The Sapphire Child (The Raj Hotel #2) - Janet MacLeod Trotter Page 0,81

his lap and began kissing him.

‘I’ve missed you so much,’ she said, as they caught their breath.

‘Me too,’ said Andrew. ‘Do you want to go for a walk while it’s not raining?’

‘No, I hate walking.’ She traced a finger across his jaw. ‘I can think of other exercise I’d rather be doing with you.’

Andrew laughed. ‘Miss Douglas, I’m shocked.’

‘That’s the trouble with you, Andrew,’ she said. ‘You’re far too honourable. I get propositioned weekly by chaps in the Home Guard. Trust me to fall for Scotland’s most morally upright second lieutenant.’

‘What chaps in the Home Guard?’ he asked.

‘Oh, do I detect a twinge of jealousy?’ She smirked.

‘I hope they’re over sixty and missing most of their teeth,’ he teased.

‘How rude!’ She gave him a playful pat on the cheek. ‘Don’t you think I can attract other young men?’

‘I don’t doubt it,’ said Andrew. ‘But I hope you resist their advances. Otherwise I’ll have to start challenging my rivals to a dual.’

‘Then give me a good reason to remain constant to you, Andrew Lomax.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Show that you love me – and only me,’ she said. ‘Enough that you want to marry me.’

Andrew tensed. ‘I thought we’d agreed to take things steadily? It’s all too uncertain – we could be fighting off an invasion any day.’

She gripped his chin. ‘Exactly! That’s why we should just do what we’re both dying to do and say to hell with the consequences. This time tomorrow, we might both be blown to kingdom come by a Nazi bomb. I don’t want to die a virgin!’

Andrew began to laugh.

Abruptly, she smacked his cheek and climbed off his knee. ‘Don’t laugh at me! I’m not some silly girl who you can trifle with. I’m nearly nineteen and I know my own mind.’

Andrew felt chastened. ‘Of course you do. I’m sorry.’

‘You obviously don’t feel the same way as I do,’ said Felicity, her eyes glistening with angry tears. ‘So let’s just forget about it. I’ll find some other man who appreciates what I have to give – a real man.’

She picked up her discarded hat and marched to the door.

Andrew got up. ‘You don’t mean that? Don’t go, Flis-Tish—’

‘I’m not your Flis-Tish!’ she cried. ‘And I do mean it.’

She slammed the door behind her and left him staring at it in disbelief.

Tibby found Andrew out in the garden smoking a cigarette.

‘Felicity gone already?’ she asked.

He nodded.

‘Want to talk about it over a pot of weak tea? We still have one precious caddy of Darjeeling left that Esmie sent.’

Andrew gave a grateful smile. Some of his happiest moments had been at Tibby’s kitchen table drinking potfuls of tea. He liked the way she never foisted liquor on him as his mother and fellow officers did.

Later, as they sat sipping tea in the gloom of a kitchen only lit by weak autumnal sun, Tibby listened to his outpouring about Felicity.

‘So, basically,’ Tibby summed up, ‘she wants to rush headlong into marriage and you don’t?’

Andrew looked sheepish. ‘I’m not sure she does want to marry me – I think she just wants to have intercourse.’

Tibby gave a snort of laughter. ‘Most men I know would be happy with that.’ Seeing his embarrassment, she added quickly, ‘Dear boy, you’re far more special than most men. I know you’re shying away from taking advantage of Felicity but it seems to me she knows her own mind. The question is, do you love her?’

‘Yes,’ said Andrew.

He can’t have sounded convincing, because Tibby pressed him. ‘Enough to marry her?’

‘I think so.’ Andrew wrestled with his thoughts. ‘I just want us to take our time over things. We’re both young . . .’

‘A lasting relationship needs more than just sex,’ said Tibby. ‘You need common interests too. Can you see yourself with Felicity in five – ten – fifty years’ time?’

Andrew gave a self-conscious laugh. ‘Is that how you and Dawan feel about each other?’

‘Don’t change the subject.’

Andrew shrugged. ‘We’re at war and I’m in the army. I can’t see beyond next week let alone next year or the year after.’

‘You’re still avoiding the question,’ Tibby pointed out. ‘If you can’t answer it then you probably shouldn’t be marrying Felicity.’

Andrew tried to make light of it. ‘That’s the trouble with having frank conversations with my unconventional aunt – you tell me the brutal truth.’

Tibby gave a compassionate smile. ‘Dear Andy, you don’t need to take any heed of my advice. I will support whatever you decide.’

His heart squeezed at her calling him Andy. It was the childhood name