Forbidden Study | Ch 1-4 preview

1. In Calabria

[This is a preview of the first four chapters of Forbidden Study (Forbidden Love #2). It's available for pre-order on Amazon (click the link in this chapter) and I still have some free review copies to give away - just pm me your email.]

 I've taught thee Love's sweet lesson o'er,

A task that is not learn'd with tears

Sylvia; Or, the May Queen, George Darley

It was three weeks since Laura had seen Mr Rydell on the last day of term: three weeks of cold, dark days and feeling his absence like a physical pain.

Now she was leaving the grey English winter behind for southern Italy. Where she would be with him once again.

Charlotte sat next to Laura on the plane, both of them clipping in their belts having just watched the safety demonstration. An air hostess offered them a small carton of water or orange juice and they both chose the juice.

Laura hadn't flown very often and her stomach and legs felt weirdly giddy. She sipped the juice slowly through the thin straw: it was cold and very sweet.

It was amazing that they had both been allowed to fly out together for a week's holiday, but Susie had worked her magic. She'd arranged for her uncle to send the invitation himself, drafted on some official notepaper that made it look like a royal summons. Even Charlotte's strict father had been impressed enough to accept it.

"Are you excited? You must be dying to see him," Charlotte said.

"Terrified." But Laura was thrilled as well. They hadn't even been able to phone easily because of her parents being there. Even Christmas had felt flat, though she had tried to hide this from her family.

"It's a pity Margery couldn't come."

It was rather that Margery wouldn't come not that she was unable to travel. Her own father, a modern languages teacher, would have been delighted for her to go if it meant learning a bit of Italian. But Margery had been more scared than attracted by all Susie's wild tales about what she got up to in Italy, and felt she would be out of her depth. She got homesick easily, even at school.

So it would be just the three of them. And Mr Rydell, if he came. Laura had run through all sorts of panicked scenarios in her head where he didn't arrive or even had his plane crash. Most of all she was worried he would see her and no longer feel the same. No matter how much Charlotte tried to reassure her, Laura was sick with nerves.

Disembarking all passed in a bit of a blur of Italian voices and rummaging for passports. Charlotte was already eyeing up a customs official who looked more like a TV star than an airport worker, and getting even more of an eye back.

"We'll get arrested!" Laura warned her. "They'll think you're trying to bribe your way in."

"It's not like we need a visa," Charlotte whispered back. "God, just compare this lot to the staff at Heathrow. I wonder if he'll frisk me?"

It was hard to believe that southern Italy was actually warm and sunny at that time of year. Not hot, certainly, but when they had landed the sun was shining and it certainly didn't feel wintry as they climbed down the aeroplane steps. Now, coming outside the terminal, it definitely felt like holiday weather.

Susie met them at the airport, looking as vivacious as ever. She was accompanied by two incredibly good looking Italian men, one of whom Laura recognised from photos as Susie's cousin Ferdinando.