Stranded with the Secret Billionaire Read online

  ‘The phone call this afternoon was from Darrilyn. It seems there was a fight last night between Lily and Darrilyn’s boyfriend. Apparently Ray’s a hunter. He has trophies all over the house. He’s just been to Africa and brought home stuffed heads from his latest kill, and it seems Lily hit the roof. According to Darrilyn, she said some unforgivable things and Ray hit her. They went out and left Lily at home, and Lily took scissors and Ray’s razor and shaved every single stuffed head in the house.’

  ‘Oh...’ Penny almost laughed. So the kid had spunk. ‘Oh, my...’

  ‘So Ray wants her gone, now. She’s been in boarding school, but it’s vacation and Ray says she’s not even staying with him until school starts. And Darrilyn... To be honest, I don’t think she ever really wanted her. Having Lily’s simply been a way of accessing my money and now it’s all too hard. So Darrilyn’s organizing a school here but, until she can start, she’s sending her to me. She’s putting her on a plane as we speak. I’ll pick her up in Adelaide and bring her here. Not for long, though. Darrilyn’s currently researching schools, probably finding the most expensive one she can make me pay for.’

  ‘I...see.’ She felt vaguely ill for the unknown and unwanted Lily. Maybe she could help, she thought.

  And then she thought: No—really no.

  Because suddenly she saw exactly what the problem was and, looking at Matt’s shadowed face, she knew that he’d got there too. She understood the heaviness.

  She was suddenly imagining the thoughts of the unknown Lily. The kid was being thrown out of the only home she knew and was heading halfway across the world to meet a father she saw twice a year.

  She’d be terrified.

  But Matt would have told his daughter about this farm. All her life she’d have heard stories of Jindalee, of Ron and Harv and Donald, and the dogs and the sheep. Maybe she knew about Maisie as well. Being here... Riding Maisie... Exploring the farm with her father...finally they might bond.

  But, to do that, to have any chance at all, they couldn’t have an outsider, a pink princess tagging along with them.

  She saw the whole situation now, and it made her feel...hollow? Lily would arrive traumatised—Penny knew enough of troubled teenagers to realise that. She’d need all Matt’s attention and more.

  But, as for Penny? As for Penny and Matt? Well, that was never going to work out.

  Relationships and Penny? Ha.

  And reality flooded back. For these last few nights, lying with Matt’s body curved protectively against hers, she’d allowed herself to dream, but that was all it was. A dream. Matt had needed her over shearing, and he’d enjoyed her in his bed. But now he no longer needed her and it was time to move on.

  Matt knew it. They both did. So say it.

  ‘I need to go.’

  ‘No.’ Matt’s response was a savage growl, but she met his gaze and she knew he saw the situation as clearly as she did.

  He should be joyful that his daughter was finally arriving. Instead he was heavy-hearted because an embryonic relationship was getting in the way of what had to happen.

  Matt Fraser was a good man. An honourable man. She knew he’d do the right thing, but for now the right thing was to put his daughter first.

  So if he couldn’t—maybe she had to be cruel for him.

  ‘It’s been fun,’ she managed and she set Samson down and pulled herself to her feet. ‘But you don’t need me here when Lily arrives. She’ll need your sole attention.’

  ‘I want you to stay.’

  ‘Do you really?’ She put her hands on her hips, feeling a surge of anger. She’d faced enough harsh reality in relationships to be used to confronting the truth, and he needed to see it, too. Coating it with sugar, with regrets, with apologies, didn’t help at all. ‘Matt, I came uninvited. I’ve had a wonderful time and, what’s more, you’ve paid me brilliantly. It’s been the job of a lifetime and you and I have had fun. But it’s time for Samson and me to move on.’

  ‘Penny, I need you to stay.’

  But the anger was still with her. She knew impossibility when she saw it.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because I think I might love you.’

  And the night stopped, just like that.

  Love.

  It was a tiny word. It was a word that was terrifying.

  Normal people understood the love thing, she thought bleakly. Normal parents picked their kids up when they fell over, kissed scraped knees, told them they were loved and set them down to toddle off to the next scrape.

  For Penny, though... ‘Penny, how can you expect us to love you if you look a disgrace? Why aren’t you more like your sister? For heaven’s sake, lose a few pounds—that a daughter of mine looks pudgy... If you love us, girl, you’ll do what I tell you...’

  It was always her father’s voice, with her mother in the background, looking distressed but saying nothing.

  And then Brett... ‘Penny, I love you and all I want is to make you happy.’

  Love. It should make her heart sing and yet all it did was make her mistrust.

  ‘No,’ she said, more harshly than she intended. She hauled her dignity around her like a cloak, and maybe only she could see how tattered that cloak was. ‘Love. It doesn’t mean anything. We’ve known each other for how long? To talk of love is crazy. We need to face reality. These last weeks have been great but you don’t need me any more. If and when Lily settles into school and you’d like to catch up then maybe we can meet, but let’s leave it with no promises. Don’t make your life any more complicated than it already is. Samson and I will leave in the morning.’

  ‘What will you do?’ And he’d accepted it, she thought. He knew there was no choice.

  He really did love his daughter and he was an honourable man.

  ‘I’ll go back to Sydney,’ she told him. ‘I’ll get myself together and decide on a serious career path rather than head back to the outback on a whim. I might even help my mother face this wedding down.’

  ‘Penny, don’t!’

  ‘I think I must,’ she said, striving for lightness. ‘Because I love my mum. Like you love Lily. We shouldn’t fight these things even if we want to. You know your first commitment needs to be to Lily?’

  ‘Yes,’ he growled. ‘But I don’t have to like it.’

  But she smiled and shook her head. ‘This is your daughter and I’m very sure you do. Love between you and me? Well, that’s something we can control. It’s something we can back away from because we both know it won’t work. But the way you love Lily, and the way I love my mum, well, that’s non-negotiable.’

  And then she couldn’t help herself. She stood on tiptoe and kissed him lightly on the lips, but retreated before he had the chance to respond.

  ‘You’re a wonderful man, Matt Fraser,’ she told him. ‘I’ve had an amazing time. You’ve rescued me really well, but now it’s time for your rescued maiden to move on.’

  * * *

  Matt stayed on the veranda for a long time.

  She was desperately hurt. He could see it in the way her face had closed, in the way she’d tucked herself into herself, in the dignity she’d summoned as she’d said goodnight.

  All he wanted to do was follow her, fold her into his arms and tell her how loved she was. How she was the best thing to happen to him...ever? Love was something they could control? Ha!

  But he’d known her for less than a month. Maybe she had it right.

  He thought of his mother, bursting in the door after a night out. ‘Darling, I’ve met the most wonderful man.’ Then there’d be weeks, even months, of glowing happiness while she ignored everything else but the new love in her life. In the end Matt had learned to ignore it, put his head down, battle through as best he could until his mother finally surfaced. Even when he was tiny, she’d wanted him to pic
k up the pieces.

  ‘Oh, darling, give your mummy a hug. Hug her until she feels better. Is there anything in the fridge? Oh, sweetheart, is that all? You need to come with me to the Welfare. They’ll give me more if I take you with me.’

  This wasn’t anything like that, he thought savagely. It didn’t come close.

  But his daughter? Lily had been brought up with Darrilyn’s version of the same scenario. Darrilyn had moved from one disastrous situation to another as she’d searched for the next socially desirable catch. If he’d thought there was any way he could help he’d have moved to the States, but Darrilyn had sole custody, granted by the US courts. His visits had been formally arranged and necessarily brief. But now, finally, Lily was coming home.

  He’d always told her she was welcome here. ‘If ever your mother agrees, you have a home in Australia,’ he’d told her. ‘A farm, your own horse, stability. And a dad who loves you and only you.’

  Okay, it had been a promise that in retrospect was stupid, but he’d never believed he could fall for another woman.

  He had fallen, but what he had with Penny was only weeks old. Even his mother’s relationships had looked rosy after less than a month.

  ‘Leave it,’ he told himself heavily and he knew he couldn’t do anything else. He’d try and talk to Penny again at breakfast. Try and explain.

  Except she understood. He knew she did.

  She got it.

  She was one amazing woman. When Lily was settled, he could find her...

  ‘Yeah? You think she’ll hang around and wait?’

  There was no answer. She’d gone to bed. Even the dogs had gone to bed.

  He was alone, as he’d promised his daughter he would be.

  ‘And that’s the way it has to be.’ He knew it but he didn’t have to like it.

  He’d hurt Penny but how could he fix it?

  ‘Maybe in time...’

  Or not. Leave it, he told himself. For now he had this one chance with his daughter and he couldn’t blow it.

  Even if the hurt in Penny’s eyes was like a stab to his own heart.

  CHAPTER TEN

  MALLEY’S DIDN’T WANT HER, or if they did she didn’t stick around to find out. Malley’s was too close to Jindalee. Too close to Matt.

  She headed back to Sydney because her mother’s pleas were still ringing in her ears. She no longer had an excuse not to attend her sister’s wedding and, for some strange reason, she now felt she had the strength to be there.

  She wasn’t sure where it had come from but this new strength was with her. The new, improved Penny... She could have cried all the way home, but she refused. Instead she lowered the sunroof, put every powerful woman singer she knew on her sound system and let them rip. I am woman... She surely was. She arrived back in Sydney sunburned and with no voice but she didn’t care.

  Anger helped. And a new-found determination.

  She’d put her career aside once because she loved her mother. What a disaster. Then she’d thought she’d loved Brett and where had that got her?

  Now...she’d exposed her heart even more, and all she felt was pain.

  ‘So no one needs me and I refuse to need anyone,’ she told Samson. ‘Who needs love?’ It didn’t quite work but it was worth a try.

  Her mother was overjoyed to see her but Penny didn’t stay at home except to sleep. She had things to do. Moping gave her time to think and the last thing she wanted was thinking time.

  In some strange way things had changed inside her. She thought of the times she’d pleaded with her father to do what she wanted, and had passively accepted dismissal and scorn. But this time...

  ‘I’m setting up my own catering company,’ she told her parents. ‘My plan is to do proper meals—family meals. If a young mum has a baby, I’ll come in with a full week’s worth of nutritious comfort food. If someone’s ill, I’ll supply what the family needs. I’ll start small, but I’m thinking in the end I’ll have staff and a fleet of delivery vans and caterers who can move into people’s homes. And I’ll be hands-on. Any time there’s a need for a good feed, I’m your girl.’

  ‘I won’t have the media saying my daughter’s a servant,’ her father snapped but she’d had enough.

  ‘I’m not a servant, and the only time I’ve ever felt like one was when I tried to please you. Look where that got me. So this time I’m pleasing myself and don’t you dare put pressure on Mum to make me change my mind. And I won’t be staying in Sydney. I’ll be moving to Adelaide or Melbourne. It depends where I can get decent premises and that’ll take time but I’ll do it right. And Mum, I won’t let Dad blackmail me into doing what he wants by using your sadness, so you might as well get used to the new order.’

  She left them speechless. To say her father was unused to the women in his family standing up to him would be an understatement but she’d done it. She’d stay for a few weeks. She’d get her mother through this wedding, she’d get her own head together and then move on.

  Matt would be proud, she thought, but that was a concept that hurt. So, instead of thinking about Matt, she forced herself to focus on work.

  She put out feelers for long-term premises in Melbourne and Adelaide but she was sensible enough to accept that long-term plans should be put on hold until she was emotionally level-headed again.

  She found a decent commercial kitchen and took a short-term lease, then contacted a local refuge for the homeless. The homeless were delighted, and cooking was a balm.

  She needed someone to help her if she was going to do the deliveries as well so she advertised for an assistant. A young woman applied who was from Adelaide. Was that a sign? Maybe her new life could be in Adelaide.

  It was too soon to decide. For now she was busy. She was doing what she wanted.

  So why did she feel so empty?

  At least Matt had banished the humiliation Felicity and Brett had caused, she conceded. That was the one good thing, so when her mother asked again—very tentatively—about the family pre-wedding dinner, she agreed.

  Do it and move on, she told herself. I am woman...

  ‘That’s lovely, dear,’ Louise said. ‘It’ll be just the five of us.’

  Just like last time, Penny thought, and was proud of herself for not saying it.

  So, two weeks after she’d left Jindalee, five days before her sister’s wedding, she found herself dressing up and heading downstairs for a formal pre-wedding dinner.

  Not a dinner cooked by her, though. Her parents had hired a trendy caterer for the occasion.

  ‘It’ll be something with kale in it,’ she muttered to herself. ‘With accents of Japanese on the side. Seaweed maybe.’

  She thought suddenly of her shearers being given kale and seaweed and found herself grinning.

  ‘Hold that thought,’ she muttered and headed for the dining room. She was halfway down the grand staircase when the doorbell rang.

  Felicity and Brett had arrived together ten minutes earlier. She could hear Brett pontificating with her father in the dining room. They weren’t expecting anyone else.

  Her parents’ butler swung the door wide. The porch was well lit.

  It was Matt.

  * * *

  She was halfway down the stairs and she was dressed as he’d never seen her—in a sky-blue cocktail dress that accentuated her curves to perfection. It had a mandarin collar, slit deep to reveal the beautiful curves of her breasts. It had tiny capped sleeves, a cinched waist and a skirt that swirled softly to below her knees. She was wearing high silver stilettoes and loopy silver earrings. Her hair was caught up in a soft knot of tumbled curls.

  She looked elegant and poised and about a million miles from the Penny he knew. She looked as if she belonged here.

  What was he doing? He felt like he should cut and run
.

  But it had cost him considerable trouble to get this far. There were security gates at the start of the mansion’s long drive but by coincidence they’d been left open. That coincidence had taken research, an extensive phone call to the family butler, an explanation he was hardly ready to give and an eye-watering bank transfer.

  So now he was where he needed to be, but did Penny want him? This house was all marble stucco, Grecian columns—grand, grand and more grand. And Penny looked...amazing.

  Was this the Penny he knew?

  He’d spent the last two weeks fighting an internal battle, which he’d lost. He was in Sydney, Penny was close and he knew her appalling family dinner was tonight. Letting her face it by herself seemed the act of a coward.

  That was what he’d told himself, but he knew it was more than that. He’d spent two weeks without her and those two weeks had left him feeling gutted.

  It was too late to back out now. Penny had seen him. She paused on the stairway, looking stunned. ‘Matt,’ she breathed and he felt his world settle a little. Just to hear her voice made him feel better.

  ‘Hi.’ He smiled, but the butler moved imperceptibly, blocking the path between them. Refusing him entry.

  Fair enough. The man had agreed to let him as far as the door. He now had to resume his role.

  ‘I had no right to come,’ he managed, talking up towards Penny. ‘But I don’t have your phone details. I’ve brought Lily to Sydney to her new school and I wanted...well, I hoped for your advice.’ He took a deep breath and looked again at the vision in blue. Wow.

  ‘I’d hoped to talk to you,’ he managed. ‘But if it’s a bad time...’

  ‘What’s happening?’

  A woman emerged from double doors leading from the hall. She was slim and elegant, immaculately groomed, looking worried. Penny’s mother?

  ‘Brian, who is it?’ she demanded of the butler. ‘You know George said no interruptions. Felicity says Brett must have failed to hit the remote and left the gate open. George is already angry.’

  Matt glanced again at Penny. Penny’s initial smile had faded. She was standing like stone.