Read Online Soldiers' Wives by Fiona; Field - Free Book Online Page B

flick-flack and somewhere deep inside, muscles she hardly knew she had squeezed tight and sent a shiver of pleasure right through her. Swiftly, she pulled herself out of his arms. Whatever she was feeling was wrong on every level: wrong because she didn’t want a boyfriend; wrong because he was Jenna’s husband; and wrong because no bloke ought to be able to make a girl feel like that just by holding her.
    She bent down to retie a shoelace while she got herself under control, then, that done, she stood up and said, ‘Right, race you back to the barracks,’ and shot off before Lee could respond. He caught up with her after about a couple of hundred yards, but Chrissie pushed the pace to an extent where they had no breath left for talking. By the time they got to the guardroom, they were both shattered.
    Chrissie collapsed onto the steps by the barrier, her head between her knees, her breath coming in ragged gasps, her shoulders heaving.
    â€˜That,’ said Lee, also gasping, ‘was one well hard run. Thanks, Chrissie.’ He hauled in a juddering lungful of air. ‘We must do it again.’
    But Chrissie had already made her mind up; she was going to avoid Lee at all costs. Footloose and fancy free, that was what she wanted her life to be for the foreseeable future, and she wasn’t going to tempt herself, or providence. And anyway, he was a married man and completely off limits.
    â€˜We’ll see,’ was her lukewarm response. ‘I think I’m pretty tied up for the next few weeks.’ And if she wasn’t, she was going to find ways of making sure she was.
    â€˜But surely Wednesdays…?’ said Lee.
    â€˜I’ve got some sports events lined up,’ Chrissie lied. ‘Netball.’ She’d bet her last penny that Lee wouldn’t know anything about netball and still less about which of the women in the battalion made up the team.
    â€˜Oh well.’ He sounded really disappointed. ‘See you around.’
    Chrissie nodded but in her head she was thinking, No you won’t.

5
    Maddy looked about her sitting room with an expression of satisfaction on her pretty, heart-shaped face. Finally, one room straight, she thought. She was just about to celebrate with a cup of tea when the doorbell rang. Cradling Nathan in one arm, Maddy went to answer it.
    â€˜Caro! You must be psychic, I was just about put the kettle on.’
    â€˜Hi, Maddy, hiya, Nathan. No, I’ve not come to scrounge a cuppa, I’ve come to take you and Nathan out.’
    â€˜Out?’
    â€˜Wives’ Club.’
    Maddy noticed Luke in his buggy behind Caro. Not for the first time she thought how startlingly like his mother the boy was, with his blond curls and stunning, navy blue eyes and ready smile. ‘But we’re not ready. I mean, I hadn’t planned…’
    â€˜So? We’re talking Wives’ Club here, not dinner at the CO’s house. Get Nate into his outdoor togs, grab a nappy bag and let’s go.’
    Maddy glanced through the dining room door to her left and saw the tissue and newspaper spilling out of the boxes, the piles of crockery still to be put away in the sideboard, and wavered.
    â€˜If you don’t get it all squared away today,’ said Caro, following her neighbour’s gaze, ‘no one is going to die.’
    Then Nate let out a wail.
    Maddy sighed. ‘But it’s not fair to inflict a colicky baby on other mums.’
    â€˜Like everyone else’s is perfect – and they cheerfully inflict them on the rest of us. Look at Philippa’s kids.’
    Maddy shook her head. Who was Philippa and what about her kids?
    â€˜You’ve not met Edward and Josh? No? They live at number thirty.’ Maddy was none the wiser. ‘Well,’ continued Caro, ‘just keep them at arm’s length when you do. Not that you’ll want them any closer as the pair always have about a yard of green snot hanging