The Price of Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

hospital without saying a word to me about what you were going to do?’ he said.
    ‘I didn’t have much option, Robert. Mr Carter asked me to go; in fact, he more or less said I had to go and he gave me time off work so that I could do so.’
    ‘Why was he so keen for you to visit Percy, anyway? Patsy has visited him most afternoons, hasn’t she?’
    ‘Yes, she has,’ Lucy agreed, ‘and I don’t think that Sam is very happy about that either.’
    ‘You know quite well that he isn’t and I feel the same way. The difference is that he keeps quiet about it because he doesn’t want to upset Patsy. Anyway, he knows she is always flirting and there is nothing in it and that it doesn’t mean a thing. You’re different. Was Patsy there as well?’ he added.
    ‘No, she had to look after the switchboard while I was away from the office.’
    ‘In other words, Percy wanted to see you instead of her. You do know that he wants you to go out with him?’
    ‘I know, but what can I do about it?’
    ‘Not visit him in hospital for a start and don’t talk to him any more than you have to do.’
    ‘I don’t,’ Lucy protested, her face pink with embarrassment. ‘I have to sometimes, though, when he comes into the office or when he’s with a group of us and he says something to me.’
    ‘That’s different. I know you have to speak to him then but try and avoid being on your own with him. It’s not that I’m jealous,’ he went on quickly, ‘but the others all laugh about it and keep ribbing me and saying that if I don’t watch out then I am going to lose you to Percy Carter and I don’t like it.’
    ‘Well, you certainly don’t think there’s any truth in what they’re saying surely,’ Lucy defended.
    ‘No, of course I don’t.’ He pulled her into his arms and hugged her. Then he kissed her on the mouth; a long, hard, possessive kiss that left her breathless.
    ‘You’ve been my girlfriend since the first day you started school. I stopped the other kids from bullying you and I’ve been looking after you ever since,’ he laughed as he released her.
    ‘Except when it came to Patsy not wanting me around because I was a few months younger than her. You never took my part then.’
    ‘Well, that was different.’ He grinned. ‘She was in the same class as me at school so I couldn’t fall out with her, now could I?’
    ‘No? Why was that? Did you hope people would think she was your girlfriend because she was so pretty and so popular?’
    ‘Of course not!’ He pulled a face. ‘You are the only girl I’ve ever been interested in and you know how much I love you,’ he added as he hugged her again and kissed her on the cheek.
    Reassured, Lucy smiled up at him. She knew what he was saying was true but it was nice to hear him admit it, nevertheless.
    ‘This weird mood you’re in has something to do with that visit to see Percy, though, hasn’t it?’ he commented thoughtfully. ‘Come on, what did he say that’s upset you so much? He didn’t try to make a pass at you, did he?’
    ‘Percy make a pass at me in his condition!’ She laughed dryly. ‘You should see him, Robert. I had quite a shock because he was in such a dreadful state.’
    Robert listened in silence as she related all about Percy’s face and the cage to keep the bedclothes off his body.
    ‘That’s pretty bad, but I don’t think that’s what’s made you so contemplative,’ he said. ‘There’s something else worrying you, isn’t there?’
    ‘Yes,’ Lucy admitted. ‘It was something Percy suggested.’
    Taking a deep breath she told Robert all about Percy’s idea for Sam to take driving lessons and become a driver for Carter’s Cars instead of being a mechanic.
    There was a long silence when she finished as Robert contemplated what such a change would be like for Sam. Like her, he was uncertain if Sam would want to be a driver.
    ‘He loves being a mechanic, you know,’ he said at last.
    ‘I agree and that’s why I’m