The Last Night in London by Karen White (reading list .TXT) 📕

“How delightful,” Eva said, her voice thick. “But how can you bear to part with it?”

He held her close to him, uncaring of where they were or who might be walking by. Eva kept the figure carefully guarded in her hand like one might cradle something as precious as an infant. “I have you now,” Graham said. “I suppose that means you’re my new happiness charm.”

“I hope so.” She stepped back so she could open her purse and carefully tuck the dolphin inside. “I don’t want anything to happen to it.”

They linked arms again and continued strolling into the park. “Were you sent to Burma because of your job with the Diplomatic Service?”

“Yes. I was sent to work in the governor’s office after Burma separated from British India and became a proper colony. It was more of a peacemaking mission than anything else, and I enjoyed my time there. I believe I was chosen because I’m rather good with languages. I read Persian and Arabic at Oxford and have picked up several more since.”

“I imagine that’s a good skill to have if you enjoy traveling out of your native country.”

“Indeed.” He was silent for a moment. “You know, I don’t think he remembers me, but I met Alexander Grof once in Burma. I never forget a face, and I’m quite sure it was him.”

The mention of Alexander’s name sent a chill down her spine despite the warmth of the day. “Really? And he didn’t recognize you?”

Graham shook his head. “Apparently not, and I didn’t want to call his attention to it if he didn’t, so I didn’t mention it. It was at the Pegu Club in Rangoon. Grof was visiting an uncle, a German aristocrat whose family owns one of the largest teak exporting companies in Burma. I spoke to him only briefly, so I don’t expect him to remember me.”

“But you remembered him.”

Graham was silent for a moment. “Yes, I did. It’s a special talent of mine.”

“As is selecting the perfect gift,” Eva said, eager to change the conversation away from any thought of Alexander Grof.

He squeezed her arm against his side. “I do hope you like the dolphin,” he said, sounding uncertain.

“I don’t just like it—I love it. Although it’s not the first thing you’ve given me, you know.”

“It isn’t?”

She shook her head. “Your embroidered handkerchief, remember? From the day we met. You gave it to me to protect my purse in the rain.”

“Right before you ran away.” His eyes held reproach, as if accusing Eva of finding him lacking on the night they met. As if that wasn’t as far from the truth as the sun from the earth.

“I wasn’t running away from you,” she said. “I was . . . nervous. I wasn’t dressed to meet . . .” She almost said someone like you but quickly changed it. “I wasn’t dressed to meet anyone in my bedraggled state. I didn’t want you to think I was a street beggar.”

He halted so he could look her in the face. “Do you think that would have mattered to me? From the moment I saw you, I thought you were special. Not just because you’re beautiful, Eva. That’s the obvious part that most people don’t bother looking beyond. I think it’s because I recognized a hunger in you. A hunger that I share. A hunger to be something more than what others expect from us. It’s why I went to Burma—horribly disappointing my mother in the process. But I needed to go. To test my mettle. To prove—to myself mostly—that I’m capable of being more than the life into which I was born.”

They continued to walk toward the park and the new Queen Mary’s Gardens, and Eva returned her hand to the crook of his elbow. “Why did it disappoint your mother?”

“Oh, Mother has certain ideas. She’s from an old and aristocratic family, and she married beneath her station—or so she reminds us, and our father, often. She has quite lofty ambitions for my brother. Poor William.”

“Poor William? He inherits everything, yes? The house and property? I’d say he’s quite lucky.”

“Yes—the estate will go to him upon our father’s death. But that means Mother is watching him like a hawk to make sure he marries someone suitable. She’s already chased off several girls who weren’t up to snuff. William was actually heartbroken over the last. He’s still in recovery.”

Eva’s tongue felt frozen with the ice from her heart. “It’s a good thing you’re a second son so you have the freedom to choose.”

He smiled down at her. “In many ways, yes. Except, well, William has signed up for the Royal Air Force. I think it’s partly to get over his heartbreak, but also because he’s convinced war is inevitable. And therefore our mother and father are convinced that something will happen to him.” He shrugged. “It’s the way with parents, I’m afraid.”

She tried to keep the brittleness from her voice. “So now they’re focusing their attention on you, to make sure that you’re safe.”

“Yes. They’d like me to leave my Home Office job and rusticate in the country with them, see how the war plays out.”

“But that’s not who you are, is it?” It was the part of him she loved, the adventurous man who willingly left the comforts of home to experience life in a country a world away, who befriended a Buddhist monk and recognized the charm of a smiling dolphin.

He shook his head. “No, it’s not. Still, it seems Mother has quite elaborate plans for my future. They’re very different ideas from mine. But my father is ill, which is one of the reasons I returned from abroad, and I don’t want to upset him. Especially so close to Sophia’s wedding. So I pretend to agree with Mother’s plans so as not to upset her or my father.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know your father was so ill.”

He was thoughtful for a long moment. “There is quite a lot we haven’t shared with each other. I think it’s because