She is sure Philip is going to say something but someone catches his eye and she turns her head to see David Milford Haven, his eyebrows raised in amusement and a knowing smirk on his face. Philip returns his cousin’s look

All at once, Elizabeth sees herself as he must do, a lovestruck nineteen-year-old mooning over a handsome man. Humiliation stabs at her. Is that what the factory crowd see too? Are they all laughing at her?

Snatching her hand out of Philip’s, she steps back as if slapped. ‘Thank you,’ she says with a brittle smile, and ignores his puzzled look as she turns away.

‘I’m ready to go home,’ she tells the policeman assigned to accompany her out in the evenings.

Chapter 20

Philip curses under his breath as he watches Elizabeth leave. What just happened? She is upset, obviously, but he has no idea why. Everything seemed to be going so well, too, he thinks in frustration. One minute they were dancing, and she was warm and supple in his arms, the next she was rigid and her face was closed.

The coolness in her eyes has hurt him more than he expected. He has grown used to the warmth of her smile when she is with him. Perhaps he has become complacent, Philip thinks with a flicker of anxiety. He has been enjoying the knowledge that Elizabeth prefers him to other men. He’s not even worried about Porchey anymore. He is the one, Philip is sure of it. Princess Elizabeth, surely the most sought-after young woman in the world, is his for the taking. It is impossible not to feel an arrogant sense of satisfaction.

Unless she is not for the taking at all. The thought slides uneasily into Philip’s mind.

For all her warmth when she looks at him, there is an unreachable quality to Elizabeth, as if she is detached from the rest of the world. Even at a party like this, where almost everyone comes from an aristocratic or privileged background, she is alone.

And it’s true that he has been hesitating to declare himself. She is only nineteen. There is plenty of time and plenty of life to be lived, surely, before he has to settle down and toe the line.

Still, he doesn’t like the fact that Elizabeth is upset.

David wanders over and offers Philip a cigarette. ‘Lilibet gone already?’

‘Yes.’

David raises a brow at the curtness of Philip’s reply. ‘Had a row?’

‘Of course not,’ Philip says, bending his head over the lighter and taking a long drag of the cigarette.

‘Then why are you looking like thunder?’

‘God, David, I don’t know,’ Philip admits, exasperated with himself more than with his cousin. ‘What am I doing? I’m fond of Elizabeth but do I really want to tie myself down for life?’

‘Only you know the answer to that, but you’d better make up your mind soon,’ warns David. ‘I don’t know if you really believe you’ve been discreet, but the gossip columns are linking your name with hers and all sorts of rumours are doing the rounds. If you don’t want to go ahead, you should back off now,’ he says, adding for good measure, ‘and good luck telling Uncle Dickie that!’