And the Bride Wore Red

intrigued him and made him wonder just where this road was leading.

Wherever it led, he knew that he was happy to go there, and that the time of decision had come. He must act now or lose what might be the most precious gift of his life.

The courtyard of the teahouse was enclosed on three sides. On the fourth there was a small pond where ducks quacked for titbits, and a bridge where they could linger after drinking their tea.

‘Oh, this is so nice.’ Olivia sighed, enjoying deep breaths of the sweet air and tossing a crumb into the water. She’d taken a small cake from the table for this purpose, but had eaten none of it herself.

‘Are you sure you don’t want anything else?’ Lang asked.

She laughed. ‘No, the tea was delicious and I’ve had enough food to last me for a month. It was wonderful food. I’m not complaining.’

‘I am,’ he said frankly. ‘It felt like being fattened for the slaughter. They were in competition to see which one of us they could make collapse first.’

‘But they’re so nice,’ Olivia said. ‘It was all so warm and friendly, just like a family should be.’

‘I’m glad you felt that. I love them dearly, but I was afraid you might find them a little overpowering.’

‘I did.’ She laughed. ‘But I don’t mind being overpowered with kindness. Not one bit.’

She tossed another crumb into the water and watched the quacking squabble. At last she said, ‘Biyu mentioned something strange-apparently they’d expected you to be gone before now.’

He hesitated a brief moment before admitting, ‘I stayed because of you. I didn’t mean to. I’ve been packed and ready to go for several days, but I couldn’t make myself leave, or even make up my mind to come and talk to you.’

She nodded. The discovery that his confusion matched her own seemed to draw them closer.

‘When do you leave for the Yangzte cruise?’ he asked.

‘I join the boat at Chongqing in a couple of days.’

‘I’ve been planning to go to Xi’an,’ he said thoughtfully.

‘To see the mausoleum that Jaio escaped?’

‘In a way. It hasn’t been excavated yet, so I can’t go inside, but I can see the terracotta warriors nearby. They were based on the Emperor’s army.’

‘So one of them might be Renshu,’ she supplied. ‘It sounds a great trip, but if you’ve been in China for three years I can’t understand why you haven’t been there before.’

‘I have. It was one of the first places I went. But since I’ve lived here for a while I see things with different eyes. Then I was still a stranger. Now I feel part of this country, and I want to retrace my steps and try to understand things better.’ Suddenly he grasped her hand and said, ‘Olivia?’

‘Yes?’

He took a deep breath and spoke with the eagerness of a man who’d finally seen the way clear.

‘Come with me. Don’t say no. Ah, say you’ll come.’

It was only when she heard Lang beg her that Olivia fully understood how desolate she would have been if he’d left without a backward glance at her.

Don’t get flustered, said the voice within. You’re a woman of the twenty-first century. Stay cool.

‘You mean, to see the warriors?’ she asked with a fair display of casualness.

‘I want to find out if I can make you see them as I do. Or maybe you’ll show me something I’ve missed.’ He added reflectively, ‘You have a way of doing that.’

‘It’s quite unconscious.’

‘I know. That’s why it’s so alarming. It springs out at me suddenly, and I have no chance to guard against it.’

‘Do you want to guard against it?’

‘Sometimes.’

She waited, sensing that he had more to say, and at last he went on. ‘Sometimes you take fright and want to flee back to your old, safe life where things follow a pattern and nothing is too unpredictable. But then you realise that that’s a kind of death; the safety is an illusion, and there’s nothing to do but take the next step-whatever it brings. And sometimes-’ he made a rueful face ‘-you can’t decide between the two.’

‘I know,’ she murmured, awed by his insight.

‘I’m a coward,’ he said. Looking up, he added, ‘But maybe I’m not the only one.’

She nodded.

‘Now and then,’ she said slowly, ‘what passes for common sense is only cowardice in disguise.’

‘Does that mean you’ll come with me or not?’ he asked urgently. ‘We could leave for Xi’an tomorrow, and go on to Chongqing afterwards, if you wouldn’t mind my joining you on the cruise. And after that, well, we go wherever we fancy and do whatever we fancy.’

‘Whatever we fancy,’ Olivia murmured longingly. ‘I wonder…’

He drew her down the far side of the bridge and under the trees. There in the shadows he could take her into his arms and remind her silently of the things that united them. She came willingly, letting her own lips speak of feelings for which there were as yet no words.

She ought to refuse; she knew that. Step by seemingly innocent step he was enticing her along a path she’d sworn never to tread again, a path on which the delight in one man’s presence would silence all warnings until her life spun into turmoil. How virtuous it would be to be strong. How sensible. How justified! How impossible!

With every caress his mouth begged her to trust him with her heart and follow him to an unknown destination. Except that it wasn’t really unknown. It was the place where he wanted to be with her, and no questions were needed.

He kissed her again and again, breathing hard as his urgency and need threatened to overcome his control.

‘We’ll have the whole summer together,’ he managed to say. ‘That is, if the idea pleases you.’

‘It pleases me,’ she said softly.

A violent tremor went through him. He was resting his forehead against her, his eyes closed while he fought to subdue himself. She held him with passionate tenderness, waiting, wondering what was happening behind his eyelids, and half-convinced that she knew.

At last he drew away and spoke in a shaking voice.

‘Then let us make the arrangements quickly.’

He led her back to the table, took out his phone, and in a few brief calls changed her flights, booked her into his hotel in Xi’an, and just managed to grasp the last available place on the Yangtze cruise.

Then a silence fell. Both suddenly felt embarrassed, as though the emotion that had brought them thus far had abandoned them, leaving them stranded in alien territory where nothing looked the same.

‘Perhaps we should go home and start getting ready,’ he said awkwardly.

‘Yes-packing.’

Lang had recovered his composure and gave her a mischievous look. ‘Don’t forget to include that dress you’re wearing.’

‘Oh, do you like it? I wasn’t sure it suited me.’

‘Stop fishing. You know exactly what it does for you. And if you didn’t know at the start,’ he added, ‘you do now.’

‘Yes,’ she said, feeling her heart beat faster. ‘I know now.’

‘Let’s go.’

At her door he said, ‘I’ll be here for you at midday tomorrow.’

He gave her a brief peck on the cheek and drove away.

She began her packing in a dissatisfied frame of mind and grew more dissatisfied as she lay wakeful overnight. Her mood was nothing to do with Lang and everything to do with the fact that her wardrobe was inadequate. The only really glamorous item she possessed was the cheongsam, and something had to be done-fast.

When buying the cheongsam she’d lingered over several other items, wanting them but too prudent to spend the money.

But now she was going away with Lang, and to blazes with prudence.