Free Crimson by Shirley Conran

-by a switch. She knew what happened to girls who let a fellow go too far, and it wasn’t going to happen to her.
    Billy lay on the floor looking up at her, his eyes imploring.
    “I’m sorry! But you’re so lovely, so special,” he whispered.
    Elinor scowled at him again, her pale green eyes flashing with indignation.
    “You don’t understand how a fellow feels,” Billy said reproachfully.
    “Besides, Nurse Dove, I really do love you.” Two weeks later, somewhat to his surprise, Flight Commander William O’Dare asked Nurse Elinor Dove to marry him.
    To Elinor’s dismay, Buzz did not share her joy at Billy’s proposal.
    Sitting on Elinor’s bed in the Nissen hut, Buzz eventually said, “You know the dangers of wartime marriages, Nell. There are so few women out here … their attractions are magnified .. and all the men fall for them. Even my-boot faced commandant has a string of beaux. Things get out of perspective on both sides.” She inhaled cigarette smoke.
    “I admit Billy’s a good-looker. Them blue eyes and that tangle of fair hair. I agree he’s got plenty of lanky, twinkle eyed Irish charm. But what do you know about him, Nell? You know nothing, except he’s six foot tall, good-looking and could charm the bloomers off practically anyone. Why get married so fast? They say the war’s nearly over, so Billy’s unlikely-6 get killed. There’s no hurry or so you tell me!”
    “What a wet blanket you are!” Elinor said crossly.
    “What a romantic, headstrong idiot you are,” Buzz retorted.
    “You know nothing about his family, What’s Billy going to do in
    peacetime? What will you live on? Suppose 5The turns put to be a lazy layabout or a rotter? What if he turns out to be tricking you?” “Tricking me?” Elinor exclaimed indignantly.
    “Why would Billy want to trick me? I haven’t got a bean!”
    “I don’t know,” Buzz worried.
    “I just think he’s too good to be true. If he’s such a good bet, then why not wait until you’ve met his family?”
    “I’ve had enough of death and depression, and so has he! I want some life, and he’s offering it to me.” Eighteen-year-old Elinor and her twenty-five-year-old bridegroom were married by a French Catholic priest in a church most of which was still standing five miles from the hospital at La Chapelle. Elinor wore her best cream silk blouse and a borrowed burgundy wool skirt. The marriage witnesses were Billy’s observer, Joe Grant, and Buzz, who wore a pink blouse and an air of suspicion.
    The newlyweds were given official permission to spend three nights in the estaminet at La Chapelle. After a wedding meal of red wine, rabbit casserole, and a blackberry tart that cost Billy a fortune in cigarettes, he led Elinor upstairs.
    The bedroom, papered in bronze chrysanthemums, contained only a few sticks of furniture; by the light of a flickering candle, Elinor saw a large feather bed. She looked away from it, partly out of embarrassment, partly out of fear, and stood in the middle of the room, still, stiff, and silent.
    Billy grinned at his bride, opened a second bottle of wine, and unbuttoned his tunic.
    Elinor was hypnotically aware of Billy’s musky smell and the light blue flash of his eyes as he lifted her in his arms. Without speaking, he carried her to the bed and laid her on the quilt. He pushed her skirts up, then slowly slipped off her shoes. Next he removed her blue satin garters and peeled silk stockings from her pale legs.
    kissed her bare feet, sliding his tongue between her and licked them. His kisses crept up her plump S. Elinor lay rigid with embarrassment. Billy untied the drawstring of her bloomers and felt low; softly he stroked her navel, then moved downward. lowly he pulled down the bloomers, until Elinor’s white y and blonde hair were revealed to him. Impeded above her waist by a wrinkled mess of clothing, ““Elinor felt trapped and alarmed. She clamped her eyes shut as her entire body blushed with shame. Even