Okay, back to the plan. He turned to her mother. ‘I’m sorry to interrupt,’ he said. ‘I met Penny when she was working in South Australia. I’ve brought my daughter to school in Sydney but I didn’t have Penny’s contact details. Your number’s not listed but I knew where you live. I’d like to talk to her for a moment, but if I’m intruding...’
‘Are you her friend?’ The woman’s gaze flashed to her daughter, interest quickening. ‘I knew she’d met someone.’
‘Mum, no...’
But welcoming good-looking men into her orbit was one of Louise’s principal skills, coming to the fore no matter what personal turmoil surrounded her. ‘Come in. Brian, let the man in. Penny, introduce us.’
‘This...this is Matt,’ Penny stammered. ‘He’s a farmer...from where I worked. Matt, this is my mother, Louise.’
‘A farmer?’ Louise’s smile hit high beam. ‘How lovely. Come and have dinner with us.’
And this was exactly what he’d hoped for. Plan B was to sweep her up and take her out to dinner somewhere else. Or leave.
But a third option seemed most likely. ‘He can’t stay,’ Penny said in a haunted voice and her mother looked at her again. Harder.
‘Really? You don’t want him to?’
He’d accept it. His plan had been simply to give her an escape route, or support, or both, but only if she wanted it. If she didn’t then he’d walk away.
But Louise was looking exasperated. She turned back to him. ‘Dear, if you know Penny then you’ll know this is an awkward night for her,’ she confided. ‘She’s agreed to have dinner with her sister and her ex-fiancé. Has she told you about it?’
‘I...yes.’
‘Then what we want,’ she said with asperity, ‘is a stranger to leaven the occasion.’ She eyed him up and down. It’d have been too obvious to arrive dressed for a dinner party, but he was wearing new chinos, a decent shirt and a tie. His jacket was aged leather but it was decent quality. He could see Louise assessing and deciding to approve.
‘Please, come on in,’ she told him. ‘Penny, you want him to stay? Don’t you?’
* * *
Did she want him to stay?
Yes! part of her was yelling, but this was a new Penny. Okay, she’d only had two weeks of wearing her new skin but it had been a long drive back to Sydney and she’d had that radio up loud.
I am woman...
She was not her mother. She was not a doormat.
Did Matt want something? Didn’t they all? She was suddenly feeling unbearably tired.
But her mother was letting her guard slip. Her social façade had disappeared and she was addressing her daughter with a degree of desperation. ‘Penny, agree,’ she told her. ‘What your father is asking of you is impossible.’ She turned back to Matt. ‘Penny’s ex-fiancé and her pregnant sister are here, and her father’s expecting her to act as if everything’s normal. I know she can do it—my daughter can do anything—but your presence...’ She turned back to Penny again. ‘Sweetheart, it would help. You know it would.’
It was the first time her mother had acknowledged her pain, and her words pierced a chink into the armour she’d so carefully built.
And then Matt looked up and met her gaze. He didn’t smile. His gaze was serious, steady—loving?
And the chink grew wider.
‘I won’t be where I’m not wanted,’ he said simply. ‘Penny, if you’d like me to stay, then of course I will. You helped me and of course I’d like to help you. But I didn’t come to intrude.’
Of course I’d like to help you. How could she believe that?
And then she thought: I told him the date of this dinner. Was it possible he’d planned this?
The thought that he’d do that for her... It was like a lightning bolt.
He’d come...for her.
‘Stay.’ She couldn’t believe she’d said it, but it was out there.
His gaze didn’t leave hers.
‘You’re sure?’
‘Yes.’ And she was sure. He’d planned it. It would be too big a coincidence. She gazed at Brian, who was looking blandly at nothing. Matt. Brian.
This was a plot!
For her.
‘Then thank you, I will,’ he said but still he didn’t smile.
Her mother did, though. This was what she was all about—trying to please everyone, keeping her family happy. And Penny had a man! Penny could almost hear her think it, and the fact that he looked...well, he looked a hunk, did him no disservice in her mother’s eyes.
Her father, though... And Brett and Felicity? A complicated night had suddenly become a whole lot more complicated.
But he’d planned it. For her.
* * *
Introductions all around.
George was urbane enough to be polite, even though he clearly didn’t like his family dinner being gate-crashed.
‘Sherry?’ he asked Matt. ‘It’s a magnificent one my people have sourced from Almacenista. Or would you prefer a red? We have an aged...’
‘I’d like a beer, if you have one,’ Matt told him. ‘Otherwise, water’s fine.’
‘As you wish,’ George said stiffly, glancing at Penny as if she was responsible for allowing the cat to drag something in. And, as Brian poured a designer beer, he homed right in. ‘So... Matthew, is it? What do you do?’
‘I run sheep on the Murray,’ Matt told him.
‘You’re a farmer?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘That’s where my daughter met you?’
‘It is.’
‘Her mother tells me it’s flood country. How long have you been there?’
‘Ten years.’
‘It’s a family farm?’
‘No, sir, I bought it.’
‘Well, that’s a risk I wouldn’t have taken. Small holdings take a lot to make them pay and if they’re on flood plains...’ Matt had clearly been pigeonholed and dismissed. ‘I wish you well making a success of it.’
‘Thank you,’ Matt said. He took a swig of his beer and Penny almost smiled. Matt was drinking from the finest crystal but he drank like he was swigging from a can. She saw the exact moment when he stopped holding himself erect, when his voice took on the country drawl he used among the men—when he decided that if George had him down as a small time farmer then that was what he’d be.
And he’d also decided to be jovial.
‘So Brett,’ Matt said to Penny’s ex-fiancé as he finished his beer and Brian poured him another. ‘What do you do?’
‘I’m a financial controller for the Hindmarsh-Firth Corporation,’ Brett told him. ‘If you understand what that is. Imagine the day-to-day cash flow problems you have on the farm and multiply them by thousands. Possibly millions.’ Brett was smirking a little. He hadn’t realised yet, Penny thought, that Matt’s arrival had made him look small.
And then she thought, why hadn’t she realised how small Brett was? Or maybe the word shouldn’t be small. Maybe the word should be insignificant.
‘Well, that must be fascinating,’ Matt was saying, his voice full of awareness of the huge responsibility Brett faced. ‘All that adding up. So...you work for your fiancée’s father?’
‘He works with my father,’ Felicity snapped.
‘Of course. And you, Felicity?’ His attention was suddenly switched to high beam on Penny’s half-sister. ‘Penny tells me you’ve been overseas. Working or pleasure?’
Felicity was not in a great mood. She was twelve weeks pregnant and she was nauseous. She was drinking soda, which she hated. What was worse, the new dress she’d bought specifically for this event only ten days ago would no longer fit, but she wasn’t pregnant enough for the sexy maternity clothes she’d been admiring when she’d decided to try for a baby. She’d had to
revert to last year’s fashion.
And now her half-sister was sitting opposite her with a guy who might well be a small time farmer but wow...
‘It’s nice that Penny’s found herself a friend,’ Felicity said waspishly, ignoring Matt’s question. ‘Even if she had to go halfway across Australia to do it.’
‘And wasn’t I lucky that she did?’ Matt said, and he smiled at Penny, and that smile...it even made her mother gasp. ‘I hear you found your man much closer to home. Not that I’d describe myself as Penny’s man, but I hope I’m her friend. That’s such a privilege I can’t begin to tell you.’ He glanced at Brett. ‘The local men obviously don’t know what they’re missing. Penny’s one in a million.’
And suddenly, despite her discomfiture, Penny started enjoying herself. Matt could hold his own. Her mother was beaming. But the rest...
Her father and Brett were reacting like two roosters with a much larger and more impressive rooster invading their patch. Both were assured of their own superiority but Matt’s calm acceptance of snide criticism had unnerved them.
And Felicity was jealous. Again.
Penny watched Matt smile at something her mother said. She witnessed his skill in deflecting Brett’s barbs, and she watched him flirt mildly with the bristling Felicity. He was placating her with compliments. He was also exposing her shallowness and making Brett angry, but she knew instinctively that he was doing it only because he was angry on her behalf.
He’d come tonight, to this dinner, because he’d thought she needed him. She did need him.
No! Had she learned nothing? She did not need him! I am woman...
I’m no longer the poor relation at this table, she thought. She had her embryo catering company. She’d stood up to her father. She’d baked—successfully—for a full mob of shearers, and she had a friend. And such a friend.
She looked across the table at Matt and found him watching her, and suddenly she was smiling and smiling.
‘How long are you in Sydney?’
‘I’ve been here for a week and I may stay longer,’ he told her. ‘I need to wait until I’m sure Lily’s settled.’
‘What school’s she going to?’
Matt told her—and that pretty much brought the conversation to a standstill.
‘Why...that’s the one Penelope and Felicity attended,’ Louise gasped.
‘How can you afford that?’ George demanded and Penny thought a lesser man might have got up and punched her father’s lights out for the offensiveness in the way he’d barked it.
But Matt merely shrugged. ‘I’m divorced,’ he said neutrally. ‘My ex-wife has money.’
‘Lucky for some,’ Brett sneered but Penny wasn’t listening. She was side-tracked.
‘Matt, I hated that school.’
‘It’s the one Darrilyn’s chosen.’
‘Then un-choose it.’
‘I’d like to talk to you about it, if I could,’ he confessed. ‘But now’s not the time.’
And then the main course arrived, with all the theatre the hired, trendy catering staff could muster. Penny fell silent.
The choice of Matt’s daughter’s school was nothing to do with her, she told herself. It was none of her business.
But Matt wanted her advice.
He wanted her to be his friend.
He’d come tonight to help her.
The talk went on around her. She was aware that Matt was watching her but she wouldn’t meet his gaze.
He chatted on easily, ignoring the undercurrents, making the gathering seem almost civil, but Penny’s mother also fell silent. She looked as if cogs were whirring unseen. Comments to Louise went unanswered, and then, halfway through the dessert, she looked up from her peach flambé and beamed.
Penny knew that beam. Uh oh.
‘Matthew?’ Louise asked and Penny thought uh oh, uh, oh, uh oh.
‘Ma’am?’
‘What are you doing on Saturday?’
‘I’m not sure,’ he told her, glancing at a bemused Penny. ‘It depends on my daughter.’
‘Bring her to Felicity and Brett’s wedding,’ Louise said, with what was, for her, a defiant look at her husband. ‘We seem to have invited half of Australian’s Who’s Who to this wedding so two more won’t make a spot of difference. Do you have a suit?’
‘I do,’ he said gravely.
‘Then I’d like to invite you. Please,’ she added. ‘If you’re a friend of Penny’s then you’ll know that there are things about this wedding that make her...uncomfortable. You’ll be doing us all a favour if you come. We’d love it if you could bring your daughter, but for the night...’ She cast an uncertain glance at Penny but decided to forge right on. ‘Come as Penny’s partner. Like a little family. It’ll take the media attention off Penny and I’m sure we’d all be very grateful.’
There was a deathly silence.
George and Brett and Felicity all looked as if Matt would be doing them the very opposite of a favour.
Louise smiled defiantly on.
And Matt looked at Penny.
‘Penny?’
Matt, as her partner, at a wedding she didn’t wish to go near?
But this was her half-sister’s wedding and, hate it as she did, she’d made the decision to support her mother. The media fuss if she didn’t go would be worse than if she did.
And, besides, there were parts of tonight’s dinner she’d actually enjoyed.
Matt.
In a suit.
With his daughter?
His daughter was being sent to a school she’d surely hate.
Okay, she didn’t want to be involved but she was. Like it or not. But she wouldn’t be a doormat.
‘I’m setting up a catering company,’ she told him. ‘I have temporary premises in Darling Harbour and I’ll be there all day tomorrow. If you’d like to come around we can discuss it then.’ And she could tell him exactly what she thought of his choice of school.
‘I’d appreciate that,’ he said gravely.
‘So you will come to the wedding?’ Louise demanded.
‘Only if Penny wants me to,’ Matt told her. ‘I’d never pressure her.’
But it was too much for Felicity. She’d been growing angrier and angrier.
‘Penny doesn’t choose the guests,’ she said in a voice that dripped ice. ‘This is my wedding. I decide.’
‘It’s my wedding too,’ Brett corrected her. ‘Our wedding, sweetheart. But he’s certainly not on my list.’
But Felicity didn’t take rebukes well. From anyone. She cast her fiancé a look loaded with such acid it could have cleaned warts off toads, and of course she changed her mind. ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake,’ she muttered. ‘If it’ll make Penny feel better then of course she can bring a friend.’ And she sent Penny such a condescending smile that she thought she might throw up.
‘I don’t need your sympathy,’ she managed.
‘But you have it,’ Felicity said and smirked. ‘Brett’s in love with me.’
‘Of course he is.’ But then Penny hesitated. She cast a look at Matt. He was just...here. Big and strong and solid. She had backup, she thought. He’d come to support her—why not use it? Why not say what she’d been wanting to say to a big sister she’d once looked up to? ‘But Felicity, have you any idea what you’re getting into?’ she asked gently. ‘Brett went behind my back to get you pregnant. Do you think he’ll stay loyal to you? You’ll have family support, no matter what you do. It’s not too late to pull out of a wedding you’re not committed to.’
And that was too much for her father.
‘Keep out of what’s not your business,’ George snarled. ‘The wedding’s happening in five days.’
‘And this man’s not coming,’ Brett snapped.
‘I agree,’ George snapped back. ‘My wife’s in charge of the invitation list for this side of the family, and this man’s not on it.’
So that was it.
Except Matt was looking at Louise.
Just looking.
And suddenly Penny wasn’t sure what was happening.
Matt had charisma. Or something? She wasn’t sure what. She only knew that Matt was looking directly at her mother and whatever was passing between them had the power to make the rest of the table shut up.
Even her father seemed momentarily baffled. Stymied by silence.
When finally Matt spoke his voice was low, reasonable and total mesmerizing.
‘It seems to me,’ he said softly, speaking directly to Louise and no one else, ‘that Penny’s been treated appallingly by those who love her. It seems to me that no one’s spoken up for her. She’s attending her sister’s wedding—to support you, I suspect—and in the circumstances that leaves me stunned. If she needs me to lend her even more dignity and honour—two virtues that Penny already has in spades—then it would be my very real pleasure to be there for her. But, ma’am, I suspect that decision is up to you. And maybe it’s time we all showed Penny how much she means to us. Especially, maybe, it’s time her mother did.’
And he smiled at Louise, a smile that took Penny’s breath away. A smile she’d never seen before.
‘Maybe it’s the right time now,’ he said gently. ‘To show Penny how much she’s loved by us all.’
Silence. Deathly silence.
George was staring at Matt as if he were something from another planet.
Felicity and Brett were sitting with their mouths open, obviously struggling to find the words to retaliate.
But Penny’s mother stared at Matt and he kept smiling at her. She stared...and then she turned to Penny.
‘Penny,’ she whispered and Penny gave her a wobbly smile.
‘It’s okay, Mum.’
‘But it’s not,’ Louise whispered and she looked again at Matt.
And then, suddenly, Louise was standing. Her eyes were over-bright. She’d had one, possibly two more wines than was wise, but her speech was clear. ‘Matt’s right,’ she quavered, speaking to Felicity. ‘I’ve done every scrap of organization for this wedding, and you and your father haven’t lifted a finger. And after the way you’ve treated my daughter...I could make one phone call to the caterers tomorrow, and with the demand for their services you’d find yourself without a wedding. Even if you did manage to salvage it, the ensuing media fuss would cause a riot.’
Stranded with the Secret Billionaire Page 14
