Stranded with the Secret Billionaire
Page 17
‘I know you’re supposed to wait for the bride to leave,’ one great-aunt grumbled. ‘But these days they stay until three in the morning and if you leave, young man, there’s not a person in this room who can criticise us.’
‘And you don’t know your way around this part of town,’ Louise declared. She wasn’t about to let the night end on a whimper. ‘Let’s make the grand exit.’
So they said their goodbyes—politely, but en masse—and departed and Matt thought the bride and groom would be pleased to see them go. Brett had been sending him dark looks all night. Felicity had been carefully avoiding looking at her half-sister.
They’d have much more fun without them.
‘But drop in tomorrow,’ Penny’s father said to Matt, clapping him on the shoulder. He’d learned by now who he’d patronized five days ago.
‘Thank, you, sir, but I’m heading back to Adelaide tomorrow,’ Matt told him. ‘I have a daughter to settle into school.’
He smiled and held Lily by one hand and Penny with the other and led them out. It was a defiant little team and it felt great.
And then they were outside, breathing in the warm night air of Sydney Harbour, and he felt Penny almost slump beside him.
‘Done?’ he said gently. ‘Not so bad at all, really.’
‘Thanks to you,’ she whispered. ‘Matt, if you knew what you’ve done... For Mum... For me...’
‘Sort of like charging in and cooking for a shearing team of twenty,’ he told her. ‘But with far less work.’
‘Are you really heading back to Adelaide tomorrow?’
‘Um...no,’ he told her. The great-aunts and Louise were at his back and Lily was beside him. He needed to choose his words with care. ‘I thought I might head back tonight, if it’s okay with you.’
‘Tonight?’ Her face became still and he thought, he hoped, it was disappointment. But the expression was fleeting. Penny had herself under control.
She’d been verbally slapped too many times, he thought. He wouldn’t mess with this woman again.
Ever.
‘Of course it’s okay with me,’ she was saying but he shook his head.
‘Don’t say that until you hear my plan.’
‘What plan?’
‘I thought I’d take you with me.’
There was a gasp from the great-aunts and from Louise. Not from Lily, though. His daughter was grinning.
She’d been in on this plan and was loving it.
‘What...why?’
‘I have things I need to show you,’ he told her. ‘Important things. Lily and I have been busy.’
‘I thought you were looking at schools.’
‘We have been,’ he told her. ‘Lily’s planning to try out the school you recommended as a day kid, before deciding to try boarding. Boarding there looks fun but we’re taking this slowly. Meanwhile, we have a master plan and I want to share it with you.’
‘So...you’ll both fly back tonight.’
‘Not Lily,’ he told her. ‘Lily’s exhausted, aren’t you, Lily?’
And Lily looked at him and grinned. She’d made an excellent show of wilting inside the wedding venue, but now she was all smiles.
‘I’m so tired,’ she said meekly.
‘So we’re taking her back to the hotel on the way to the airport,’ Matt told Penny.
‘You can’t leave her alone!’
‘Who said anything about leaving her alone? Noreen’s booked in with her. It took a bit of trouble to track her down but we managed it. Staying in the Caledonian, all expenses paid—Noreen thinks it will be awesome. Tomorrow they’re taking the ferry over to Manly to check out the beach. They’ll have two nights together while Lily recovers from her very exhausting night tonight...’
‘I’m so exhausted,’ Lily added, her smile widening. She looked so like her father!
‘And they’ll both fly over to Adelaide on Monday,’ Matt told the speechless Penny. ‘How about that for a plan?’
‘Hey,’ Louise said. ‘What about me?’
‘Hey, yourself,’ Matt told her and grinned. He was no longer holding Penny’s hand. He’d tugged her in so she was hugged against him. ‘You’re included anywhere you want to be included.’ But then he reconsidered. ‘Though not tonight. Not with us. But the girls would love a chaperone tomorrow.’
‘I could take them to my very favourite restaurant for lunch,’ Louise told him and smiled at Lily. ‘My friend Beth has a son who’s a lifeguard at Manly. Do you think you and Noreen would like surfing lessons?’
‘Wow,’ Lily breathed. ‘Wow!’
Louise hesitated. ‘I might stay at the Caledonian too. If that’s okay with you.’
‘Come over to Adelaide on Monday with the girls,’ Matt told her. ‘I think Penny would love it.’
‘Hey, what about us?’ one of the great-aunts demanded. ‘This sounds fun.’
‘Any and all of you are welcome,’ Matt said, hugging Penny tighter. ‘As of Monday, but not before if you don’t mind.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Apologies, folk, but I have a private jet chartered in an hour. My plan includes sweeping Penny away...’
‘Sweeping?’ Penny gasped.
‘Sweeping.’ He smiled broadly. ‘But not without a plan. I’m sweeping you up in my jet and taking you off to places unknown and I’m keeping you only unto me until Monday. And, before you start with the practicalities, I had a conversation with your father’s esteemed butler and it turns out he’s a romantic at heart. He has a bag packed and one dog, brushed and fed and ready to go. A confirmation phone call from you, and they’ll be on the tarmac waiting for us.’ And then he couldn’t help himself. He swept her up into his arms and held her close. His dark eyes gleamed. ‘If that’s okay with you, darling Penny.’
She thought suddenly of her lonely drive across outback Australia in her little pink car. Woman and dog.
I am woman...
She’d thought she was strong. She’d thought she’d cope alone.
And she was, she thought mistily. Except right now she was woman in the middle of...love.
Her family. Her mum, her great-aunts. Lily.
Her man.
‘I am woman,’ she whispered to Matt as he held her close. ‘I can do anything I want.’
‘I’m sure you can,’ he told her. ‘So what do you want?’
‘I want to be with you.’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
PENTHOUSE SUITE. Adelaide’s most prestigious hotel. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.
They’d arrived at two in the morning and Penny had hardly noticed her surroundings.
She didn’t notice them now. She was spooned in the great wide bed, her body moulded, skin to skin, with the man she loved with all her heart.
She had no idea where this was going. She had no idea how their lives could mesh, but for now all she cared about was that she was with Matt. And somehow things had been taken out of her hands. The great swell of loneliness she’d felt practically all her life had suddenly been lifted.
Last night had been fun, she thought dreamily. Her sister’s wedding, an event she’d been dreading, had turned out to be an event where she’d felt she’d belonged for the first time in her life.
Because of the man who held her in his arms right now.
A sunbeam was playing on her face. She felt warm, loved. She had no intention of stirring, but somehow Matt must have sensed her wakefulness.
He opened his eyes, tugged her closer and she felt him smile.
She wriggled around so she faced him, looping her arms around his neck and she thought: If I could hold this moment... This is where I want to be for the rest of my life.
But there was a whimper from the floor beside them and the outside world broke in, in the form of one s
mall dog.
‘I need to...’ she started but Matt tugged her tight with one hand and reached for the phone with the other.
‘You don’t need to do anything,’ he told her, and a minute later a discreet hotel employee arrived. Matt donned a bathrobe, and Samson and his leash—and a discreet bank note—were handed over. Matt returned to bed, his dark eyes gleaming.
‘Now, where were we?’
It took them a while to surface. Samson was obviously being taken for a very long walk.
‘He’s having breakfast downstairs,’ Matt told her when she managed to ask. ‘Speaking of breakfast, we need room service. Can I interest you in croissants? An omelette? Champagne? Okay, maybe not champagne. We have things to do, you and me.’
‘Really?’
‘Or things to see,’ he told her. ‘Though how can I look at anything else when you’re right here?’ He kissed her and croissants were put on the back burner for a while.
An hour later, dressed in her very favourite jeans and sweater—how had Brian managed that?—they were in an open-topped roadster heading for the hills. Literally.
‘It’s where Lily’s school is,’ he told her and that was where she thought he was taking her. But instead he pulled up outside an eclectic, fashionable village-type shopping centre, lined with trees, full of enticing cafés and Sunday morning visitors.
He helped her out of the car, tucked Samson under one arm, took her hand and led her to the end of the street. Then he paused.
He stopped in front of a building that looked like an old warehouse. It was built of clinker brick, weathered with age, long and low and looking as if it was part of the land around them. It had only one storey, but the roof rose in the middle to form a rectangle of clerestory windows.
Huge barn-like doors looked as if they were built of solid oak. A smaller entrance door was built within, so one person could go in, or twenty.
It was beautiful.
There was a ‘For Sale’ sign out the front. A notice had been plastered over it: ‘Contract Pending’.
‘Want to see?’ Matt asked and Penny turned her attention from the gorgeous old brick building and looked up at Matt. He looked anxious.
‘Matt...’
‘Nothing’s final,’ he said hurriedly. ‘This is your decision. But come inside.’
And he opened the small door and ushered her in.
Outside it was lovely. Inside it was perfect.
It took her breath away.
It was already set up as a commercial kitchen. Great wooden benches ran along the middle of the hall. Sinks were inserted at regular intervals. More benches lined the walls with a bank of commercial ovens. There were massive dishwashers, heating banks, storage...
There was a loading ramp at the back so vans could back in. A rear door could be opened and food loaded.
‘There’s parking for six trucks at the rear,’ Matt told her and he still sounded anxious.
‘It’s perfect,’ Penny breathed. Samson was down on the floor, investigating smells left from a hundred years of baking. ‘Wow.’
‘It’s an old bakery,’ Matt told her. ‘The original ovens are still out the back.’
‘So I could make wood-fired bread. I could...’
He put a finger on her lips. ‘Wait until you see the rest,’ he told her. ‘It’s a package deal.’
And he led her out the back, across the car park and through a small garden. There were two small cottages, side by side. Built as a pigeon pair.
He opened the door of the first and she saw perfection. Two bedrooms. An open fire. Sunlight streaming through the windows.
Modern touches, subtly adding every comfort.
‘It’s a package deal,’ Matt repeated as she prowled in wonder. ‘Two cottages or nothing. Penny, it’s only five minutes’ walk from Lily’s school.’ Suddenly he sounded almost apologetic. ‘I thought...I hoped...’
And then he stopped, as if what he was about to say was too big to put into words.
She turned and held his hands and smiled up at him, and she thought her heart might burst. But she waited for what he might say.
‘I thought...for the first few months, until she’s settled, I could stay here,’ he told her. ‘Well, I’ll stay in Adelaide anyway. I’ll pay someone to manage Jindalee but I’ll go home at weekends. I can organize a chopper to go back and forth, daily if needed. If Lily’s a day kid she can come back and forth at weekends too. I thought...you could have one cottage and Lily and I could have the other. Unless...’
‘Unless?’ She could scarcely breathe.
And then she stopped breathing entirely, because he had both her hands in his and his smile was uncertain, tremulous, but filled with such hope...
‘It’s too soon to ask you,’ he told her. ‘I know that. It’s unfair to put pressure on you. But Penny, my feelings won’t change. I’ve figured that out about myself. My heart seems to have a will of its own. I figured I’d be alone for ever but I was wrong. Penny, if you allow me to buy this...’
‘I...allow...!’
‘This is your place,’ he told her. ‘Lily and I both knew it the moment we saw it. I have no doubt you could raise the capital to buy it yourself, but it would be my very great honour to buy it for you. With no strings attached.’
‘No strings?’
‘Except...maybe once a month for the next six months, you allow me to ask you to marry me. No pressure to accept. Just listen to my proposal. And every month I’ll think of more reasons why you should. At the end of those six months, if you’re still unsure, I’ll walk away. I promise. So it’s a small string. One question, once a month.’
‘And that’s the cost of my lease?’ She could scarcely make her voice work.
‘Not a lease. A sale. My weekly proposal doesn’t make a difference as to whether you’ll own it or not.’ The hold on her hands grew tighter. ‘So, my love, what will it be? Do we have a deal?’
She shook her head. Somehow she made herself smile although she could feel tears welling behind her eyes.
‘The cost being six proposals?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then how can that work?’ she whispered. ‘How can that possibly work when I’m answering your proposal right now. The building is sold. Of course I’ll marry you, Matt Fraser. With all of my heart.’
* * *
It was a wedding with a difference. A Jindalee wedding.
Matt Fraser had been a recluse for most of his life. He wasn’t a recluse any more but this was no huge wedding. This was a wedding for the closest of their family and friends and no one else.
The reception was to be held back at the homestead because the caterers—Penny’s team, led by the now indomitable Noreen—couldn’t cart the food all the way to the river. But the ceremony itself was held at the billabong Matt had shown Penny after shearing.
Expecting guests to arrive on horseback was too big an ask, but they’d had time to build a carefully concealed track. The wedding was twelve months in the planning.
Which wasn’t quite true, Penny thought as she rode steadily to the place where she and Matt were to be married. They hadn’t spent twelve months planning a wedding. They’d spent twelve months building a life together.
For the first few months Matt had commuted back and forth between Jindalee and Adelaide. He now had his pilot’s licence—and his own chopper. He’d built up his flying hours fast as he flew back and forth a couple of times a week.
He could have made his home in Adelaide but neither Penny nor Lily wanted it.
Lily boarded at her new school and loved it.
Penny had established a catering firm that was already inundated with more orders than she could handle.
And at weekends they all went home.
Home. Jindalee.
This year’s shearing had been the time when she’d finally handed the day-to-day running of her company over to Noreen. Shearing had been when she’d come home.
It felt good. No, it felt great.
Lily was still coming home most weekends, although Louise was now living permanently in Adelaide. The two were as close to grandmother-grandchild as made no difference. A cottage behind the old brick bakery was home for Louise and a second home for all of them.
‘We’re late already,’ Ron warned her. ‘You want to get that nag to hurry up?’
‘Maisie doesn’t do hurry,’ she said contentedly and it was just as well. She’d decided to do the full bridal bit, which meant she felt like a cloud of white lace, riding side-saddle with an immaculately groomed Samson up before her. She couldn’t hurry.
Nor did she want to. This was a ride to be savoured.
And suddenly Lily was thinking of a wedding twelve months ago... The wedding Felicity had stolen.
How lucky am I? she thought, wonderingly. How blessed?
And then they reached the ridge down to the water. The newly made track made it easy. The guests were there and waiting, on chairs set up on the mossy grasses by the waterfall.
Lily was waiting to help her down, in full bridesmaid splendour. And Louise. They fussed about her dress, clucking that it had crushed a little during the ride. Smoothing it down. Her mother was smiling through tears and Lily was handing her her bouquet.
Penny hardly noticed.
All she saw was Matt.
He too had ridden to the wedding—on Penny’s instructions. ‘Because it’s how I first saw you,’ she’d told him. ‘My knight in shining armour, on a horse to match.’
‘I seem to remember I was a pretty soggy knight,’ he’d told her and she’d chuckled but she’d stayed firm.