tried not to ogle him as he got their coffee, but he looked utterly gorgeous in cream cargo shorts and a black polo shirt. His hair had grown a bit, she noted. It suited him longer. But then, he’d look good no matter what he wore or how long he grew his hair. Fate was very cruel to have her fall in love with a man with so many temptations.
As Jess waited for him to come back with the coffee, she tried to get her head around him suddenly showing up like this. Obviously he thought he could get her to change her mind. And maybe he was right. She’d been so miserable. And she’d missed him so much. Missed his love-making as well. Seeing him again reminded her of what an exciting lover he was. Exciting and dangerous and downright irresistible!
In the end, she looked down at where her hands were twisting nervously in her lap, not glancing up till he put her coffee in front of her, then sat down with his.
‘Thank you,’ she said politely, not really wanting coffee at all. Her stomach was in a mess. But she picked it up and had a small sip before putting it back down again. ‘Now, would you mind telling me what’s going on?’
He looked deep into her eyes. ‘What’s going on is that I still love you, Jess. And, yes, I still want to marry you.’
Oh, God, he was cruel.
‘I don’t doubt that, Ben, since you’re here,’ she replied. ‘But sometimes love isn’t enough.’
He reached over and touched her on the hand. ‘You might change your mind on that when you hear what my love for you has achieved.’
It was hard for Jess to think straight when he was touching her. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘Well, first of all, I’ve come home to Australia to live.’
Her heart leapt. ‘You have?’
‘Yep. I knew you would never live with me in New York so I quit my job, then sold my majority interest in Dad’s company to his partners.’
Jess just stared at him.
‘After that, I used the money from the sale to set up a charity trust fund that gives financial assistance to people affected by natural disasters. We do seem to have a lot of them nowadays. Dad always gave lots of money to whatever disaster relief effort was going on, but he often worried if the money actually made it to where it was meant to go. I took this on board, so I’m the CEO of the fund. I decide when and where the money goes. The capital is safely invested so it should last for yonks. I don’t take a salary or expenses myself, but I had to employ a couple of professional charity workers to oversee the day-to-day transactions and they do get paid. Other than that, all the money earned by the trust will go where it should go.’
Jess could only shake her head at him. ‘You gave all your money away to charity?’
‘Not all of it. Just what I inherited from the sale of Dad’s company. Which, admittedly, was the majority of his estate. I still have his cash account—which was considerable—plus the money from the sale of his real-estate assets. When they’re finally sold, that is. This includes his furnished apartment in New York and another one in Paris. They should bring in about twenty to thirty million each. If you include all the artwork he invested in over the years, you can add several more million. Though, I might donate them to various museums around the world. Yeah, I think I’ll do that. The upshot is I’m still a multi-millionaire, Jess. Just not a billionaire. I knew you wouldn’t marry a billionaire, but there’s nothing attractive about poverty either.’
Jess’s shock was beginning to change to wonder. ‘You did all that for me?’
‘The strange thing is, Jess, even though I initially gave away most of my money to win you back, after I actually did it, it felt good. Very good. They say there’s more pleasure in giving than receiving and they’re darned right. Anyway, as you can imagine, all that organising takes some considerable time, even when you’re doing your own legal work. Which is why it took me this long to get here. I still might have to fly back occasionally, to attend to fund business, but Australia will be my permanent home from now on. It has to be, since I’m going to have an Australian wife. One whom I can’t bear to live without.’
‘Oh, Ben,’ she said, the tears coming now. ‘I can hardly believe it.’
Ben was struggling now to retain his own composure. ‘Then your answer is yes this time?’
‘Yes,’ she choked out as she dashed away her tears. ‘Of course it’s yes.’
‘Thank God,’ he said, slumping back against the seat. ‘I was worried you might still say no. And so was my mother.’
Jess blinked in surprise. ‘You told your mother about us?’
‘But of course. She’s been at me to get married and have children for years. She’ll be over the moon when I tell her.’
‘You want children as well?’ Jess said, still in a state of shock.
‘Hell, yes. As many as you want. And if I know you, Jess, that will be more than one or two.’
‘Yes, I’d like a big family,’ she confessed. ‘So when did you tell your mother about us?’
‘Last night. I stayed at her apartment in Bondi. I flew in late, you see, too late to come up here. Though in the end, I stayed up even later, telling Mum everything. Then, would you believe it, I slept in. Didn’t make it up to the coast till after lunch. Like I already told you, when you didn’t answer your phone I rang Murphy’s Hire Car and your mum answered.’
Jess was still a bit dumbstruck by everything Ben had done for her. ‘I hope Mum was nice to you.’
‘Very nice. So was your dad, after I asked him for your hand in marriage.’
‘You actually asked Dad for my hand in marriage?’
‘I wanted to do everything right, Jess. I didn’t want anything to go wrong this time.’
‘Oh, Ben, you make me feel awful.’
He frowned. ‘Why awful?’
‘Because you’ve done everything for me and I’ve done nothing for you.’
Done nothing? Ben looked at this wonderful girl whom he loved and he thought of all the things she’d done. Firstly and most importantly, she’d loved him back, not for his money but for himself—Ben the man, not the heir to billions. She’d also made him see what was important in life. Not fame and fortune but family and community. Not a high-flying social life but a simpler life, full of fun and friends and children. Oh yes, he couldn’t wait to have children with Jess. What a lucky man he’d been the day he’d rung Murphy’s Hire Car and met her.
But Ben knew if he said all that she’d be embarrassed. So he just smiled and said, ‘Happiness is not nothing, Jess. You make me happy, my darling.’
‘Oh,’ she said, and looked like she was going to cry again.
‘No more tears, Jess. You can cry on our wedding day, if you like, but not today. Today is for rejoicing. Now, drink up your coffee and we’ll go buy you an engagement ring. There must be a decent jewellery store here somewhere.’
