They ate in silence. She was achingly aware that he was watching her-that she was being somehow measured-but there was nothing she could do about it.
She wasn’t even sure that she minded.
‘What happened to your parents?’ he asked at last, and Peta felt her insides twist. It was as if this man could really read her mind. The sensation was incredibly unnerving.
‘My mother died having Harry,’ she told him. ‘Eclampsia. My father was killed when his tractor rolled ten years ago.’
‘And you’ve been it ever since.’
‘It?’
‘Provider.’
‘There was Hattie,’ she told him.
‘So Hattie looked after you?’
‘I was sixteen.’
‘So Hattie didn’t look after you?’
‘I was strong. I could run the farm. I loved Hattie and I couldn’t have coped without her, but she had crippling arthritis.’
‘So let me get this straight,’ he said, obviously thinking it through. ‘You were sixteen when you were left on a farm with four other children. The oldest was how old?’
‘Daniel was eleven.’
‘And your cousin? Charles?’
‘He’s a lot older than me. He left before my father died. Hattie sent her share of the farm profits to him, and we only saw him when he wanted more money.’ She bit her lip. ‘She didn’t know… Hattie didn’t understand how successful Charles was. He kept needing more.’
But Marcus wasn’t interested in how successful Charles was. He was focused on Peta. ‘So you’d have been sixteen. You were still at school?’
‘It didn’t hurt me to leave. I loved farming.’
‘You mean you had to leave.’
‘Yes,’ she admitted honestly. ‘I had to.’
‘And what about now?’
‘I run a really successful farm.’
‘Do the boys help?’
‘Of course they do. Only Daniel and Christopher are at university now and William is at a special school in the city.’ She smiled, thinking of her high-achieving brothers. ‘Daniel will be a vet and Christopher is in first year law. And William is brilliant. He won a scholarship to a special school for gifted kids.’
‘But-you support them all?’ He sounded appalled and she shook her head.
‘No. They all help. During the holidays.’
‘But the rest of the time there’s just you?’
‘And Harry.’ Her smile widened, thinking with real affection of the baby of the family. ‘Harry’s great. You’ll love…’ She caught herself and changed the tense. ‘You’d like Harry.’
‘When I meet him.’
‘There’s no need for you to meet him.’
‘There’s every need,’ he said brusquely. ‘I thought I explained it to you. Where’s Harry now?’
‘Stowing away in Daniel’s university college.’ She hesitated. ‘He was unhappy about me being away. He’s only twelve. So we thought that if he could stay with the boys he’d be happier. The kids are great. They’re looking after him. But I need to get back.’
‘I can see that you do.’ He was staring at her as if she’d grown two heads. ‘You carry all this load on your shoulders…’
‘Hey, they’re my family,’ she said, not liking his tone of absolute astonishment. ‘What would you do?’
What would he do? They stared at each other and she thought that he really didn’t have a clue. He knew nothing of what she had. Of the benefits as well as the responsibilities.
He’d turn away, she thought. He’d run. What man would willingly come within a thousand miles of the sort of responsibility she carried?
But he didn’t turn away. Instead, he glanced across her shoulder and smiled and she turned to the coffee shop window to see Ruby waving from the pavement.
‘What will I do?’ Marcus asked, his voice suddenly almost teasing. Almost laughing. He waved back to Ruby, beckoning her in. ‘I’ll tell you what to do. I’ll hand you over to Ruby to turn you into a bride. I have a deal to stitch up and then I’m free. I’ll marry you and carry you back to Australia. For two weeks. On two conditions.’
‘What are they?’
‘That you don’t make me milk a cow! And you don’t put me in charge of a twelve-year-old.’
If Marcus was forceful, Ruby was worse. She shooed Marcus back to work and outlined her plans. Which left Peta stunned. Ruby had a vision of a white wedding and nothing was going to deflect her-and the wedding was scheduled in four hours’ time.
‘I can get married in what I’m wearing,’ Peta said, totally confounded, but Ruby would have none of it.
‘Marcus Benson has half the women of the world wanting to marry him-and you’re going to wear a day dress?’ Ruby smiled, somehow managing to rob her words of offence. ‘Peta, he’s doing you a favour. The least you can do is accept in the manner it’s intended.’
It sounded reasonable-sort of. There was only one thing for it, Peta decided. She needed to swallow her pride. ‘I’m broke,’ she confessed.
Ruby hesitated, but only for a moment. ‘Yeah. You are. But Mr Benson has given me a fat cheque to outfit you for the wedding. He told me to do it subtly but I don’t know how. Except by telling you that you’d be doing all of us a favour by accepting.’
A fat cheque. Peta drew in her breath. ‘I thought I told him-’
‘Yeah, you told him. He said yesterday that he’d offended you. He said he tried to dress you as a socialite and you tossed it back in his face.’
‘I didn’t…’
‘Well, I would have, too,’ Ruby said honestly-unexpectedly. ‘And I think more of you for doing it. But throwing back corporate suits and refusing wedding gowns are different things.’
‘He’s not… I don’t see…’
‘You are marrying him,’ Ruby said gently. ‘You know you are. And you needn’t feel guilty that you’re doing so. There’s no way Marcus will marry anyone else.’
‘But I can’t accept his money,’ Peta said with distress, and Ruby reached out and gave her hand a squeeze.
‘Yes, you can. You’d be doing Marcus a real favour.’
‘How am I supposed to accept that?’ Peta demanded. ‘This is ridiculous. I know nothing about Marcus-and here he is, threatening to take over my life.’
‘He’s not, you know. He’s simply involving himself. For the first time ever.’
‘I have no idea what you mean.’
‘You know nothing about him?’
‘No. Apart from his awful mother. But just because his mother stuffed her life doesn’t mean he should stay isolated for ever.’
‘You know he fought in the Gulf War,’ Ruby told her, and the statement was so far out of left field that Peta blinked. Marcus had disappeared in the car that had brought Ruby here, but his presence still lingered. His coffee mug was still on the table before them and Peta found herself glancing at it as if it held some answers. Which was plainly ridiculous.
‘You know Marcus came from a poor background?’ Ruby probed.
What did this have to do with her? ‘He told me.’
‘Did he tell you he invested the first dime he ever made?’ Ruby gave a cautious sideways look. ‘He’s good at making money. Seriously good. And he’s smart. One of his stepdads introduced him to computers and the man’s
