written the words Jaio had spoken:
In the end their love hadn’t protected them from those who’d sought them out, but now Olivia knew that this wasn’t the harm Jaio had meant. To live a lonely, useless life, separated from the one who could give it meaning- that was a suffering neither she nor Renshu had ever known. And, if there had been a price, they did not complain.
She began to understand a little more of the family’s pride in Lang, the man who through his grandmother embodied the legend in the present day.
He was looking away at that moment so that she was able to observe him unseen. And it seemed to her that the mysterious ‘something’ in his face was now more evident than ever.
CHAPTER SIX
AS IT grew dark the lanterns came on in the courtyard and everyone gathered to hear Suyin sing. After a while Olivia slipped away and went to Lang’s room in the south house, glad of a moment alone to mull over what she’d learned tonight. She was beginning to understand Lang a little better-he was a man who hung back behind a quiet, even conventional mask, but who behind that mask was a dozen other men. Some of those men were fascinating, and some she should perhaps be wary of.
After giving her hair a quick brush, she left the room and found him waiting in the hall outside. She faced him with an air of indignation that was not entirely assumed.
‘I’ve got a bone to pick with you,’ she said.
‘Are you mad at me? I’ve offended you?’
‘Don’t you give me that deferential stuff. I see right through it. You can’t open your mouth without fooling me about something.’
‘What have I done now?’
‘I asked you about your job and you gave me the impression that you were little more than the hospital porter. Now I find out you’re an important man.’
‘I deny it,’ he said at once.
‘A consultant.’
‘
‘Oh, really? And when is the big man going to retire and let you step into his shoes?’
‘That’s a long story. We should be getting back before they come looking for us.’
He was still smiling, but she had a feeling that she’d touched a nerve. The hospital was one of the biggest and most important in Beijing. If he was seriously hoping for a major promotion after only three years, then he was more ambitious than he wanted anyone to know.
‘They’ve already come to seek us out. There they are,’ Lang said, indicating outside where Biyu could be seen watching, accompanied by Wei, Suyin and an assortment of children. ‘From where they’re standing, you can see in through the window, and they’re waiting to see if we fulfil expectations.’
This was so plainly true that she chuckled. Some people would have found the blatant curiosity intrusive and dismaying, but Olivia-child of a fractured family where there had been much hysterical emoting but little genuine kindness-felt only the warmth of a large family welcoming her, similar to what Lang himself had felt, she guessed.
‘Then you’d better put your arm around my shoulders,’ she said.
‘Like that?’ His hand rested lightly on her shoulder.
‘I think you might manage to be a little more convincing,’ she reproved him. ‘We’re supposed to be giving them what they want, and I doubt if they can even see anything from there.’
‘You’re right,’ he agreed. ‘It has to look real.’
Tightening his arm, he drew her closer to him. Slowly he lowered his head until his lips were just brushing hers.
‘Is this real enough?’ he murmured.
‘I think-I think we might try a little harder.’
That was all the encouragement he needed. Next moment his mouth was over hers forcefully. There was no hesitancy now, but a full-scale declaration of intent; his lips moved urgently, asking a question but too impatient to await the answer.
Olivia responded with an overwhelming sense of relief. She had wanted this, and it was only now that she knew how badly. Since their first meeting she’d been fighting him on one level, responding on another. Now she was no longer torn two ways and could yield to the delight that flowed through her with dizzying speed.
She’d demanded that he be more convincing, and he was following her wishes to the letter. But then he lifted his head for a moment and she saw the truth in his eyes. The one brief touch of lips that they’d shared the day before had given barely a hint of what awaited them, and now he was as stunned as she by the reality.
‘Olivia…’
‘Don’t talk,’ she said huskily, pulling his head down.
Then there was only a silence more eloquent than words. She’d studied his mouth, not even realising she was doing so, wondering how its shape would feel against her own. Her imaginings had fallen far short of this overwhelming awareness of leashed power combined with subtlety.
He released her mouth and dropped his head so that his breath warmed her neck softly. He was trembling.
She wanted to say something, but there was nothing to say. No words would describe the feelings that pervaded her, feelings that she wanted to go on for ever. Tenderly she stroked his head, turning slightly so that they could renew the kiss. She wanted that so badly.
But one of the children outside gave an excited squeal and was hastily shushed. The noise seemed to come from a distance, yet it shattered the spell ruthlessly. Stranded back on earth again, they regarded each other in bewilderment.
‘I think,’ Lang said unsteadily, ‘I think we’d better-’
‘Yes, I guess we should,’ she replied, not having the least idea what she was talking about.
They walked out, bracing themselves for an ironic cheer, but the others had melted tactfully away. They’d seen all they needed to.
When it was time to leave, everyone embraced her warmly. Tao and Shu presented her with a glass pig, insisting that she must come again soon, and everyone stood outside to wave them off.
Lang drove in silence. Olivia wondered if he would speak about what had happened, but she was neither surprised nor disappointed when he didn’t. It wasn’t to be spoken of.
‘Let’s stop for a while before we go home,’ he said at last. ‘There’s a little place just down here.’
It turned out to be a teahouse constructed on old-fashioned lines, several connected buildings with roofs that curved dramatically up at the corners. Red lanterns hung inside, and stretched out to a small garden. They went to an outside table where their tea was served in elegant porcelain cups.
Lang wished he knew what to say. He’d come here hoping for time to think after having been disconcerted all evening. He’d wanted Olivia to make a good impression on his family, but she’d done more than that. She’d been a knockout. He smiled, remembering how brilliantly she’d swapped pig memories with Grandfather Tao, and how his female relatives had been won over by her fashion sense.
He’d been astonished, but he should not have been. In the brief time he’d known her she’d taken him by surprise more often than he could count. It was alarming-it turned the world on its head in a way that constantly caught him off-guard-but it was also part of her charm.
As an attractive man he was used to having women put themselves out to get his attention. He wasn’t conceited about it, he just didn’t know any different. Now he was relishing an experience that nothing had prepared him for.
To find himself powerfully attracted to a woman who was fighting her own attraction to him, to have to persuade her and tease her into a sense of security so that he could convince her of the value of romantic love,
