Stranded with the Secret Billionaire

by Marion Lennox

  And Matt looked at Penny for a long, long moment while emotion went zinging back and forth between them. But finally he nodded gravely, as if acceding to an unspoken request.

  He turned to his daughter.

  ‘I surely will,’ he said and headed over to eat the proffered cookie.

  Good. That was the way she wanted it—wasn’t it?

  How else can I have it? she thought. How can I trust?

  And then she thought, maybe it had just been a throwaway line after all.

  Penny... I love you.

  Easily said.

  Prove it, she whispered under her breath. But why should he prove it?

  ‘Am I still invited to your sister’s wedding?’ he asked and she blinked. Felicity’s wedding. Okay, life had to go on.

  ‘My mother invited you.’ She was fiddling with the oven. She didn’t turn round to face him. She daren’t.

  ‘So that’s a yes?’

  ‘If it’s still on. I told Felicity...’

  ‘She won’t cancel a wedding,’ Matt told her. ‘Besides, they suit. Will you be leaving from your parents’ house?’

  ‘I...yes. Mum and I have decided to stay until after the wedding. We don’t dislike Felicity enough to cause a media furore beforehand.’

  ‘So what time would you like me to meet you?’

  She turned to face him. ‘Matt...’

  ‘Penny.’ He smiled that gorgeous, heart-warming smile that had her totally befuddled. ‘I still want to come. Your mum says you need me.’

  ‘I don’t want to need you.’

  His smile faded. ‘Really?’

  ‘Really.’

  ‘Even if it’s a two-way deal?’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said shortly, breathlessly. And then, more seriously, ‘Matt, I need time. I know you can hurt me and I don’t like that I’m exposed. I’m trying to get myself back together. To find who I really am. Falling for you complicates things.’

  ‘It might simplify things.’

  Noreen and Lily were watching with fascination but it couldn’t matter. What needed to be said was too important.

  ‘How?’ she demanded. ‘Matt, I’ve just come from a very messy relationship. I’ve spent my life watching my mother ruin her life trying to please everyone. I won’t do the same.’

  ‘If I swore to spend my life making you happy...’

  ‘Matt, don’t,’ she said breathlessly. The memory of that moment on the veranda was still so raw it made her cringe. It made her block her heart from what was happening. ‘I can’t,’ she said. ‘It’s too soon. I can’t get my head around it. I can’t...’

  ‘Trust?’

  ‘Exactly.’ She shook her head. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘No, I’m sorry,’ he said gently. ‘Maybe if I hadn’t met your family I wouldn’t have understood, but I do. Penny, let’s give this time.’

  ‘I won’t...’

  ‘You might,’ he told her and he came back to take her hands. He tugged her forward and kissed her. It was a light kiss, a fleeting touch of lips, but it was enough for her to know she was in serious trouble. But then he put her away and the smile he gave her was rueful.

  ‘Saturday,’ he told her. ‘Wedding. What time?’

  ‘Four. But...’

  ‘I’ll pick you up,’ he told her. ‘If I see you sweep out in one of the bridal limousines I’ll know you don’t want me to come but if you decide you want me then I’ll be there. But no pressure, Penny, love. Lily and I will fly to Adelaide and check out this new school but we won’t make any decisions and you shouldn’t either. We’ll see you Saturday—or not.’

  ‘Matt...’

  ‘No decisions,’ he said again and he turned to Lily. ‘Ready to go?’ he asked her. ‘Penny’s suggested a new school you might like. Are you ready to try again?’

  ‘I don’t know whether I’m brave enough,’ Lily whispered.

  ‘That makes all of us,’ Matt told her. ‘Where can we buy courage?’

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  IT’S A HAPPY BRIDE the sun shines on...

  Felicity should be gloriously happy, Penny decided, as she fiddled with a recalcitrant wrap and gave her reflection one last glance before heading downstairs. The sun had been shining all day.

  She doubted Felicity had noticed. Felicity’s six perfectly matched and beautiful bridesmaids had filled the house since morning and the place had been chaotic.

  Penny had snuck out at dawn and taken a long walk around the harbour front. She’d come back an hour before they had to leave.

  Even that was too early. She’d taken half an hour to dress and now she was pacing.

  Matt had said he’d come, but why would he? He’d gone to Adelaide with Lily. Why would he come all the way back?

  There was a faint tap on her door. Her mother was there, looking magnificent. And anxious.

  ‘Is he coming?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Penny said shortly. She glanced at her watch. ‘But we should go. It’d be nice to sneak into place before the media gets its hype together.’

  ‘There won’t be hype over me. I’m not exactly mother of the bride,’ Louise told her. Felicity’s mother would be sitting in the front pew with George. Penny suspected she and her mother would be relegated to a pew quite a way back.

  But, even now, Louise was still trying to keep her family happy, Penny thought. She’d made the decision to leave George but she wouldn’t do it until after the wedding. Instead she’d stay in the background and try and smooth things over.

  ‘You’re a very nice woman,’ Penny told her and kissed her and Louise blushed and gave her a tentative hug back. But she still looked worried.

  ‘I was sure Matt would be here.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter that he’s not.’

  ‘But Penny...’

  ‘We can manage on our own, Mum,’ she told her. ‘Who needs men?’

  ‘Yes, but Matt...’

  ‘He’s just another guy,’ Penny said airily and swallowed her pride as best she could and hooked her arm into her mother’s. ‘Let’s go slink into our back pew. You want to ride in my little pink car? Come on, Mum, let’s get this thing over and done with and then we can get on with the rest of our lives.’

  And she propelled her mother out of the room, down the stairs, out of the front door—where Matt was waiting.

  * * *

  He took her breath away.

  He was standing in front of probably the world’s most beautiful—and expensive—four-door sports car.

  The gleaming white car looked as breathtaking as the guy leaning nonchalantly beside it. Or almost.

  Because this was Matt.

  He was wearing a deep black dinner suit, a suit that seemed to have been moulded onto him. It screamed Italian designer, bespoke quality. His crisp white shirt accentuated his gorgeous tanned skin, his hair seemed even darker than usual and his shoes gleamed almost as much as the car.

  And his face... It was strong, angular and weathered. His crinkly eyes were smiling straight at her.

  ‘Good afternoon,’ he said formally to both of them but oh, his eyes were only for her. ‘You’re a little earlier than we expected but we came prepared.’

  She managed to tear her eyes from Matt and saw Lily in the back seat. The window was down. ‘H...hi,’ Lily managed and emerged to join her father. Matt took her hand and led her forward.

  The girl was wearing a pale blue frock, deceptively simple. Strappy white sandals. A single pearl necklet and earrings.

  She looked very young and very lovely and also very nervous.

  ‘Louise, this is my daughter, Lily,’ Matt told her and there was no disguising his pride. ‘Lily, this is Mrs Hindmarsh-Firth.’


  ‘Lily, call me Louise. Oh, my dear, you look perfectly beautiful. And how brave of you to let your father drag you to a wedding where you know no one.’ And Lily was embraced in a cloud of expensive perfume.

  Matt gave Penny a grin and a thumbs up that said a grandma-type figure was what he’d hoped for. And Penny thought this was just what her mother needed, too. Someone to mother. And then she thought—they’d arrive at the wedding en famille.

  This was a day she’d been dreading, and her mother must have been dreading it just as much.

  Louise would have walked up the aisle as a second wife, the odd one out. Penny would have walked up the aisle as a jilted bride. Now, they’d arrive at the church in this car. With this man. Together.

  ‘Ready to go?’ he asked and she managed to smile back.

  ‘Oh, Matt...’

  ‘Don’t say a word,’ he told her and he kissed his fingers and then put them gently on her lips. ‘Let’s just soak up our first family wedding.’

  And that was breathtaking all over again.

  * * *

  Penny had expected to walk down the aisle as the ugly duckling. The sister who’d been dumped for the more beautiful model. She’d thought people would be looking at her with sympathy.

  But as she walked down the aisle with Matt beside her she felt as if she were floating, and who cared who was looking at her?

  She almost felt like a bride herself.

  Louise was right behind them, holding Lily’s hand. Somehow it had seemed natural to do it this way. Matt and Penny. Louise and Lily.

  They slid into the pew reserved for Stepmother. As Penny had predicted, it was well back. Felicity’s mother had decreed the seating arrangements for the bride’s side and it was a slap to Louise. Louise was used to such slaps, as was Penny, but now it didn’t affect them.

  It made it harder for all the necks craning to see who they were, but Penny didn’t care about that either.

  Penny and Matt and Lily and Louise.

  Mum and Dad and Daughter and Grandma?

  She peeked a look at Louise and her mother was beaming. Oh, Matt... Of all the ways to dispel sympathy. They’d have the church agog as to this new order.

  Had Matt known?

  She dared to look up at him and found him smiling.

  ‘You knew,’ she breathed. ‘The car.’ She looked at him again. ‘The suit.’

  ‘I figured it might help,’ he admitted. ‘A bit of bling.’

  ‘I can’t begin to tell you...’

  ‘Then don’t,’ he told her and grinned and held her hand tighter.

  And turned to watch the wedding.

  * * *

  It was the perfect wedding. It was orchestrated to the last minute detail.

  It was faintly...boring?

  ‘I’m sure we can think of a better way to do this,’ Matt whispered as the groom kissed the bride and six perfect bridesmaids and six beautiful groomsmen lined up to march out of the church—and Penny almost stopped breathing.

  ‘Matt...’

  ‘I know. It’s far too soon,’ he told her cheerfully and went back to watching the truly impressive bridal procession. And Penny tried really hard to start breathing again.

  And then they were outside, still in a tight family group. Louise was clutching Lily’s hand as if she were in danger of drowning, and Penny thought how inspired had Matt been to organise it this way.

  For Lily was intelligent enough to know she was needed. The memories of her week at her horrid school had obviously been put aside. She looked lovely and she knew it. She was even beaming at the cameras.

  And there were plenty of cameras. Media attention should have been on the bride and groom but it wasn’t.

  For, as the crowd clustered round in the sunshine, someone twigged.

  ‘Isn’t that...? Surely it’s not... No, I’m certain...’

  It started as a ripple, a rumour, but in seconds it was a wave of certainty.

  ‘Matthew Fraser! Owner of Harriday Holdings!’

  ‘Surely not!’

  ‘I’m sure. My dear, he’s possibly the richest man in the country. But he’s intensely private. Oh, my heaven... Didn’t they say it was Brett who dumped Penelope? Goodness, maybe it was the other way around.’

  Penny could see the wave of amazement, the wash of speculation—and the absolute switch of attention.

  The media was suddenly all over them.

  But it still didn’t matter. Matt’s hold on her hand tightened. He kept Louise and Lily in his circle.

  The feeling of family deepened.

  She’d dreaded this wedding but the dread had gone.

  This wedding felt like her own.

  * * *

  The reception was on the Harbour, in a restaurant with a view to die for. But of course they were seated right at the back, on a table with others Felicity’s mother had deemed insignificant. They were placed with the vicar who’d conducted the marriage service and his lively wife and three great-aunts.

  For someone who lived alone, Matt did an extraordinary job of pulling people together, and Louise helped. She hadn’t been meant to sit with them—that would have been too big an insult to seat her so far back—but she insisted on staying. She and Matt were determined to make their table lively. The great-aunts rose to the occasion. The vicar’s wife announced that she’d attended Lily’s new school in Adelaide and proceeded to tell scandalous stories of the teachers.

  Lily visibly relaxed and so did Penny. She sat back and watched Matt weave his magic, and the feelings she had for him grew stronger and stronger.

  Who was he doing this for? His daughter? He’d turned her into a princess for the night.

  Penny’s mother? Louise was charmed and charming. This day had turned out to be so different to the one she’d dreaded.

  The great-aunts? These were three spinsters, insignificant aunts of Louise, but Penny and Louise both loved them. And they loved Matt.

  They were having fun.

  They had people at the other tables staring, and Penny was starting to see an almost universal wish. Theirs was suddenly the party table.

  The dancing started. Bride and groom. Then the groom’s parents—and Felicity’s mother with George.

  This was the moment when it would have truly sucked to be Louise, but suddenly Matt was on his feet, propelling Louise to the dance floor to be the fourth couple, and if Penny hadn’t been in love with him already she fell right then.

  Her mother wasn’t the insignificant other. Matt was heart-meltingly handsome, and he swirled her mother round the dance floor as if she were a queen.

  As other couples poured onto the floor she tugged Lily up and they had fun. The vicar and his wife came out to join them and then they swept down on the great-aunts.

  ‘We can’t dance if we don’t have partners,’ the great-aunts said in horror, but Lily put them straight.

  ‘That’s so last century,’ Matt’s daughter pronounced. ‘Waiting for a guy to ask you is sexist and dumb. Get with it.’

  So then they were all on the floor, and the great-aunts were teaching Lily to jive and Matt and Louise joined them—and then somehow Matt had hold of Penny, steering her effortlessly away from the giggling jivers—and somehow everything around them seemed to slide into oblivion.

  * * *

  The music changed to a rhumba and Matt was good. Very good. Penny could dance a mean rhumba herself and it felt as if she was almost part of him.

  His hand held hers, tight, strong, warm. He tugged her in and out again, swung her, danced effortlessly, held her gaze the entire time.

  She felt like Cinderella at the ball, she thought wildly, and then she wondered: Is there a midnight?

  Surely there had to be a catch.

&nbs
p; ‘Where did you learn to dance?’ she managed as they swung. She was breathless, laughing, stunned.

  ‘My mum,’ he said simply. ‘I think she had me dancing before I could walk.’

  ‘You do still love her then?’ She said it wonderingly.

  His smile faded a little but the warmth was still there. ‘She was an appalling mother, but I couldn’t stop loving her.’ The dance had him tugging her into him, and he brushed her hair with a fleeting kiss before the moves pushed them apart again.

  ‘It seems once I give my heart, it breaks me apart to get it back,’ he said simply. ‘Loving seems to be forever. Is that scary? Yes, it is. Is it contagious? I hope so.’

  Out she swung and then in again, but this time his arm didn’t propel her out again.

  Instead he held her close, closer, and closer still.

  He kissed her.

  * * *

  It was her sister’s wedding day. The focus of the entire day should be on Felicity.

  Penny stood in the middle of the dance floor and melted into Matt’s arms and let him kiss her.

  For how could she pull away from Matt?

  The kiss was plundering, deep, hot, a public declaration but a private vow. The music faded to nothing. There was only each other.

  And half Australia’s polite society.

  She didn’t care. She kissed him back, with all the love in her heart, and she thought: If this night is all I have, then I’m Cinderella.

  And finally, when the kiss stopped, as all kisses eventually must, when she finally stood at arm’s length, when he smiled down at her, just smiled and smiled, she knew where her heart was. She knew there’d be no midnight.

  As the dancers around them erupted into laughing applause she blushed, but Matt held her hand and she held his hand back.

  ‘Hey, Penelope.’ It was a reporter from the biggest society tabloid in the country, calling from the side of the room as Matt led her back to the table. ‘How’s it feel to be the jilted bride?’

  And there was only one word to say to that.

  ‘Perfect.’

  Because it was.

  * * *

  Lily wilted. Matt needed to take her home and the entire table decided to follow.