Jilly Cooper: Octavia

‘Xander, you are awful .’

‘Well since you’ve taken Gareth away, I had to find some compensation. Look, I’m terribly sorry, I’d no idea you’d have to take your clothes off to get me that money.’

Gareth was frying bacon and eggs when I came off the telephone. Stroking Monkey, I told him about the police constable.

‘He’s quite incorrigible,’ said Gareth. ‘All the same he’ll be nice as a brother-in-law.’

My hand stopped in mid-stroke.

Gareth turned the bacon thoughtfully, then he shot a sideways glance in my direction.

‘What did you say?’ I whispered.

‘I said I was looking forward to having him as a brother-in-law.’

‘You shouldn’t tease,’ I stammered.

‘I’m not teasing. I told you I’d been shopping this morning.’

He extracted a dark blue leather box from his pocket, his hand shook slightly as he handed it to me. So did mine as I opened it. I had terrible trouble with the clasp. Inside was the biggest sapphire I’d ever seen.

‘Oh,’ I breathed, ‘is it really for me?’

‘No one else.’ He switched off the bacon and slid it onto my finger.

‘W-what about your harem of girls, Annabel Smith and co?’

‘I’ll give them up if you will.’

‘You don’t have to marry me,’ I said.

‘Oh yes I do,’ he said. ‘I’m not a Welsh prude for nothing. I want to regularize things, particularly for Monkey, make him feel more secure.’

I giggled.

‘I’m going to put my mark on you, so no one else can get near you,’ he went on, his eyes suddenly serious. ‘But I warn you, baby, even if we have to fight like cats, I’m going to wear the trousers. You’re going to do what I tell you, and if you start upstaging me, I’ll put you down. The boys in the Valley are like that. We keep our women in the background and we beat them if they give us any trouble, but we know how to love them.’

Suddenly I felt my knees giving way with lust.

‘Could we possibly do it again just very quickly before breakfast?’ I asked.

We never made it to the bedroom, but the kitchen floor proved perfectly satisfactory.

THE END