A knock on the door got her rushing to it, hoping it was Alex. It was. He took her arm and pulled her into the corridor. Already it was dark outside, and the empty corridor was dimly lit. ‘Daisy, my love, I’m mortified. Forgive me. I didn’t mean . . . I just meant for Giles to keep the coast clear for us, my darling. I could have killed him for looking like that. Please come on deck and talk to me.’

‘I’ll get my cloak.’

Alex held her hand as they walked. ‘I need to find somewhere we won’t be seen, so that I can make everything right with you, my darling.’

Everything came right the moment he pulled her into a dark corner under a suspended lifeboat and kissed her.

As the kiss ended, Alex whispered, ‘I know how it looked, but I—’

Putting her finger to his lips, Daisy hushed him. ‘I knaw, I were silly even to think that of you. I just felt . . . well, it doesn’t matter now. I love you, and that’s all that matters.’

They clung together, both wanting to show the other how much they loved one another. Daisy yielded to Alex’s loving of her, wanting him till the need was a burning ache as his hand crept up her thigh. And as he lifted her against the side of the ship and she wrapped her legs around him, she felt a moment of exquisite sensation as he entered her. Her cry of joy merged into the sound of the waves lapping against the side of the ship. Alex loved her fervently, giving all of himself to her, until she felt the moment she loved and craved – the moment of her release.

Clinging to Alex, not wanting the feeling to leave her and yet hardly able to bear it, she cried tears of joy into his neck. Alex stiffened and held her so close that she had difficulty in drawing breath.

‘My darling. My world just came right, thank you.’

No sooner had she said this than a panicking crowd rushed by. Fear trembled through Daisy and she felt the same feeling shudder through Alex’s body. Adjusting their clothing as quickly as they could, Alex stepped out from under the boat and pulled her with him. ‘Something is amiss. Let’s make our way back to our cabins and see if we can find out what.’

A man running by shouted, ‘The Japs . . . The Japs – Christ, they’re ahead.’

‘Florrie, I must get to Florrie.’ Daisy’s heart sank.

‘Come on, darling, we’ll get to her.’

‘Torpedo!’ The terrifying cry had hardly resounded around them when the ear-splitting explosion sent them flying through the air and crashing down onto the deck.