Dutch Courage Read Online Free Page B

tormentor must believe he was not man enough to face up to and deal with any threat to his wife’s safety . . . and she must also believe that. Dear God, whoever tried to drive her off the road this morning could have killed her, and their unborn child. Yet she had appealed to a stranger. It was a public denial of her husband of three years.
    With an unsteady hand Sam took from the glove box the flask he kept there, and drank deeply. Vodka, undetectable on the breath, would counteract the familiar shakes. Tilting his head back he closed his eyes. He was on a roundabout whirling faster and faster, out of control. One day his grip on the handrail would slip and he would be flung out into a dark void.
    He had stepped on it with eyes wide open, because they had seen only a girl so dazzling he was blind to all else. An international air show: Sergeant Collier had performed aerobatics with the Blue Eagles team. Back on the ground he was walking to the marquee where he could shower and change on this sweltering day, when he turned to acknowledge a colleague’s shouted message then turned back to collide with something very soft and very voluble. His hefty boot had landed four-square on a small foot shod with a pale-lemon strappy sandal. The exposed gold-tipped toes began immediately to bleed.
    The girl was clearly in pain, but she was so stunning Sam’s normal self-assurance deserted him. The first-aid tent was all of five hundred yards away. His victim could not possibly walk that far, yet he could not leave her there bleeding profusely while he fetched medical help. He stood mumbling apologies until he acted on the only solution he could come up with. Picking her up in his arms, he strode purposefully while demanding ease of progress through the milling crowd.
    The incident should have ended when he handed responsibility to St John Ambulance staff, mumbled another apology, and went off for the much needed shower. However, fresh and spruced-up, he could not resist returning to check on the most tantalizing girl he had ever encountered. Having been bewitched into obeying her command to carry her to the VIP enclosure, young Sergeant Collier immediately realized that he should have bowed out after that first meeting.
    Coming face-to-face with a handsome military man wearing red tabs and a major general’s badges of rank, he was introduced to ‘Daddy’ by the enchanting creature still happily in his arms. Sam had been given a cool, optical head-to-boots assessment; had been told to set Miss Phipps on one of the upholstered chairs. Then, with a toneless but meticulously polite word of thanks, he had been dismissed. Obliged to straighten and salute, Sam was further discomposed by the sight of the girl smilingly blowing him kisses from behind her father’s back.
    Margot Phipps was used to getting what she wanted, so she soon traced the blond pilot who had taken her by storm. Unable to resist her, Sam embarked on a passionate affair, ignoring his alter ego who warned of hazards ahead.
    Sir Preston Phipps took his daughter aside to persuade her that an NCO with a broad Yorkshire accent, son of fish-and-chip shop parents was not the right partner for her. As usual, she had disarmed him with persuasive affection and told him she would never be happy again if she could not have the man she adored.
    He then talked to Sam, but it was soon apparent that it was impossible for a major general to have a man-to-man discussion about his daughter with a sergeant. Sam responded to everything with a crisp ‘Yes, sir’ or ‘No, sir’, which stole the older man’s thunder and increased his dislike of someone he regarded a social climber.
    Margot’s first pregnancy settled the issue. They drove to Cornwall and were married by special licence in an old village church with a backdrop of wild, craggy moorland. On learning a grandchild was on the way, Preston Phipps acted swiftly. Sergeant