Something Wicked Read Free

so sorry to be such a wet blanket,’ she was saying. ‘I was hoping that next time I was in London we could play at being a courting couple. You could take me to gay parties and show me off to your relatives and we could tell all our friends.’
    ‘I don’t go to parties and you already know all my relatives,’ he smiled. ‘I’m still waiting to be introduced to yours, by the way.’
    ‘My father? I do want you to meet him. He’s supposed to be back in England in a couple of weeks.’
    ‘Does he know about your . . .?’
    ‘My illness? I got his chambers to telegraph him – he’s in Buenos Aires of all places – but they haven’t heard anything yet.’
    ‘When will you get the results of the tests?’
    ‘Soon. Tomorrow, probably. It’s so stupid. I don’t know why I collapsed like that. I just feel so tired. A week or two of rest . . .’
    ‘I’ve been thinking about that . . .’
    ‘Mersham?’
    ‘Not there. I know Connie would love to have you,’ he added hastily, ‘but the castle’s still crawling with children.’ These were Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. Mersham Castle had become one of the main ‘clearing houses’, as one official had named them, where the children were looked after until families could be found to take them.
    Verity had winced to hear him say firmly that Connie would be so delighted to have her. The Duke, she knew, would not be so pleased. He had made it clear to her that he thought she was not good enough for his younger brother. ‘No, it wouldn’t be fair on them,’ she said quickly. ‘They’ve got enough on their plate already and since it was my idea to bring the children to Mersham . . .’
    ‘Gerald loves it. He told me the other day he feels so much happier now that he’s doing something to help and the sound of children’s voices in those big empty rooms . . . well, he said it lifted his spirits no end. Those were his exact words.’
    ‘Still, if I have what the doctors think I have, I’m infectious . . .’
    ‘I’ve got a better idea. A friend of mine, Leonard Bladon – we were up at Trinity together – he’s a doctor . . . has a sort of clinic, I suppose you’d call it, but it’s more of a hotel – a place to recuperate for people who aren’t ill enough to be in hospital but who still need a bit of looking after. I thought it might fit the bill.’
    ‘And you can do a bit of sleuthing when you’re not ministering to me,’ Verity said with a little smile which made his heart turn over.
    ‘Something like that,’ he agreed.
    ‘Edward, you’re so sweet, but what if . . . what if I don’t get better? What if the doctors find something . . . something bad? I’m scared.’ Her voice was so low he had to bend his head to hear her. ‘You know what I’m like. I don’t mind rushing about a battlefield. A bit of danger makes me feel alive but to be ill . . . to lie in bed and know . . . or, worse still, not know.’
    ‘V, darling . . .’ Edward fought to find the right words. He knew that she badly needed reassurance but not empty platitudes. ‘We’ll know the worst soon enough. You’re a fighter and if . . . if the doctors say it’s serious, then we’ll fight it together. You’ve got lots of work to do so we can’t have you lying in bed for too long.’ He hastened to distract her. ‘Tell me about what you were up to in Czechoslovakia. I haven’t had a chance to ask what with all this . . .’ he tailed off.
    Verity smiled wryly and squeezed his hand. ‘Not much to report, really. Like this – a waiting game. The Czechs mobilized their armed forces when it looked as though Germany was going to invade, as you know, but then nothing happened. The Germans didn’t invade. It seems Hitler’s pursuing a more subtle approach than merely marching across the border as he did in Austria – at least for the moment. I guess he’s testing the reaction of France and Britain to a gradual takeover. If, as seems likely, our government makes