Across the Mersey - Annie Groves [30]
In fact, there were an awful lot of things he and the young men who had been recruited with him had been warned against saying and doing, Seb reflected as he drew Grace gently to one side and reached into his pocket, saying ruefully, ‘What an idiot I am. I nearly forgot this,’ as he produced a delicate cream-flowered corsage. ‘Shall I pin it on for you?’
Grace struggled between the warnings her mother had given her about not allowing young men to adopt overfamiliar behaviour towards her because of what it might ultimately lead to, and her own confusing sweet thrill of pleasure at the thought of accepting Seb’s offer, before saying recklessly, ‘Yes, please, if you wouldn’t mind.’
Seb, who thought she had the sweetest and most expressive face he had ever seen, guessed what she had been thinking, especially when she had turned her head to look towards the cloakroom. When they had been told during their training that they needed to make the most of whatever opportunities came their way to facilitate their mission, he doubted that putting that training to use in this sort of fashion was what the RAF had had in mind, he acknowledged, as he stepped forward, his body screening Grace from everyone else in the entrance to the Tennis Club.
As he leaned forward to pin the corsage on the front of her frock he heard her catch her breath and felt her tremble slightly. His own hands trembled a bit themselves. She was just so irresistibly sweet, and it would have been the most natural thing in the world to take her in his arms and drop a light kiss on that pretty little nose of hers. But of course he must do no such thing. One of the requirements of his acceptance for his training had been that he should not be married or thinking of getting married. As they had all been warned, the chances of them surviving a war, given the secret nature of their work, were very slim indeed.
Bella and Alan had already found a table when Grace and Seb joined them.
Charlie had been to the bar and he winked at Alan as the waitress brought over their drinks, telling him, ‘Got you a double G and T, seeing as Bella reckons you need a bit of Dutch courage to come up to the mark.’
Bella gave her brother an angry look. She could do without that kind of comment, thank you very much.
‘Trixie’s just come in.’ Alan finished his drink, and started to stand up. ‘She’s on her own, so I’ll go and tell her to come and join us.’
Immediately Bella made a grab for his jacket, hissing furiously, ‘You’ll do no such thing. What will people think? You’re with me. Let her go and find her own partner. Anyway,’ she told him, ‘I want to dance.’
‘Well, I want another drink. It’s your turn to get the drinks in, Seb. I’ll have another double.’
‘What would you like to drink, Grace?’ Seb asked her, smiling.
‘Oh, a lemonade please.’
‘A lemonade,’ Bella mimicked unkindly. ‘What a baby you are, Grace. I’ll have a G and T, Seb.’
Grace tried not to look as shocked as she felt. Neither of her parents ever drank spirits, her mother only having the occasional port and lemon or a sherry at Christmas-time and her father sticking to beer.
‘You really don’t look at all comfortable in that dress, Grace,’ Bella told. ‘It doesn’t suit you at all.’
‘Stop being such a cat,’ Charlie told his sister, unexpectedly coming to Grace’s rescue. ‘You’re just jealous because Grace’s dress looks better than yours.’
Grace could have sunk through the floor when she saw the look of fury on Bella’s face, especially when Charlie’s comment made Alan look more closely at her, and announce in a slightly slurred voice, ‘Charlie’s right, Bella.’
Grace didn’t like her cousin’s boyfriend, and even though she felt that Bella was behaving very badly, she still felt sorry for her.
‘So you’re going to train as a nurse, then?’
Grace nodded.
They had just finished eating their buffet meal, and she and Seb were alone at the table, Charlie having gone to join some friends at the bar whilst Bella and Alan were dancing.
‘I didn’t think that I’d be able