And then his mouth came closer, his soft lips parting as he gently pressed them against hers.
Never had she felt so engulfed in desire, so enveloped with passion.
Until the door opened, followed by the sound of someone making a polite cough. ‘Sir, the meeting?’ It was the man who’d been with Richard in the corridor, the younger one with sandy hair, obviously some kind of assistant. It seemed odd that he hadn’t realized what was happening and backed out respectfully.
Without hurrying, Richard pulled away from her as he said, ‘Morris, can’t you see I’m busy?’
‘I don’t want to press you, sir, but...’
With a sigh, Richard gazed back at her lips as if desperate to keep kissing them. ‘Darling, I can barely drag myself away, but the meeting will have started, and those vile old men won’t forgive me if I’m late.’ With a final lingering kiss, he got up and went to the door, briefly glancing behind. ‘Until we meet again, my Sleeping Beauty.’
And just like that, the door closed and she was alone.
As if great golden fireworks were exploding inside her, Lucy fell back into the sofa. Could that have really happened? In the mirror, she caught sight of her own reflection, touching her lips where he’d kissed her as she tried to hold the glow inside, knowing that from now on, everything would be different.
Finally, she was getting her chance, her moment of glory – and a handsome man who would make her into a star.
AS SOON AS HERtea break came, she raced down to the dining hall and darted to her friends’ table, unable to hold in her news a second longer.
However, a new commotion had overtaken every other matter.
Shirley leapt to her feet, her hand forward, as a slim, gold ring shimmered in the glare of the ceiling lights.
‘Vernon asked me to marry him!’
Lucy joined the women crowding around her, hugging and smiling. At the centre of them, Shirley beamed. ‘He asked me to come seehis house in Surbiton, and once we were inside, he showed me a pamphlet with paint colours. Then he asked me to pick one for the kitchen wall.’ A laugh of elation escaped her. ‘And there, in his hand, was the ring.’
‘What a proposal!’ Betty said as the others oohed and aahed.
‘I phoned my mum, and she says she’s never been so proud of me.’ Shirley put an arm around Lucy. ‘We’ll have to find someone for you now.’
Lucy laughed. ‘I might have found a man by myself,’ she said smartly. ‘Apropergentleman.’
Suddenly everyone looked at her, and she wondered whether she’d said something wrong.
With a chuckle, Betty quickly corrected her. ‘I think Lucy meantanothergentleman, just like Vernon. Funny how words can get all mixed up.’
But there was something about this assumption that ruffled Lucy, as if Betty felt that she couldn’t do better. Keen to set the record straight, she said, ‘Actually, Richard’s very upper-class, talks about his country estate.’ The crowd gawped at her, and she added, less confidently, ‘I was collecting laundry from one of the guest rooms, and in he came, just back from a private lunch. He told me I was beautiful,’ she smiled bashfully, ‘and then we kissed.’
Stunned silence met her.
‘Goodness, he sounds, er, interesting,’ Betty murmured, while the others sat forward with furrowed brows.
‘Richard who?’ Miranda asked at the same time that Hilda snipped, ‘I wouldn’t trust that upper-class lot further than I could throw them.’
‘But he’s kind and funny. He said he’ll talk to his theatre friends about hiring me.’ Lucy felt the wind falling from her sails, but she ploughed on. ‘You hear about singers who marry aristocrats and make a real name for themselves. Well, this is my chance.’
An ominous silence filled the table, each of them looking as if they were desperate to say something but not sure quite what. Perhaps Richard had been right, that her friends would be too jealous to be happy for her.
So she decided to leave it for now, turning to Shirley to say, ‘Tell us more about your wedding. When will it be?’
Relaxing into a conversation more to her liking, Shirley said that they’d tie the knot as soon as they could. ‘What’s the point of waiting around when you know it’s right?’ She laughed, putting an arm around Betty. ‘But I’ll miss you all, of course.’
‘Are you going to give up work?’ Caroline asked.
‘Well, I will as soon as I can, I expect. I’ll be one of those ladies of leisure, and hopefully I’ll have lots of children to look after before long.’ She grinned.
‘I always liked work,’ Hilda said in her straightforward way. ‘Maybe it’s because of the war, when we women were given all the important jobs with the men gone. Beforehand, everyone used to say that women weren’t educated or intelligent enough to do anything except work in a shop or do the cooking and cleaning. But as soon as the men were called up, they needed us. A man came to teach us accounting, and off we went, straight in to take over the senior positions. I was in charge of the accounts department, going to the high-up meetings with the big bosses – and there were women among them, too. The place had never been run so seamlessly!’
