The Penny Bangle by Margaret James

Author:Margaret James
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, ATS, second world war
Publisher: Choc Lit
Published: 2012-03-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

‘It looks like someone had a lovely time last night,’ said Jane MacFarlane, as she and Cassie got ready to leave the villa the next morning.

‘Why should you think that?’ asked Cassie, yawning.

‘You’re grinning like an imbecile, and you’ve got red blotches on your neck.’

Cassie glanced in the little mirror above the kitchen sink. ‘Mosquito bites,’ she said laconically.

‘Mosquitoes, my Aunt Fanny.’ Jane MacFarlane laughed. ‘You running Annie around again today?’

‘Yes, so I’d better shift myself.’

‘You’d better dab some powder on as well, to cover up your bites.’ Grey eyes sparkling, Jane grinned at Cassie. ‘Aye, he’s very bonny,’ she admitted. ‘I’d not mind having a wee crack at him myself. But Annie won’t like the thought of nasty soldiers chewing at her girls.’

‘He’s not a nasty soldier, he’s – ’

‘Jings, Cass, spare us all that soppy nonsense.’ Jane took out her own compact, dabbed some powder on the marks on Cassie’s neck. ‘Aye, that should do it. Off you go.’

Robert stayed in town for four more days. When he couldn’t be with Cassie, he met up with other chaps he knew, and they dawdled round the sights of Alex. Or that was what he said they did. They loafed in all the officers’ clubs, he added, playing billiards, drinking, smoking, reading magazines.

‘As long as you’re not loafing with any other women,’ Cassie told him, narrowing her eyes at him and trying to make a joke of it, but feeling a sharp nib of jealousy stabbing at her heart.

‘Why would I want to be with other women, when I can be with you?’

‘You’re not with me always.’

‘Yes, I am,’ said Robert. ‘You’re always in my heart.’

‘Oh, Rob, you say the nicest things!’ said Cassie beaming. Then she wondered if she’d cry – and if he meant it. If she’d put her soul in mortal danger for a man who would forget her the moment he left Alexandria.

She couldn’t get Father Riley’s wise advice out of her head, even though she hadn’t taken any of this advice, and knew he’d be appalled and horrified if he knew what she’d done.

Although she couldn’t have any leave, Cassie managed to get a few hours off each working day. She and Robert spent another evening at the shuttered house, where time stood still for them, and where nothing mattered outside the stark, white walls.

‘What’s the matter, Cass?’ he asked, after they’d made love and he was lying back against the pillows, playing with her hair – which must have looked a sight, she thought, all messed up and tangled into elf-locks, she’d never get a comb through it again.

‘Nothing, Robert.’ Cassie forced a smile.

But – as always – guilt was spoiling everything. She wished there was someone she could go and see, someone who would make it all seem right. But of course it wasn’t right, and any priest would tell her so.

‘Then why do you always look so sad?’

‘I’m not sad at all.’ Cassie somehow managed to turn the smile into a happy grin.

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