Love Read Free Page A

summer on the beach and she had been longing to wear a very simple white cotton sundress with thin straps and embroidered flowers around the neckline. She had surprised herself when she looked in the mirror. She looked much older than her fourteen years and quite glamorous. James, her brother, had even been moved to give an admiring wolf whistle. She had not needed stockings or tights but had worn her favourite strappy Italian sandals which showed off her long brown bare legs. Gran had given her a rather worried look and had told James to be sure to escort his sisters home at the end of the disco.
    The dance had started off much as usual: girls on one side of the room, gangs of boys on the other. The boys had spent a lot of the early part of the evening going in and out, presumably drinking in the hotel garden. Karen had found herself more popular than she had expected. In fact, she had not had to hide away in the ladies ’ loo at all. The evening must have been half gone when she had seen Adam and a couple of his friends come in the main hotel door. She had wondered whether they were going to the bar or coming to the disco.
    She had been standing looking out at the beach through one of the big bay windows when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She swung round to come face to face with Adam Chancellor. He said hello and asked if she remembered him. Of course she did. She was surprised that he even knew her name. He asked her to dance and she had been disappointed when after a quick dance he left her and disappeared again. Towards the end of the night he reappeared, just when the lights were dimmed and the music slow and smoochy.
    He came back and simply held out a hand to her. They danced cheek to cheek with his arms wrapped around her. He didn’t say much. Karen had been in seventh heaven. He was even more gorgeous close up. He was so much taller than she was that for the first time she had felt really comfortable dancing.
    When the music stopped he took her hand and led her through the crowd, out of the French windows, down the steps and into the hotel garden. The night air was fragrant with honeysuckle and the palm trees were silhouetted against the night sky, it had seemed to Karen as glamorous a place as any she had seen in films. Then he bent his head and kissed her, a soft warm searching kiss. Her whole being had thrilled to his touch and she was embarrassed at how flushed she’d got, and wondered if he noticed. Then, just as suddenly as he’d begun he pushed her away and she could still remember the exact words he’d said:
    “ I’m sorry, Karen, you’re far too young. I don’t know what I was thinking about. You’re looking very beautiful tonight and I forgot how old you are.”
    Without further ado he led her back inside, bought her a soft drink, deposited her on a chair , and walked off. She hadn’t seen him since that evening but the memory still hurt. How had he dared to dump her so unceremoniously? She’d felt humiliated and embarrassed although now when she thought about it she realised he had behaved quite decently, though somehow, at fourteen, it had not seemed that way.
    Karen found that she was growing sleepy remembering that heady summer. Humphrey had been snoring gentle doggy snores for some time now. Her last thought before she fell asleep was that she wouldn’t be running after Adam Chancellor this time.

CHAPTER TWO
     
    Karen woke up feeling different. For a moment she was disoriented and then she remembered where she was. The fresh sea air had made her sleep more deeply than she usually slept in London and her dreams had been incredibly intense. She looked over at the bedside clock and saw that it was almost eight o’clock. She must let Humphrey out.
    She slipped on the ancient pink candlewick robe that she’d had since she was a teenager and a pair of equally battered old slippers and trundled down the stairs, Humphrey eagerly following at her heels. She opened the front door noticing