Dear Plutocrat

by Anne Hampson

  'I'm running away—I mean,' she amended shyly, averting her head. 'I was running away—escaping, as—as you said. But it—it was from someone else altogether—' The rest was smothered as, caught in his arms, Kate's lips were claimed in a long and ardent kiss.

  'Why,' he demanded sternly a long while later, 'did you allow me to go on believing you were in love with Paul?'

  'I didn't think it mattered what you thought. You must remember that I had no idea that you cared for me.' She looked up into his softened face and smiled a little wanly. 'You were never very nice to me, Mark, you'll have to admit that.'

  'I not nice to you!' he ejaculated, and even before he continued she did have the grace to blush. 'What about your attitude towards me? If it wasn't your temper I was treated to then it was the sort of frigid veneer that I longed to break in the only way I knew.'

  'Oh,' she said innocently, 'what way was that?' Her lovely hazel eyes were curious as they looked into his. He laughed and asked her if she remembered the incident out there in the bush when she was lost. She nodded and he went on:

  'That day, my lovely Kate, you were just about as close to a beating as you will ever be without actually receiving one.' He paused, taking in her swift rise of colour and the sparkle of indignation appearing in her eyes. 'I must warn you, my love, that I'm not the gentle type who treats a woman as rather fragile even though I know very well she's not. And I don't intend carrying my wife about—'

  'Where did you get all that?' she wanted to know, leaning away from him. 'I said it a long while ago.'

  'To Cherry and Lin. Cherry and I were talking once, about all sorts of things, and how that particular subject cropped up I couldn't say. But Cherry told me what your ideal man was.' He looked down, into her laughing face, his lips curved in a smile of tender amusement. 'You're quite sure, my darling, that you'll be happy with the substitute?'

  For answer she went up on tiptoe, lifted her face, and kissed him on the lips.

  'You mentioned that day out there in the bush,' she murmured dreamily when at last she was released from the passionate embrace following on her own gentle kiss. 'That was when I discovered I loved you.'

  'Then? So long ago?'

  'It isn't very long.'

  'Well, it seems a long while. I expect that's because of the torment I've been through in the meantime. When you came here today I felt just about as low as a man could feel. I knew you would come, of course, but I hadn't quite made up my mind to refuse to buy High Creek. The idea was there but not rooted. I felt that I couldn't really do any good, not as long as you were in love with my brother—'

  'I wasn't, though.'

  'I thought you were,' he reminded her, and went on with what he was saying when she interrupted him. 'When I saw Summer Song out there just now, and knew you'd come to offer me High Creek I made up my mind quite suddenly. I wasn't going to let you go—to lose you without a fight. You see, darling, when I warned you to be sure you knew your own mind, that, should Paul ask you to marry him, you must be sure to give him the right answer, I was telling you quite plainly what I already knew myself: that you were not for Paul. You were meant for me, and it was fate alone that brought you to me. Don't you see it yourself?'

  She nodded, and he went on to say that although he had made up his mind to keep her at High Creek simply by refusing to buy the place, he fully expected to have to wait until she had got over her love for Paul. His face became drawn while he spoke and she saw with great clarity that he had suffered just as much as she. Everything she felt for him surged through her in one consummate access of love which became palpably revealed in her eyes, and before she could voice the endearment hovering on her lips she was swept into a passionate embrace and she knew—as on that occasion in the bush—the iron hardness of his body, the strength of his arms and the possessive demanding mastery of his kiss. Breathless and warm from his ardency, she laid her head against his breast when at length he relaxed his hold. 'Darling,' he said on an extended sigh of sheer happiness and satisfaction, 'this is indeed my most fortunate day.' He had previously dropped the envelope on to the table, but now he reached for it and Kate saw that on it was written: 'Last Will and Testament…'

  'What is it?' she asked, because Mark was holding it so that she could see.

  And he then told her about the will which left everything to him and practically nothing to Paul.

  'It was made when we were both babies, and I suppose there was some excuse, for I was the elder, although I myself could never have made a will like that. However, as we grew to be men my father often said that we were equally fitted to take over the vast properties which he owned; he said also that we had both made our equal contributions to the betterment of these properties.' Mark stopped and Kate saw small beads of perspiration appearing on his forehead. 'We fully expected, in view of this, to be left equal shares. But the old will was all that could be found—in fact, it was with the solicitors in Sydney. I refused to accept both places—Paul had always liked Cunya River Downs homestead better than this; he prefers a modern place, and there's no doubt that it's quite delightful. Paul was stubborn—or perhaps I should put it all down to pride since I should have felt the same had the positions been reversed. He wouldn't accept his share, and although I had to abide by this decision I hated it, I always have. Paul was not accepting a gift, he said, and although I repeatedly pointed out that it was not a gift, but his rightful inheritance, he would not accept it.'

  Mark stopped speaking and looked at the envelope in his hand. Kate saw at once that he was too full to utter words at the moment and she pressed against him understandingly, her mind wandering to those times when he had been short, and angry, when she had mentioned Paul's being only the manager of Cunya River Downs. 'This will was made later,' Mark told her at last, although it was not necessary, of course. 'It leaves Cunya River Downs to Paul and this place to me—which is what we would both have asked for had we been consulted. How the will got behind that cupboard will remain a mystery, but it's not important. What is important is that it's been found—' He looked down at Kate with deep and tender emotion. 'Just imagine its coming to light on this of all days?—on the day my own sweet Kate has come to me with all her love.' And with his lips close to her ear he whispered, 'I love you, my darling—now and for ever.'

  'I love you,' she whispered back shyly and in a voice husky with emotion. And then, with the merest tinge of regret, 'It would have been nice to have a triple wedding, but as it's only a week—'

  'Which is quite long enough for you to be ready,' cut in Mark with peremptory decision. 'Most certainly it shall be a triple wedding.' His glance was a warning even before he said challengingly, 'Well? Have you any objections to voice?'

  She shook her head meekly.

  'None at all, dear Mark. As you say, it shall be a triple wedding.'

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN