Dutch Courage by Elizabeth Darrell

Author:Elizabeth Darrell [Elizabeth Darrell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2012-01-08T16:00:00+00:00

Eight

Sam Collier no longer looked a hunk and a half to Connie Bush when she entered the small ward. Not surprising after such a beating, but she still was impressed by his composure and by the contrast of blond hair and very dark eyes. She reminded herself that, whatever he had done to provoke retaliation, he had rescued four soldiers under fire. She had previously dealt with men whose basic character verged on the villainous, yet who displayed amazing courage on the battlefield. Was Collier another of them?

Connie smiled and perched on the bed. ‘Sergeant Bush, SIB. The Doc has allowed me to talk to you on condition that I don’t use Nazi tactics. I won’t ask how you’re feeling, because that rainbow of bruises on your face gives me a likely answer. Although, I guess it’s your back that’s giving the most pain. Major Clarkson reckons no lasting damage has been done, so you should be back in the cockpit before too long.’

Collier said nothing while he very obviously studied her dark trouser suit, white blouse and neat hairstyle.

‘Andy Richards told us flying is the great love of your life. How old were you when you first took to the air?’

‘Twelve.’

She gave another glowing smile. ‘However did you manage that? A kind uncle?’

‘Aye, you’re right there, but he wasn’t a pilot. Our family aren’t in that bracket.’

‘You’re a pilot,’ she pointed out.

‘At the county fair there was a guy who gave joy rides around the dales for fifteen minutes. Uncle Jack talked him into taking me up for ten pounds less than the usual price.’

‘And that lit a flame in you? My friend has a fourteen-year-old brother with the same burning desire. He spends all his free time at a local transport museum helping a former World War Two squadron leader to restore a classic bomber from that period. He can’t wait to leave school and join the RAF. I guess flying has to be a real passion. People don’t become pilots the way they would drift into selling shoes or ice-cream.’

‘Or fish-and-chips. You’ve carefully avoided that, haven’t you?’

Connie reminded herself she was dealing with a man Max had described as cool, glib and lying his head off. He had seen through her attempt to jolly him along before firing the relevant questions.

‘You avoided joining the family business,’ she riposted, using that opening to get down to brass tacks. ‘Did it create a break with your parents, cause bad feeling with your siblings?’

‘To the extent that they’d fly to Germany to beat me up?’ He leaned back on his pillows, winced and sat forward again. ‘Use the Nazi tactics, lass. You’ll employ them sooner or later.’

Very cool! How glib would he prove to be when she did as he suggested? ‘You told Captain Rydal you remember nothing of the events of Monday evening; why you were walking alone in the dark or who had phoned to tell you to rendezvous there. We think you’re lying.’

‘If you’ve never suffered from amnesia it’s natural to think it’s a load of codswallop.

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