Deceit of a Pagan
Carole Mortimer

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Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

TEMPLAR smiled down tenderly at the tiny infant she had just cradled to sleep, brushing back the fiery curls so like her own auburn tresses. Keri was the most important thing in her life, and for her she would gladly do anything. And if prices continued to rise as they were doing it could just come to that.

She sat down tiredly in the worn leather armchair, her bearing one of dejection and defeat. She just couldn’t manage any more. Keri was growing up all the time, and besides the food factor, she was getting too much of a handful for the elderly Mrs Ellis to look after. While she had still been a baby it hadn’t been so bad, but now that she was starting to crawl about her little fingers were into everything.

Templar buried her face in her hands, the tears of frustration and defeat coursing unheeded down her pale cheeks. What could she do? Oh, what could she do! If only Tiffany hadn’t died giving birth to Keri, they could perhaps have sought help from the baby’s father. But she had died. And Templar didn’t know who Keri’s father was. If only she hadn’t been working abroad two years ago, none of this would have happened, and perhaps Tiffany would still be alive. If only, if only, if only! How many times had she said the same things over and over to herself in the last year? And where did it get her? Nowhere!

She wouldn’t give Keri up, no matter what happened. She would rather starve first. She looked up quickly as a loud knock sounded on the door, glancing apprehensively at Keri as she began to stir. It had taken her a long time to get the baby to sleep, and if whoever it was at the door woke her up, she would give them a piece of her mind.

She got wearily to her feet, intending to open the door before her visitor repeated the loud knocking. Keri whimpered as she walked past and she lingered to give her a word of assurance. As if aware that her aunt didn’t want her to wake, the baby opened her green eyes, her tiny face creasing into tearful lines.

‘It’s all right, darling,’ Templar crooned softly, glaring resentfully at the door as the knocking resumed and the petulant voice of her landlady shouted through the rickety door.

‘I know you’re in there, Miss Newman!’ A harsh laugh accompanied this statement. ‘Where else would you be?’ she mumbled to herself, but loud enough for Templar to hear and be angered by it.

Templar opened the door angrily, standing in the doorway and effectively stopping the other woman entering as she attempted to walk in uninvited. A woman in her fifties, Mrs Marks was nothing if not curious. Templar was far too polite to call her nosy, but in truth that was actually what she was. Templar had had to put up with her unmistakable innuendoes about Keri’s parentage when she had first moved in, and she had never forgotten those hurtful remarks. The fact that she wasn’t really an unmarried mother had nothing to do with this woman, and Templar had chosen not to tell her that she was in fact the baby’s aunt and not her mother as everyone assumed.

If she could have found somewhere else as cheap and as convenient for her job she would have moved out long ago. But it was impossible. No one was willing to accept the unnecessary bother of a young baby in their house when they could get just as much money from a single person or a young couple. In fact Templar was surprised that Mrs Marks put up with the occasional noise Keri made with her crying. She had been told about it a couple of times, but how on earth was she supposed to quieten a young baby who was teething, and quite painfully too.

‘Yes, Mrs Marks?’ she asked stiffly.

‘Now don’t take that high and mighty tone with me, young lady,’ snapped the elderly lady, her breathing laboured from walking up the three long flights of stairs. ‘And you no better than you ought to be,’ she grumbled.

Templar held herself proudly erect, refusing to show that she was in any way affected by this woman’s barbs. ‘My morals have nothing to do with you, Mrs Marks,’ she replied coolly. ‘Now did you want something special, or is this just a social call?’ Templar hated letting this woman know she was getting under her skin, but she had had a hard day at work today, and then it had taken her over an hour to get Keri to sleep, and she hardly felt in the mood for pleasantries.

‘There’s no need to get cheeky with me, young lady. I came up here to tell you that Bert and me have been receiving complaints again. It isn’t good enough,’ she added for good measure.

Templar sighed heavily, running a harassed hand through her silky hair. ‘I’m sorry about the noise, Mrs Marks, but Keri’s teething, and I—–’

The landlady shook her head. ‘I’ve heard all your excuses before, and it makes no difference. That child does nothing but cry, and when it comes to receiving complaints from my other tenants then I’m afraid I have to do something about it.’

Templar gasped indignantly. Keri does not cry all the time, she’s a very placid baby. Goodness, you’d cry if you were in pain!’

‘Well, that’s as maybe,’ the woman shifted uncomfortably. ‘But I’m going to have to ask you to leave.’

‘To—–to leave—?’ Templar trailed off. ‘But I—I have nowhere else to go!’

The other woman’s face softened slightly. ‘I’m sorry, love,’ she said more gently. ‘If it was left to me I’d probably let you stay, but my Bert’s adamant about it. He wants your room vacated by the end of the week.’

‘But—’ Templar’s face was pale, her movements slow, ‘where can I go?’

‘Well, I’m sure I don’t know,’ Mrs Marks replied shortly. ‘Can’t that young man of yours help you out?’

She shook her head dazedly. She couldn’t ask Ken for help. He thought she was behaving stupidly anyway, insisting that she put Keri in a home and marry him. Until he had said that she had seriously been considering him as a prospective husband, but how could she marry a man who rejected a defenceless baby? The idea was unthinkable, and even if things did become so desperate that she did have to part with Keri, she certainly wouldn’t marry Ken. ‘No, I—–’ she broke off as Keri began crying, a loud choking sob that pierced the paper-thin walls.

Mrs Marks frowned deeply. ‘You see,’ she said with satisfaction. ‘Not a moment’s peace. Oh, I feel sorry for the poor little mite, but I’d feel even more sorry for her if I didn’t have to listen to that noise all night.’ She turned away from the door. ‘Remember, the end of the week.’

How could she forget! Unthinkingly Templar picked up Keri, cradling her against the thinness of her own body. As if she realised something was very wrong with her aunt, Keri’s sobs ceased instantly and she cuddled into Templar’s warm scented neck, blowing bubbles and chattering tiredly in the baby talk that endeared her to everyone she met. Or at least, almost everyone, Templar thought hardly.

For the next two days Templar spent all of her lunch-hour and part of the evenings searching for new accommodation. But it was hopeless. The ones she could afford wouldn’t accept Keri, and the ones she couldn’t afford didn’t seem to mind the presence of a young baby. It was all so frustrating, and Ken didn’t help either.

‘Put the kid in an orphanage and marry me,’ was all the help he could give her, as Templar had known it would be.

She held on to her temper with difficulty. ‘I refuse point blank to part with Keri, she’s all the family I have left.’

Ken sighed. ‘We could have a family of our own, once we’d settled down, of course.’

‘If you feel that way, why couldn’t we keep Keri as well?’ To keep Keri with her Templar would go to any lengths, even marry this man she didn’t love.

‘I don’t want someone else’s child,’ Ken said coldly, looking with dislike at Keri as she played happily on the floor.

She didn’t bother to answer him. He was at least someone to talk to, a friend, something she was much in need of at the moment. It was surprising how many of the people she had thought were friends had shunned her when they thought Keri was her baby. Only Ken and Mary had remained loyal, Ken because he hoped eventually to wear her down enough to marry him, and Mary because she was a true friend.

She bent and picked Keri up in her arms. ‘Come on, poppet. Time for your bath.’

‘Couldn’t that wait until later?’ complained Ken. ‘I don’t see much of you as it is.’

‘Babies need routine.’

‘So you keep saying, but when do you have time to take care of yourself?’

She laughed lightly. ‘Is that a polite way of saying I look awful? Really, Ken, you aren’t very complimentary!’ Her green eyes twinkled at him teasingly.

Ken flushed uncomfortably. ‘You know very well I didn’t mean anything of the sort. You always look beautiful, and you know it.’

Templar knew she was attractive, as an ex-model she would be stupid not to know that. It wasn’t conceited to know that her long auburn hair shone like autumn leaves, that her wide uptilted eyes, small nose, and wide generous mouth made up a beautiful face, and that her body was perfectly proportioned, if slightly thinner now than it should be. But most of all it was her complete naturalness that finished her beauty, giving her an inner glow that many beautiful women throughout the world paid much money for and never attained.

At the moment her hair was tied back from her face, showing clearly her high cheekbones and slender swan-like neck. Up until a year ago she had been a model, but the unusual times, the long hours of work, and the travelling, as well as caring for Keri, had made it impossible for her to carry on. She had been forced to fall back on the secretarial qualifications she had obtained when she was at school, accepting a job that had little prospects and paid much less money than she had been earning. And she hadn’t been a model long enough for her to have saved much money, and what there had been was slowly wasting away. Almost every week she withdrew a small amount of her savings, and each week the amount seemed to be larger than the last.

Luckily Templar knew how to care for her hair expertly so that the loss of visits to the hair salon had made no difference to her long straight tresses, and her skin was smooth enough not to require any cosmetics whatsoever. Occasionally she applied mascara and a light lipstick, but as the money became more and more scarce, these occasions became almost never.

‘Do you want to help me bath her?’ she asked as she gathered the baby’s nightclothes together.

‘No, thanks.’ Ken picked up the newspaper, burying his nose in its depths.

She didn’t attempt to argue with him, well aware that Keri welcomed his company no more than he did hers. With the perception of the very young, Keri soon learnt who liked her and who didn’t.

This was the time of day Templar enjoyed the most, with Keri splashing about in the water with her toys, and usually wetting the bathroom more than she did herself. Templar looked down at the copper curls with love. It was strange really how Keri had inherited none of Tiffany’s blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty, but all of her aunt’s colouring and sense of fun.

She looked up now and dimpled at her aunt. ‘M—Ma—Ma—–’ she gurgled happily

‘Mama, Mama,’ encouraged Templar, come on, darling, say it. Mama, Mama.’

‘Ma—Ma,’ her little tongue wrestled with the word, still not quite managing to say the word properly and losing interest as she began gurgling again.

‘You’re a monkey,’ Templar laughed. ‘A monkey,’ she repeated as the little girl looked up interestedly.

Keri was rosy-cheeked and fresh-smelling when they re-entered the room, her tiny fingers clutching on to Templar’s hair. She kissed the baby gently on the cheek before laying her down in her cot. ‘Now off to sleep with you,’ she grinned down at the baby. ‘Keri be a good girl.’

‘That’d make a change,’ mumbled Ken, emerging from behind the newspaper.

‘She’s a very good baby,’ Templar returned calmly. ‘You don’t like children, that’s all.’

‘Oh, but I do. At least, I’ll like my own. I just resent the fact that Keri has no real claim on you. You just took over the responsibility of her after your sister died. I said you were stupid then, and I think you’re even more so now. That child is draining you physically as well as financially. You could have been one of the best paid models in the world by now, but instead you—–’

‘Chose to give Keri all the love she needs rather than fob her off with a nanny or put her into a home,’ she cut in. ‘We’ve had this argument many times before, and it gets us nowhere. I love Keri, and I intend keeping her.’

‘Okay, okay, on your own head be it. What I can’t understand is why you don’t know who her father is. Surely Tiffany could have told you?’

‘She refused to. She didn’t want anything from him, she couldn’t possibly have known she was going to die and so never need him again.’ A sob caught in her throat as she remembered her young sister, so full of life and not a care in the world. Until this unwanted pregnancy. But at least Tiffany had loved Keri’s father, of that she was certain. But as far as she knew he hadn’t wanted Tiffany once he found out about the baby. And so at the great age of nineteen her sister had departed this world with hardly a ripple, and her errant boy-friend hadn’t so much as made one enquiry about her.

‘Keri is my child,’ she insisted. ‘At least, in every way it’s possible for her to be without my actually bearing her. I could no more give her up than I could—than I could stop living!’

Templar took Keri with her to visit Mary the next day. It was her half day and she usually tried to see her friend on these occasions. She could have better spent this time searching for somewhere new to live, but she made it a habit to always spend this time with Keri. Goodness knows she spent little enough time with her as it was.

Mary was, as usual, pleased to see her. With two little girls and a third baby on the way and only a two-bedroomed flat, Mary and her husband were in just as much difficulty as Templar was. It gave them a mutual grievance. Although there wasn’t much difference in their ages, Mary was worn down with the weight of her family problems, and Templar dreaded getting into the same predicament.

‘Hello, poppet,’ Mary tickled Keri under the chin. ‘My, she’s getting bonny!’ She looked closely at her friend. ‘But you don’t look too good. What’s happened?’ she asked perceptively.

Templar explained about Mrs Marks’ ultimatum and her difficulty in finding somewhere else to live.

‘Oh, dear,’ sighed Mary worriedly. ‘You could always come here for a few days if you get really stuck for a place,’ she offered.

Templar knew this was a generous act on the part of her friend, but not one she could possibly accept. ‘No, I’ll work something out, thank you, Mary. You can guess what Ken suggested,’ she added dryly.

‘Oh, Ken!’ Mary dismissed him in disgust. ‘He’s no help at all.’

Templar laughed. ‘Never mind that for now. I’ve brought some apples, so we can make a pie for tea. You make the pastry and I’ll prepare the apples. Deal?’

‘Deal. Leave Keri with Samantha, they can play together.’

It was nice to forget their troubles for a little while, laughing like two schoolgirls as they both got flour in their hair. ‘We’re worse than the children,’ giggled Templar as she tried to get the flour out of her hair and off the tip of her nose.

‘You aren’t much more than a child yourself,’ teased Mary. ‘What are you? Twenty-one, twenty-two?’

‘Twenty-one,’ she confirmed. ‘A year older than Tiffany would have been. I often wonder what it would have been like if she’d lived. I could have worked and supported them both. I could, you know. My career was just expanding nicely. It seems so cruel that she had to die. She hadn’t even begun to live, she was just a child.’

‘And you’ve never heard from Keri’s father?’ put in Mary gently.

Templar shook her head. ‘It’s as if he never existed,’ she laughed bitterly. ‘But I have her to prove that he did. I think he must be rather a handsome man if Keri’s looks are anything to go by. Oh, I know she has my colouring, but her features are nothing like mine, or Tiffany’s for that matter. And her complexion is much darker than either of us.’

‘Did you ever look through those letters of Tiffany’? You know, the ones in that carved box.’

She shook her head. ‘No, I couldn’t. It would be like violating Tiffany’s privacy. Those letters were addressed to her, and it would be wrong of me to read them.’

‘But you don’t actually have to read them,’ Mary pointed out. ‘Just look at the signatures and addresses. Surely you could do that without reading them?’

‘I suppose so,’ Templar agreed reluctantly. ‘But I just don’t think I can.’

‘Of course you can,’ her friend insisted impatiently. ‘This isn’t the time to worry about a little thing like privacy. Or pride either, for that matter.’

Templar knew she was right. Tiffany had kept a box of letters, but Templar had never been able to force herself to look at them, although she felt sure Keri’s father’s name would be in there somewhere.

Once she had settled Keri down for the night she took the box out of the cupboard, staring fixedly at it for several minutes before opening its wooden lid. She hesitated for a moment more, unwilling to delve into secrets that were perhaps better left alone.

Taking a deep breath, she began flicking through the letters, only glancing fleetingly at the signature on each and ignoring their other contents. It didn’t take all that long to find the one she thought might be helpful. Never a secretive girl, Tiffany had spoken freely about her boy-friends, and so Templar knew most of the names on the letters. Only one was unknown to her, and she could only assume this was Keri’s father. It had been unlike Tiffany not to tell her sister everything, that was why it had been all the more surprising that she wouldn’t reveal the name of her lover.

Templar put the other letters back in the box, putting off the moment when she would actually have to read the letter. It just didn’t seem right to read someone else’s personal letters. Finally, she couldn’t put it off any longer, slowly reading the slightly faded words. There were faint smudges on the two pages of the letter, as if someone had been crying as they read them, which Templar could well imagine was true after reading their contents. Alex Marcose had said quite plainly that he wouldn’t be seeing Tiffany any more. No mention was made of the baby, but the date at the top of the letter fitted in with the time Tiffany must have found out about her pregnancy, so Templar imagined the baby must have been the reason he had broken off the relationship. Well, she was afraid that things like babies had a way of making their presence felt. And Mr Alex Marcose was about to be informed of his daughter’s existence.

She posted the letter to the London address the next day, informing Mr Marcose that she had something of import to tell him. But this didn’t stop her from searching for accommodation. Mr Marcose might not still live at that address, and even if he did, her name might be enough to put him off. The address was in one of the better parts of town, and people like that had a way of forgetting their responsibilities. He might even have forgotten Tiffany’s existence.

It was three days since Templar had posted the letter, and she had received no reply, although she was sure it must have reached its destination by now. And she still hadn’t found anywhere to live! The situation was becoming desperate now, and she was hardly sleeping at night, and worrying incessantly by day. And Keri wasn’t helping either, being particularly fretful the past few days, sensitive to her aunt’s worry.

She went in to her for the third time in an hour, soon quietening her and going back to her magazine. She tried to concentrate on the article she was reading, but the words seemed to make no sense, and putting the magazine down on the floor she curled her legs up underneath her and resting her head back on the chair, she fell asleep.

She was woken up by the knock on the door, pushing back her untidy hair and smoothing down her creased denims. If it was Mrs Marks again, she’d—–

The knock sounded again. ‘Miss Newman! Miss Newman! I have a visitor for you.’

A visitor! Oh, God! Who on earth could it be? It must be someone Mrs Marks didn’t know or she wouldn’t have accompanied them up the stairs. Templar glanced apprehensively at the half-closed bedroom door, but couldn’t hear any movement from Keri. Thank goodness for that; she didn’t think she could stand for her to wake up again.

She opened the door, her eyes opening wide with shock as they encountered the tall alien-looking man standing arrogantly at Mrs Marks’ side. Her landlady looked quite overwhelmed, and Templar wasn’t surprised. The man was looking down his haughty nose at both of them, his suit fitting him as if it had been tailored on him, and it probably had been.

‘You—er—–’ Templar hesitated. ‘You can go now, Mrs Marks,’ she said firmly, watching the landlady as she slowly began to descend the stairs, muttering to herself as she went. Templar looked at the man again, only to find herself the victim of a contemptuous perusal, his blue-grey eyes mentally noting each feature as if for future reference. ‘Would you like to come in?’ she asked nervously.

‘You are very trusting, Miss Newman,’ his accent was faintly clipped, as if English wasn’t his native tongue. ‘Considering you do not know who I am.’ He held himself erect. ‘My name is Leondro Marcose.’

‘Oh, but—–’

He held up a hand for silence. ‘Before you say any more, Miss Newman, I think you should know that my brother Alex is dead.’ He said the words with no show of emotion.

Templar paled. This wasn’t what she had been expecting at all. How could he cold-heartedly stand there and tell her such a thing! Her only chance of a future for Keri now in ruins. Tears filled her emerald green eyes and threatened to overspill. She was going to lose Keri, and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it.

This stranger was still staring at her as if he were dissecting her, and even in her distress Templar could see he was devastatingly attractive. And Alex, Keri’s father, had been his brother. If there had been any resemblance between the two brothers then Tiffany couldn’t be blamed for her attraction. Templar still held the door open for him to enter, and without waiting for her to repeat the invitation he entered the room, looking about him without concealing his distaste.

She saw the shabby room through his eyes and her resentment towards him grew. Who was he to look down his nose at her when she had been struggling for the past year to support his brother’s daughter?—maybe not in the way he would have done, but one thing Keri had never gone short of was love. ‘I see,’ she said tightly. ‘In that case I’m afraid you’ve had a wasted journey. You can’t possibly help me.’

His eyebrows rose arrogantly at her dismissive tone. ‘Please allow me to be the judge of that, Miss Newman. Your letter sounded urgent, otherwise I would not have come here at all. You say I cannot help you. What makes you think my brother could have done more than I?’ His eyes flickered mercilessly over her nervous movements. ‘Will you not sit down, so that I may also?’

‘Oh! Oh, I’m sorry.’ She sat down in the chair she had recently vacated.

‘So,’ he sat opposite her. ‘Would you mind telling me what it was only my brother could help you with?’ His eyes narrowed to two icy slits. ‘Or is it so private you cannot tell me about it?’

Templar’s eyes flashed angrily at his condescending tone. ‘You aren’t being very polite, Mr Marcose.’

‘Am I not?’ he asked tautly. ‘But then you are being particularly obstructive. You sent an urgent letter to my brother and when I come in his stead you refuse to tell me what the matter was you wanted to discuss with him.’ He stood up in one fluid movement, a ripple of pure ripcord muscle the only sign of effort. ‘It seems you are right, and I have had a wasted journey.’

Templar stood up to aid his departure, but was prevented from doing so by an ear-piercing scream from Keri. Without waiting to answer his look of astonishment she dashed into the bedroom, her only thought to quieten her before she disturbed the whole household. Keri raised tear-wet cheeks and Templar couldn’t resist her endearing little face. ‘There, darling,’ she crooned softly. ‘It’s all right, my baby.’

Leondro Marcose stood transfixed in the doorway, his darkly handsome face a shuttered mask. ‘So,’ he said harshly, the voice that she had thought attractive grating with suppressed violence. ‘You have a child.’

‘As you can see.’ Templar still smiled reassuringly at Keri.

Keri’s big green eyes fixed themselves on the tall dark man’s face, and she chuckled delightedly. ‘Mama,’ she chortled. ‘Mama.’

To Templar it was a triumph, but it only seemed to incense her visitor more, if that were possible. Ignoring his censorious look, she smiled happily at Keri. ‘Aren’t you clever, darling. Now are you going to go back to sleep? Mama has a visitor, and you’re being very naughty.’

‘Please do not hurry yourself because of me.’ The man’s voice was like a rapier, cutting all down before him, and at the moment it was her. ‘If this is the reason you wanted my brother’s help, then you are right, I can be of no service to you. You have formed your own destiny, and to involve other people in your troubles is not something I appreciate.’

‘Really, Mr Marcose?’ she asked tartly, taking Keri over to this tall imperious stranger and placing her in front of him. He had little choice but to take the squirming bundle into his strong arms, staring at her intently.

Templar waited with bated breath as Keri played with the buttons on the front of his snowy white shirt, her four tiny white teeth showing between ruby-red lips. Leondro Marcose looked from Keri to Templar and back again, his face pale.

‘This child,’ his voice was husky and curiously uncertain. ‘There is no doubt that you are the child’s mother. And the father—–’ he stopped. ‘The father was my brother, was he not?’

She nodded. ‘Yes, he was. But I—–’

‘Please!’ he said curtly, carrying Keri into the other room where he sat down abruptly in one of the armchairs. Keri looked at him with gleeful eyes, enjoying this unexpected treat. Men didn’t very often come into her orbit, except Ken of course, and as their dislike was mutual he didn’t count. As Leondro Marcose looked at her his face softened, the harsh lines beside his firm mouth dissipating. ‘And what is your name, little one?’

‘Her name is Keri,’ put in Templar. ‘And she’s ten months old.’ She still hadn’t told him that Keri wasn’t her child, but somehow now didn’t seem to be the right moment.

‘I see.’ He looked at her over Keri’s copper curls. ‘And of what assistance can I be to you?’

She looked taken aback. ‘Why, none,’ she said in a surprised voice. ‘It was your brother I wanted to see, and as he’s—dead,’ the word choked in her throat. Poor Keri, both parents dead so young. ‘As he’s dead, I’ll have to solve my problem on my own.’

‘I disagree. Must I remind you that Keri is my niece?’

Templar was dumbstruck. It was an aspect she hadn’t thought of. She shook her head. ‘You only have my word for that. I couldn’t swear Alex was her father.’

‘The devil you can’t!’ he rasped, and Keri’s face puckered tearfully at the harshness of his voice. ‘It is all right, little one.’ He placed her on the floor and stood up to pace the room, taking out a long cigar and a gold lighter. ‘I have your permission to smoke?’ he asked grimly, igniting the lighter at the nod of her head. He didn’t speak again for several long seconds. ‘So you do not know if my brother is your baby’s father, or if she belongs to one of your other lovers,’ he addressed her coolly. ‘Well, let me put your mind at rest. Keri is Alexis’ child, of that there can be no doubt. She is very like him to look at. Have you not noticed the resemblance? Or have you forgotten how my brother looked in the sea of faces that were no doubt your lovers?’

Templar blanched under his insults. ‘And what do you intend doing, Mr Marcose? Paying me off?’

His mouth twisted tauntingly. ‘That is the one thing I do not intend doing, Miss Newman. I’m sure that you expected as much from Alex, but you will find I am made of much sterner stuff than my brother was. No, Keri is my niece and I intend taking her into my care. If I gave you money you would no doubt spend it on things other than the infant, and although I realise you have a certain amount of affection for the child, I am sure you will appreciate that I can give her more than you will ever be able to. No matter how many men you take into your bed.’

She hit out at him instinctively, her only thought to hurt him as he was verbally hurting her. Her finger marks stood out livid against his dark skin and she moved away from him in horror, snatching the frightened Keri off the floor and hugging her tightly against her. The two of them looked at him with apprehensive eyes, Templar noting a strange expression cross his face, but it passed so fleetingly she didn’t have time to analyse it. ‘I do not have a “certain amount of affection” for Keri,’ she said in a low controlled voice. ‘I love her. And no—no stranger is going to take her away from me. Oh, I know you can give her more than I can, you’re obviously wealthy enough to, but I love her. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?’

‘Not a great deal,’ he replied coldly. ‘And as you know I have money I do not think there was any need for that remark about my being wealthy. Alexis must have told you it was so and you obviously thought it was time to play your lead card. As a small baby Keri may not have made the impact that she has now, especially as she has your hair and eyes. But then most babies look alike. But now, now that her features are becoming distinctly like my brother’s you decide the time is right to make us aware of her existence. What is the matter, Miss Newman? Are you tired of caring for a young baby? Do you long to go back to the life you no doubt led before my young brother was gullible enough to fall for your undoubted charms?’

She shook her head. This just couldn’t be happening to her! Oh, she realised the remark she had made about being unsure of Keri’s parentage had sparked off this cold chilling anger, but if he had only given her chance she could have explained that her uncertainty was due to the fact that Keri was not her child. Now it had gone too far. If she told him the truth now he would probably take Keri away from her altogether, and then she might never see her again. ‘Keri is my life now,’ she said simply. ‘And I won’t let you take her from me.’

‘You would not be able to stop me if that were my intention. If none of your—admirers would be willing to come forward I am sure I could find a couple of men who would give evidence against you. I only have to cast doubts on your ability to be a proper mother and Keri will be given into my care. Do you want that?’

‘You think money can buy everything, don’t you, Mr Marcose?’ she said brokenly.

‘Please, call me Leon, anything else would be verging on the ridiculous in the circumstances. And I shall call you—–?’ he paused expectantly.

‘Templar,’ she replied miserably.

‘Unusual,’ came his comment. ‘And no, I know money cannot buy everything. Most things, but not everything. But in this case it will get me what I want.’

‘And what is that?’ Templar asked dully, cradling the now sleepy Keri against her.

‘I wish to make a future for Keri. I cannot do that by taking her into my house as my brother’s child. Everyone will know her for what she is, and that I do not want. She is a beautiful child and deserves to have the sort of background I would wish for her. So I propose to marry her mother and so pass Keri off as my own child.’

CHAPTER TWO

‘WHAT!’ Templar stared at him in horror. ‘You can’t possibly be serious?’

Arrogant eyebrows rose over heavy-lidded eyes, the firmness of his mouth showing his displeasure. ‘But I am, perfectly serious. The final decision does of course lie with you. You can either give up your daughter or marry me.’

Templar placed Keri back in her cot, moving like an automaton. She wrung her hands together, her eyes dwelling thoughtfully on the copper curls just visible from the bedroom. She looked again at the dark forbidding face of the man who had the power to wreck her whole life, and saw no softening there, he obviously meant what he said.

His thick dark hair was brushed casually back from his high forehead, his nostrils flaring arrogantly as she continued to look at him. How could she let her little Keri live with this hard, embittered man, with no one to give her a mother’s love? Or would he get someone else to provide that? He was a very determined man and a little thing like her unhappiness wouldn’t matter to him as long as he got what he wanted. And there could be no doubt that he wanted Keri. If she told him now that Keri wasn’t her child he would take her away from her anyway; much better to keep that knowledge to herself. As long as this man attained control of his niece what possible difference could it make that Templar wasn’t her mother? As far as she could see it would only be Keri and herself who suffered by his gaining such information.

‘Why—’ her lips felt stiff and she found it difficult to articulate. ‘Why should you want to do a thing like that?’ she asked nervously, licking her lips.

His expression didn’t alter as he flicked a speck off the tailored jacket of his light grey suit. ‘Why should I not?’ he returned coolly. ‘And do not obtain the mistaken idea that I am considering this course of action for any other reason than Keri’s future. You, as a person, do not interest me in the slightest. Secondhand goods are not my line.’

‘And just what is your line, Mr Marcose?’ she asked, ignoring his insults as she felt sure he wanted to annoy her, and she wouldn’t give him that satisfaction.

‘Surely Alex told you?’

He sounded slightly mocking and Templar flushed uncomfortably. ‘No,’ she answered lightly. ‘I don’t believe your occupation ever entered into our conversation, in fact, I don’t think we ever discussed you at all.’ Which happened to be true. How could she have discussed anything with a man she had never met?

His eyes darkened to a metallic grey. ‘Alex seems to have been remiss concerning several of his relationships. I had never heard of you either. Just what was your line-before you had Keri?’

Templar bridled angrily at his condescending tone. ‘My line, as you put it, happened to be modelling.’

‘Really? Alex seems to have found girls in that profession particularly attractive for some reason.’ His eyes studied her intently. ‘Ah, yes, I remember now. When I first saw you I thought you appeared familiar. You are the girl in the make-up advertisement, are you not?’

Her nose wrinkled slightly at his obvious distaste. ‘That was one of my last assignments,’ she remembered wistfully.

‘You would like to return to your profession?’

Templar shook her head. ‘Not now. It’s too late. I have Keri and she’s my whole life.’

Her visitor looked bored. ‘You do not have to continually try to convince me of your devotion to the child. I have given you the options, you have only to make your choice.’

She paced restlessly about the room. ‘It’s not as simple as that,’ she insisted.

‘I see. You have a—boy-friend?’

Momentarily Templar thought of Ken and then dismissed him. He could hardly be cast in the light Leondro Marcose was trying to put him in. ‘No, I have no boy-friend.’

‘You surprise me,’ he said dryly.

‘I have a male friend, but that’s all he is,’ she said firmly. ‘Anyway, that isn’t the reason for my hesitation. You can’t honestly expect me to seriously consider marriage to a man I’ve known barely an hour, a man that I know nothing about. You claim to be Keri’s uncle, but I only have your word for that.’

‘Do not be hysterical!’ he snapped. ‘If it is information about myself that you want then I will gladly tell you a few facts about myself. My name you already know. I am thirty-six years of age, and unmarried. I have worldwide business interests, mainly hotels and property. I am Greek, but I live mainly in my apartment in London. Of course, if you decide to marry me, I will move you into my house in the country. I shall be taking Keri there anyway, whatever you decide to do. A nanny will be obtained for her.’

‘It most certainly will not!’ Templar said adamantly. ‘If, and I emphasise the if, I allow you to force me into this senseless marriage, I will continue to care for Keri myself. Goodness, I could have arranged for a nanny for her myself and carried on working to pay for her. But I don’t think that’s the way to bring up a child. It would be heartless to do that to her now, she has come to rely on me completely.’

He gave a slight inclination of his head. ‘That is, of course, unfortunate. It seems you have little choice in the matter, then.’ He stood up.

She stayed his departure, her face desperate. ‘Please! Look, couldn’t you just care for Keri and myself? We could—well, we could still come and live with you. But surely we don’t have to marry?’

‘The idea appeals to me no more than it does you. But Keri’s likeness to Alex is too noticeable for her to be other than his child—or my own. And in this case I would prefer that she was thought to be mine. Alex may have had a fleeting relationship with you, but in Greece he has a fiancée who could be hurt by your mere existence. In your country it may be accepted that women have children outside of marriage, but such a thing would not be allowed to happen in my country.’

‘Must I remind you that it was your brother who was responsible for Keri’s birth? The woman is not solely to blame for the situation she finds herself in.’

His mouth set in firm lines. ‘I realise this. That is why it is only right that I should care for you and your child. It is unfortunate that this has occurred at all, but now that it has, and Alex is no longer alive to face up to his responsibilities, I will have to do so for him.’

‘And you think love didn’t enter into it?’

His eyes flickered over her contemptuously. ‘You are surely not trying to tell me that you loved my brother?’

Templar flinched from the derision in his voice. Whatever he thought, Tiffany had loved his brother, and there was no denying this fact. ‘Surely the fact that Keri was born at all is proof enough. No single woman would bring a child into the world if she didn’t love its father—or at least, she doesn’t have to. It isn’t necessary nowadays.’

‘Maybe not in your estimation, but in mine every child conceived with love or without it should be given the chance of life. So what you are saying is that if you hadn’t loved Alex, Keri would not have been born? And yet a few moments ago you said you were not even sure Alex was her father. Have you been in love with all the men who have shared your bed?’ he scorned.

‘Mr Marcose,’ she began tightly, ‘if you have such a bad opinion of me, aren’t you taking rather a risk by marrying me? After all, I might be a very disruptive influence in your life.’

‘You will not be allowed to be,’ he said arrogantly. ‘You will lead a very quiet life at my country house.’

‘Oh, yes? And just what will you be doing while I keep out of trouble in the country?’

‘Working. At my London apartment. I rarely visit the house you would be living in, and as soon as you move there I will endeavour to make my visits even more infrequent. I have no wish to behave as the doting husband too often.’

‘The—the what?’

He looked impatient. ‘We will have to show a certain amount of affection towards one another, no matter how much we hate it. It will be expected.’

Templar shook her head. ‘Not by me it won’t! I couldn’t possibly pretend to feel affection for someone I—–’ she broke off.

‘Hate?’ Leondro Marcose suggested. ‘You can be assured, Templar Newman, that the feeling is mutual. But I think my brother must have had some feelings of love for you. I do not know if he was aware of the type of person you actually are. Not even to know the father of your own child!’ his top lip curled back in a sneer. ‘I will leave you now. But arrangements will be made for our marriage of which you will be notified.’

‘Couldn’t I just have a little time to think it all over?’ begged Templar. ‘It’s all so—so sudden.’

‘Why sudden?’ he asked tartly. ‘You must have expected something of the sort when you wrote that letter.’

She shook her head numbly. ‘I didn’t. I just thought your brother—Alex,’ she amended quickly, ‘I thought he might be able to help me.’

‘And why is it that you suddenly need this help? Keri is ten months old, did you not consider asking for his assistance when she was born? Ah, but I forgot—you did not know Alex was her father. So why this sudden necessity for his aid?’

Templar thought of refusing to answer him, but knew he would only force it out of her. ‘I’ve been told I have to leave here at the end of the week, and I simply have nowhere else to go. No one wants to take in an unmarried mother, and I thought Alex might just be able to help for a couple of months until I had something sorted out.’

‘And now you find yourself placed in the position where you either marry someone you hate, or lose the one thing you love. It is a pity, of course, but then you were instrumental in forging your own destiny. You must have known you could never have married Alex.’

‘And why should I have known that?’

‘Because of his fiancée. A betrothal is almost as binding as a marriage in my country, and Alex was very much betrothed. He was killed only four weeks before the wedding was to have taken place. And do not think you were the first girl he had been involved with. There was another model just before his involvement with you.’

‘Then he couldn’t have been very much in love with his fiancée, to have behaved that way.’

‘Love!’ he scoffed. ‘What does love have to do with marriage? His betrothed was a quiet girl of a good family and breeding, and she would have brought a large dowry to her husband.’

‘Everything I’m not, apparently,’ said Templar dryly.

‘As you say,’ he agreed coldly. ‘But obviously your other attributes meant more to him at the time than anything Katina could give him.’ He glanced impatiently at his wrist watch. ‘I have an important appointment to go to now; you have until Friday to make up your mind. But be assured that whatever you decide to do for yourself, Keri will come to me. You are perfectly free to live your own life.’

‘Keri is my life,’ she repeated vehemently.

‘So you have said. I will call again on Friday.’

The room felt strangely empty once he had left, the smell of his cigar lingering in the air. Templar stared blankly at the closed door. Things had seemed desperate before, but they were even worse now. Leondro Marcose might be able to give Keri the sort of up-bringing Templar could only dream about for her, but it meant a lifelong marriage for Templar to a man she could only ever despise.

She stood at the side of Keri’s cot, tears streaming down her cheeks. ‘Oh, darling,’ she breathed softly, ‘what shall I do? Oh, what shall I do?’

Templar looked around the shabby room she had moved into the day before. When the kindly landlady had told her that she could have the room and that she would look after Keri while Templar worked she couldn’t believe her luck. She had told no one she was moving, except of course Mrs Marks. Not even Mary and Ken knew. She daren’t risk being traced by them. Men like Leondro Marcose could wield a lot of power, and it wouldn’t take him long to trace one very frightened girl and her baby.

And she was frightened, terrified in fact. She couldn’t possibly spend the rest of her life married to that cold arrogant man. He had the look of a springing leopard about to leap on its prey. And Templar felt as if she was that prey.

Keri seemed little bothered by her change of scene, not that it was all that different. All these rooms were the same, although this one was shabbier than most. But then the landlady was kind, and that made all the difference.

Of Ken she had seen little; he had finally washed his hands of her. In fact, like Leondro Marcose, Ken had given her an ultimatum: marry him and give up Keri or else their relationship ended. He seemed to think he had waited long enough for her, and the argument that had followed had not been pleasant. Templar had told him so many times that she would never give up Keri that she had thought he would actually have realised by now that she meant what she said. But he hadn’t, accusing her of playing at mother, and Keri’s contented gurgles of ‘Mama’ had only incensed him more. Finally he had stormed out of the room with a vow to waste no more time on her.

In a way his departure had been a relief. His complaints about Keri had become more pronounced of late and Templar often had to bite her tongue from preventing herself from saying something she would regret. Like most red-haired people, she had a hot temper, although she usually managed to control it. As a child she had often been punished for losing her temper with another child, or even more disastrous, with an adult.

At every movement or knock on the door Templar physically jumped, dreading opening the door in case it should be Leondro Marcose, although Keri didn’t seem affected by the air of electricity that surrounded her.

Templar took Keri downstairs and left her with Mrs Street. She had to leave earlier in the mornings now, the journey to work taking twice as long from here. Her employer, Howard Hathaway, ran a small insurance agency, and Templar, besides being his secretary, was his assistant, the tea-girl, general telephonist and also the cleaning lady. Not that she minded. A huge impersonal complex wasn’t her idea of enjoying work, although occasionally Howard became just a little too familiar. Templar never ceased to be amazed by this. Howard had a beautiful and loving wife and two young children, and yet still he had to try and prove his irresistible manhood—another reason for her disillusionment of men’s fidelity.

‘Good morning, Howard,’ she said breathlessly, placing her bag full of groceries in the corner of the room with her coat. ‘Sorry I’m late, but I just had to get some food in.’

‘That’s all right,’ accepted Howard, a man in his mid-thirties beginning to go slightly bald on top. ‘Although you look worn out before you even start. What have you been up to?’

‘Why, nothing,’ she blushed. ‘But Keri did have rather a wakeful night last night.’

‘Teething,’ sympathised Howard. Having had to put up with it twice himself he knew how wearing it could be.

Templar shook her head, beginning to sort through the letters on her desk. ‘No, it wasn’t teething. She decided that two o’clock this morning was the time to play,’ she grimaced. ‘You try telling a determined ten-month-old that you’re too tired to play! It doesn’t work.’

‘I know,’ he laughed. ‘Look, leave those for a minute and make us both a cup of coffee.’

Templar went round to see Mary at lunch-time. She didn’t think she would be able to bring Keri over so often now that they were living further away, although there was a park near them now so she would be able to take her there. Fresh air was something neither of them had enough of.

‘Hello, love,’ Mary greeted her in surprise. ‘What brings you round? Not that it isn’t nice to see you, but you don’t usually call on a Friday.’

‘Well, I—’ Templar hesitated about revealing her change of address, not that she didn’t trust Mary, but from what she had seen of Leondro Marcose she thought he could be completely ruthless on occasion. And it wasn’t fair to involve Mary in her troubles, she had enough of her own. She smiled brightly at her friend. ‘I just felt like coming round. It’s a lovely day outside, why don’t we go out for a walk? We could do some window-shopping.’

‘Mm, lovely. Just wait a minute while I get my coat. Samantha’s at nursery school this morning,’ Mary sighed. ‘At least by the time this one’s born she’ll be old enough to join Melanie at school. Peter will insist on trying for a boy,’ she smiled slightly. ‘Men and their male ego!’

Templar couldn’t have agreed more, although she didn’t say so. It was relaxing to walk around the shops, even if neither of them could afford to buy anything. Occasionally Templar would see one of her old crowd when out on these walks, but besides a polite hello she didn’t attempt any conversation with them.

Howard was in one of his more boisterous moods when she got back to the office and she could only assume he had been on one of his selling lunches again. When this happened he and the client had usually drunk so much that neither of them could remember what policies had or had not been taken out. Without saying a word Templar prepared him some black coffee, placing it unquestionably before him.

‘What’s this for?’ He looked at her through bleary eyes.

‘Drink it, Howard,’ she said quietly. ‘It will do you good.’

‘Are you implying I’m drunk?’ he asked sneeringly.

Templar didn’t know what to say; as usual the drink had made Howard nasty and the best thing for her to do was keep out of his way. She moved quietly away from him and didn’t see his quick movement as he put out a hand and pulled her down on to his knees.

‘Howard!’ She was deeply shocked. No matter how much he had drunk he wasn’t usually like this. ‘Stop it!’

‘What’s the matter, girl?’ he snapped. ‘You weren’t always so fussy, were you? What about that little bast—–’

‘Don’t you dare say that, Howard! Don’t you dare! Keri was born out of love, not what you’re implying.’ She struggled to get out of his arms. ‘I think you’ve said quite enough for one day!’

‘I could not agree more.’

Templar stopped struggling at the sound of that cold clipped voice and looked up, straight into the contemptuous blue-grey eyes of Leondro Marcose. He was looking at the two of them as if they were something thing rather nasty that had wandered into his line of vision. She stood up, smoothing down her plain navy-coloured skirt and straightening her pure white blouse.

Howard struggled to his feet, shifting uncomfortably under the other man’s cold stare. ‘Who the hell are you?’ he blustered.

Leondro Marcose moved further into the tiny office that Howard rented, looking scathingly at the untidy clutter that was their work. ‘I am Leondro Marcose. But I might ask you the same question? Also, what you were doing to my fiancée when I entered the office?’

Howard looked at Templar with dazed eyes, and well he might; she was a little dazed herself. ‘Your fian—–? Leondro Marcose—–? You didn’t tell me you were engaged,’ he added accusingly.

Leondro Marcose looked down his haughty nose at the red-faced man. ‘I was not aware that Templar had to inform you of happenings in her personal life—except of course in connection with tendering her notice,’ he flicked an imaginary speck off his suit jacket.

Templar glanced at him sharply, her gratitude at his intervention now turning to suspicion. What was he doing here anyway? She didn’t remember telling him where she worked, unless of course Mrs Marks had—–? But no, surely not. But then what did it really matter how he had found her, he had, and she had a feeling that he would wait no longer for her decision—or at least, no longer than it took him to get her out of here. Not that she wanted to stay under the circumstances. Howard had been very insulting, the remarks he made about Keri unforgivable, and his behaviour had been too familiar for her to carry on working for him any longer.

‘What notice?’ Howard demanded. ‘I haven’t been told about any notice being given.’

‘It was to have been tendered today, Mr Hathaway,’ the tall alien-looking man informed him coldly. ‘But your behaviour has made that unnecessary. In the circumstances I am sure you will realise that I can do no other than remove Templar from your unwanted attentions,’ he turned to Templar. ‘Are you ready to leave now?’

She moved jerkily, collecting her coat and shopping before following her ‘fiancé’ as he moved back towards the door. Surprisingly Howard detained her just as she was leaving, clutching frantically at her arm.

‘Templar! Please,’ he begged as she turned to look at him with cool green eyes. ‘I’m sorry, Templar, I really am.’ The arrogance of Leondro Marcose had sobered him more quickly than any coffee would have done.

She removed his hand from her arm. ‘It was the drink talking, Howard, I realise that. But you must realise I can’t possibly stay here any longer, not knowing the way you feel about Keri and myself.’ She was ever conscious of Leondro Marcose’s chilling features and wondered how she could ever leave with him.

Howard stepped back away from her as he saw the frosty looks he was receiving from the man at her side. He had been taken slightly off guard when this man had walked in, but now he wondered how Templar could possibly have met such an imposing man. This man’s reputation as a ruthless businessman was known worldwide, and Howard would hardly have put Templar in the society he was likely to mix in. But then Templar had been an up-and-coming model before she had her baby, so perhaps this was the child’s father. It wouldn’t surprise him. He was a handsome devil in an aristocratic sort of way and there was no doubting Templar’s beauty, enough to catch the eye of any man.

Leondro Marcose’s eyes narrowed at the dawning realisation in Howard’s face. ‘If you will excuse us,’ he nodded stiffly, opening the door that Templar had little choice but to go through. He gave her chance to say nothing until he had her firmly seated in the luxurious sports car he had parked outside. ‘Now you may talk,’ he said haughtily, his face intent on the traffic as he manoeuvred the car along the busy streets.

‘I have nothing to say.’ She held herself erect, unwilling to relax back in the comfortable seat. She felt as if she were riding on a cloud, and by the sleek line of the car she guessed it was a foreign make. Not that she knew much about cars, she couldn’t tell the brake from the accelerator.

He looked at her with amusement. ‘If what you say is true then you are truly a remarkable woman. You are the first one I have found to be so silent.’

‘Then you can’t have met many women,’ she replied tartly. ‘I know many women who like to sit quietly.’

‘Ah, now that is different. I too know many women who like to sit quietly, but that does not mean that you cannot see they have plenty they would like to say. As to my not knowing many women, I can assure you that I have not lived for thirty-six years without coming to know the complexities of women very well. I, like you, have had many—acquaintances, shall we say?’

‘I understand, Mr Marcose. I understand perfectly!’

‘No, you do not. But it is unimportant that you do,’ he glanced sideways at her. ‘And my name is Leon—use it.’

She bit her lips to stop them trembling. All her efforts to never see this man again had been futile. She should have realised that a man of his arrogance and bearing would not let an insignificant nonentity like herself stop him from getting what he wanted. Well, perhaps she wasn’t completely insignificant, she was Keri’s mother after all.

‘I can’t call you Leon,’ she said finally when she had her emotions under better control. ‘You may be Keri’s uncle, but that doesn’t give you any special privileges where I’m concerned. If you’re anything like her father then I would rather not have met you at all. My meeting with Alex was born out of necessity rather than choice.’

‘And does the fact that he is dead and unable to help you make your need any less important?’ he snapped harshly. ‘Or are you willing to carry on as you have been doing, barely managing to support the two of you and having to accept your employer’s pawing in an effort to hold on to your job?’

There could be no doubt about it, Leondro Marcose was furiously angry. Up until now Templar had seen him condescending, arrogant, chillingly cool, and just downright rude, but never angry. In anger his eyes became a steely grey and his face gained an animation she found fascinating. But no, this man was made out of the same mould as his brother, taking his pleasures where he could and leaving the woman involved without a second thought, if indeed he had had first ones.

‘I would welcome your pawing even less,’ she told him vehemently.

‘You will never be given the opportunity to welcome or reject my touch.’ His eyes flickered over her insolently, from the auburn glory of her hair, over her make-upless face, and slowly down over her naturally slender body. She heaved a sigh of relief when the traffic lights changed to green, his attention once again centred on the road. ‘You do not attract me in the slightest,’ he added cruelly.

‘You can be assured that the feeling is reciprocated!’

‘Good,’ he said with some satisfaction. ‘And now that we have disposed of that little matter perhaps we can attempt an unemotional conversation. I would like to know what you think you have achieved by changing your address?’

‘Nothing, obviously.’

‘You hoped to evade making a decision one way or the other?’ Leondro Marcose queried mildly. ‘But surely you did not think that once I knew of Keri’s existence I would calmly leave you to make your choice? But no! You have a noticeably stubborn streak in your nature, Templar Newman, and I guessed you might attempt something of this nature. You have been closely watched since we last spoke together.’

‘I’ve been what?’

‘You have been watched,’ he repeated calmly.

She looked at him sharply. ‘So you’ve been checking up on me? And how many men were reported to have visited my flat?’ she asked sneeringly.

‘Only one. And apparently he did not look too pleased when he left the premises.’

‘Really? Oh dear, I must be slipping. My men usually go away satisfied,’ she told him shrilly.

‘Templar!’ he snapped, looking at her darkly. ‘You will not talk in this way.’

‘Why not? It’s what you expect of me, isn’t it, that men come to see me for one reason only?’ Her green eyes flashed her anger.

‘I have not said so,’ he replied stiffly.

‘No, but you’ve implied it.’

He shook his dark head. ‘Not in the way that you are saying it. If I thought that you went to bed with every man you met then Keri’s future would already have been settled—I would simply have taken her away from you. No, I believe that you have a certain amount of affection for the men you—please, otherwise you would not still have Keri in your care. I would have removed her straight away.’

‘Well, thank you very much for your faith in my morals, Mr Marcose, but I don’t need it. What you do or do not think doesn’t make any difference to me. I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth!’

‘Not even for the baby?’ he asked softly.

‘Not even for her!’

With a tightening of his mouth he made no comment and Templar saw, thankfully, that they were nearing her flat. What would he do now? Would he simply take Keri away from her or would he not carry out his threat to do so? Somehow Templar knew he was a man of his word, and that her agreement to his plans wasn’t necessary to him. She hadn’t meant it just now when she had said she wouldn’t marry him to keep Keri, it just wasn’t true. She had been willing to marry Ken to keep her, and she was just as willing to marry this cold hard stranger for the same reason.

Without being given directions he had driven straight to her tiny flat, following her into the house where she collected Keri from a smiling Mrs Street and carried the gurgling baby up to her own room. This was the time of day she loved best with the baby, when she could play with her for an hour or so, give her her bath, feed her, and then tuck her sleepily into her little cot. If she had carried on with her modelling career all this would have been left to a nanny, with her snatching the odd day with the baby in between travelling to assignments. Much as she loved this daily ritual with Keri it would have to wait a while this evening. Rather annoyingly Keri seemed to have taken a liking to the tall man with her ‘Mama’, holding out her arms to him to be held. Templar thrust her into his arms, turning away tearfully as Keri gave him her angelic smile and received a softening of those harsh features in return.

‘Excuse me,’ she said huskily. ‘I’ll just go and put the kettle on.’ She fled into the kitchen before she made an absolute fool of herself. Close together like that there had been little doubt about their family likeness, and in a way Templar thought it unfair that Keri should have none of her mother’s fair looks at all. Poor Tiffany, who had given her life for that small precious bundle of fun gurgling so happily in the arms of her aunt’s greatest enemy.

Oh God, how she cursed herself for ever writing that letter! She should have waited for a few months, seen if things improved in any way. Instead her impetuous nature had led her into even greater unhappiness.

‘Templar?’

She didn’t turn, trying unsuccessfully to erase the tears from her cheeks. She felt herself gently turned round and she shivered slightly at the touch of his firm brown hands on her shoulders. Instantly they were removed. She looked at him through a sea of tears, flinching at the grim look in his now slate-grey eyes.

He forced up her chin. ‘Now stop this, Templar, it is unnecessary. And it spoils your beauty.’

She gave a tremulous smile at his gentle tone. ‘I thought that had already been spoilt.’

He turned away. ‘I have never denied your beauty, as I have never denied that Keri is like you in every way. Keri?’ he queried sharply. ‘Is this not a strange name?’

‘It’s short for Kerina,’ Templar explained, although she thought this an even more unusual name. Tiffany had chosen it herself during the few hours of life she had left to her after the birth of her daughter. Templar had never questioned it, but in the way that often happens the name had soon become shortened to Keri, and now she couldn’t imagine that little squirming mass of fun being called anything else.

‘Are you sure?’ he asked shortly.

‘Of course I’m sure.’ What a silly question! Did he imagine she didn’t even know the baby’s name? ‘Why?’ she asked curiously, sensing that it meant something to him.

He shrugged his wide shoulders. ‘It was my mother’s name. Alex loved her very much.’ A new respect entered his eyes. ‘And I think he must have loved you very much too for him to have told you about her. It is not something he would have told a mere—–’

‘Mistress?’ Templar supplied sweetly. ‘But what makes you think he did tell me about her? I might have just chosen that name at random.’

He shook his head. ‘It is hardly likely. It is too unusual for it to be so.’

Templar was inclined to agree with him. Tiffany had been adamant about the baby’s name and at the time she had been too ill for Templar to enquire why. And a few hours later she had died. But Alex must have told her about his mother, there could be no other explanation. Could Templar have possibly misjudged him? But no, his brother had admitted that Alex had a fiancée, that he was to have been married only a month after he died. No, Alex Marcose must have been as she had imagined him to be, a young boy out for fun. And Tiffany had been that fun. Poor Tiffany, to give her beautiful young life through the selfishness of such a boy.

‘What are you thinking about now?’ Leondro Marcose demanded arrogantly.

‘I was thinking that I will marry you after all. But on one condition.’

His head flicked back haughtily. ‘I hardly think you are in a position to make conditions, do you?’

Templar shrugged her shoulders. ‘That’s up to you, of course. But my condition is this—I will not be pushed off into the background of your life as if you’re ashamed of me. If that’s the case then I think the baby and myself will be better off without you. If we’re to be man and wife then I at least insist that we live in the same house.’

‘You will insist on nothing! You will do as you are told! You know as well as I that we have no desire to share the same house.’ His eyes narrowed suspiciously. ‘Or have you decided to try your womanly charms on me after all?’

‘Certainly not!’ Templar blushed a fiery red at his wrong conclusion to her plan. She merely hoped he would change his mind about marrying her and simply look after her and the baby instead. ‘That was the last thought on my mind. But if we’re marrying to provide a stable home for Keri I do think it would be better—for her—if her mother and father lived together. Or do you intend to be a shadowy figure who appears in her life every six months or so and showers her with gifts?’

‘That was not my intention. But neither was it my intention to live with you. You must see that it is impossible.’

Oh, she did, only too well—that was the whole point. ‘Then I’m afraid the idea of marriage is impossible too. It just wouldn’t work any other way. What could I say to Keri when she’s older and wants to know why we live apart? That’s almost as cruel as not having a father at all, crueller in some ways.’

‘Good God, you talk as if the situation you find yourself in was my fault!’

‘And isn’t it? Isn’t it? Alex was your brother. Didn’t he do exactly what you would have done in the same position? Didn’t he?’ she demanded.

He held himself stiffly. ‘I have never refused to face up to my responsibilities, and neither has Alex. He would have provided for you if you had informed him of your—condition.’

‘And if I didn’t want his charity?’

‘Then you were a very stubborn as well as stupid girl. But no matter, I regret I cannot live with you.’

‘Oh, don’t regret it,’ Templar said smugly. ‘I thought that might be your answer, and in the circumstances I can’t marry you. If you choose to take me to court about the baby’s guardianship that’s up to you, but I’ll fight it. Oh yes, I’ll fight it! I don’t think you would like the publicity any more than I would.’

‘Perhaps not, but I would win.’

‘Naturally,’ she admitted. ‘But would you like to put Keri through all that?’

‘Would you? Oh, very well! We will share a house. It will have to be near London, I have too many business ties here to live anywhere else.’ He looked impatiently angry at her blackmail.

Templar was dumbstruck, her plan backfiring on her. She hadn’t expected this. She had thought he would drop his ideas of marriage and instead she had made matters worse. She would now have to share a home with this man. She shuddered at the thought of it. ‘Um—–’ she hesitated. ‘Perhaps—perhaps you were right. We—we could live apart.’

‘No, you are right. Keri needs both parents.’

Templar felt a sick sinking feeling in her stomach. What had she let herself in for now?

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