of happiness thinking no further ahead than the night.
‘I meant to get that upgrade too,’ he said after a while. ‘But it took me too long to pluck up the nerve.’
‘Nerve? I always thought of you as a brave man.’
‘About some things. Not everything.’
He poured her some wine before adding, ‘You’ve always kept me wondering and I-don’t cope with that very well. In fact, I’m beginning to think I don’t cope with anything very well.’
She smiled at him tenderly. ‘Do I look worried?’
‘I don’t think anything worries you, Dragon Lady. You’re the most cool, calm and collected person I know.’
‘It’s an act,’ she said softly. ‘I’m surprised you were fooled.’
‘Sometimes I was. Sometimes I hoped-Well, at first I was afraid to ask for the upgrade in case you felt I was rushing you.’ He gave her a teasing smile. ‘After all, we’ve only known each less than two weeks.’
Less than two weeks? Had it really only been over a week? Yet a lifetime.
‘So maybe
He didn’t reply in words, but he shook his head.
As the diners came to the end of the meal the steward announced that they might like to gather in the bar where entertainment would be provided. The others hurried out leaving Lang and Olivia together. The steward approached, meaning to remind them cheerfully that they were missing the fun, but the words died unspoken as he became aware of the silence that united them.
Realising that they would never hear him, he moved quietly away. Neither of them knew he’d been there.
CHAPTER EIGHT
ALONE now, Lang and Olivia drifted up to the top deck. Darkness had fallen completely and the brilliant moon overhead showed the stark outline of the river.
Olivia had read about the Yangzte River; it was nearly four-thousand miles long and the third-longest river in the world. But nothing had prepared her for the reality.
Used to English waterways, where the sides were either gently sloping or completely flat, she was stunned by the height of these banks that loomed up almost like sheer cliffs on either side.
‘They seem to go up for ever,’ she said, leaning back against Lang. ‘And they blot out everything. It’s like a separate world.’
‘Do you mind that?’ he murmured against her hair. ‘Do you want to go back to the other world where everything’s in the right place?’
‘And always the same place every time,’ she supplied. ‘Until it isn’t the right place any more. No, I don’t want to go back to that.’
She sighed and raised her arms up to the moon that seemed to glide in a narrow river between the high cliffs.
‘This is the world I want!’ she cried. ‘The one where I belong-but I never knew it.’
Lang dropped his head and she felt his lips against her neck. Yes, this was what a part of her had always known would happen. She’d thought herself safe in the tight little box she’d constructed to protect herself from feelings. And all the time the truth had been waiting for her, ready to pounce out of the darkness, catch her off- guard and fill her with joy.
Slowly she turned in his arms and looked up into his face, which she could just see in the ghostly light. Then he lowered his head and she forgot everything as his mouth touched hers, filling her with a delight that transcended anything she’d known before. All her life had been a preparation for this moment.
Their first proper kiss in his family’s home had been thrilling, but it had contained a hint of performance for an audience. Their embrace in the teahouse garden had been sweet, but still they had lacked total privacy, and it hadn’t been quite perfect.
Now they were alone with the moon, the sky and the mountains, alone in the universe, and the truth that was flowering between them was for no other eyes.
His kiss was gentle, his lips moving softly over hers, awaiting her response, then growing more urgent as he sensed her eagerness. She answered him in kind, exploring to see how much she tempted him, then relaxing as the answer became gloriously plain.
He kissed her mouth for a long time before moving to her eyes, her cheeks, even her chin. He was smiling.
‘What is it?’ she whispered.
‘You’ve got such a pretty chin. I’ve always thought so. I promised myself that one day I’d kiss it.’
She laughed softly and felt his lips move down her neck to the base of her throat. The sensation was so pleasurable that she gave a long sigh of satisfaction and wrapped her arms about him, drawing him as close as possible.
They held each other in silence for a long time, then he stepped back, took her by the hand and together they went below deck.
The door into the suite opened noiselessly, and Olivia locked it behind them without turning on the light. For now they needed only the moonlight that streamed in through the window just behind the bedhead.
This man wasn’t like other men. Even in the bedroom he didn’t rush things, but took her into his arms again, kissing her slowly, giving her time to be ready for the next step. When he deepened the kiss she was ready, opening up to him from deep inside, eager for what they would exchange.
Slowly he drew her down onto the bed. She felt his fingers moving on the buttons of her blouse until it fell open and he was helping her remove it. When her breasts were free, he touched them almost reverently before dropping his head to caress them with his lips.
Olivia sighed with satisfaction and laid her hand on his head, letting her fingers run gently through his hair, tightening them slightly as the pleasure mounted then arching against him, inviting him to explore her further. He did so, starting to pull at the rest of her clothes, but not fast enough for her. She undid her own buttons, then his, opening his shirt wide and running her hands over his chest.
She had to discern it by touch and everything she found delighted her-the smoothness, the slight swell of muscles, the faint awareness of his heart beating.
‘Tell me what you’re thinking,’ he murmured.
‘I want you,’ she said simply.
‘I’ve always wanted you-is this really happening?’
‘Yes. We can have anything-everything.’
As though the words were a signal, he hurriedly removed the last of his clothes and she did the same. They had known each other such a little time, yet they were both moved by the thought that they had been kept apart too long. Later they might talk about this, try to analyse it, but now there was only the urgency of leaping barriers, closing the distance, becoming one.
She opened her arms and he fell into them like a man coming home, loving her body and celebrating it with his lips and his hands, teasing and inciting her into an ecstasy of anticipation. Her head was spinning, her flesh thrumming with desire until at last they were united in one powerful movement, and she was claiming him as urgently as he claimed her.
She wanted it to last for ever, and for a few glorious moments anything seemed possible, but then it ended suddenly in an explosion of light and force that consumed her then threw her back to earth, gasping, reaching out into the darkness, no longer sure where she was or what was happening.
‘Olivia…’Lang’s voice reached her from a thousand miles away.
‘Where are you?’ she cried.
‘Open your eyes, my love. Look at me.’
She did so, and found his face close to her. Even in the darkness she could sense his profound joy, feel the smile on his lips as he pressed them against her cheek.
She lay there, breathing hard, trying to come to terms with what had happened to her. It was a loving beyond anything that she’d known in her life before, something that possessed her completely, but only because she was willing to be possessed.
