Undertaking Love Page 0,40

her sleep. His thoughtfulness only added to Emily’s burden of guilt as her salty tears slid into the lavender bath water each night. Theoretically, there was a slim chance that the baby could be Tom’s, but her mind wouldn’t permit that thought in amongst the self-flagellation and recriminations. She’d slept with another man. How dare she try and comfort herself with maybes?

She deserved to suffer daily for what she’d done, and what the hell was going to happen when Dan found out that she was pregnant? It wouldn’t take a genius to work out that it might be his baby. Would he tell Tom, come over all paternal and insist on blood tests and such like? Fresh waves of horror washed over her every time she thought about it. God, it would make perfect fodder for the Jeremy Kyle show.

How could she have been so stupid? She could see it now, Jeremy sitting on his top step and pouring scorn on her pitiful excuses as the entire audience bayed for her tainted, slattern blood.

God, she could kill for a glass of wine.

Chapter Eighteen

Melanie held the small envelope over the kettle and winced as the steam scalded her fingertips. It always looked easier than this in the movies, she thought, as she finally managed to open the damn thing and extract the note.

She stopped and sighed at the sight of Gabe’s bold, slanted handwriting, even though she already knew perfectly well that it was from him. But the dreamy smile slid from her face as she scanned the missive.

Dear Marla,

Something to help make your July 4th go with a bang, and to say I hope we can enjoy a less explosive friendship from here on in.

Yours,

Gabe

X

Melanie read it twice more. Her heart thumped with adrenalin from her own audacious detective work as well as annoyance at Gabe’s blind determination to smooth things over with that woman.

Why couldn’t he just let it be? Dora had unknowingly become the fall guy for last weekend’s debacle, and Melanie had learned a valuable lesson. She needed to be less obvious with her meddling.

Gabe had gone off to some undertaking convention for the day and left her in charge, making her all glowy inside with the knowledge that he trusted her. She’d even managed a mechanical smile earlier when Gabe had asked her to run a package over to the chapel at some point during the day. She sat down again at reception and poked the offensive parcel with her toe, hard enough to put a little rip in the pretty paper Gabe had used to wrap it. Bad luck if Marla’s gift looked a little shabby and hastily put together by the time it arrived. A surreptitious glance under the ripped corner of paper revealed the contents of the box. Fireworks. Melanie all but growled with anger as she slid the little note back into its envelope, but didn’t re-attach it to the parcel. Instead she placed it on the desk in front of her, Tapping it with one finger and trying to decide if she had the guts to bin it.

A tiny scream of temper escaped as she recalled his sign off again.

Yours, Gabe. X

He wasn’t Marla’s.

He was hers. Or at least, he should be.

Bugger. She really didn’t want to deliver the parcel, which was why it was still sitting under her desk at gone half past four. She’d sort of intended to take it across at lunch time, but this and that had come up and it hadn’t taken much at all to prevent her from going over there.

Hope we can enjoy a less explosive friendship.

Pah. He wasn’t that witty with the notes he left for Melanie.

Do this please, Melanie, or ring so and so please, Melanie, was about the sum of it. Although actually, a couple of weeks back he had left one note where he’d signed off with an x under his name, a much handled post-it note that now resided in her bedside table for nightly stroking purposes.

She scowled at the fireworks. It was great big box to lug about. What did he think she was, a packhorse? She wanted to be the one who received his thoughtful gifts and notes, not just the delivery girl to someone else who clearly didn’t want or deserve his attention.

Much as she’d like to go and fling the box in the nearest canal, there was no way out of the fact that she had to take them to the chapel. Gabe was sure