The Dangerous Years Read Online Free PDF Page A

knew. The food was unpretentious but the decor was new and it made them feel they were paying more than they were.
    ‘The last time I came here,’ Charley said, ‘I was with Albert Kimister.’
    A snatch of jealousy seized Kelly. Albert Edward Kimister had been hanging round Charley ever since she’d been taken to Dartmouth by Kelly’s mother to see Kelly. He’d fallen in love with her even as she’d fallen in love with Kelly and, like Charley’s for Kelly, his affections for her had never wavered.
    ‘When?’ he asked.
    ‘Soon after the Armistice.’
    ‘Where is he now?’
    ‘He’s in Queen Elizabeth . She’s going to the Mediterranean.’
    ‘How do you know?’
    ‘He writes to me.’
    ‘Often?’
    ‘All the time.’
    ‘Why?’
    She laughed at his expression. ‘It’s obvious, you idiot! He’s potty about me. He even asked me if I’d marry him.’
    ‘When?’
    ‘When we were here. At this very table.’
    Kelly stared down at the table as if it were guilty of the basest treachery. ‘What did you say?’
    ‘What do you think I said?’ She laughed again. ‘I haven’t been trying to get you all these years to give up now for someone else.’
    Kelly swallowed. He felt he had little to offer and he knew Kimister’s family had money. ‘I couldn’t stop you if you wanted to,’ he muttered. ‘If you wanted Kimister, well–’
    He stopped and she put a hand over his. ‘Would you want me to marry Kimister?’
    ‘No,’ he growled. ‘You deserve something better than him. ’
     
    In the taxi back to Bessborough Terrace, he leaned towards her to kiss her. She responded at once, pressing against him. He was startled at the need she showed and responded willingly, roused and eager, ridden full pelt by his desires.
    It was raining hard, large drops slapping against the taxi windows. They’d not carried an umbrella and were soaked as they hurried across the pavement into the house. As Kelly shook the water from his cap, he saw that Charley’s dress was plastered to her, moulded to the shape of her young body. Immediately, he became aware of the emptiness of the house and the suffocating darkness about them. There wasn’t a sound except the beating of rain on the windows. Charley stared at him in an odd way.
    ‘I shall have to change,’ she said quietly.
    Her voice was low and there was something unexpected in it. He looked at her quickly but she stared back at him, unblinking, so that his heart suddenly thumped and the blood began to course through his veins, as though somebody had opened a sluice gate.
    ‘You’d better take your jacket off,’ she said. ‘I’ll dry it for you. It can go in the airing cupboard. Come upstairs.’
    He was looking directly into her face and he knew at once – and knew that she knew, too – that this was the moment towards which the current of their lives together had been moving all the time. She said nothing and slowly began to climb the stairs. Without a word he began to follow her.
    Reaching the top step, she didn’t pause or look round but moved along the dark landing towards the door of her room. Pushing it open, she stood to one side to let him follow. The bed had a strange menacing look about it that he’d never noticed before in such an ordinary article of furniture.
    Charley hadn’t moved and he stood behind her, holding his jacket in his hand. As he laid it on the chair, she still didn’t move so he stepped up to her from behind, drawing her shoulders back against him and folding his forearms over her breasts. They stood that way for some time, her arms loosely by her side. Then she lifted her hands and put them on his.
    ‘Oh, Kelly,’ she sighed.
    She still didn’t move and he kissed the base of her neck.
    ‘It’s all right, Kelly,’ she breathed, and he reached over her shoulder and began to undo the buttons of her dress. She stood absolutely still, making no protest, but he found his hands were clumsy because his fingers were trembling. She