Aiding the Enemy (War Girls) (9 page)

“Come along.”

“Where are we going?”

“Hush.” He opened the door, checked the hall then pulled her out and closed the door. He moved her forward to the front of the car to the washrooms, pushing her into the vacant ladies’ room.

Once inside side he yanked her close, his arms going around her.

She returned his embrace, her arms shaking and burrowed into his shoulder. “I can’t believe I just did what I did.” Even her voice was shaking.

“I can’t believe it either,” he said into her hair. “I’m so proud of your quick thinking.”

They both breathed as if they’d been in a long foot race.

“Carl. It was Carl who found us. He knew we’d gotten married. He questioned my brother, Johann and probably Jesper and Nan.”

“Did he hurt them?”

“He implied that he did, but I don’t know if it was a lie or not.”

“What can we do?”

He swallowed hard. “Nothing.”

“Nothing.” She nodded quickly. “Now what?”

“Now we hope they think we’ve left the train.”

“You think that’s what they’ll believe?”

“It’s the most logical thing for us to do, get off the train and make a run for it. Which is why we’re not doing it. We’ll wait until the train has left the station, then we’ll try to find a way off before we reach the boarder.”

“You mean jump?”

“Very possibly.”

“Won’t that be dangerous?”

“Not if we land in water or a bog, or if we jump while the train has slowed down.”

“This isn’t how I pictured my honeymoon.”

“Looking on the bright side again?” He kissed her forehead and she could feel his lips smiling.

Shouting outside the washroom, followed by running feet and more shouting had them both eyeing the door, but no one stopped in their frantic rush to chase after them to check the ladies’ room.

A few minutes later, the whistle went off and the train began to move.

“How long shall we wait in here?” she whispered to Herman.

“A few more minutes at least.”

Twice while they waited, women knocked on the door. Rose made excuses each time, but they couldn’t monopolize the room for too long. Someone in authority would eventually investigate and finding a man inside would start their problems all over again.

Finally, he allowed her to unlock the door and slip out. The hall was empty. They went to the end of the car to see if they could jump, but the train was going too fast.

“There’s a sharp turning coming,” Herman said. “The train may slow down for it. We might be able to jump then.”

As the train approached the corner, it slowed. Along the edge of the track was a thick border of grass.

“Ready?” he asked as he opened the door.

No. “Yes.”

“Push away from the train and try to roll when you land.”

Any kind of reasonable landing was all she hoped for, but nodded anyway.

The train began to enter the turn.

Herman yelled, “Go.”

She jumped.

Chapter Nine

For a moment she seemed to float above the ground. This must be what it was like to fly. Then she hit the ground and found herself rolling whether she liked it or not, her feet going one way, her arms another. It all came to a stop with her on her back. For a long second or two, she let herself focus on breathing and nothing more.

“Rose, are you all right?”

She pushed herself onto her elbows and when that worked, up to a seated position. “Nothing appears to be broken.” She flexed her fingers and toes. “So far anyway.”

Herman crouched in front of her with a hand extended. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. Other than some general bruising, she felt no other injury.

She inspected Herman’s body as minutely as he inspected hers. “You look none the worse for wear.”

He snorted. “I think my nerves are done in.”

That made her laugh. “You lose your nerve? Not possible.”

He considered that for a moment. “I think I’ll take that as a compliment, even though I’m not sure it’s meant as one.”

“It’s a compliment, dear husband.” She looked around. “Which way now?”

He glanced at the sun and pointed. “The border with Germany is northeast. The border with the Netherlands is northwest. That way, I think.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her across the tracks.

“How long will it take to reach the border?”

“I’m not sure. It could take hours or a day. If we have to hide, it could take much longer.”

“How will we get across?”

“What do you mean?”

“The Germans erected an electric fence so people couldn’t cross wherever they liked.”

“I forgot about that. Is it finished?”

“A couple of months ago. It’s supposed to carry a charge of no less than two thousand volts.”

“A ridiculous waste of...” He paused and shook his head. “Fear is the most effective weapon employed in war. Fear and pain.”

“Indeed.”

“I hate war.”

She considered him and his words with her head canted to one side. “Hate is another of their weapons.”

He didn’t respond for a minute or two. Then without looking at her, he asked, “Your underground has ways across, doesn’t it?”

“Yes.” She watched him, but he kept his gaze on the landscape. White lines bracketed his mouth.

“You’re angry.”

He glanced at her now. “I beg your pardon?”

“About my participation in the underground.” She watched his mouth tighten to the point where the white lines turned into chasms. “You’re furious.”

He didn’t answer.

She stopped walking. “Why on earth did you save me when you so obviously disapprove of what I was doing?”

He whirled around to grab her by the shoulders. “I don’t disapprove of your intent to save lives. What I disapprove of was the danger you put yourself in. If I hadn’t initiated your rescue, you’d be dead right now.”

“I could not stand idly by and watch as my countrymen were hunted. When the first one came to my door and begged for shelter, I could not refuse.”

“Did you give any thought to the consequences of your decision?”

“Of course I did. I knew the moment I opened my door to that exhausted British soldier that I was risking everything. Would you have done any different if it were German soldiers?”

“No. Likely not.” He released abruptly her and stepped away.

“Worry has been my constant companion since the war started. I never knew when we would run out of bandages, ether or laudanum. If we’d have enough food to feed the staff or the patents. Or when I would be arrested, or forced to leave because I’m British.” She sighed. “But my biggest fear was not knowing what you would say when you found out what I was doing. I thought for certain you’d abandon the hospital. Abandon me.”

“You thought I didn’t know about your activities?”

“I believed you suspected, but with no proof evident, you appeared happy to carry on with the day-to-day work.”

He spun around, his eyes wide and jaw open. “You thought I’d turn you in, didn’t you?
If
I had proof.”

“
If
you had proof, yes.”

“Even after I helped you discredit that damned, brutal officer to save your friend, Maria?”

She sputtered. “I...how...why didn’t you say something to me then?”

“Because I was trying to protect you.”

“By pretending you didn’t know what I was doing right under your nose?”

“Yes.”

In hindsight, her attempts at subterfuge seemed ridiculously inept. “Good grief, it’s a wonder no one arrested me weeks ago.”

Herman cleared his throat.

She glanced at him. “Don’t tell me you had something to do with that?”

“I may have made things more difficult for the ones investigating you.”

“What a pair we are.”
Both trying to save one another
,
each oblivious to the other’s cause.
She shook her head. “Perhaps we deserve to be married.”

“Are you implying that becoming my wife is anything less than an honour?”

“I’m saying that becoming your wife isn’t going to increase your lifespan.”

“It’s a good thing I’m a doctor then.”

“You’re not a doctor any more.”

He appeared to have trouble swallowing. “Ah yes, of course.” His words might be flippant, but his body language—stiff back, straight arms and clenched fists—told her how upset he really was.

“You see what you’ll have to give up? It’s not fair. It’s not right. You’re a gifted surgeon and a compassionate doctor. It would be a crime to turn you into anything else.”

“As I told my brother when he said he’d rather die than lose the ability to play the piano, a man is more than what his hands can do.”

“You’re a stubborn fool.” Stubborn, smart and far, far too noble for her. He’d given up his profession, his country and his family in order to save her.

“Then I consider myself in good company.”

“Ha.” But still a fool. Somehow, some way she was going to have to save him from himself.

He made a noise and she glanced at him in surprise. His shoulders were shaking.

“Herman?”

He turned towards her and released a deep-throated laugh.

She stopped walking and put her hands on her hips. “What is so funny?”

“You, me...us.” He stepped close and curled a hand around the nape of her neck. “We are determined to save the other. A fine, fine pair, that’s us.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but he kissed her before she could say anything. His lips moved on hers in a dance that had her up on tiptoe, her hands at his shoulders, holding him tight. His tongue tangled with hers and he slanted his mouth across hers, deepening the kiss even more.

Pleasure coursed through her veins, and she realized she was giving voice to it aloud in a series of disjointed moans. She could kiss him for hours and still it would not be enough. Would never be enough.

He put his other hand around her waist and pulled her hips into hard contact with his body. His cock was a brand against her belly and she rocked against it. His lips left her mouth and he nibbled his way down her neck.

“Her-Herman, please.”

“What do you want, Rose?”

“You. But we ca-can’t. We’re outside and...” He thrust his pelvis, rubbing himself against her, and she lost the ability to speak.

“Shh, I’ll make it right, promise.”

How could he do that while they stood in the middle of a field? In plain sight of anyone who might be about.

He glanced around then dragged her into a small thicket. The hand behind her back yanked her hard against him. He began to rock his hips in a steady rhythm, his cock against her sex, sending spikes of pleasure through her that turned her knees to pudding.

She wrapped her arms around his neck so she wouldn’t fall, because she didn’t want him to stop. His hand left her neck and slid down to her breast. He palmed it, his fingers rolling her nipple, and the twin triggers of pleasure shattered something deep inside her.

She screamed, but his mouth captured the noises as if they were to be treasured. His hand left her breast and cupped the back of her head again. All the strength seemed to evaporate from her muscles, but he cradled her close and crooned calming sounds into her ear.

“Good God, I can’t even stand up,” she groaned. “I’m a shambles. I think you ruined me.”

He pulled away, putting a hand under her chin and tilting her face up. “Then we’re even.”

* * *

Herman was never going to let this woman go. Never. She was already too precious, too deep in his blood. And if that made him a fool, then so be it.

She stared up at him as if he’d said something shocking, her eyes wide and dilated, her cheeks red from her passion. An uninhibited response he’d coaxed out of her with the both of them still wearing all their clothes.

For all her knowledge of human anatomy, she obviously didn’t realize how rare that was, how much she had to desire him for her to orgasm so easily. He was dying to take her now, but he wanted more than a quick coupling. He wanted to take his time, learn every curve and line of her body and watch her face as she came again and again. He wanted to drown in her and hold her close through the night.

None of that would happen if he didn’t get them both across the border without getting electrocuted on that damned fence.

“Even?” she asked.

“You ruined me some time ago.”

She blinked. “I did?”

“Hmm.” He took a step back, grabbed her hand with his and pulled her into a brisk walk.

“I didn’t mean to.” She said it like an apology.

“You bewitched me with every cautious move, every compassionate touch, every tender smile.” He grinned at her on purpose. “So it’s only fair if you feel the same.”

Her hesitant expression turned rueful. He chuckled and tucked her hand into the curve of his elbow, which caused her to walk closer to him. Her scent in his nostrils, her hip bumping against his.

She glanced around. “Where are we?”

“I’m not sure, but someone has tended this field in the last few weeks. There must be a farm close by.”

“If we’re to find a way across the fence, I need to know where we are, so we can find someone in the underground to help us.”

He scanned the horizon. “Over there. Smoke.” A long, lazy rope hung in the sky. “Shall we investigate?”

“I think we should. Cautiously, of course.”

He hid a grin. “Of course.” Rose was ever cautious when it came to the safety of others. It was herself she didn’t seem to mind risking.

They walked towards the smoke. A small house appeared first then as they got closer, a barn. Cows and sheep grazed on the short grass around it. Someone came out of the barn and walked towards the house perched at the edge of the gulley.

Herman slid in front of Rose, shielding her from view.

The farmer stayed his ground and called out in German, “Who are you?”

“We’re lost,” Herman replied. “My wife and I. Can you tell us where we are?”

“The Netherlands are an hour’s walk that way.” The farmer gestured with his head to point the direction.

“How do you know that’s where we’re going?”

He shrugged. “Lots of lost people wandering around lost since the war started, all looking for the same directions.”

“Our thanks,” Herman said, nodding. He turned and urged Rose to walk around the farm buildings.

“Won’t do you much good,” the farmer said.

“What won’t?”

“The fence they put up kills. They leave the bodies sometimes. But more die trying to cross it anyway.”

Rose stepped around Herman. “Is there a farm nearby with a large enough garden that they might sell vegetables?”

The farmer took a few steps towards them and looked at her. “None I can think of. No one has enough.”

“Sorry to have troubled you,” Herman said to the farmer. He grabbed Rose by the arm and set off at a brisk walk. “We need to hurry, get out of this area before he can alert anyone.” He urged her into a trot.

“What do you mean?”

“Look at all those cows and sheep. How many farmers are this prosperous anymore?”

She glanced over her shoulder and took in the buildings and the animals. Her body seemed to deflate. “Oh.”

They walked and ran and walked until the fence came into view in the distance. Herman pulled Rose into a copse of trees and shrubs about one hundred yards from it so they could decide what to do.

The fence was tall, taller than a man by at least an arm’s length. The hum of electricity was noticeable, even this far away. A small guardhouse stood next to it. Two uniformed German soldiers were talking to each other and occasionally looking around, but they seemed bored, their weapons held casually in their hands.

“I don’t see any way to get over it,” he said.

“No, not with those guards so close.”

“What were you asking that farmer? A place with a large garden?”

“Yes. It’s one of our safe routes. The fence goes right through the middle of a garden shared by two brothers. One brother is on the Belgian side, the other on the Netherlands side. The brother on the Netherlands side puts a ladder over the fence so people can cross.”

“Do you know where this place is?”

“Not precisely.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I don’t know. I think it’s south of here, but since I don’t know where here is...”

“Why put a fence through the middle of a garden?”

“You’d have to ask the Germans.”

From her tone he discerned that she was lumping all Germans into one pot. “I’m German.”

“Obviously not you.”

“Most of us hate what is going on. Some of us are just following orders. A very few of us believe that war is necessary to regain our lost territories, dignity and ensure the prosperity of our people.”

The expression on her face turned rueful. “I apologize. You’re right, only a small number of people are responsible for what the German military is doing in this war. Just as only a small number of people are responsible for what the British, French and Belgian militaries are doing.”

He arched an eyebrow at her. “You sound like a diplomat.”

“I’ve had to be.”

She was right. Necessity had demanded she be diplomatic, apologetic and careful of every word, every action. And yet, when presented with the danger of helping her fellow man, she hadn’t blinked, just soldiered on with no complaint or excuse.