'And became a family outlaw!'
'All law can be savage,' he said.
'How easily you say that! How smug and narrow- minded you can be, Paul Caprel.'
He surveyed her through his pale lashes. 'Your aunt refused to let you come to Comus. She was just as ruthless as Argon.'
'At any time in the last eighteen years Argon could have visited England. My aunt wouldn't have refused to let him see me. She's a strong-minded lady, but she's fair. When I agreed to come here it was on her advice.'
'Perhaps she felt she had cheated you of your inheritance,' Paul said coolly. 'You were cut out of Argon's will because she refused to send you here, you know.'
'You don't know my aunt or you wouldn't imagine that money has any significance for her. She brought me up to be independent and earn my own living. She has no time for rich and idle people.'
He grinned. 'Like me?'
Her brown eyes answered silently. She turned and walked away up the stony path. He watched her with an abstracted expression. Her back was elegantly straight, her carriage graceful, the black hair dried by the sun and flying loosely as she moved. Paul rolled over and picked up a handful of sand, letting it trickle through his long fingers. The blue eyes were serious as he watched the silvery sand sift downwards in a fine shower.
In her room Leonie changed into a simple, sleeveless peach-coloured linen dress. Clyte had told her that Argon had breakfasted and was eager to see her. Brushing her hair, she studied herself in the mirror, then swept up the black locks into a neat, classical chignon and pinned them securely. The hairstyle restored her usual image. On the beach she had felt herself changing in some way, her emotions fluid and disturbed. She needed to establish a base from which to explore these changes without committing herself. How much Paul had to do with her new attitudes she was not sure. That he had already begun to affect her deeply she was forced to admit, and the realisation worried her. She had enough emotional problems coping with the discovery of her Greek roots. She did not want a further complication in the shape of a man.
Argon welcomed her eagerly, his brown face split with a wide smile.
Instinctively Leonie bent and kissed his cheek. He put up a gnarled hand to catch her fingers and pressed them.
She sat down beside the bed on a comfortable, silk upholstered chair and smiled at him.
'So. You are settling in?' he asked.
'Yes. My room is delightful, thank you.'
He brushed the thanks away with a graceful gesture. 'Clyte tells me you have been on the beach with Paul this morning.'
'Yes. I swam and sunbathed.'
His brown eyes watched her with curious attention. 'And what is your opinion of Paul?'
She hesitated, then shrugged. 'I'm afraid we rub each other up the wrong way.'
His eyes brightened. 'Ah? There have been clashes?'
'Shall we say we exist in a state of armed neutrality?' she put it lightly.
He nodded. 'That is good.'
Leonie was taken aback. 'Good?'
'But of course. Between a man and a woman there can only be one relationship—the sexual one. What people call the platonic friendship is only another name for indifference. Had you and Paul become friends it would have meant that you did not find each other attractive.'
She felt her cheeks burn. 'I thought I explained. I don't find Paul attractive. If anything, I dislike him...'
The door behind her opened and Paul himself came into the room. Leonie swung round, startled, and their eyes met. Paul bowed mockingly.
'Please, don't mind me, dear cousin. Do go on. I am riveted.'
She turned back to Argon, her back rigid with irritation. Argon chuckled, looking from one to the other of them. 'I am glad you have joined us, Paul. I have something to say to you both. Sit down beside Leonie.'
Paul drew up a chair and lounged back in it, his long legs thrust out. Beneath his lashes he glanced at Leonie, approvingly inspecting her dress and hair. It did not escape his attention that she had restored herself to her original English look, and the fact amused him.
'Leonie, when your aunt refused to let you come to Greece, I warned her that I would cut you out of my will, and I am a man of my word. By the will of God, Paul has proved to be my only male heir, and so for some years my will has made him my chief heir, as he knows. Indeed, as the world knows.' Argon looked directly at Paul. 'I left you free to choose your own path, Paul. I am going to speak freely in front of Leonie, since she is one of the family. I have not been pleased with your manner of life. You spend too much time in idle pleasure. Your business has been neglected in consequence, and judging by past experience, if I left you the lion's share of my holdings you would fritter a large part of my fortune away on your pursuit of pleasure.'