Forbidden Surrender

Her aunt shrugged. ‘It was dark in there, it was probably just a case of mistaken identity.’

‘It feels weird to be so like another person.’

‘Maybe you aren’t really,’ Aunt Susan dismissed. ‘As I said, the lighting probably wasn’t very good in this club you went to. Mr Thorne’s girl-friend probably has blonde hair too, and in a bad light maybe you do have a resemblance to this other girl. I should just forget about it, Sara.’

‘I suppose so,’ she sighed. ‘Although it might be interesting to actually see this Marie Lindlay.’

‘Is that her name?’

‘Eddie says it is,’ she nodded.

‘I—Oh, damn!’ Her aunt swore as she dropped a cup, watching in dismay as it smashed on the floor. ‘One of my best set, too,’ she tutted, bending down to pick up the pieces. ‘I hope they’re still making these, I’d like to buy a replacement for it.’ She put the pieces in the bin.

‘I’m sure they do.’ Sara swept up the shattered fragments still scattered on the floor.

Her uncle came into the room. ‘Did I hear a crash just now?’

‘It’s as well I hadn’t fallen over,’ his wife snapped. ‘It took you long enough to get in here.’

He looked taken aback by this unexpected attack. ‘I knew Sara was in here helping you wash up.’ He frowned. ‘It was only a crash, Susan, not a thump.’

‘It’s all right, Uncle Arthur,’ Sara soothed. ‘Aunt Susan’s just broken one of her best china cups, and I’m afraid she’s rather upset about it. Take her into the lounge and I’ll make you both a nice cup of tea.’

He nodded. ‘Come on, Susan. It was only a cup,’ he chided as they went through to the lounge.

‘It wasn’t that, Arthur. It was—’ The kitchen door closed, cutting off the rest of the conversation.

Poor Aunt Susan, the tea-set obviously meant a lot to her. It was rather lovely to look at, very delicately made, with an old-fashioned floral pattern. She would see if she could get a replacement this afternoon when she went shopping.

‘Where’s Eddie taking you tonight?’ her uncle asked as she took their cups of tea into them.

‘I’m not seeing him tonight.’ She had turned down his invitation for this evening, deciding that three nights in a row was just too much. ‘But he’s taking me out for a drive tomorrow,’ she added ruefully. Eddie had been adamant about seeing her again, and she had finally agreed to let him drive her to see some of the English countryside.

London was interesting, there was certainly plenty to see, but she was well aware that there was a lot more to England than its capital. Her mother had never forgotten the greenness of the countryside here, it had been the one thing she really missed by living in America, and Sara was determined to see some of it before she left.

‘As long as it isn’t another casino,’ her aunt shook her head disapprovingly.

Sara laughed. ‘It was quite an experience.’

‘Not one I’d like to see repeated,’ Aunt Susan said sternly. ‘I gave him a piece of my mind last night after you’d gone to bed. Taking you to a gambling hall, indeed!’ she added disgustedly.

‘You make it sound like a den of iniquity,’ her husband teased.

‘I’m sure Rachel wouldn’t have approved of Sara going to such a place, and I don’t either. And Eddie introduced Sara to that mad friend Pete of his.’

Uncle Arthur smiled. ‘He isn’t mad, Susan. A bit of an extrovert maybe, but there’s no harm in him.’

It wasn’t like her aunt to be bad-tempered, and Sara could only assume that breaking the cup had upset her more than they had realised.

She managed to find a replacement that afternoon, although she seemed to have walked most of London to find it. Her aunt was suitably pleased with her purchase.

‘Eddie telephoned while you were out.’ Her aunt put the cup with the rest of the set.

Sara looked up. ‘Did he happen to say what he wanted?’

Her aunt smiled. ‘He didn’t ‘‘happen” to say at all—I asked him. He said something about a party tonight.’