And the Bride Wore Red by Lucy Gordon

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, 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.
    â€˜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.
    â€˜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.’
    â€˜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.’
    â€˜But they’re so nice,’ Olivia said. ‘It was all so warm and friendly, just like a family should be.’
    â€˜I’m glad you felt that. I love them dearly, but I was afraid you might find them a little overpowering.’
    â€˜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.
    â€˜When do you leave for the Yangzte cruise?’ he asked.
    â€˜I join the boat at Chongqing in a couple of days.’
    â€˜I’ve been planning to go to Xi’an,’ he said thoughtfully.
    â€˜To see the mausoleum that Jaio escaped?’
    â€˜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.’
    â€˜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.’
    â€˜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?’
    â€˜Yes?’
    He took a deep breath and spoke with the eagerness of a man who’d finally seen the way clear.
    â€˜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.
    â€˜You mean, to see the warriors?’ she asked with a fair display of casualness.
    â€˜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.’
    â€˜It’s quite unconscious.’
    â€˜I know. That’s why it’s so alarming. It springs out at me suddenly, and I