And she’d never intruded into his space, either.
So why now? ‘You’re telling me I need to fall in love?’ he ventured, and he was rewarded by Ruby’s rich chuckle. She laughed so rarely. It made him think…
What did it make him think? How little he knew this woman? How crazy was the suggestion she was making?
‘We’re not expecting miracles here,’ Ruby told him. ‘But Adam and Gloria and I, we figured you’ve just tied up the e-commerce deal for Forde and there’s nothing happening over the next few weeks we can’t handle. We figure if you’re serious about validating this marriage, then you need to take a holiday. You need to see Australia.’
‘A few days won’t make a difference,’ he told her and she had all the answers.
‘A few days won’t. Two weeks will. We’ve checked. The Amerson v. Amerson case sets the precedent. The Amersons married, had a two-week honeymoon, and then separated to work in different countries. They rang each other once a week and e-mailed lots. He was killed, his wife inherited, but his brother sued for his estate, claiming the marriage wasn’t valid. The judge decreed it was fine. So that’s the precedent you’re planning to use. Two weeks in Australia, Marcus, followed by the odd phone call and e-mail. It’s that or forget it.’
‘Two weeks?’
‘At least.’
‘I can’t.’
‘You can.’ He heard the smile in her voice. ‘You know you can. She’s a nice kid.’
‘She’s a what?’
‘No? You tell me what else she is, Marcus,’ Ruby said gently-and replaced the receiver without another word.
Leaving him stunned.
Leaving him totally bemused.
He should pull out of this right now, he thought grimly. He stared up at the gilt ceiling of the ornate club bedroom and he thought things through. Or he tried to. Things were getting really muddled.
He thought of where he’d found Peta last night.
He thought of where he’d been-how hard he’d fought to get where he was.
He thought of Ruby, not telling him all these years about her baby and her man. And he thought about why he’d never asked.
He thought of Peta, taking his hands, kissing him…
A holiday. What harm would two weeks do?
What harm indeed?
‘Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.’
Peta stood in the garishly decorated funeral chapel and listened to the priest intone words of farewell to her beloved Hattie.
There was no one else. Charles hadn’t come. Of course he hadn’t. She’d disliked Charles for a long time, but now… She gazed at the plain wooden coffin and tried hard not to think about how distressed Hattie would be if she knew her son wasn’t here to say goodbye.
She tried instead to think of the good times. Of the Hattie she’d known and loved-the Hattie who’d been a mother figure to her for so long.
The good times refused to surface. It distressed her immeasurably that Hattie was being farewelled here, instead of in Hattie’s own beloved church back in Australia. She hated the whole thing. That she was being forced to marry a stranger to protect her legacy-a man whose motives she couldn’t begin to understand.
Marriage. The idea seemed crazy. It was a figment of her imagination-part of the nightmare that was yesterday. Her feelings for Marcus must have been induced by pain and by drugs, she decided. Today he was a hazy memory.
Today all she could focus on was Hattie.
The coffin was right before her. It was the only real and tangible thing in this whole mess. The priest was murmuring the last blessing, casting Peta an apologetic glance as he did so. He was a kindly man. He could tell she was distressed at this curt service, but he had three more of these to do this morning.
The curtain swung closed in front of the coffin-and it was over.
‘She’ll have been really glad that you were here.’
The sound of the familiar voice made her jump, and when Marcus’s hand came lightly down on her shoulder he had no idea how close she came to turning into his broad shoulder to weep. Marcus a hazy memory? It seemed she was mistaken. He was very, very real.
‘M-Marcus.’
‘I went back to my apartment and found you were already gone. Then Ruby rang and said the service was now. I’m sorry I didn’t make it earlier.’
‘But… Why?’
‘I thought you might need a bit of support,’ he told her. ‘And I also figured that’s what husbands are for.’ He smiled, a gentle smile that was close to being her undoing. ‘You loved her.’
It was a statement-not a question-and Peta nodded.
‘I’ve been doing a little research.’ He cast an uncertain look at the curtained end of the room-they both did. There was the sound of wheels-one coffin making way for the next. Peta tried really hard to concentrate on what he was saying. ‘Your aunt only came back to the States when she became ill,’ Marcus told her, apparently seeking confirmation of someone’s research. ‘At Charles’s insistence.’
‘Australia was her home,’ Peta said drearily. ‘But Charles wanted his mother to die here.’
‘Why?’
‘Can’t you guess?’ Peta shrugged. ‘He made a flying visit to Australia when the doctors told her she had very little time, and he insisted she come back with him. Hattie… I think at that stage Hattie was so grateful he was taking an interest that she’d agree to anything. She came. Then, whenever I rang, she said things were fine. She was even getting better, she said. Only suddenly she stopped ringing and Charles wouldn’t answer my calls. I worried and worried and finally it was too much. I got on a plane and came.’
She didn’t add that she’d spent all her savings. Everything.
Marcus was calmly watching her, obviously seeing her distress. ‘And Charles wasn’t doing the right thing by her?’
‘What do you think? Of course he wasn’t. There was…nothing. She was Australian. She had no health insurance. She wasn’t being treated. She was so much worse and he’d put her in a really horrid nursing home and abandoned her. She was so glad to see me. So glad. She was really confused. I found a doctor to see her but by then it was far too late to have any effect. The cancer had done something to her calcium levels, the doctor told me, so she was only having glimpses of reality but at least she knew I was here. She died a week after I arrived.’
‘Having changed her will in favour of her son.’
She shook her head, bleakness threatening to overwhelm her. ‘It was her right.’
‘I think I’m going to enjoy this wedding,’ Marcus said grimly and then he glanced at Peta’s pale face and obviously decided against pushing his anger further. There was another funeral waiting to happen. This wasn’t the time-or the place.
‘Let me buy you something to eat.’
‘No.’ She hauled herself together. ‘No, thank you.’
The undertaker was approaching now, an anxious little man, clearly wanting to clear the room so that the next sad little ceremony could take place. He looked at Marcus with obvious curiosity. And then his eyes widened in recognition. ‘Marcus-
‘Yes.’ Marcus held out his hand in greeting and the man’s slightly impatient expression slipped away.
‘Don’t hurry,’ he told them. ‘There’s another funeral due but take your time.’
‘We will. Thank you.’ Marcus’s glance was dismissive but Peta edged towards the door.
‘I need to go.’
‘Stay.’
‘N-No.’
