Lucy Gordon - And the Bride Wore Red

‘Give me patience!’

‘That’s what I said. Anyway, it seems that they looked at each other across the barrier of years, heart spoke to heart as though time and distance had never been…’

‘What?’

‘I told her to get out before she made me ill. It’s just her putting herself centre-stage again, as always.’

Olivia had had to agree. She’d seen, and suffered from, enough of her parents’ selfish grandstanding to dismiss this great romance as just another show in the spotlight.

You could say much the same of all great romances, she thought. Her father would let her mother down again, because that was what men did. It was what Andy had done. And who cared if Lang called her or not?

Several days had passed since their last meeting. After talking so significantly he had fallen silent, and with every passing hour Olivia had condemned herself more angrily as a fool.

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t been warned, she told herself crossly. When Andy had appeared in her life, she’d abandoned the caution so carefully built up over a lifetime because she’d convinced herself that this man was different.

But no man was different, as she’d learned in anguish and bitterness. She’d vowed ‘never again’, but then she’d been tricked into ignoring those resolutions because Lang had charmed her.

No, it was more than charm, she admitted. It was the sense of quiet understanding, the feeling that his mind and heart were open to hers, and that she would find in him generosity and understanding.

Heart spoke to heart as though time and distance had never been.

Her mother’s melodramatic words shrieked a warning in her head. She and Lang had met only a couple of times, and came from different worlds, yet time and distance did not exist, hadn’t existed between them from the first moment.

Which meant that she would fight him all the harder. If she made the foolish mistake of falling in love with Lang, the misery would be far greater than before.

It was useful that he’d shown his true colours in time to prevent a disaster. She repeated that to herself several times.

But no way would she stay here, pining. If she didn’t return to England, she’d go somewhere else. She got a brochure advertising cruises along the great Yangtze River and booked herself a cabin. She would board the boat at Chongqing, leave it at Yichang and travel on to Shanghai. After that, who could tell where she would travel? And what did it matter? What did anything matter as long as she had no time to think?

ON THE last day of term Olivia counted the minutes until it was time to go. Just a little longer and she need never think of Lang again. Concentrate on the Yangtze. Think of Shanghai.

The last pupil had gone home. She was gathering up her things when a buzz made her look at her mobile phone, where there was a text: I’m outside .

For a brief moment her heart leapt, then indignation took over. Cheek! Like he only had to announce his presence and she must jump.

She texted back: I’m busy .

The reply came at once: I’ll wait .

Mrs Wu looked in to say goodbye and they left the building together.

‘Have a good holiday,’ she said. ‘And please dispose of that young man hanging around the gate. Loiterers are bad for the school’s reputation.’

‘He’s nothing to do with me.’

‘Of course he isn’t. That’s why his eyes are fixed on you. Goodbye for now.’

Lang was leaning against the wall as though there was all the time in the world, which did nothing to improve her mood. She advanced on him in a confrontational mood, and thrust out her arm, from which she’d removed the dressing.

‘Just a few scratches and healing nicely, thank you,’ she said in a formal voice.

‘You don’t know how glad I am to hear that.’

‘And the headmistress says I’m to get rid of you. You’re giving the place a bad name.’

‘In that case, let’s go.’

‘I don’t think-’

‘Let’s not waste any more time.’ He already had hold of her arm and was ushering her into his car, which he started up quickly, as though afraid to give her time to think.

Had he known it, she was beyond coherent thought, beyond anything but wild emotion. He hadn’t abandoned her, hadn’t turned away, leaving her desolate. He had come for her because he could no more escape the bonds tightening around them than she could.

She knew she should try to control the heady, idiotic feeling that pervaded her. It was too much like joy: terrifying, threatening, destructive, glorious joy.

At last she managed to speak and ask where they were going. At least, that was what she thought she’d asked. She was too confused to be sure.

‘I’m taking you somewhere that will help you get over being grumpy,’ he replied.

‘I’m not grumpy.’

‘Yes you are. When you saw me outside the school, you glared hard enough to terrify the devil.’

‘Well, it was very inconsiderate of you to arrive in the last five minutes.’

‘You couldn’t possibly have been hoping to see me earlier?’

‘Certainly not. You just disrupted my schedule. I like things done in the proper order.’

‘Just as I said, grumpy. Meihui used to have a way of dealing with my bad moods-several ways, actually-but this was our favourite one.’

More than that he would not say, but he drove for half an hour in silence, glad of the chance to say nothing and collect his thoughts. Unusually for him, they were chaotic.

After their last meeting he’d resolved not to approach Olivia again, at least, not soon. He was an ambitious man, and his career was beginning to look promising. He needed no distractions, and the sensible course would be to let the summer vacation pass before they met again. The passage of a little time would put him in control of himself again.

It had all been very simple. Until today.

The summer break from his job had already started, which was unlucky, because if he’d been at work he couldn’t have yielded to temptation. As it was, the realisation that she would be leaving any minute had galvanised him. Suddenly his resolutions were rubbish, his strength of will non-existent. He’d barely made it to the school in time.

Now he was calling himself names, of which ‘weakling’ was the kindest. But the abusive voice was bawling only from the back of his head; the front was full of relief that he’d made it in time.

There was another voice too, not yelling, but muttering. This was his conscience, warning him that there was something he must confess to her without delay. He wasn’t sure what her reaction would be. That troubled him more than anything.

‘Here we are,’ he said, drawing up outside a huge gate.

‘You’ve brought me to a zoo?’ she said, astounded.

‘Meihui said nobody could stay cross in a zoo. So let’s go in.’

He was right, after only a few minutes of wandering around the animals, her spirits lightened. Who cared about anything else when there were lions to be viewed, bears to watch, exotic birds?

Lang was like no other man. When was the last time anyone had taken her to a place like this? she wondered as they gazed at the giant pandas.

‘I’ve never seen anything so beautiful,’ she murmured.

‘They’re magnificent, aren’t they?’ he agreed warmly.

‘But how do you tell one from the other? Pandas all look exactly alike.’

‘The one over there on her own in the tree is the female. Earlier this year she was in heat for a couple of days, and had all the males swooning after her. Now she’s safely pregnant, and they can go and jump in the lake for all she cares.’