‘Keep calm,’ I kept saying to myself. ‘It’s all right.’
Suddenly I jumped out of my skin as the telephone rang. It was Mrs Smith.
‘He’s not here,’ I said. I could feel myself bristling.
‘Well that’s all right. Just give him a message that everything’s OK.’
‘I’ll tell him,’ I said stiffly.
Mrs Smith laughed, ‘I’m so glad you two have finally got it together,’ she said. ‘He’s been absolutely insufferable since he came back from that boat trip. It’ll be nice working for a human being again.’
‘Oh,’ I stammered, feeling myself blushing all over. ‘Do you mean to say — was it that obvious?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘He’s a very dear man. I think you’re very lucky, and if you look behind the drawing-room door you might find something else to convince you.’
She dropped the receiver.
I ran to the drawing-room. Behind the door were two canvases stacked against the wall. I turned them over and gave a gasp of delight. One was my Adam and Eve picture, the other the Cotman. I looked at them incredulously, tears filling my eyes.
Then I heard a key in the door, and a scampering of feet. Monkey, rushing up the stairs, reached me first, but the next moment I was in Gareth’s arms, with Monkey frolicking and frisking round our feet.
‘I was worried some of Andreas’ hoods might have got you. Annabel Smith says you’ve been like a bear with a sore head since the boat trip,’ I gabbled incoherently. ‘And you bought back my pictures; it’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me, I can’t believe it. When did you do it?’ I added as we went upstairs.
‘Last week sometime. I didn’t hang them. I thought you could decide where you want to put them. But I’m not having Adam and Eve over the bed to distract you whenever we have sex.’
I went scarlet. ‘I suppose bloody Xander told you that.’
He stopped in the doorway of the kitchen and kissed me on my bare shoulder.
‘Christ, you’re beautiful Octavia. Do you feel you can really put up with a jumped-up Welsh gorilla for the rest of your life?’
Then he kissed me on the mouth.
‘Xander ought to be shot,’ I said when I could speak, blushing even more furiously.
He laughed. ‘I’m only teasing you.’
The telephone rang. ‘If that’s Mrs Smith again, she said you weren’t to worry about anything,’ I said.
It was Xander.
Gareth listened for a minute; then he said, ‘That’s great. Talk to Octavia.’
‘Hullo darling,’ said Xander. He sounded very cheerful.
‘Are you all right?’ I said.
‘Well things have been pretty heavy. Ricky made the most awful scene, and I hoped very much Joan was going to have a coronary, but Pammie was staunchness personified; she told them both to get stuffed. And the police have pulled in that little snake, Guido, so all in all things haven’t turned out too badly. And I must tell you,’ he lowered his voice, ‘I do fall on my feet. There is the most enchanting constable in the C.I.D. here who’s been too marvellous to me.’
‘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