Willie's War Ch. 07

"Presuming this girl wasn't compelled to be a sunflower all the time, what would she look like?" he asked.

Jeremy touched the she-boys hair, pulling a strand from behind his ear, letting it slip through his fingers. "She would have hair like spun gold." he murmured.

Willie dipped his eyes and quivered when he felt fingers brush his cheek.

"And she would have skin like fine Chinese porcelain with a hint of pink. Very smooth. Very soft. She would be perfect. She would be the kind of girl who has never had a self-centred thought in her life."

Determinedly Willie looked away, but his heartbeat went into overdrive whilst a surge of explicit and bewildering arousal raced through him. He was attracted to Jeremy de Vere, and he felt a tremor of longing for the man. He had known him for a ridiculously brief time, so how could that happen?

He began to blush like mad and noticed that the two of them were straggling behind the rest of the party. "Look, we are being left behind by the others. We must hurry to catch up."

When he quickened his pace Jeremy remonstrated with silky amusement, "Don't move too quickly. I'd be devastated if I thought you were running away from me."

When they were back at the house Debbie came over and went into a huddle with Willie. "Wow, you're a firecracker. You're a Little Miss Dynamite, aint you? I think you've scored a touchdown with Jeremy. I reckon he's taken a shine to you already, and I'm jealous as hell. He's a guy and a half, that one, and if I wasn't so committed to Mortimer I'd scratch your eyes out."

A guy and a half, thought Willie. Such a description suited Jeremy de Vere. He had something extra that came from sheer egoism and the determination to get what he wanted. It gave him an aura of overpowering virility. Though he tried to deny his feelings, Jeremy was becoming a constant presence in his mind.

As if he knew what he was thinking, Debbie said: "You mustn't care too much about him."

"Why...why?" Willie asked, taken by surprise, "What makes you say that? I haven't made a fool of myself, have I?"

"Not at all. Not yet." said Debbie, smiling ruefully at the girlish boy she was becoming to regard as her little sister. "Nobody's laughing at you, if that's what you mean. But he's a career diplomat, and that will always be his first love."

Willie speculated about what she'd said. Him, be led astray by Jeremy de Vere? A stranger? He was too sensible for such stuff. Too sensible and too wary. Jeremy was a forceful man who wore arrogance like a second skin and had an inflated opinion of himself and his work. He doubtless had plenty of genuine female admirers and would run a mile away from a boy in a frock, so they were complete opposites and it was crazy.

But his attraction was magnetic and all encompassing, and when he was around he couldn't help but absorb every physical detail and was unable to stop staring at him.

A tiny shiver curled down his spine and he resolutely tried to banish the man from his thoughts. Willie Froehlich hadn't come all the way to England to fantasise about men; he had a vital job to do. His aim was to arouse the wish for peace within Sir Mortimer Brascombe, and to do that he had to remain a single-minded trusted individual within the man's house.