The Grafton Girls - Annie Groves [100]
Tears filled Diane’s eyes. Somehow the sight of the bear brought home to her that on the other side of the ocean a mother would soon be mourning her child.
The major had refused to let them be driven back to Burtonwood, stating that he was perfectly able to drive himself. They had left the town behind them and were travelling down a country lane bordered by fields, when he suddenly pulled up.
‘What is it? What’s wrong?’ Diane demanded uncertainly.
‘The next time I give you an order, soldier, you obey it. Is that understood?’ he told her harshly.
Diane stared at him. ‘I had to do it. I had no choice,’ she told him fiercely.
‘You could have been killed,’ he yelled back at her. ‘You could…Oh hell,’ he swore suddenly, and then to Diane’s shock, he took hold of her, gripping her upper arms tightly as he bent his head and kissed her with angry passion.
It was just shock that was holding her immobile in his embrace, just shock that was keeping her lips on his…just shock that was coursing through her, making her match angry passion with angry passion until she was holding on to him as tightly as he was holding on to her, returning his kiss angry pressure for angry pressure.
TWENTY
Myra could tell from the way Nick came swaggering towards her that he was in a good mood.
‘Hiya, baby cakes,’ he greeted her, pulling her to him and giving her a possessive kiss, and then grinning at her triumphantly as he released her, and cast a swift assessing look at her.
‘The other guys are sure gonna be envying me when they see you on my arm, sweet stuff.’
Myra had never seen him so ebullient before, and her spirits lifted to match his.
‘Well, if you want to keep me there, then you’d better make sure they know I’m yours, hadn’t you?’ she smiled daringly.
‘What, you mean with something like this?’ he suggested nonchalantly, digging into his pocket and producing a small leather ring box.
Excitedly Myra reached for it.
‘Oh, no,’ he teased her, stepping back and keeping it out of her reach. ‘We’re gonna do this the right way.’ Holding on to her left arm, with one hand he flicked open the box in his other hand.
Myra stared in disbelief at the shiny glittering diamond ring he was holding. The diamond was bigger than anything she had dreamed of owning, bigger, she was sure, than anything she had seen in the windows of any of Liverpool’s jewellers.
‘Like it?’
She couldn’t bear to take her gaze away from it, not even to whisper breathlessly, ‘Yes…’
‘Come here, then,’ he said, taking hold of her left hand.
Myra stared down at her left hand as he slid the ring on to her wedding finger. It felt cold and heavy, and it was slightly lose, and now that she could see it close up she could see too that it wasn’t new and that the gold was slightly worn. Had he bought her something second-hand? She started to frown and then checked herself. It was still the largest stone she had ever seen, of the size only usually on the fingers of Hollywood stars.
‘It’s beautiful,’ she told Nick fervently.
‘A beautiful ring for a beautiful girl,’ he responded. ‘My girl…I hope you’re going to keep that promise you made to me about what you’d do if I gave you a ring.’
Myra affected to look demure and slightly affronted.
‘Don’t give me that look,’ Nick warned her, his voice hardening. ‘A deal’s a deal where I come from, babe and—’
‘Oh, Nick, don’t go and spoil things by being cross with me. Not when we’ve just got engaged,’ Myra pouted. She reached for his hand and moved closer to him, leaning in to him and smiling with secret triumph when she felt his body’s response to her. ‘Of course I want to be with you…properly. And now that we’re engaged…and especially since we’re going to London…’ She gave a small shiver as her excited triumph gripped her.
‘Oh, Nick, it’s going to be so wonderful.’
‘It sure is, babe. Let me tell you about the hotel I’ve booked for us.’
Myra started to tense.
‘One of the guys told me about it, some place name of the Savoy.’
‘The Savoy? You’ve booked us into the Savoy?’ Myra