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.Hungry, he’d half hoped to find a pastie, pie, or sausage roll, or at the very least a bread roll, but it was spotless, pristine, and empty.He sat on a chair, but he didn’t have to wait long.Edyth opened the door so hard it bounced back on its hinges and hit her on the nose.‘Clumsy to the end.’‘If you’ve come to carp –’‘I came to see if you want a lodger.’ He lifted his bag on to a chair.‘I’ve taken Helga’s advice and given up my job in the mission.I went back to Gdansk and collected my papers from the hospital there.It took some wrangling but the Royal Infirmary has agreed that I can finish my doctor’s training here in Wales.I won’t get much in the way of pay for a year, and the most I can pay you is fifteen shillings a week.’ He finally met her steady gaze.‘You did say that you have two spare rooms.’‘One, David’s moved in.The builders are working on the pub he’s bought and it won’t be ready for at least a month.’‘I don’t care if it’s the smallest box-room.’‘The answer is no, Micah, you cannot have my spare room, I need it for guests.But,’ her tawny eyes glinted with mischief, ‘if you’re prepared to share with me, that’s different.’‘Only after we’re married.’‘Can’t we practise first?’‘That’s my Edyth – shameless.’‘And very much in love,’ she whispered before kissing him.Judy reached the club as the van driver was ferrying all her clothes back into her dressing room.She pushed past him and went into the bar.Half-a-dozen brawny men were lounging around a table drinking pints of beer.Freddie was behind the counter, serving them.‘Boss is in his office,’ he said when he saw her.‘Thank you,’ she called before charging down the corridor.She thrust open the door.Aled was sitting behind his desk.‘Are you clearing my dressing room to make room for a new singer?’ she demanded.‘What if I am?’‘I want to apply for the job.’‘I’m not auditioning previous applicants.’‘I never applied.’‘But I let you go, remember?’‘And I was fool enough to believe what you said.Do you still want a singer?’ she repeated.‘I sent you the clothes –’‘And I sent them back.’‘They don’t fit anyone else.All the singers I auditioned last week are twice your size.’‘All the more reason to take me back.’‘Just as a singer …’‘No.’‘Judy, I don’t know how to live any way except the way I have done since I was a child – fighting the world and everyone in it for a living.After meeting Harry, Edyth, you, I know life can be different – but not for me.I’m so used to living on the borders of the law I make enemies on both sides.Gangsters, police, politicians –’‘You love me.Go on, deny it.’ she dared.‘I may love you, but I couldn’t protect you or David or Harry.When I think that my own brother nearly died for what I did …’‘But he didn’t.’ She sat in front of him on the desk and wrapped her arms around his neck.‘I love you.’‘I should send you away.’‘Even if you arranged to have me shanghaied and put on a slow boat to China I’d find my way back to you, my darling man.’Freddie crept up to the open office door.He saw Aled and Judy locked in one another’s arms and closed the door softly so as not to disturb them.He was smiling when he returned to the bar.It was his first smile since the doctor had told him that Aiden was dead.The Brothers &Lovers seriesby Catrin CollierFor more information on Accent Press titles, please visitwww.accentpress.co.uk [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]