Sparks Fly with the Billionaire

by Marion Lennox

  It was so boring that after four weeks she was starting to look longingly at the funeral home.

  Today was Friday. Five-thirty. She was heading home for the weekend.

  Home. The new normal. Grey. No matter how much bounce she put on for the rest of the household, all she saw was grey.

  She could stop in and say hi to Margot, she thought, but Margot was doing okay. Every time she went past Margot’s cottage she saw Duncan’s car outside or Duncan and his dogs going in and out. His dogs were Jack Russells. She couldn’t look at them.

  And, worse, Margot looked a little like Matt, and every time she thought about Matt she felt sickeningly sad.

  Her dogs.

  Her circus.

  Matt.

  There was a great hole where her heart should be.

  Get over it, she told herself. Move on. It’s not as if it’s a real tragedy. Just pin that dratted smile back on and...

  And stop.

  She did. Her foot eased off the accelerator.

  She’d turned into the farmhouse gate and there was a line-up on the veranda.

  Fizz and Fluffy.

  Bella and Henry.

  Margot and...Duncan?

  And Matt.

  Matt.

  And Duncan’s dogs. Jack Russells. Two...

  No, three.

  Four?

  She pulled up and everyone was beaming. Even the dogs.

  Matt was beaming.

  He had two dogs under his arms.

  Duncan had two dogs under his arms.

  Matt set his dogs down. The dogs Duncan held wouldn’t be set. They were trying to lick Duncan to death.

  The two Matt had been holding quivered, stared down at her as if they couldn’t be sure—and then they were racing across to her, two balls of canine joy, flipping somersaults, delirious with happiness, and she was down on the ground ruining her prim bookkeeping uniform, trying to hold every inch of them.

  And look at Matt at the same time.

  He didn’t have his coat on. He was wearing jeans and faded pullover. He looked... He looked...

  He looked like Matt. She hugged her dogs and she thought she could never love anything as much in the whole world as she loved these two. But Matt was smiling at her and she knew she was wrong.

  ‘We have our dogs back,’ Henry boomed unnecessarily from the veranda, and she tried to surface from the dogs enough to ask questions. ‘Plus our ponies. Plus our camels.’

  ‘H... How?

  ‘Carver brought them, of course,’ Henry said. ‘Or his henchmen did. Drove up and practically threw them out of the trailers. Said they were useless, and if the contract hadn’t stipulated they be returned to us rather than be put down, that’s where they’d be.’

  ‘I’ve been having them watched,’ Matt said mildly. ‘We always expected the ponies and camels to be returned; Carvers didn’t need them, but the dogs were a different matter. It worked out as we hoped, but I’ve had undercover security watching over them all the same. Until Carver cracked and tossed them back at us.’

  ‘But... But...’ She didn’t have the questions to ask.

  ‘Well you may “But”,’ Duncan said ponderously. ‘Too right you had them watched, young man. Of all the risks... If Margot hadn’t said she’d consider marrying me if I did it, I’d never have agreed. It wasn’t your dogs at risk, miss.’

  ‘They were Duncan’s,’ Margot said and beamed and somehow, between the dogs, she tucked her arm into Duncan’s. ‘Wasn’t that brave of him? And noble.’

  ‘Very noble,’ Allie said faintly and then as the dogs jumped around her feet, she stooped again to hug them. ‘No. How can it be noble when I don’t understand?’

  ‘Sleight of hand,’ her grandfather said and chuckled. ‘A feat to be proud of. Your young man is quite a magician. Even I suspected nothing. Fizz did, but apparently Matt thought if he told us all we might give it away.’

  ‘Give...give what away?’

  ‘That last night.’ It was Fizz, the old clown, beaming wider even than the painted face he’d worn for so long. ‘When the dogs finished in the ring it was me who took them back to your van. That night Carver’s men were waiting, collecting everything, but somehow, in the shadows of the wings, two dogs turned into two different dogs.’

  ‘You remember when you got them?’ Margot said. ‘You bought these two in Fort Neptune. Duncan’s two girls are their half sisters. Only they’re stupid.’

  ‘Hey!’ said Duncan.

  ‘Nice but...placid,’ Margot said and smiled. ‘And identical to yours. So Duncan took your two girls home, and no one suspected anything. Matt put a discreet watch on all the animals— if there’d been any bad treatment Matt’s watchers would have been there in an instant—and when Carver’s handlers couldn’t do anything with them except make them beg for food, finally he sent them back. It’s taken a month. We’re sorry it’s taken so long, dear.’

  ‘It has, though,’ Matt said softly, smiling down at her, ‘given me time to put a few more variations to the contract in place.’

  ‘You know,’ Margot said thoughtfully, ‘if I were you, Matt Bond, and I’m not, so I can’t give you advice, but it seems you’ve been giving me lots of advice lately so maybe you could take a little...If I were you and a girl was looking at me like Allie’s looking at you...maybe you could take her somewhere else and tell her the rest. Somewhere six people and four dogs aren’t listening.’

  But Allie had something to do first. She was up on the veranda and she was hugging Duncan—or she was hugging as much of him and his dogs as she could.

  By the time Duncan emerged from her embrace he was laughing, flustered, and Matt was right beside her, ready to take over the hugging, ready to take Margot’s advice.

  ‘I have this really comfy car,’ he told her. ‘There’s room for two dogs on the back seat.’

  ‘But...’ She was having trouble breathing. ‘What are you going to tell me?’

  ‘I’m not going to tell you anything,’ he said. ‘I’m going to ask you. Isn’t that how it’s done?’

  ‘It was in my day,’ Duncan said and the elderly town mayor looked at Margot and chortled. ‘And my day’s still right here.’

  * * *

  He drove her back to town. She was silent for the ten-minute drive. She should ask...but she wasn’t brave enough.

  She’d sent this guy away. She’d said what was between them was impossible.

  It still was impossible, but for now, with her two dogs draped over her knee—yes, they should be in the back seat but discipline had been a bit slack at Duncan’s and they approved of being lapdogs—it seemed anything was possible.

  For this moment she could pretend that anything was possible.

  She hugged her dogs and stared straight ahead and waited for them to reach the beach, but, instead of going to the car park that led to the sand, Matt turned off just before, to the spit of land on the foreshore, to the site of Sparkles Circus.

  To the ex-site of Sparkles Circus. Now there was nothing but bare headland. The circus was over.

  She climbed from the car and looked at the empty site, at the grass already starting to regrow, at her favourite circus site in the world.

  Next year Carvers Circus would play here.

  ‘Next year Carvers Circus can’t play here,’ Matt said as he came around the car to stand beside her. ‘There’s been a hiccup.’

  ‘A hiccup.’ She was past being as
tonished.

  No, she wasn’t. She was pretty much totally astonished.

  ‘Health and Safety issues,’ Matt said mournfully. ‘Have you noticed how narrow the neck of the spit is? Twenty yards at high tide, and once the circus is out here, there’s no other evacuation route, other than by boat. And Carvers Circus is twice the size of Sparkles. Duncan’s the mayor. I can’t believe he hasn’t seen the dangers before this. It only took a nudge, however, and he moved. A man of action, is our Duncan.’ He grinned. ‘Especially after our watchdog officer showed him a picture of his dogs in cages. Next year the circus site will be on the football ground.’

  ‘But the football ground’s on the other side of town,’ Allie managed, trying to get her head around this. ‘You won’t get the crowds there.’

  ‘Ah. We knew you were a businesswoman,’ Matt said smoothly. ‘That’s what Duncan’s counting on. Fort Neptune has a reputation for keeping its holidaymakers happy. No Sparkles, no happy tourists. So, as any good mayor would, Duncan approached our bank for a business plan to take the town forward. And now we have one.’

  ‘Which would be what?’ She’d finally got her breath back. She was still astonished but she was able to look at this guy with suspicion. His eyes were dancing. He looked... Machiavellian.

  He looked like Matt, but she was ordering her hormones—desperately—to get over that.

  ‘We propose to turn the spit into a permanent amusement site,’ Matt told her, as if he didn’t even sense her inner turmoil. ‘Funded by the Council, sponsored by Bond’s. It’ll spread out onto the esplanade, so safety’s not an issue. It’ll consist of a permanent nautical market, heritage-based, things bought and sold as they would have been bought and sold a hundred years ago. We’ve asked Margot if she’ll take over the organisation and she’s already in Bossy R Us mode. Everyone we’ve talked to is enthusiastic but we need a centrepiece. A showpiece at its heart. Something like an old-fashioned circus.’

  ‘Matt...’

  ‘We see it as a permanent attraction,’ he said, and the twinkle had gone now. He sounded deadly serious—banker spelling out business proposition. ‘It’d be small, cosy, family-oriented, and it wouldn’t have to be spectacular. We see it—Henry, Bella, Duncan and I...’

  ‘Grandpa knows about this?’

  ‘We have talked,’ he admitted. ‘We had to do something while you did all the town’s taxes. Can I go on?’

  ‘I...yes.’ Her voice came out a squeak and he grinned.

  ‘Right. Business modelling. Three shows a week maybe, but with added extras. We’ve talked to the local schools. They’ll bring the kids and use it as part of the curriculum. They hope you might be able to teach kids basic circus tricks, so they can treat this as a permanent, loved part of the town. And more. Duncan’s talked to the mums’ groups, the nursing home, the kindergarten. Everyone wants to be involved. Everyone wants to learn. Allie, Carvers will still come to Fort Neptune, as they have the right to come, and they’ll probably still get their audience—people have cars—but they only have the right to be here for two weeks of the year and you’re here for ever.’

  ‘Me?’ she said blankly.

  ‘That’s if you’d like to be a ringmaster,’ he said softly. ‘Instead of a bookkeeper. For Henry’s not going to be able to do it for ever. Though with the show I’m envisaging, age old doesn’t matter. We’ll just lower the trapeze.’

  ‘I don’t...I don’t...’

  ‘The bank would finance new equipment,’ he said, hurriedly now as if he was afraid she’d think of objections before he could get it all out. ‘We’d provide a new big top, new equipment, everything you need. And you have a team. Our dog-watcher reports that even those who were offered jobs with Carvers are already unhappy. You can choose who you want.’ Then he hesitated, seeing her confusion. ‘But we’re not forcing you, Allie. This is something the town needs. Duncan and Margot and I are setting it up, and if Sparkles doesn’t want to take up our offer we’ll put it out to tender. Carver might even be interested.’

  And that hauled her out of open-mouthed, goldfish-goggle mode like nothing else could.

  A tiny circus. A permanent site. A job for the crew as long as they wanted it.

  A home.

  She saw it. Take away the high risk acts, she thought. Increase the acts that everyone loved, that everyone waited to see, year after year.

  Tell Fizz and Fluffy to increase their jokes.

  Shine up the cannon.

  ‘Don’t you dare offer it to Carver,’ she managed. ‘If it’s okay with you, I think we might negotiate a deal.’

  ‘Consider it negotiated.’ He hesitated. ‘Only there is a stipulation.’

  ‘Which...which is?’ They were standing on the wide grassy site of circuses past. Behind them was the tiny fort town. Before them was the sea. The breeze was warm and full of salt. The town’s fishing fleet was swinging on moorings in the bay as the setting sun played over them.

  A plover and his mate were calling to each other somewhere in the grass behind them. Apart from that, there was nothing, nothing and nothing, but a man and a woman with their whole lives stretched out before them.

  ‘I’m the financier of this project,’ Matt said, his voice becoming gentle, unsure, as if this last part of the plan was the most likely to be rejected. ‘As as financier, I need a hands-on role. You’d have to hand the bookkeeping to me.’

  ‘I’m a bookkeeper.’

  ‘Yes, but the circus you book-kept went bust,’ he said, sounding stern. ‘How could Bond’s possibly finance a venture with such a record unless they took a personal interest? A very personal interest.’

  ‘Which...which would be?’ He was so big, she thought inconsequentially. He was so...male. He was Matt.

  Mathew Bond of Bond’s Bank.

  No. Just Matt. A guy with a proposition to take her breath away, with a body to take her breath away, but, at the core, still that hint of uncertainty, as if he, too, was being asked to take a step into the unknown.

  ‘I’d need to live in Fort Neptune,’ he said and her breath was taken away all over again.

  ‘Wh...why?’

  He hesitated. Thought about it a little. Fought to get it right.

  ‘You know,’ he said slowly, as if he was talking through an idea he was only now coming to terms with, ‘ever since I can remember, from the day I was born, it was always assumed I’d be the Chairman of Bond’s Bank. With my family holding, I’m the major shareholder. I’ve been trained since birth to sit in the director’s chair, to take control of the day to day running of the bank, to be Bond’s Bank. It was only when I met you that I thought...why? Do I need to be the Chairman of Bond’s Bank? Four weeks ago I stood on the beach and did some brainstorming and put everything on the table. Or on the sand. Just like I’ve taught my employees to do. I put Chairman of the bank on the sand as well, and suddenly I thought—I don’t need to pick it up again.’

  ‘But...Matt, it’s what you are.’

  ‘Is it? Why?’

  ‘I...’ She couldn’t think of an answer. She struggled. ‘Because you get to wear gorgeous coats,’ she said at last and he grinned, and finally, finally he reached out and took her hands and tugged her to him.

  ‘I have three coats,’ he said. ‘That’s enough for one man for a lifetime, especially as I propose moving aside, keeping a seat on the Board but not staying as operational Head. That means I won’t spend half my life in Europe’s winter, where cashmere coats are needed to keep me war
m. I have a helicopter. I can travel. Jack needs a good financial adviser at the farm and I’d like to be hands-on at Bond’s Unleashed. I’d like to revamp Bond’s public image, but a lot of that can be done online. So I was sort of hoping...no, make that really hoping, that if I bought a house here, commuting at need but basing myself here in perpetuity, I might have something else...someone else...to keep me warm.’

  ‘Matt,’ she said again, but this time it was different. It was a breath when she was struggling to breathe. It was almost a prayer.

  Matt.

  ‘I love you,’ he said and her world stood still.

  ‘Love...’

  ‘I’ve told you before, Allie. You knocked me back because you didn’t fancy playing beggar maid to my King Cophetua. This way it’d be different. We’d share a house, we’d share a life, but it would be sharing. You’d be taking Sparkles over from Henry and your life would be based here. Duncan and I think Sparkles could run at a profit almost immediately. You’d be independent.’

  ‘And you...you’d be independent, too?’

  ‘You’re pretty good with marketing,’ he told her, caressing her with his eyes. ‘I suspect there’ll be times, lying in bed late at night or early in the morning, when I say, “Love, what do you think about this?” And I was acting ringmaster for a whole week so I pretty much know about circuses. I’m hoping you might do the same.’

  ‘Bed,’ she said faintly, because of all the images his words conjured up, that was the biggie. Lying in bed beside this man. Waking up beside him, over and over, for the rest of her life.

  Living here. Running the circus here. Watching Henry and Bella enjoy their retirement. Watching Fizz and Fluffy with their pride restored. Watching Margot decide to live.

  And at night, home to bed, home to Matt, home to her love.

  ‘Allie...’ And she heard his tension. He was holding her, he was smiling at her, he was promising her the world, a future, love, a home and hearth and him.