Flower Net (Red Princess 1)

“I apologized on your behalf.”

“So something else happened that I didn’t understand.”

She nodded slowly. “Just as we were leaving he asked about my father.”

“And?”

“I also asked in which province he bases his enterprises.”

“Sichuan, right?”

“My father was imprisoned at a labor camp in Sichuan Province during the Cultural Revolution. Guang was also imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution. It’s part of his mystique. I think he was at the Pitao Reform Camp with my father. They must have known each other then.”

“I still don’t see the problem.”

“I didn’t know my father and Guang Mingyun knew each other.”

“Then why would he tell you that?”

“It was like the tea, a kind of code. It was as though he had stated, ‘We have a deeper relationship here.’ But what’s so strange is that I’ve never heard of it.”

“So he’s still hiding something.”

“Everyone in this country is hiding something”—Hulan shrugged—“even Ambassador Watson.”

“You’re changing the subject,” he said. He eyed her levelly and waited.

Finally she laughed. “Okay, so I botched that one, but there’s something about that man I don’t like, don’t trust.”

“He didn’t tell us the truth, as we know it. But so what? He said himself he’s a busy man. He all but told us he wasn’t a good father. Listen, I’m sure my own father wouldn’t have known the names of my friends in college.” But David had had enough of this conversation. “Can’t you forget Billy Watson and Guang Henglai for a minute?” She turned slowly to him. Wisps of black hair had escaped her scarf and blew gently across her face. God, she was beautiful, he thought. “What about us?”

Her voice was flat as she said, “You have to forget about that.”

“I can’t.”

“You’re married.”

“How would you know?” he asked in surprise.

“They put together a file on you. I read it.”

“Well, let me tell you something,” he said hotly. “They—whoever they are—have their facts wrong. I’m divorced.”

She looked back across the lake. “It doesn’t matter.”

“I never stopped loving you.” He gently touched her cheek. Her skin colored under his touch.

“All that was a long time ago. I’ve forgotten about it,” she lied. “Soon you will return to the United States. You will go back to your life and I will go back to mine. Those who watch us are mistaken to think otherwise. Come. We must get back before Peter finds us.”

But instead of going back the way they’d come, she led him deeper into the park.

He waited for her to speak, then dove in himself. “I don’t know why you left me like you did.”

“You know why I left.” Her words burst forth in a rush. “My father wrote to me and said my mother needed me urgently. We talked about it, David. Don’t you remember?”

“We talked about our both going to China,” he corrected her.

“That was out of the question.”