Scandalous Secrets. Michelle Douglas

the outside world. And somewhere along the line I learned to go along with her. Keep the peace. Make them happy.’

      ‘So... Brett?’

      ‘I was cooking in London,’ she told him. ‘I seldom went home—to be honest, as little as possible because Dad hates what I do and he gives me a hard time. But Mum rang me every night. Things seemed okay. But then Grandma died—Mum’s mother—and I hadn’t realized how much Mum needed her. Like she needs me. It’s weird but being needed seems to be hardwired into us. Grandma supported Mum any way she could, which gave Mum the strength to stay in an awful marriage. When Grandma died she fell apart.’ Penny sighed.

      ‘Anyway, I came home and Dad pushed and pushed me into the PR job and I was so scared for Mum that finally I said yes. And what a disaster. I must have been depressed too, or at least my radar for slimeballs was depressed because Brett found me easy pickings. I was the daughter of the man he wanted to schmooze. Only, of course, he misjudged. He hadn’t figured the family dynamics until it was too late—that Felicity is Dad’s favourite. But then Felicity came home and he figured it out and the rest is history.’

      ‘He’s an idiot.’

      She thought about that for a while. It was odd, but lying here on the moss, held hard against such a man as Matt...her perspective changed. Somehow the fog of humiliation that had been with her since that appalling dinner suddenly cleared, vaporising into the filtered sunlight and the shadows of the gums above her head.

      ‘He’s not an idiot,’ she said softly. ‘He’s a lying, scheming toad who thinks he can get near Dad’s fortune by marrying into the family. And maybe he can, and yes, he now has the beautiful daughter, but what he hasn’t reckoned on is Felicity’s temper. Felicity’s hysterics. He doesn’t know what it’s like to live with Felicity. I wish him joy.’

      ‘Punishment enough?’

      ‘You said it,’ she said softly. ‘And now...I’m here with you. I still worry about Mum but, as you said, there’s no way I can fix her problems for her.’

      ‘Not when there’re cream puffs and waterholes and sheep...’

      And there it was again. That suggestion of a future.

      ‘No indeed,’ she said and smiled, because how could she not? She kissed him again because there was no choice in that either. ‘Brett and Felicity are no longer in my world. I think, right now, I could even face their wedding. But you’re right, I won’t.’

      And then Samson, who’d been sleeping on the edge of the clearing in between Matt’s two dogs, suddenly decided he needed a little of his mistress’s attention. He edged forward to wiggle between them, and suddenly they were both laughing.

      ‘Right now my world seems to smell of sheep,’ she said happily, even joyfully. ‘And eau de rabbit burrow and damp dog. And is there horse dung in the mixture as well? And you know what? I love it. Just for now, Matt Fraser, I am a very happy woman. Brett and Felicity can have my old world. For now I’m happy in this one.’