Undertaking Love Page 0,67

schoolboy in him surfaced instantly.

‘But you said yes!’

‘No. I didn’t. You assumed it.’

‘Marla, we had a whole audience who would beg to differ! You can hardly back out now.’

His outrage would have been funny in any other situation.

‘Can’t I?’

‘No you bloody well can’t. You’ll make me look a total fool.’

‘That’s your main concern, is it?’

‘Don’t be stupid, I love you,’ he protested, and then for good measure, he added, ‘and you love me.’

‘I do?’

‘Well … don’t you?’

Marla bit her lip and frowned. She didn’t want to hurt him any more than was necessary, but this wasn’t the moment to pull any punches.

‘I’m sorry, but I don’t think I do,’ she whispered.

Disbelief hit his face first, followed hot on the heels by self-righteous anger.

‘So you’ve been stringing me along then?’ He was like a petulant child.

‘No! I was fine with dating, but then you got all heavy and proposed.’ Marla knew her voice was rising but she couldn’t control it. ‘And for the record, I did not say yes!’

He glared at her, shaking his head slowly.

‘There’s a name for women like you,’ he said with a nasty laugh. He took a few steps closer.

‘What are you talking about?’ Marla whispered in shock, taking a few small steps away from him.

‘Women who lead men on.’ He moved closer still.

‘I didn’t lead you on Rupert, I never …’

She backed up again, now halfway up the aisle.

‘Prick tease.’

He made a lunge for her and she stumbled on her high heels.

‘Get your hands off me!’ she yelled, as his fingers gouged into her upper arms.

He made a noise in his throat that sounded horribly like a snarl as he yanked her hard against him. Panic kicked in hard when she felt his excitement bulge against her thigh, and she sent a chair flying as she tried to scrabble out of his grasp. The thud of footsteps echoed through the chapel as Jonny flew down the stairs and dragged Rupert off her.

He floored him with a hard left hook.

‘You’ve broken my nose!’ Rupert wailed as he struggled to stand up, blood all over the turned up collar of his pristine shirt.

‘And I’ll break your fucking neck if you come within fifty foot of Marla again!’ Jonny roared, dragging Rupert along the aisle by the scruff of the neck.

He karate kicked the front doors open and flung him unceremoniously out onto the path.

‘I’ll sue you for assault,’ Rupert squawked from his lowly position on his backside.

Jonny loomed over him menacingly. ‘Do you want me to kill you?’

‘And you can add threatening behaviour to the list!’ Rupert tried to get up but Jonny pushed him back down again with a size ten crocodile skin cowboy boot.

‘Just try it, twat-bag, and the police will be knocking on your door for sexual assault,’ Jonny glowered, aiming a sharp kick at Rupert’s ribs.

‘You okay, sweets?’ He shepherded Marla back inside, putting his hands on her shoulders and scrutinised her with concerned eyes.

‘God, I’m so glad you were here, Jonny,’ she said, her voice shaky with relief. ‘You are officially the most macho gay man in the world.’

He pulled her against his chest and laughed softly. ‘And you thought these guns were just for show.’

‘You’re my hero.’

‘Well, he certainly wasn’t, was he?’ Jonny said with a grim nod towards the door.

Marla shuddered in revulsion. She hadn’t expected Rupert to take it on the chin and shake hands, but she’d never have imagined he would turn on her like that. She’d glimpsed a darkness in him that he’d never let her see before, and she felt completely relieved to be free of him. A shaft of sunlight bounced through the window, and the glint of metal caught her eye. His keys. He’d left them on the chair. A quick double check outside confirmed that he was too scared of Jonny to come back in and retrieve them. He had scarpered without his car.

‘Leave it to me, sugar, I know the perfect place for that little beauty.’

Jonny grinned as he pocketed the keys, already thinking about the hot guy who worked at the local scrap yard. It was a warm sunny day. With any luck he’d be shirtless and oily.

Over at the funeral parlour, Melanie sat at her desk, watching the events unfold with interest. A knife had twisted in her gut when Rupert ignored her on the doorstep earlier, so to see him upended onto his backside a few minutes later brought a certain karmic pleasure. She’d been stewing over what to do