Free Good Girl or Gold-Digger? by Kate Hardy

often as a child he’d wished his parents would listen to him and let him go to the local day school instead, the way his sisters had. It was old stuff, and he was over it. He just intended to make sure his life was what he wanted it to be now.
    ‘I know how lucky I am,’ she said softly. ‘My parents were pretty upset when I left school after my A levels, but I think they realised that being stuck in a classroom wasn’t for me. And Granny Bell helped. She told them that some people have to do things rather than listen orwatch, and I’m one of them. And they saw it, too, and supported me after that.’
    ‘You were close to your grandmother?’
    She nodded. ‘I still miss her. She died five years ago, and the church was standing-room only at her funeral. Everyone loved Granny Bell.’ She shook herself. ‘Anyway. Let’s go on the gallopers.’
    She made sure that all the machinery was switched off on the dodgems, then took him over to the gallopers.
    ‘I converted all the steam engines on the rides to electric, simply because it saves a lot of grief with the health and safety mandarins,’ she said.
    Lights flickered on all over the roundabout, reflected in the strategically placed mirrors. Even though the evening was quite bright, having the lights on still made the ride look amazing. Felix was beginning to see why Daisy loved the odd mixture of showiness and innocence that was the fairground.
    ‘Choose your horse. Any horse,’ she said with a smile, and went into the centre to set up the organ.
    Felix had half-expected her to send him round on his own, but she jumped on to the revolving platform and walked round to him, climbing onto the ostrich next to his horse when it was at its lowest.
    ‘Daisy, that’s—’
    ‘Something I’ve done for at least fifteen years, so stop panicking,’ she said, reaching across to pat his hand. ‘It’s not dangerous, because I know what I’m doing, I know where to put my feet and I don’t take stupid risks.’
    He stopped protesting and just enjoyed the ride. But what he enjoyed more was the sheer pleasure in her face as she sat next to him, one hand resting lightly against the gilded barley-sugar pole.
    He couldn’t help wondering: what would those clever, capable hands feel like against his skin?
    Halfway through the next song, she vaulted lightly off the ostrich and was back at the controls in the centre of the ride, slowing it down as the music came to a halt.
    ‘Enough, or do you want another go?’
    ‘Enough,’ he said with a smile. ‘You really love this, don’t you?’
    She patted one of the horses. ‘Yes. Do you get it now?’
    ‘If I say no, does that mean I get to try out the other rides?’
    She laughed. ‘You’re on.’ She took him over to the swing boats and moved a set of ladders next to one of the boats. ‘In you get.’
    ‘Ladies first.’
    ‘So you can stare at my behind? I think not. Anyway, I’m lighter than you. It’s best if the heaviest one gets in first.’
    ‘So you can stare at my behind?’ he retorted.
    ‘All right, all right. Since you’re fishing, Mr Gisbourne, you look fabulous in those jeans. Satisfied?’
    ‘It’ll do for now.’ He climbed up the ladder and stepped into the boat. ‘So how old are these?’
    ‘This set was built in the 1920s, though they’ve been around for a lot longer than that.’ She took one of the ropes. ‘The harder you pull, the higher it goes.’
    It took him a couple of goes before he got the rhythm right, and then it felt incredible. Incredible to be working as a team with Daisy. He was pretty sure that she felt it, too; he could see a mixture of surprise and pleasure in her eyes.
    ‘You have to imagine this with lights and music,’ she said as they both stopped pulling and let the swing settle.‘And all around you’ve got people laughing, forgetting their troubles. That’s what the travelling showmen brought to village fairs—sheer entertainment, something to look forward to after