Runaway Bride Returns

Chapter 1

Liz Hendricks visited her old hometown of Holstein in cattle country five years after she'd hurled herself into disgrace after arriving at the entrance of the church for what the district's newspaper had called in a social item earlier in the week, 'Wedding of the Year.'

The groom's outraged mother threatened to sue the newspaper for $10,000 plus legal costs for not billing it as 'Wedding of the Decade'.

Liz garaged her Jaguar saloon by the rail station and walked along Main Street, carrying her battered suitcase she'd recently purchased for $2.75 from an junk shop.

Holstein looked little changed from what she remembered, although grown in size but still looking dowdy and sleepy.

The desk clerk at Ma Robinson's rooming house, Mae Stone, who'd attended high school with Liz said, "Hey, don't I recognise you?"

"You're dreaming," Liz said.

Thick Mae as she was known at school apologised, and continued with booking Liz in for three nights.

"I have to ask you what your occupation is, ma'am."

"Business Broker."

"What the devil is that?"

"I lead the negotiations between the seller of a business as well as running the campaign to attract the prospective buyers."

"That must require highly developed skills to produced winning deals."

"It has its ups and downs."

"Oh, you specialise in negotiating the sale of brothels?"

Liz smiled and winked at Mae, appreciating the genuine humour from a thickhead. But then thought Mae may have been serious.

Next day after trolling for information unsuccessfully, Liz sat with a take-out coffee on a public seat in Slaughter Street, thoughtfully named when the town's new abattoir was being built three decades earlier two miles away and downwind of the town.

The non-descript elderly woman in black peered at Liz and said, "Ah, the unruly Hendricks girl."

"You're mistaken."

"I never forget the facial features and corresponding name of any pupil I taught during my 44 years of dedicated service, Elizabeth."

"It's Liz these days and I'm visiting town not wishing to be recognised."

"And that I can understand, dear. Some of the hugely disappointed crowd assembled for the wedding, mostly females of course, would probably have lynched you had they caught you that day. But sensibly, you'd fled town."

Liz said to Miss Harper, "I'm sorry I denied you of a tear-jerking wedding."

"You're mistaken dear, it was the only really exciting wedding or funeral I've ever attended. Although I didn't end up seeing one of my favourite ex-pupils tying the knot, I witnessed the biggest mayhem that she'd ever caused at school, at town functions and at Sunday church."

"Further, because many of the female guests were too distressed to eat or drink, I was permitted to take home a ton of food and six partly full bottles of white wine. I'll keep your arrival here undisclosed."

"Thanks, Miss Harper. Um, do you know what's happened to Will MacFie?"

"He's still at the family farm. The family has moved to the city and Will runs the farm with hired help, having converting it from a large dairy unit to a fattening unit to prepare beef cattle for slaughter."

"Ugh, how repulsive."

"The farmers don't see it that way. The cattle arrive, are fattened over nine to 15 months and are then trucked away. End of story for both farmer and the cattle."

"Oh, that means the farmers don't have blood on their hands?"

"Yes, in a manner of speaking, but those animals would have been knowingly been sold for slaughter."

"I think I'm going to vomit."

"Don't be so girly, Liz. Do you eat beef, pork, lamb, chicken, rabbits pheasants and whatever?"

"Yes."

"And when eating the flesh do you think that the poor darlings will have been slaughtered for your and other people's plate?"

"It pays not to think about that connection."

"Exactly. Well, I'm off to exchange these books at the library."

"I can do that for you, Miss Harper."

"You haven't lost your kindness, Liz. But no thanks, I need to select my six replacement books."

Next morning, Liz went by taxi to MacFie farm, nine miles out from the town.

She stood 10 feet from the fence surrounding the farmhouse and watched the taxi drive off.

The front door opened and a guy, obviously Will MacFie (nicknamed at school Will Pees) stood and called, "Yes?"

Liz had thoughtfully planned for this moment. She took two steps to clear the metal path and slumped to the grass, faking a faint.

She was totally conscious with her eyes closed when Will lifted her up, kissed her face gently and sobbing 'Oh Liz, oh Liz' and then carried her into the house carefully.

He placed her on a sofa and went to the kitchen presumably to fetch a cloth lightly wet with cold water to dab her face.

She smirked that her plan for reconciliation was proceeding flawlessly.

Liz yelled, "What the fuck!"

The Dipstick had doused her chest and head with a big basin of water.

The ex-groom, dumped at the altar, apologised profusely.

"That's the initial treatment we use on any steer that goes down unexpectedly."

It didn't occur to Liz that was the first stage of Will's light punishment of his former darling who had deeply humiliated him at church that day and in doing so had branded him throughout the district as a hopeless suitor.

Will stood away from her, holding a towel, wondering she why she was poorly dressed and without make-up, and had arrived by taxi instead of her own car and yet was wearing expensive dress rings and a thin gold necklace that probably alone had cost her sufficient money to purchase a truckload of steers for fattening.

"Here, remove your soaking jacket, blouse and bra and dry yourself."

"But you'll see me half-naked," she quavered.

"Being humiliated is the price of drying yourself with a soft, dry towel," he leered. "Anyway, I've probably seen the boobs of more women than you've had perfectly cooked and presented hot dinners."

Thinking that probably was true, Liz began stripping off.

And that's where the situation became somewhat erratic and at time almost hilarious.

Liz concluded that for him to order her to remove her clothes meant that there was no other woman, or for that matter, no other person in the house. The untidiness of the room they were in indicated that her former suitor was a bachelor.

As Liz undid the fastener and lifted up her bra, out-popped the best two beauties that Will believed he'd even seen, even in the hundreds of porn videos he'd watched over the years.

"Omigod."

"What?" asked the 36-year-old.

"Your tits are the best formed that I've ever seen."

Well, he should get out prowling more to satisfy his apparent lust of a tit man, she thought, having little idea of how her boobs would rate in the wider scheme of things, whatever that meant.

"I'm glad something about me pleases you," she said meekly.

"Yeah, well as you appear to have fallen on bad times, perhaps I should think about taking you in."

Unexpectedly, she hissed, "Don't even think about it"

That reaction mystified Will, unaware that Liz had decided her best tactic would be to play hard to get.

In increasing embarrassment, he had to back away because her challenge had unexpected triggered the start to an erection.

Will stood almost at attention, with his hands crossed over his groin.

Liz, having had many sex partners, twigged what was troubling Will at that moment, and when drying herself she'd made a great show of bouncing her boobs and enjoyed watching him attempting to conceal the tent in his pants, finally he being almost doubled over.

* * *

The love forsaken cattle farmer, who was little more than scratching out a living on his smallish block of land, in the five years since his bride ran away, was unaware of the various theories why Elizabeth Hendricks had dumped him at the altar, the most popular one being she'd found out by women in the bridal party that William MacFie was believed to be a sex sadist.

As that rumour spread, he became widely branded as a secret sex sadist.

Will thought he'd lost his popularity in the district because of his inability to hold on to his woman moments before she became his wife. When asked why she'd dumped him, he'd look bewildered and say honestly, he didn't know.

The true reason was that as the bridal party arrived at the church, Will's mother kissed Liz and whispered triumphantly, "You stuck-up bitch who sells lingerie are about to get your comeuppance because Alec and I am moving to live in town while you're on your honeymoon. Will will insist that you leave your fancy job and assist to either cut up or bury ailing or dying cattle and deliver three meals a day seven days a week to the three randy farmhands in the bunkhouse, who will provide you with more sex than what you thought possible.

Liz decided that was bullshit, as Will had said not a word about that but when walking up the aisle with her father, she suddenly had a vision of three men unzipping as she walked into the bunkhouse with her first breakfast delivery. The leers on their faces terrified her. She turned and ran from the church and raced home, shaking and drinking gin to attempt to calm herself.

Her parents arrived home and Liz related the horrible story.

"You stupid fool," her mother said. "You should have delayed proceedings to verification whether that allegation was the truth."

"No," said her father. "Where there's smoke there's fire. Change clothes, pack more into your bags and I'll take you to the bus station and you go to your Aunt Jessie's. I'll call Jessie now to arrange for you to stay with her until you get work and sufficient income to relocate elsewhere.

Chapter 2

Will handed Liz one of his laundered jerseys and said, "Put this on Liz. I'll toss your wet clothes in the dryer and make coffee. I believe we need to continue talking and for me to learn how much money you want."

"Okay, and thanks."

They sat in the kitchen having late morning refreshments.

"I was devastated at the church when you ran out on me without explanation," Will said. "I waited in vain for you to contact me. I called on your parents hoping to get the explanation I sought, but your father met me at the door and told me to bugger off, slamming the door shut in my face. I haven't spoken to your parents since."

"They moved north two years ago. Will, I'm sorry you were left uninformed. I'd assumed your mother would have told you what she'd said to me. With her failing to do that, along with me, I can understand that you haven't had closure."

"My chief bridesmaid called me three weeks ago to say you were living much like a hermit."

"Yeah, there's some truth in that and I certainly have felt abandoned. My father died two months after the overturned wedding and my stepmother died of cancer two years later. A couple of times I persuaded women on separate occasions, one a recent divorcee and the other who was recently widowed that I had befriended, to move in with me. Both quickly moved out after hearing what I gathered were assorted rumours about me, but they wouldn't give me details. They couldn't get away from me fast enough."

Liz then related the story in full.

Will said he was appalled that his stepmother would invent such a foul allegation that he was a sex sadist.

"Little wonder that women and the community in general has shunned me."

Liz began sobbing that she should have even just phoned Will with the explanation of why she'd abandoned him virtually at the altar, even if to confirm what she expected his mother or rather his stepmother would tell him.

Will jumped up and went around the table to hug her. Back into his arms for the first time in seven years, Liz clung to him desperately, tears of guilt streaming.

Within a minute they'd nudged their lips into a tentative kiss, neither of them being surprised by that.

A longer kiss followed and when they disengaged slightly when topping up their lungs, Will asked laconically, "Does this mean you are open to a suggestion that you stay here the night?"

"My pussy's lips have begun to flutter. I guess that's a signal not to be ignored by either of us."

"Do you mean flutter or throb?"

Liz said thickly, "I'm unsure and I'm beginning to leak. Thrust a hand down the front of my knickers and find out if your desire for me goes extends to sheer lust."

"Yeah, good idea to get the ball rolling. But how will I tell the difference between sheer desire, and sheer lust?"

"You'll know. If it's sheer desire, you'll wish to revisit this moment with me time and time again If it's sheer lust, your only thought will be to get your rocks off bigtime."

* * *

It turned out to be sheer-desire boosted by sheer lust. Neither of them had been hit before by the profoundness of great sex, and both wanted it repeated again... and again... and again...

The fondness for one another mushroomed and a month later, after Will had sold his farm to a farmer on the farm's neighbouring properties, Will and Liz were driving out of town after the biggest wedding in the district for decades.

Without Liz's knowledge, Will had hired two pub bouncers to stationed themselves at the main doorway in case Liz decided to run away from the wedding ceremony once again. They were not required as the groom stuck to his bride as if glued to her.

With Liz driving, he asked, "Why did you have this flash car and your wealth concealed from me until now?"

"I wished to pose as your ex-lover as a woman who possessed virtually nothing to see if I could covertly capture your heart again through my seductive appeal rather than a babe who owned a business brokerage with 44 salespeople working their guts out for me, with me as their principal, who legally scoops up a slice of their commission for employing them and my business providing them with support services."

"And is it your intention that I sit back and enjoy the loot?"

"Oh no, I wish to open a farm sales and lease division with a director I could trust."

"When thinking about possible suitable candidates for that directorship, I began stroking my left breast and thought of you. The cushion seat of my chair became damp. The outcome of that was me thinking why not marry you into the position as my major business partner with you contributing an appropriate financial investment in our company."

"You clever runaway and eventual runback sly bitch," Will purred, stoking her nearest thigh and they were both aware he was tenting.

The End