Page 24

‘ D ining with the enemy is more nail-biting than breaking into Nazi High Command!’ Lizzie whispered to Jack when everyone had retired for the night, and they were back in their rooms.

Jack chuckled at her outrageous statement. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever done anything quite as dangerous as that, and if you’d listened to my orders, you wouldn’t have either, Seagrove! It brings me out in a cold sweat just thinking about what you and Hannah got up to.’

‘Well, I’m here to tell the tale, so it wasn’t that bad. But this sitting down to dinner, hoping the enemy doesn’t suspect me every time I raise my fork to my lips, is another level of fear. I struggled to swallow through the whole meal.’

‘It’s a different game we’re playing. You did brilliantly, darling.

Espionage comes in many forms and sitting around observing can be the most testing.

Action is easier because we fire ourselves up and know what the immediate goal is.

You’ll grow used to dining room espionage the more we do it, I promise. ’

Lizzie’s senses were still on overdrive as she relived the events of the dinner. ‘I hope you’re right. I thought my heart was going to explode when he said the dinner guest is a Gestapo officer.’

Jack said, ‘We’ll have time to talk it through with Luc to prepare.’

‘It’s imminent by the sounds of it,’ she said, crossing the room to the window where a veil of darkness had descended over the valley.

‘Do you think the commissaire suspects something? It seemed a menacing proposal out of the blue like that.’

‘I doubt it, I hear the Nazis love a freeloading dinner with the French elite. To be honest, I’m more concerned about him stealing Luc’s best wine and loading it on the train to Germany.’

‘What a horrible thought.’

‘It’s not an ideal scenario,’ Jack said, raking his hand through his floppy hair, his expression serious.

‘That’s putting it mildly. You can say that again!’

‘I could, but it will only aggravate you,’ he said.

Lizzie picked up an embroidered cushion from a nearby chair and threw it at him playfully, but he caught it like a pro with both hands and grinned at her.

‘Smart arse,’ she said, hands on hips.

‘Better than being called a dumbass, like the Americans say.’

Lizzie perched on Jack’s knee. ‘Do you think we’ll look back on our wartime escapades and it’ll all be a blur in years to come, almost as though it never happened?’

Jack tilted his head to one side. ‘As long as we defeat the Nazis and we have each other, I don’t think I’ll care.’

‘Ah, you are such a romantic,’ Lizzie said, pressing a kiss to his lips and leaning against him, relaxing at last. ‘I’m right up there with the Nazis!’

Jack tickled her side, and she gasped, wriggling away from his touch.

‘I’d love to take you to bed right now.’

‘Oh, and what’s stopping you?’ she said, a flirtatious sparkle in her eyes.

‘One minor detail.’

‘Go on.’

‘Val is waiting to hear from us.’

Lizzie hit her thigh. ‘Ah, of course. I didn’t think of that. You see, I relax my guard when we’re together.’

Jack eased Lizzie off his knee. ‘Come on, let’s get it done and then we’ll have an early night.’

‘I can think of nothing better,’ she said, leaning in to kiss him as he drew closer and took her in his arms.

‘What’s the message?’ she whispered.

‘All will be revealed. Watch and learn, Seagrove.’

He grabbed a lantern from the dresser, and they slipped quietly out the door, checking both sides of the corridor to make sure no one was watching.

Jack took off his shoes and signalled for Lizzie to do the same. They crept along the dark corridor, shadows casting eerie patterns on the walls as they followed the light of the lantern, their feet padding softly on the cool parquet flooring.

The kitchen area was in darkness, the staff long retired after a busy evening and the prospect of a dawn awakening that would stir them from their beds all too soon.

They put their shoes back on and let themselves out the back door. The sultry night air caressed Lizzie’s face, and she breathed it in. A chorus of chirping cicadas echoed on the soft wind, and Jack captured her hand as they crossed to the turret room where they had hidden their radio.

Luc said they had his blessing to operate how they saw fit, but it would be safer for them all if they only told him specifics he had to know. That way, if he was questioned, he wouldn’t be able to reveal much, even under interrogation.

Lizzie had shivered when he spoke the words so matter-of-factly, and later she and Jack discussed the conversation. It sounded as though Luc was no stranger to torture after being imprisoned during World War I.

The silver moon was high in the violet sky like a precious jewel set in a glittering crown. It was so beautiful here. Lizzie was reminded how lucky they were to be together instead of separated by miles, not knowing when or even if they would be reunited.

In the turret, Jack rested the lantern on a chair. He retrieved a large ornate key from his pocket and placed it on a shelf hewn into the wall before bending down to brush the heavy rug aside.

‘What’s the key for?’ Lizzie asked.

‘It’s an old spy trick used to throw intruders off the scent.’ Jack tapped on a section of the timber floor and removed a plank with relative ease.

‘Do you mean the key is just a decoy?’

‘Exactly. I asked Luc for an old key we could borrow.’

‘You are shrewd, Monsieur Dubois!’

‘Still got a few tricks up my sleeve, Madame Dubois,’ Jack said, winking. He extracted the radio set from the compartment in the floor that was one of the secret hiding places passed through the generations by his ancestors. He and Henry had hidden things in it when they were boys.

Then Jack set up the radio, pulled out the slim codebook, and put on the headphones.

Lizzie leaned against the desk. There was something seductive about watching a spy at work, and she experienced a surreal moment where she felt she should pinch herself to check this wasn’t all a dream.

As much as she was terrified through most of dinner, she wouldn’t change being here with Jack for anything.

Since embarking on her first overseas operation, she had come alive in ways she hadn’t envisaged. Every day undercover was a heady rush and add to that her passionate relationship with Jack, and it made for a thrilling life.

A response came through to go ahead and Jack tapped out his message in Morse, confident it was a secure channel and a radio operator was ready to receive and pass the message to Val.

Jack packed the wireless and codebook away, and turned to Lizzie, ready to leave. ‘All done.’

‘What did the message say?’ she asked, curious and keen to improve her spycraft. Despite their intense relationship, Jack was still her military superior.

‘The airmen are getting close.’

Lizzie froze.

‘How do you know?’

‘Marguerite left a letter for you. Suzanne passed it to me when you’d already gone into dinner.’

‘What did it say?’ Lizzie asked, her weariness gone and her eyes wide.

‘That our delivery should arrive sometime this week.’

‘My God, this thing is really happening. We’re going to hide British airmen in the chateau grounds when a Gestapo officer is coming to dinner!’

Jack said, ‘We’d better not think too much about it now. Besides, remember we have other plans tonight.’

Lizzie’s senses leapt at the promise of a night of lovemaking with no air raids to disturb them and nowhere to rush to. She pushed the fearful thoughts from her mind as they walked stealth like across the courtyard and back through the maze of corridors by the light of the lantern.

Their bedroom was quiet, apart from the sounds of nature bedding down for the night through the open windows. Jack closed the shutters and turned to Lizzie. ‘I think we should make the most of our honeymoon.’

Even Luc didn’t know they weren’t really married. They had kept it from him so there would be no uncomfortable conversation about them sharing a bed. It was simpler to pretend they were really man and wife, and it felt right.

Jack kissed her feverishly, and she returned his ardour with abandon as they removed each other’s clothing in a trance.

All thoughts of airmen and Gestapo were banished as they lost themselves in each other and their desire swept them far away from the dangers of Vichy France.

They were newlyweds—Monsieur and Madame Dubois—and at least for tonight, all was perfect in their world. They made love again and again in the darkness, revelling in the freedom to be together all night in such a peaceful setting instead of sharing snatched hours in Jack’s London flat.

Lizzie cried out in ecstasy as Jack’s hands played on her senses like a maestro conducting a symphony until she barely remembered who she was.

They exchanged words of devotion until first light seeped through the cracks in the shutters and they fell into a deep, satiated sleep, locked in each other’s embrace.