CHAPTER NINE
“SIX days,” Megan muttered, pausing her eyebrow pencilling to shoot Peta a beetling frown. “You can’t be serious. It’s crazy to think of marrying a guy you met only six days ago.”
Peta lifted her gaze from the baby she was rocking in her arms and met her sister’s incredulous glare in the mirror with a serene little smile. “Tell me that after you meet him today.”
Matt had no qualms about confronting her family en masse at Patrick’s christening which was only two hours away now. A man who ran a successful company was used to tricky meetings. Peta had little doubt he would dazzle her family into thinking anything was possible with him. His innate confidence had a power that even she had found irresistible.
Megan swung around, too disturbed to continue her makeup for the big family event. “You can’t fool me, Peta. You’ve been doing crazy things ever since you came home from Rome. The hair, the bike... This getting engaged to Matt Davis is a rebound thing from Giorgio.”
“You’re wrong. It’s the sanest decision I’ve ever made.”
“Which makes my point.” Megan’s eyes jabbed at Peta accusingly. “You don’t love him.”
Her heart gave a sickening lurch and she swiftly dropped her gaze to the beautiful bundle of innocence she cradled close to her breasts. He’d fallen asleep and looked blissfully content. If all went well, within a year she’d have her own baby to hold and love and cherish. And she knew the love would be returned, a love that came with absolute trust. It was enough for her. She’d make it enough. She’d have her children and Matt would make a fine father. The painful emptiness she felt now would be filled many times over.
“Not everyone hits the jackpot, Megan,” she said, struggling to hide the desolate core inside her. She lifted hard, defiant eyes to her sister. “I like Matt. He makes me laugh. Maybe laughter’s worth more than love.”
“Does he know?” Megan’s concern sharpened. “You’re not fooling him into thinking...”
“I’m not fooling him about anything. We understand each other very well. Matt wants children, too.”
Megan shook her head. “There must be something wrong with him.”
“Why?”
’Proposing a marriage like this. And so fast. Is he homosexual?”
“What?”
The shock of the question propelled Peta into a wild peal of laughter.
“It isn’t a joke,” her sister said furiously. “I’m really worried about what you’re letting yourself in for. What if he only wants you to give him a family?”
“Believe me...” Peta choked out “...he wants me for more than that. Matt is very, very heterosexual.”
“Have you done it with him?”
Peta instantly sobered. “No, I haven’t. And I won’t. Not until we’re married. I’ll deliver when he delivers. I’m not going to be taken for a ride again, Megan.”
“For God’s sake! You’re making him pay for your own mistake. If you can’t let Giorgio go, you’re going to have one hell of a marriage.”
Peta’s chin came up in fighting mode. “People used to wait for their wedding night. In many countries they still do.”
“Do you want him? I mean does Matt Davis turn you on sexually or do you intend to suffer him for the sake of having children?” Megan flung at her.
Heat flooded up her neck. “Not that it’s any of your business...”
“Someone has to make you see sense!”
“...I won’t mind sharing a bed with him.”
“Mind! If he’s so very heterosexual, do you think he’s going to appreciate lukewarm lovemaking? Let me tell you...”
“Okay! He turns me on,” Peta cried in exasperation. “He’s loaded with sex appeal. Satisfied?”
“Well, at least you’ve got one thing right,” Megan muttered and swung back to the vanity mirror.
Peta simmered with resentment. She and Matt had this marriage all worked out. It was no one else’s business but theirs. She’d come here to help Megan get ready for the christening and the family luncheon afterwards and her sister thought she had free licence to criticise—her younger sister who’d had everything fall beautifully in her lap. It was fine for her, sitting on her pedestal of perfection, everything laid at her feet...
“I’ll get Patrick’s bath ready while you finish your makeup,” she said, walking quickly from the . bathroom, ashamed of the rush of envy. She knew her sister spoke out of caring for her. It was just... Megan didn’t understand. Couldn’t. Her life had been different. And Peta didn’t want to talk about it.
Rob was out on the patio setting up the barbecue for later. He’d probably been told to keep out of the way so Megan could have a heart-to-heart with her off-the-rails sister. Peta strode through the family room, hoping not to draw his attention through the glass frontage to the outdoors area.
She reached the nursery without incident and paused to admire it all over again. Megan had created such a delightful room for her baby, all apple green and white, wonderful mobiles hanging from the ceiling, pretty wallpaper with a border of bunny rabbits, colourful soft toys filling the shelves. Assuring herself she would soon be furnishing a nursery, Peta gently laid Patrick in his bassinette. He was still fast asleep. It was impossible to resist touching his face, running her fingertips lightly over the baby-soft skin.
Taking a deep breath to relieve the tightness in her chest, Peta stepped over to the change table to collect the baby oil and talcum powder for his bath. Megan had already laid out the christening robes which had been used for each newborn child in the family since their eldest brother had worn them for the first time. Peta stroked the exquisite silk and lace layette with a sense of reverence for each new life it had adorned.
Next year, she thought. Next year my mother will bring these clothes to me for my baby. Mine and Matt’s. And by then I will have forgotten all about Giorgio and what he took from me because my life will be filled with love again. True love...
His mother stunned Matt by bursting into tears just as he’d picked up his car keys, ready to leave.
“It’s my fault,” she cried, wringing her hands in despairing anguish. “I know it’s my fault. If I hadn’t nagged you about a grandchild...”
“Mum!” He banged the keys down on the kitchen counter in sheer exasperation. “I’ve heard enough of this ridiculous nonsense. Will you get it through your head I’m doing what I want to do? It has nothing to do with you!”
“I pushed you together and now she’s marrying you for your money,” she wailed.
“Well, thanks a lot, Mum. I thought I had other things going for me.” Sarcasm, he knew, was not becoming, but he was being pushed to the limit here.
“I’ll go out more. I’ll join clubs.” Her voice rose hysterically. “I’ll go on a diet and look after myself. You needn’t worry about me. I can make a life without any grandchildren.”
“Good!”
“So you don’t have to get married and...”
“I want to marry Peta Kelly and nothing you say is going to stop me, so you might as well accept it, Mum. I told you...it’s just like Dad with you...”
“Your father didn’t move this fast. Six days...it was six months before he proposed. He courted me. He did things properly. And I loved him...”
His chest went tight. So Peta didn’t love him. They’d settled on an arrangement. It would work. They wanted each other. It was enough. He dragged in a deep breath and released it on a sigh of determined finality.
“I have to go. I’ll be late for the christening if I don’t leave now. I’m sorry you’re upset, Mum, but I assure you, there’s no reason to be. Peta is not—absolutely not—marrying me for my money. Now please...” He tried an appealing smile. “...Just wish me well and let me go.”
“Why do you have to rush into it?”
Because nothing was going to change and celibacy didn’t suit him. Not where Peta Kelly was concerned. Unfortunately, he didn’t think his mother would appreciate that point.
“Mum...I’m going. You’ve got six weeks to the wedding if you want to start dieting. I would like the mother of the groom to turn up.”
He regathered his keys and headed for the front door.
“I can’t approve of this, Matt,” she called after him.
He paused at the door to look back at her. “It’s my life, Mum,” he said quietly. “My choice...my life.”
He left her on that note, thinking she would change her tune by this time next year. Once she had a grandchild to dote over, she would forgive and forget everything that had worried her.
A baby... Matt smiled to himself as he settled into his car for the trip back to Sydney. It would be great having a baby with Peta. It would bond them together as nothing else could.
As for love...
It would come.
It had to.
The feelings he had wouldn’t make sense otherwise.
The build-up of tension eased the moment Peta saw Matt’s forest green Jaguar turn into the church grounds. Her nerves stopped screaming. She could relax. He’d come. He wasn’t even late. Her family had arrived early, eager for a get-together before the christening ceremony began, and their curiosity about the new man in her life had forced her to field a lot of awkward questions.
“There’s Matt now,” she said, hoping the words sounded more like delight than relief.
“He drives a Jag?” Her brother, John, was clearly impressed.
“What did you say he does for a living?” Paul inquired, the classy car having put his mind in sharper focus.
“Matt owns and runs a merchandising company. It’s called Limelight Promotions,” Peta answered with exaggerated patience.
“Guess he’s used to getting what he wants when he wants it,” John reasoned.
Peta glared at him. “I am not marrying Matt for his money.”
Though she was glad he had it. As his mother said, it was much easier establishing a home and bringing up a family if there were no financial worries. Peta wanted the best for her children.
The Jaguar came to a halt in a parking slot. The driver’s door opened and Matt stepped out, looking even more impressive than his car, his splendid physique enhanced by a perfectly tailored navy blue suit and everything about him shouting top executive class.
“Oh! What a handsome man!” her mother exclaimed, surprised and pleased.
“Definitely loaded with sex appeal,” Megan muttered.
Yes, he was. He really was, Peta thought, a little thrill of anticipation tingling through her. “Excuse me,” she said, and moved to meet him.
It would be all right...this marriage, she told herself fiercely. Any woman would be proud to have Matt Davis as her husband. And the sex would be good. No doubt about that. Best of all, he would give her the family she wanted because he wanted it, too.
A smile grew, lighting up her face and warming her soul as she walked towards the man who would be the father of her children.
Matt waited by the car, watching her come to him, too entranced to move forward himself. His chest felt as though it was fit to burst. She glowed. She outshone the rest of the world. Her smile sent tingles all the way to his toes. She was exotic and beautiful and everything he wanted in a woman. And she was his. Or soon would be.
The royal blue suit she wore moulded her curves with a sexy emphasis that had Matt fighting to control himself. The short skirt had temptation roaring through his head. Her long, lovely legs, shimmering in sheer black stockings, filled his mind with wildly erotic images. He wanted her so badly, it was all he could do to remind himself her family was watching and he didn’t have Peta to himself. Yet.
“Hi!” she said, her eyes warmly welcoming him.
“Are you okay?” he asked, nodding to her family, trying desperately to focus on what was important today.
Her smile turned wry. “I hope you’re up to an inquisition.”
He grinned. “Man of steel.”
It made her laugh. She had a lovely laugh, an infectious bubbly sound that seemed to dance through his heart. Matt looked forward to listening to it all his life.
“Maybe this will help,” he said, drawing the small velvet box from his trouser pocket.
She stared down at it as he handed it to her. Her fingers fumbled over opening it. The diamond ring seemed to mesmerise her. She didn’t exclaim over it. She didn’t move to put it on. She stood utterly still, and to Matt’s sharply scanning eyes, the colour drained out of her vivid face, leaving it oddly lifeless.
Alarm bells clamoured in his mind. Was the reality of their decision striking home to her? Would she back off, faced with this symbol of commitment? His whole being screamed to hold on to her. He acted, plucking the ring from its satin bed, taking her left hand in his.
“Allow me,” he said gruffly, determined on sealing their agreement.
The magnificent solitaire diamond winked mockingly at her. It felt as though a vice had clamped around her heart, squeezing it unmercifully. It should have been Giorgio giving her this. She’d dreamed of it so many times... Giorgio, taking her hand, sliding on his ring...
It was wrong...letting Matt Davis do it.
I can’t go through with this. I can’t...
But if I don’t...
Diamonds are forever...like children...solid, lasting dreams that could come true...
The ring settled into place.
Peta took a deep breath and looked up at the man who’d put it there, the man whose promises weren’t empty, the man who wanted to stand by her, support her, whose strength she could lean on in the years ahead when they had their family.
“I’ll be a good wife to you, Matt,” she whispered.
Tears filming her eyes. Did a ring mean so much? Matt didn’t understand. But he felt her giving herself to him and he forgot they were being watched by her family. Only she existed for him. He lifted her hands to his shoulders, wrapped his arms around her waist, and did what he needed to do.
He kissed her.
The apprehension that had seized him was swept away by an intoxicating rush of passion, flowing as fiercely from Peta as it did from him, and Matt exulted in it, loving the way her mouth responded to his, loving the feel of her body sinking against him, her wonderful soft breasts, her stomach, her thighs...his woman.
“Matt...” A feathering gasp against his lips, intensely sensual.
“Mmh...” Excitement pulsing through him.
“My family...”
A jolt of recollection. Matt struggled out of his absorption in the sensations Peta aroused in him, opening his eyes to the embarrassed appeal in hers. Her cheeks bloomed with colour. She was vibrantly alive now and his heart soared with the pleasure of it.
“You’ve got lipstick on your mouth,” she said dazedly.
He let her slide away from him and plucked the handkerchief from his breast pocket. “Better clean me up then,” he invited.
She took the cloth and quickly erased the mark of their kiss. He didn’t care. He could still feel it.
“Is mine smudged?” she asked anxiously.
“No.” He grinned with pure happiness. “You look perfect.”
She gave a self-conscious laugh and tucked his handkerchief back in his pocket. “They’re waiting to meet you.”
“And I’m all primed to meet them.”
Another delightful bubble of laughter.
Matt caught her hand—the left one, wearing his ring—linking himself to her as they moved as one to begin facing the future together.
Megan watched their approach, ignoring the buzz of comment from the family as she keenly observed the man who had persuaded her sister to recklessly throw her lot in with him. She wanted to find fault. She wanted some cause to show Peta how wrong she was in entering a loveless marriage. Instead she found herself helplessly torn by what she saw.
He adored her.
That obvious truth kept echoing through Megan’s mind, while festering behind it was the knowledge that Peta didn’t love him. What would that do to him in the long run when his love wasn’t answered by love, when the cup of hope was drained and disillusionment set in, emptying his heart of all the feelings beaming from him today?
It was wrong...wrong...
Yet what could she do?
She loved her sister and wanted the best for her.
Maybe Matt Davis was best for her.
Except...was it fair to him?