Lucy Gordon - And the Bride Wore Red

‘It’s me, Lang.’

She had the door open in a second. Then he was in the room, holding her fiercely, covering her face with passionate kisses, murmuring her name over and over.

‘Olivia, Olivia, it’s really you. Hold me-kiss me.’

‘Yes, yes, I came because-’

‘Hush,’ he whispered. ‘Don’t let’s talk, not yet.’

She couldn’t reply. His mouth was over hers, silencing everything but sensation. He was right; this wasn’t the time for words. She wanted to belong to him again, and it was happening fast. He had the robe off in a moment, and then there was only the flimsy night dress, which suddenly wasn’t there any more.

She tried to help him off with his clothes but there was no need. He was already moving faster than she could follow, and when he was naked she could understand why. His desire for her was straining his control. He almost tossed her onto the bed and fell on top of her, loving her with a fierce vigour that would have made her think he was a man staking his claim if she’d been capable of thought.

She’d forgotten how skilled he was with his mouth, his hands, his loins. But he reminded her again and again, demanding without mercy, but giving with no holding back.

Their final moment was explosive, leaving them both too drained to do anything but clasp each other and lie still. Lang’s eyes were closed, and he might have fallen asleep. She tightened her arms about him in a passion of tenderness.

‘I love you,’ she whispered. ‘You’ll never know how much I love you because I don’t think I can find the words. And perhaps you wouldn’t believe me, because how can I explain it?’

‘No need,’ he murmured. ‘Don’t talk.’

He was right. No words now. She was back in her dream, where only he existed. Nothing else in the world. She slept.

She knew something had gone wrong when she awoke to find Lang sitting by the window. She’d dreamed of awakening in his arms, seeing his face looking down tenderly at hers. After their passionate love-making, he should have found it impossible to tear himself away.

But he sat there, seemingly oblivious to her, absorbed in a conversation on his mobile phone.

She lay back on the bed, stunned and disillusioned. It had never occurred to her that she was already on the fringe of his life.

At last he finished the call, turned and looked at her, smiling when he saw she was awake. He returned to the bed to take her eagerly into his arms.

‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘Thank you for coming back to me. Let me look at you. I still can’t believe you’re actually here. Kiss me, kiss me.’

She did so, again and again.

He was the one to break the embrace, laughing and saying, ‘If we don’t stop now I’ll have to make love to you again, and then I won’t be able to give you my news.’

‘What news?’ she whispered.

‘I’m coming back to live in England with you.’

‘But-you can’t. Your new job-’

‘That was my boss at the hospital I was just talking to. I spoke to him yesterday, asking him to help me get out of the job. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, so soon after signing a contract, but he said he’d do his best. It was between me and Guo Daiyu, and Guo might still be available.

‘He just called me to say it’s good news-Guo can start almost at once. I wanted to tell you last night but I didn’t dare. There was still a chance that it wouldn’t work out and I wanted to be sure first.

‘In a couple of weeks I’ll be free and we can leave together. We’ll stay with Norah and look after her. And when-when she no longer needs us, we’ll return to China.’

‘But you’ll lose the job when it means everything to you!’ she cried.

‘No, it is you that means everything to me. I’ll do anything rather than risk losing you.’

‘But you said-when you told me about Natalie-and how you couldn’t put her first.’

‘Of course I couldn’t. Because she wasn’t you. I parted from her because there was something I wanted more. But I can’t part from you, because there is nothing I want more. Nor will there ever be. Do you remember I told you that first a man needs to understand himself? Through you I came to understand myself. I’d believed that no woman could ever mean so much that she could divert me from my path. But then I met you, and found that I was wrong. Only you mattered. We must get married at once. I won’t take no for an answer.’

‘Get married?’ she whispered.

‘I can’t go on any longer without being married to you. If you don’t become my wife, then my life will be empty and meaningless until its last moments. Don’t you feel the same?’

‘Oh, yes, yes ! But you never said anything about coming to England before, and-’

‘You never asked me,’ he said, with a touch of reproach. ‘But that’s my fault. I talked so much about myself and what I wanted that I left you no space. The fact is that nothing matters to me except being with you. We’ll come back one day, and there will be other jobs.’

‘Not this one. You’ll have to start again among strangers and lose what you’ve built up.’

He drew her close so that his lips hovered just over hers.

‘Shut up!’ he said, lowering his mouth.

It was a kiss full of tenderness, not passion. They had all they needed of passion, but for now it was a promise for the future that counted, and the peace that flooded them both.

There was a knock on the door. Lang released her and went to open it. Olivia heard murmuring for several minutes. When he returned, he was holding a paper.

‘That was your landlord,’ he said. ‘I told him you were leaving this apartment today.’ He showed her the paper.

‘It’s my final rent bill,’ she said. ‘Receipted.’

‘I’ve just paid it. He wants you out fast, because he’s got someone else ready to move in.’

‘You’ve arranged all this?’

‘Yes, so let’s hurry up with your packing so that I can deliver you before I have to go to work.’

‘And where exactly are you going to deliver me to?’

‘To the family. You’ll have my room until we’re married in two weeks’ time.’

‘Now you’re giving orders again. None of this new man stuff, respecting my right to make my own decisions?’

Gently he took hold of her shoulders. ‘Olivia, darling, that’s what I’ve been doing up until now, and look where it got us. No, this time I’m taking no risks. The family will keep their beady eyes on you and make sure you don’t escape. Now, let’s hurry so that I can deliver you into the hands of your gaolers and get to work.’

They found the family leaning out of the windows watching for his car, and by the time it drew up they were on the step, opening their arms to her, waving and cheering. Lang had to hurry away at once, pausing merely to tell them, ‘Don’t let her out of your sight, whatever you do.’

The women promptly formed a guard about Olivia, laughing to indicate that they were all sharing a joke. Yet it wasn’t entirely a joke; Olivia knew. Lang had endured the loss of her once, but he couldn’t endure it again, and now he was nervous when he was away from her.

‘We have so much to do before the day,’ Biyu said as they drank tea. ‘We must talk about the big plans to be made.’

‘Lang told me you’d already have everything planned down to the last detail,’ Olivia told her.

‘He’s a cheeky devil,’ Biyu said serenely. ‘What does he know about anything important? Now, down to work. This is an album of pictures we took of Suyin’s wedding. It was very traditional, very beautiful, and yours will be the same.’

‘You think a traditional wedding would be right for me?’ Olivia asked.

‘Of course. What else?’