suit you. I assume you have a home?'

  'Oh yes, my uncle's house is home and my aunt is there, but I can't leave Uncle Jeremy while he still needs me.'

  'Much use you'll be if you collapse,' he growled, and for once neither voice nor expression was mocking, he seemed to be genuinely concerned, but Jan was determined to attribute the lowest of motives to all his actions; it helped to combat his growing fascination for her. He wanted her gone so that she could not intrude between him and her cousin, for if Renata was having qualms, Jan was her only support.

  'I shan't collapse,' she declared, 'and I can't desert them.'

  He shrugged his shoulders, and turned away, but his manner had been kind.

  The air Became more oppressive and Jan had the sensation of waiting for a storm to break, both atmospherically and metaphorically. Alex had given Renata a beautiful cloak in silk brocade which she wore as a dust coat. Its deep blues and greens flattered her colouring and it seemed as if its long folds gave her a feeling of security, as Moslem women still cling to their concealing draperies in spite of emancipation. She had never looked more lovely and Jan by contrast was a pale little ghost, for though as tall as her cousin, she seemed to shrink in the blinding sunshine. She began to long for England's grey skies and green fields and counted the days until their return. Storm clouds gathered over the mountains of the interior, but they never came any nearer and the sun continued to blaze down on Kusadasi's white walls and red roofs, the blue waters of the Mediterranean and the gleaming deck of Alex's yacht, Artemis, anchored in the bay.

  Then one evening the climax came.

  Heavy cloud was rolling up from Anatolia and lightning glimmered from time to time. Jeremy had gone out to visit a colleague and Jan stood at the window watching the gathering storm hoping it would rain. She had changed into a light dress for dinner and it clung in its usual limp folds about her too-thin body.

  'All in the dark?' It was Renata's voice and she switched on the light as she came into the room. Jan, who believed she was out, stared at her in surprise. She was carrying her cloak and a suitcase, which she dumped down upon the floor. Her beautiful eyes were wild and scared.

  'Jan, you must help me!'

  'Of course I will.' Jan came to her and found she was shaking. 'Darling, what's the matter? You're frightened.'

  'Terrified.' Renata smiled wanly. She sat down upon the settee as if her legs wouldn't support her.

  'But what's scared you?'

  Renata glanced fearfully over her shoulder. 'Alex.'

  'What on earth has the brute done to you?' Jan demanded wrathfully.

  'Nothing yet, but I ... I can't go through with it.'

  'Through with what?'

  'You'll be shocked, Jan. I'm not good like you. I want all the lovely things he promised me, but now ... I can't!'

  Jan perceived what was happening. The suitcase and cloak told their own tale.

  'He's persuaded you to go away with him?' It was what she had feared all along, and her heart swelled with rage and indignation against Alex.

  'Yes. He's leaving tonight and he ... he gave me an ultimatum. Either I must go with him or he won't see me again.' She twisted her fingers together and her big eyes were tragic. 'Once that yacht has sailed, I'll be utterly in his power.'

  'You will,' Jan confirmed grimly, 'and apparently he's not mentioned marriage?'

  'Oh, but he has ... when we get to Istanbul ... There'll be arrangements to make ...'

  'Which he could have made here if he's in earnest,' Jan pointed out, not convinced Alex meant marriage. 'We've been here long enough.'

  'That's just it. He says he won't be kept dangling any longer.'

  Jan was surprised. 'You mean you're the one who's been holding back?'

  'Well ... it was such an irrevocable step to take ... and there was Denis ...' Renata was not very explicit. She stood up and began to walk up and down the room. 'There's a storm brewing too, I'm sure to be seasick.'

  'You mustn't go,' Jan said earnestly. 'You can't trust him, and he'll make you very unhappy.'

  'That's what I'm trying to tell you. I can't go. I was mad to agree, but he promised me jewels, furs, anything I wanted, but I'd have to ... no, Jan, I can't. He terrifies me, I'm sure he's a brute in bed.'

  Jan drew a deep breath of relief. So no harm had been done. Renata had not allowed herself to be seduced.

  'Thank God you've come to your senses in time,' she declared. 'You'll tell him you've changed your mind?'

  'That's it.' Renata glanced apprehensively at the yacht. 'I daren't tell him.'

  'Oh, come off it, Rena,' Jan cried impatiently. 'Don't be such a coward. He's no right to persuade you to elope, if he's in earnest he should have come and asked Uncle in the proper way...'

  'Don't be so Victorian,' Renata cut in. 'A man doesn't ask Papa's permission to pay his addresses nowadays.' She laughed shrilly. 'Can you see Alex doing that? "Mr. Reynolds, may I have leave to court your daughter?"' She sobered. 'Daddy's been part of the trouble. I've been afraid that if I turn Alex down, he might get the Turks to rescind Daddy's contract.'

  'But surely Mr. Leandris wouldn't be so petty?'

  'Men can be spiteful when their vanity is wounded, and anyway Daddy is set on marriage between us.'

  'But surely not if you're going to be unhappy? There's only one reason why you should marry Mr. Leandris and that's if you love him. Then you'd condone his faults, and you wouldn't be scared, but apparently you don't, and if your motives are mercenary...'

  'Oh, don't preach, Jan,' Renata interrupted. 'What do you know about love? Alex has a dark fascination for me, like ... like a snake's supposed to have. It's quite different from what I feel for Denis, that's a nice, matey affection. You can't imagine being fond of Alex.'

  That, Jan felt, was true. Alex might inspire passion, even a turbulent devotion, but fondness did not apply. She could sympathise up to a point with Renata's apprehensions, Alex was not an easy person to gainsay, but to sacrifice her whole future because she was too weak to say no was quite preposterous. She said vehemently:

  'You must stand up to him, Rena. He's no right to bully you into doing something that's not only foolish but wrong. You've no guarantee that he'll marry you when you get to Istanbul, in fact all this secrecy is very suspicious. Of course you mustn't dream of going with him, and if he comes here I'll tell him so.'

  'Would you, Jan?' A gleam of amusement showed in Renata's eyes. The picture of Jan confronting Alex suggested a Pekinese defying a wolfhound. 'But he wasn't coming here. I was to meet him on the quay where his dinghy will be waiting to take us aboard. I think he wants to avoid meeting you or Daddy.'

  'Oh, does he? Then perhaps he has a little conscience after all. You won't go?'

  'Then he'll come here to fetch me, and if I see him, I'll be lost.'

  Jan sighed with exasperation.

  'Look here, do you or do you not want to go with him?'

  'Darling, I've been telling you, I just can't.' Renata's voice rose to a wail. 'You're so strong-minded. You don't know what it's like to be overruled, but I beg you, don't let me see Alex tonight.'

  'If he comes, we'll lock him out.'

  'That Turkish maid will let him in. She thinks he's a kind of god.' She looked round wildly. 'I must escape. Jan, help me!'

  Jan realised her cousin was rapidly becoming hysterical. She could understand her panic up to a point. She had been playing with fire, and now the flame threatened to consume her, she was terrified of what she had done. But to be unable to put up any resistance against Alex's dominance struck her as amounting to feeble-mindedness. It was "not as if he would use force ... but perhaps he might, being in
censed by Renata's shilly-shallying. They were alone in the house except for the little maid who was no protection at all. She said sharply:

  'Go and lock yourself in your room, Rena, and I'll go down to the quay to meet your ogre. If he won't accept that you're not coming, I'll call the police.'

  She did not believe that the police would support her against anyone as influential as Alexandras Leandris, but he might be deterred by the threat of publicizing his intentions. Renata jumped at her suggestion eagerly.

  'Oh, would you, Jan? You're not afraid of him, I know, and if anyone can persuade him that I don't want to come, it'll be you.' She giggled. 'Say some of the nasty things you've been saying to me, and you'll rout him.'

  'I doubt it.' Jan did not quite like this description of herself as a sort of virago, but she was seething with anger against Alex. Hadn't he the perception to see that under her flirtatious manner, Renata was still innocent and he was doing her a great wrong by trying to abduct her, to say nothing of abusing her father's trust? Her initial low opinion of him was fully justified and she would have no hesitation in telling him just what she thought of him. Something of this she said to Renata, who gazed at her admiringly.

  'You're wonderful, Jan. I wish I'd a fraction of your moral courage.' She looked at her wrist watch. 'But you must go now, he'll be waiting.' She glanced towards the window. 'The wind's blowing the dust about. Take my cloak, it'll give you some protection in that thin dress.'

  'Thank you, Rena.' Jan allowed Renata to drape the garment over her shoulders, her mind already occupied with what she would say to Alex. 'Don't worry, Rena, I'll keep him out, and your father should be back soon.'

  However much he favoured Alex's suit, Jeremy would never countenance the proposed elopement.

  The short dusk was fading when Jan stepped on to the quay and the wind was blowing so that she wrapped Renata's cloak gratefully about her. Artemis was ablaze with lights, the reflections of which danced on the heaving waves. On the other side of the mole fishing boats and pleasure craft rode at anchor. For once there was no cruise ship in port. Presently she discerned the tender from Artemis moored to the landing stage, with two of her sailors standing on the mole, identifiable by their cap-bands, but there was no sign of Alex. Jan looked at them doubtfully. She had expected to see their master, but apparently he had not come ashore. To beard him on board his own boat was more than she had bargained for.

  Catching sight of her hesitant figure, one of the men came up to her.

  'Kalispera, thespoinis.' He was Greek. He indicated the boat. 'You come ... ne? 'There seemed no option but to go if she wanted to speak to Alex, and she smiled to herself as she pictured his annoyance when he would have to delay to put her ashore again. Clutching Renata's cloak about her, she allowed herself to be helped down into the tender and the craft shot out across the bay to the yacht. As it came alongside, she saw that Artemis was a much bigger boat than it looked from the shore. Although classed as a yacht, she did not carry sail and was driven by powerful engines.

  An iron ladder led to the main deck, and she was assisted up it by the stalwart arm of the sailor who had spoken to her; other seamen were gathered round the opening in the rails to draw the boat aboard. Jan halted, wondering how she could explain that it would be needed to take her back again before being hoisted on to its davits,' but her guide propelled her forward towards the companionway.

  'Mr. Leandris ...' she began.

  He nodded vigorously and pointed down a carpeted stairway—no ladder-like steps for Artemis—and she went down it marvelling at the luxury of the ship's appointments. She had never been on any sort of boat before, and had imagined the furnishings would be rudimentary, but that was not the case on Alex's super toy.

  She was ushered into a sumptuous state room. A low divan covered with cushions was under the window, and it was a window, not a porthole, which was also the bed. There were tables and chairs, and sliding doors to a fitted wardrobe, another giving access to a private bathroom, the whole being decorated in gold and white. The concealed lighting threw a mellow glow over the decor. There was no sign of Alex, and after a moment's stupefaction she whirled round to demand his presence, but she was too late. The door had closed and there was the ominous click of a lock. She stared at its ornate panels aghast. Had Alex meant to abduct Renata, securing her so that she could not change her mind? It seemed like it. Running to the door, she beat upon it with her knuckles, but the cabin was soundproof. She stood biting her nails. This was something she had never contemplated. A movement of the ship increased her panic—it was casting off. Going to the window, she saw the quay receding, the lights of Kusadasi falling astern; Artemis had put to sea. Jan sank down upon the cushions on the divan, and then the funny side of the situation hit her and she giggled helplessly. Alex was going to have a disagreeable surprise when he came to find Renata. She was not afraid of him and the contemplation of his discomfiture gave her considerable satisfaction. It would serve him right for attempting to seduce her cousin.

  Presently she stood up and went back to the window, watching the sea glide by. The threatened storm had passed over, and the water was calm, the risen moon silvering the rippling swell, which here and there was agleam with phosphorescence. Once a dark shape leapt in the air, glittering drops cascading from its body, a dolphin at play, but still Alex did not come. She wondered whither the ship was bound—Istanbul, presumably. Alex would have to turn back when he discovered he had the wrong passenger. That would not please him. She gathered Renata's wrap about her, deriving an odd comfort from its clinging folds. The interview ahead would not be pleasant, but she was determined to tell Alexandras Leandris exactly what she thought of him. It occurred to her that Renata would have some difficulty in explaining her absence to her father when he returned, and he might radio the yacht if she admitted she was on it; but would she? She would not know for certain. Jan was more distressed to think of her uncle's anxiety than by her own predicament.

  The key turned in the lock, and Jan stiffened as Alex came in. In the subdued light all he could see was a slender figure wrapped in Renata's familiar cloak. He looked magnificent, clad in a white mess jacket without tails, a frilled shirt, and a barbaric touch, a scarlet cummerbund bound about his slim waist, its fringed ends hanging down one side. His cat's eyes were aglow with anticipation, and Jan experienced a thrill that was neither fear nor repulsion. He really was a beautiful ... beast, and she could understand his fascination for her cousin. Tigers were beautiful too, and dangerous, and his were tiger's colours, black and gold.

  'You will pardon this little formality,' he said pleasantly, as he relocked the door, but with a deep note in his voice which indicated he was moved by passion. 'My crew are curious and I did not want them to find an excuse to intrude upon you. Nor did I want to greet you under their watchful eyes. Ah, Renata, my treasure, at last you've come to me!'

  A couple of strides brought him to her side, and he swept the concealing cloak from her shoulders. For a moment they stared at each other. Then he recoiled.

  'You!'

  Jan clasped her arms over her slight bosom.

  'There's been a mistake, Mr. Leandris ...'

  'I should think there has! Where's Renata?'

  'In Kusadasi. She sent me with a message from her, She'd changed her mind.'

  A spate of profanity broke from his lips in a language which fortunately she could not understand. For a moment he was the primitive male deprived of his mate. His handsome features became convulsed with frustrated fury, and he clenched his hands; for a second she thought he might be going to strangle her. She went on hurriedly:

  'I expected to meet you at the quayside to tell you Rena wasn't coming, and I had to see you personally, so I came aboard. I didn't expect to be ... confined before I could explain who I was.'

  Alex had regained command of himself. His face was set and stern, as he said coldly:

  'I suppose I have you to thank for this ... er ... intervention. You persuaded
Renata not to come. The little fool must have told you where she was going.'

  'She did, and she didn't need any persuading as she'd realised what she was doing. You acted very wrongly, Mr. Leandris,' Jan spoke heatedly, and her eyes were full of reproach. 'Perhaps you've been misled by Rena's mighty ways, but she's a good girl, and you're a wicked man to try to seduce her.'

  'Bourgeois morality,' he sneered. 'I could have given her everything she desired.' 'Except your name.'

  He shrugged his shoulders. 'A permanent union would be a mistake since our backgrounds are alien. I thought she understood.'

  'She's scared stiff of you,' Jan told him bluntly. 'You've intimidated her, Mr. Leandris, and that's shameful. She came to me tonight and told me what you wanted her to do, and that she couldn't go through with it. She asked for my help. Since she was too frightened to come and tell you herself that she wasn't coming with you, I promised to bring her message. That's why I'm here.'

  He did not appear to be listening, he stood glowering at her, and in spite of her bold front, Jan felt a twinge of fear. Renata had said he might be spiteful if his vanity was wounded, and her desertion had hit him hard. The beautiful stateroom, the lighted ship, his striking get-up were all to do her honour, and instead of the rapturous beauty eager for his embraces he had anticipated, he was faced by her insignificant self with her mouth full of reproaches. Almost she could feel sorry for him. She went on steadily:

  'I'm extremely sorry to inconvenience you. If you'd met me on deck instead of this dramatic business of locking me in, I'd have explained at once, before you docked the dinghy. Now every minute is taking us further from the port, so if you'd kindly give orders to turn about...'