‘No.’
‘Unless you want to,’ she added. ‘You really could do with a holiday.’
‘This isn’t much of a holiday,’ Marcus told her and Peta flushed.
‘Our accommodation isn’t quite five-star,’ Peta muttered. She, too, lay down her glass and turned to Marcus. ‘So you can go home?’
‘Yes.’ There was nothing else to say.
‘I need to thank you. So much…’
‘There’s no need.’
‘There is.’ It was an absurdly formal little tableau but there seemed no right way to go forward from here. ‘I can’t… I don’t know how to repay you. If I could think of anything…’
‘My offer still stands,’ Marcus told her while Ruby and Darrell watched in silence.
‘What-to make our marriage last?’
There was an audible intake of breath from Ruby but Marcus didn’t move his gaze from Peta.
‘That’s right.’
‘Marriage when you can fit me around the edges.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ he told her. ‘We could do this. If you’d be prepared to give it a chance…’
‘It doesn’t have a chance.’
‘What doesn’t have a chance?’ Ruby demanded and Peta turned to her, despairing.
‘He wants to build me a mansion, right here, instead of my veranda. He wants to visit for a couple of weeks a year and for the rest of the time he wants to install me in his black marble apartment and keep his bed warm for the twenty minutes a day he can spare for me.’
‘That’s not fair,’ Marcus snapped.
‘What else are you offering?’
‘I run a financial empire, Peta,’ Marcus told her. ‘I’ve never asked anyone else to marry me…’
‘And I should be really grateful,’ Peta told him. ‘I’m sure Cinderella did it really well. But not me.’
‘What else do you want?’ They were almost unaware that Ruby and Darrell were staring, agog. This was too important to be distracted.
‘You.’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘Then figure it out,’ Peta told him. She sighed and her shoulders slumped as the rest of the world appeared to enter her consciousness again. She turned and faced Ruby and Darrell. ‘I’m sorry. You’ve been so good. Do you have to go back to the States immediately or can I put you up here for a night or so? My accommodation’s pretty basic.’
‘It looks great to me,’ Darrell told her. He looked sideways at Marcus. ‘I’ve spent months on a battlefield. Marcus has, too. I’ve no need for marble tiles.’
‘Will you go straight home?’ Ruby asked Marcus and Marcus tried to get his addled brain to think. He might as well. This was stupid. What was Peta expecting? That he share her gumboots? He hadn’t worked so hard all his life for this.
‘Yeah,’ he told them. ‘I will.’
‘I haven’t had a holiday for years,’ Ruby told him, still eyeing him with a dubious look that said her mind was running at a tangent. ‘Do you mind if I stay on?’
‘Go for it. Just as long as you like pink.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with pink,’ Peta flashed. ‘If you’re happy you don’t notice.’
‘Of course you notice.’
‘Get a life, Marcus,’ she told him.
‘It’s you who’s refusing-just because you don’t like black marble.’
‘If you think that’s the reason I’m refusing then you have rocks in your head,’ she told him. ‘I’m refusing because you can’t see that it’s not important. That I’ve offered the only thing that’s important and you haven’t a clue how to return it. And I’m not even sure that you want to. Ever.’
He left half an hour after Harry returned from school. He could have left earlier but the thought of leaving before saying goodbye to the kid was almost impossible.
And saying goodbye even then was incredibly hard.
‘I sort of hoped you guys might have made it long term,’ Harry told him, trying not to let his almost-manly chin wobble. ‘I sort of liked cooking. And you helping with projects and stuff.’
‘Your brothers will be home soon.’
‘Yeah, but they don’t stay and they’re not the same. And you made Peta smile…’
‘Only at the start.’
‘Yeah, but you could again if you wanted to,’ Harry said with perspicacity. ‘Couldn’t you?’
There was no answer to that. ‘I have to go.’
‘Did you say goodbye to Peta?’
‘She’s milking.’
‘You’re mean,’ Harry said. His jaw set a little and he moved around Marcus’s car and gave a kick to the tyre. ‘I thought you were a friend.’
‘Harry…’
‘See you.’ He picked up his school bag and sloped off into the house.
Darrell and Ruby were nowhere to be seen. Peta was in the dairy.
There was no one to watch him drive away.
He went.
Peta was putting cups on one of her favourite cows when she heard his engine start. She turned and watched as his lovely little Morgan turned out of the driveway and headed out towards the highway.
Terrific. He was gone.
She put her head on the cow’s warm flank and wept.
‘Are you going to tell me what that was all about?’
It was late that night. Darrell and Harry had both gone to bed, Harry reluctantly but Darrell because his head was still halfway between New York and Australia. Peta and Ruby were left alone. They gravitated towards the veranda and sat, watching the moon out over the ocean.
‘Are you saying he really asked you to stay married to him?’ Ruby demanded and Peta nodded.
‘You heard him. Sort of.’
‘Are you intending to explain?’
‘He didn’t say he loved me. He just said… He figured it could work. He kissed me and he liked it. He enjoyed playing fairy godfather, genie, whatever. He’d give us more. Build this place up to be a mansion and come and visit for a few weeks each year so he could see how benevolent he was. And I could visit him in New York-I think he actually used that word, visit-and stay in his horrible mausoleum of an apartment and be there waiting for him in between corporate necessity.’
‘It…it doesn’t sound like a romantic kind of proposal,’ Ruby said a trifle unsteadily and Peta eyed her with suspicion.
‘Are you laughing at me?’
‘Oh, my dear, I’d never laugh.’ Ruby hesitated and then placed a large hand on Peta’s. ‘You did the right thing. He has to see…’
‘He’ll never see.’
‘Sometimes miracles happen,’ Ruby said gently. There was a moment’s silence and then she continued. ‘For instance, me and Darrell…’
‘Now that’s something I don’t understand.’
‘Darrell needs me,’ she said simply. She closed her eyes. The sound of the sea intensified in the stillness and when Ruby opened her eyes again there was a peace about her that Peta had never seen. ‘Life’s been bleak,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t put my pain behind me. But with you…playing brides, seeing what was happening to Marcus while he thought you needed him… I don’t know. I let my guard down for a moment, I guess. And then Darrell took me home after your wedding and we got to talking. His body… He’s so scarred and he’s closed off as well. We talked and we talked and we’ve been together ever since.’ She smiled, a slow soft smile that contained all the joy in the world. ‘I guess we’ll be together for ever. It’s that simple.’
It’s that simple.
The words wafted around them. There was joy here, but also…
Sadness. Despair.
‘He can’t see it,’ Peta said.
‘You mean… You love him?’
‘Of course I love him.’
‘You told him?’
‘Mmm.’
‘And he ran.’
‘No. He offered me marriage. On terms.’
‘For a billionaire, he really is a dope,’ Ruby told her.
&n
bsp; Silence. The silence went on and on. And on.
‘Well,’ Ruby said at last. ‘Well. What we need here, girl, is a plan.’
‘A plan?’
‘It’s what Marcus is principally good at. Corporate plans. Takeovers. Strategies. He’s spent eight years teaching me how to do it. So let’s get to work.’
‘Ruby…’
‘You telling me to butt out, girl?’
‘No,’ Peta told her, half laughing. ‘No. Ruby, I need all the help I can get.’
‘Spoken like a true Benson,’ Ruby told her. ‘We haven’t annulled that marriage yet!’
‘So what’s the plan?’
‘Silence.’
‘Is that all?’
‘He’s had a taste of something he didn’t know existed,’ Ruby told her. ‘Let’s leave him alone to think about it.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE telephone service was out of order.
‘Out of order?’ Marcus had his people contact the telecommunications authorities in Australia, only to be told that the fault had been reported as non-urgent. The people concerned had cellphones. And no, he couldn’t obtain those numbers, no matter how much he paid.
He knew Ruby’s cellphone number. She had it turned off. She’d sent a fax from the local post office saying she’d decided to take a month off and learn how to milk cows.
Ruby was milking cows while Marcus was…
Marcus was earning money. Launching a new range of Internet software. Ruling his empire.
Doing what he always did.
‘How long can silence last?’ Peta asked and Ruby paused from her first attempt at milking a cow.
‘As long as it takes. Be patient.’
‘I can’t.’
‘You can.’
Two weeks. Three.
Marcus took a lunchtime stroll down to Tiffany’s. He spent a long time staring at the jewel cases and in the end chose a single diamond. Perfect. Flawless. Worth a king’s ransom.
He insured it for another king’s ransom and sent it courier.
‘To my Cinderella,’ the card read. ‘Please reconsider.’
By return courier came a small box containing the diamond and something else. A withered daisy chain.
‘I’m not Cinderella. I’m just me. I love you, Marcus. But I don’t want your diamonds.’
Nothing else.
He stared at the note for a long time. So long that his temporary assistant grew nervous.
‘Are you okay, Mr Benson?’
‘I’m fine,’ he told her, his face grim. He handed over the diamond. ‘Can you arrange to have this returned?’
‘Oh, Mr Benson…’ The girl looked down at the diamond and let out her breath on an ecstatic sigh. ‘Oh, Mr Benson, any woman would die for a diamond like this.’
‘Not my woman,’ he said before he could stop himself. ‘Not the woman I love.’
‘Are you sure?’
It was the end of three long weeks and Peta was still staring out at the moon every night. Somewhere under this moon was Marcus. Alone.
‘He has to see,’ Ruby told her. ‘He has to have time to realise what he’s missing.’ She gave a rueful smile. ‘It took me more than twenty years to learn to love again. Let’s hope Marcus can do it faster.’
‘And if he doesn’t?’
‘Then we panic,’ Ruby told her. ‘But not yet. There’s things we can do.’
Marcus was in a meeting when the next delivery arrived. His secretary interrupted him with apologies. ‘But you did ask me to let you know if anything came from Australia.’
Two boxes were waiting.
The first box contained Peta’s wedding dress. Satin, lace, matching shoes, ribbons from her hair. Regardless of the curious eyes of his office staff, Marcus lifted it out. He could smell the perfume she’d worn that day. There was a small note.
‘Thank you for the fairytale.’
‘There’s another box,’ his secretary told him, obviously agog to see what it held.
He took a grip-sort of-and opened the second box.
It was a pair of gumboots. His size. And another note.
‘Reality is more fun.’
He set the gumboots down on the gleaming mahogany desk. Ridiculous.
Fun?
Ridiculous.
The time dragged. He put the gumboots and the wedding dress in the top of his closet and left them there. The concept of him ever needing either again was crazy!
He dated again. Or he tried to date again. The women seemed shallow, pointless, cold.
Peta…
Peta was on the other side of the world.
She’d said she loved him. If she loved him why wouldn’t she take him? he asked himself. On his terms.
Because, a small voice whispered behind his heart, because his terms were…cruel?
What he’d offered was all he was prepared to concede, he thought grimly. To promise more was to promise something that he couldn’t deliver.
Coward, he told himself.
But to take the next step…
To take another step was impossible.
Ruby contacted him at the end of the month. For a moment he couldn’t believe he was hearing right, and then he excused himself from his meeting and locked himself in his office to take the call where he could concentrate.
‘Ruby. Where the hell are you?’
‘Where you should be,’ she informed him cheerfully. ‘Here. In Australia. Having a really good time.’
‘You’re my employee.’
‘Not any more. I quit. Darrell’s asked me to marry him.’
Silence. He thought of his clinical, efficient assistant who in the years he’d employed her had never let her personal life interfere with her work. She’d never had a personal life!
She was marrying his dour, scarred sergeant?
‘He’s lovely,’ Ruby said in a voice he hardly recognised. ‘You know he is. And we’ve decided to stay on and help Peta for a while. This farm really needs more than just Peta to run it. Marcus, I can milk!’
‘Peta’s never let you near her cows!’ He couldn’t believe it.
‘It took time to gain their trust,’ Ruby conceded. ‘A month. Darrell and I have been helping to bring the cows in, getting them used to us, learning each one’s name. And now I can put the cups on. I can clean the vats. I know all about mastitis and bacteria counts and swishing down the dairy’s my favourite. Oh, Marcus, it’s so much fun.’
‘But…you belong here.’
‘No. I belong here. Darrell’s here. No one stares at his scarred face here. He’s much better at milking than me. Peta says we can redecorate the pink house and live in it for as long as we want. We’ve both got savings and Darrell’s got his veteran’s pension. We can be really comfortable. We don’t need much here. There’s so much already. We can be really rich-with nothing. Nothing but each other.’
Silence. Marcus sank down on to the desk behind him, aware suddenly that he needed its support.
‘You know that I asked Peta to be married to me?’ he said at last. ‘Properly, I mean.’
‘Are you talking about sending her that darned fool diamond?’
‘It cost a fortune,’ he snapped and from the other side of the world he could hear the smile crossing Ruby’s face.
‘Why would Peta need a ring that cost a fortune?’
‘She said she loves me.’
‘She told me that, too.’
‘So why won’t she marry me?’
‘You didn’t ask her to stay married to you,’ Ruby said softly, her voice growing serious. ‘You know you didn’t.’
‘How the hell…’
‘You asked her to visit you in New York. Visit! You implied she’d be your society hostess. Your wife in the short periods you had time for her. You told her you’d stay here for a couple of weeks a year. What sort of marriage is that?’
‘If she loved me…’
‘She’d give up her life for you. Is that what you want? Well, ma
ybe she would. Maybe she’s breaking her heart because she can’t.’
‘She can.’
‘You know, the real Cinderella didn’t have commitments,’ Ruby said gently. ‘Stepping out of rags into riches is all very well if you have nothing to leave behind. Nothing to lose. As I remember, Cinderella had no alternative. But there’s Harry.’
‘Harry could come with her.’
‘And her three other brothers? They’re still really close. She’d never leave them. She has an old dog, Ted-dog. You met him. Ted-dog went off his feed last time Peta was in New York. He’d pine. So… Peta has a life here. And what are you offering? Diamonds? Diamonds don’t make very good bedtime companions.’
‘Ruby…’
‘It’s your fear,’ Ruby told him. ‘I’ve never said this before because I’ve been just the same as you. Dead scared of life. But you know very well that Peta could never accept your offer of riches and position. She loves you.’
‘How can she?’
‘Of course she does,’ Ruby snapped. ‘But you, you don’t love her. You love what she could be if she forgot her responsibilities-her family, her farm-yet it’s that very loyalty that’s made you want her. You’re deceiving yourself, Marcus. You’re telling yourself you’d like a wife but you’re making it impossible for her to be just that. You’re a loner. Your offer of marriage to Peta is nothing more than a taunt.’
‘Ruby…’
‘I know, I know,’ she said and her tone was suddenly almost cheerful. ‘This is no way to speak to my employer. Isn’t it lucky I quit?’
He was left alone. With his corporation. His fortune. His position in society. With the black marble in his bathroom.
Hell!
It took three months. Three months when every morning Peta sat in her dairy and thought of what she’d left in New York. Three months when the annulment papers weren’t served. She should do something about it herself, she thought, but each time she raised it Ruby said, leave it.
The Last-Minute Marriage Page 16