Free While We're Apart by Ellie Dean Page B

Jim could bill and coo in private, and had arrived at the Anchor to commandeer the table by the fire. They’d been here for over two hours, and if Cordelia had any more sherry, Ron observed with amusement, he’d have to carry her home.
    Cordelia caught his eye and he grinned as he raised his beer glass in salute. She then swallowed the last of her drink and joined in the singing, heedless of the fact she was tone-deaf and trilled like a budgie with laryngitis. God love her, he thought with great affection. She might get his goat at times by calling him a scoundrel and scallywag and taking him to task, but Beach View had certainly been blessed by her presence.
    He was immediately distracted by a glimpse of Rosie’s magnificent bosom through the frills on her blouse as she slammed the till’s drawer shut and reached over the bar for his empty glass.
    â€˜Careful, Ron,’ she teased. ‘Your eyes will pop out of your head if you stare any harder.’
    â€˜Ach, to be sure, you’re a fine-looking woman so y’are, Rosie darlin’,’ he purred.
    â€˜I’d be flattered if you were actually admiring something other than my cleavage.’ She took any sting out of her words with a giggle. ‘Another pint?’
    â€˜Aye, I’ll have a half, Rosie. It looks as if I’ll be needed to escort a certain little old lady home, and we can’t have both of us unsteady on our feet.’ He admired the way she poured his drink, her slender arm flexing, her breasts rising a little as she pulled on the beer pump. He felt definite stirrings, and hurriedly looked away.
    â€˜This one’s on the house,’ she murmured as she placed the glass in front of him. ‘I hear your Jim’s home on leave at last, so there’s a pint waiting for him too.’ She smiled. ‘Peggy must be over the moon.’
    Ron took a sip of the beer and then grinned. ‘Aye, no doubt she is. At least now he’s home she might sit still for five minutes and not keep finding me jobs to do about the house. She’s been rushing around like a headless chicken these past days and we’re all worn to a frazzle.’
    â€˜You don’t look too frazzled to me,’ she replied with a teasing light in her eyes. ‘In fact you look like a man full of energy.’
    Ron squared his shoulders and stuck out his chest. ‘Fit as a butcher’s dog, me,’ he boasted.
    â€˜That’s what I thought.’ Her lips twitched. ‘As you’re so fit, perhaps you could change a barrel for me and bring up a few more crates?’
    â€˜Y’are a wee tease,’ he rumbled, his blue eyes twinkling beneath his bushy brows. ‘And here’s me thinking you might need the use of this fine specimen of a man to help you out with something rather more interesting upstairs.’
    Rosie’s answering chuckle was throaty and sensual. ‘Full marks for trying, Ron, but I don’t give in that easily.’ She glanced at the crush waiting to be served. ‘I’d really appreciate those crates, Ron, and we’re almost out of bitter, so if you wouldn’t mind . . .’
    He realised their short, sweet interlude was over as she turned back to serve her clamouring customers, so he cheerfully headed for the cellar to do her bidding.
    Peggy had finally fended off Jim’s amorous advances long enough to wash the green stuff off her face and take out her curlers while he went to see Daisy. Then they had decided to take full advantage of an empty house and were about to tumble into bed when the blasted sirens went off.
    Quickly scooping Daisy out of her cot, they’d run laughing to the Anderson shelter where they snuggled together in blankets against the cold and damp, and Jim rocked Daisy in his arms until she fell back to sleep.
    He’d been quite shocked at how much she’d grown during his absence, and a little put out that she didn’t immediately