She checked herself in the mirror, pushing back a strand of her red-brown curly hair. Then she ran all the way to Green Park, the huge swath of grass and trees that stretched behind the hotel. It annoyed her to realize that she was actually hurrying so as not to miss him.

Glorious as a peacock, she sat on a bench that gave her a good view of the path he would have to take, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

She leaned back, resting one elegantly booted ankle over the other knee, the picture of impish nonchalance. After a while she changed legs.

And waited.

At the end of an hour she was in a temper, less with him than with herself for still being there. Fuming, she rose and began to walk away in the direction of Buckingham Palace, but she couldn't resist one look back, and was in time to see him racing along the path as if his life depended on it. His hair was tousled, and his expression was desperate. She hadn't enjoyed a sight so much in years.

"Oh, no!" he yelled as he saw the empty bench. He raised his arms to the sky. "Please, please, no!''

"Hm!" she said, coming from behind a tree to stand before him.

He leaped a foot in the air. "You waited! Bless you!"

"I most certainly did not wait. I left after five minutes. I just happened to come back this way."

"Really!"

"Really. I hope you've got a good excuse."

"Actually," he said airily, "I forgot all about our meeting.''

"It looked like it."

"Well, I thought I'd better drop by in case you'd hung around in hope."