The Darkest Hour by Barbara Erskine Read Free Book Online

if you change your mind about selling them it will look bad. An introduction like this at this stage in your career is worth its weight in gold. She has talent, your daughter!’ He smiled at Dudley Lucas. ‘If she wants to go far in the world of art – and she could – she can’t start soon enough.’
    Rachel stood up, pushing her chair back on the flags with unnecessary force. ‘I’m sure she does. She has enough ambition does our Evie, but Dudley is right. It has to be up to her.’ The quick look she gave Eddie from under her lashes was less than friendly.
    ‘I wish you wouldn’t talk about me as though I wasn’t here!’ Evie said crossly. ‘I can make my own decisions! Yes, Eddie. Please sell them.’
    Eddie sat back in his chair with a smug smile. ‘You won’t regret it, sweetheart.’ There was a touch of triumph in his expression as he gave a sideways glance at Dudley.
    It was as he was leaving he took the chance to have a quiet word with Evie in the hall. ‘Have you got your paintings of the airfield ready yet?’
    She shook her head. ‘I’m working on them.’
    ‘When can I have them?’
    ‘I’m not sure.’ She hesitated. ‘The thing is, the squadron CO at Westhampnett said I ought to be careful. I’m not really authorised to do this even though I have his permission. It is not quite the same.’
    ‘Like when we kiss, eh?’ Eddie put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her to him.
    Evie submitted without demur. In fact she quite liked it when Eddie kissed her. It felt exciting and slightly risqué. He was quite a bit older than she was and no doubt a lot more experienced. Her inexpert fumblings as an art student, even going ‘all the way’ as one lad had put it, had been profoundly disappointing and she had not had enough relationships to realise that being in the arms of someone who, though enthusiastic and energetic, was profoundly unattractive to her, did not turn the right switches. Eddie was a solid, good-looking young man. He carried himself well and, with his even features, good skin and a small neat moustache he had a sophisticated air which radiated confidence. Sometimes she wondered how he squared this with his claims to have fragile health and poor eyesight – although he wore glasses most of the time he didn’t always and even without them he seemed to miss nothing – but presumably the medics knew what they were doing and he would no doubt be an asset to whatever department he worked for in the Ministry.
    ‘Evie!’ Her father’s peremptory call made her pull away from him.
    ’See you tomorrow,’ she whispered.
    Eddie grinned. Reaching across he gave her hair a little tug. ‘Cheerio, sweetheart.’
    She watched, a speculative look in her eye, as he climbed into his smart little Wolseley and drove out of the farmyard. She knew exactly what he was up to. He wanted her in bed and even more he wanted to lay his hands on more of her drawings. Both ideas had a certain appeal. She wasn’t sure yet what she was going to do about either proposition.

4

Sunday 30th June
    Lucy woke suddenly and lay staring up at the ceiling, her heart thudding with fright. The dream, if there had been a dream, had gone. She groped in the foggy emptiness of her memory and found nothing there. Reaching out for the clock on the bedside table she turned it to face her. It was two forty-five a.m. The room, on the second floor, under the eaves, was hot, the night very still. Outside a car drove down the street, the rattle of tyres, the sound of the engine, dying away into the distance. With a sigh she climbed out of bed and went to the window. The street two storeys below, even here near the centre of the city, was very quiet
    She heard a creak in the room behind her and she turned round, her eyes wide in the darkness. There was nothing there. The floor-boards creaked all the time in this old building and she smiled wryly. In the silence of the night a dog barked far away somewhere towards the