Page 75 of Summer of Fire
‘I had to decide on the spot. If I hadn’t agreed, he might still be sitting in his office now.’
‘What if he won’t take no for an answer?’
‘God help me, but I’ll do whatever I need to do,’ Lizzie replied. ‘I’m better prepared to fend off unwanted advances this time.’
Pierre poked his head out from behind a tree and waved at her.
She waved back.
‘Did I do the wrong thing? You told me to follow my instincts, and that’s what I did.’
He drew her so close she could feel his warm breath on her face. ‘Make an excuse to leave as soon as you can. Do whatever you must to reach the pickup point.’
Lizzie fought back the tears clogging her throat. ‘Please try to get to the farm before I leave,’ she said. ‘Don’t come to the field though, just in case. They will be on high alert after the operation.’
‘Don’t worry. I will come if it’s safe. If not, I’ll see you in London just as soon as I finish the work here. Remember, the most important thing is for you to get to the pickup point at the agreed time.’
Lizzie nodded. ‘I will do exactly as you said.’
‘We’d better get going,’ he said, checking his watch.
She looked into his eyes and the thought that she might never see him again overwhelmed her and her eyes flooded with tears.
‘There, there, it’s alright,’ Jack said, pulling her into his arms and forgetting all about their pretence that they weren’ttogether. He hugged her tightly. ‘We will meet again soon. I am certain of it.’
She clung to him, her hands gripping his powerful shoulders. Then she released him and turned to leave, yearning to be back in his arms before they’d even parted.
‘Lizzie,’ he said, his deep voice low and solemn.
‘Yes?’
‘I love you,’ he whispered, and the words danced on the night air, lighting her up.
‘I love you, too,’ she said.
When she turned back at the end of the lane, she saw Jack still standing there watching her as she turned the corner, and she gave him one last wave.
Had she done the right thing, or had she signed her own death warrant?
CHAPTER 35
Jack watched Lizzie cycle away from him. Every fibre of his being yearned to protect her and order her not to go to the Nazi’s hotel. When she told him what she was going to do, his heart felt like it would break out of his chest.
He was her superior, and he was painfully aware that if he ordered her to stand down and return to the farm, she would have to obey.
But he asked himself, would he stop her going if he wasn’t crazy about her? The truth was, he knew he wouldn’t, so he held himself back from restraining her.
But God, how in that moment he wanted to keep her with him so he could watch over her forever. He wished he were a normal man, living an ordinary life, not an SOE agent who might be dead this evening and never spend another precious second with the woman he loved.
When she turned the corner, he clenched his fists. The thought that he may never see her again tortured him. It was all he could do to continue, but there was no choice. Whenhe joined Military Intelligence, he made a pledge to place his country’s interests before his own.
Never had his allegiance been tested to such a degree. The only allegiance he could feel right now was to Lizzie. He didn’t know when or how it had happened—against his better judgement—he had fallen in love with her. His heart had been an arid desert for years and, apart from the occasional dalliance, as Lizzie would call it, he made no time for love.
His alter-ego, Raven, was a tough agent with a methodical mind and a stony heart. He ran his intelligence operations with a cold, calculated precision and he was one of the most successful field agents with an impressive track record to join SOE when war broke out.
But suddenly, it all seemed pointless. What was it for? What had all those years of risking his life in dangerous undercover operations been for when they still led him here? To this place where he had to choose his country over Lizzie.
He nipped the tender flesh on the inside of his arm, which was an old habit he used to sharpen his mind when he was weak or tired. It brought him back to the present.
