Heat in the Kitchen (22 page)

He looked at her with such intensity, Ella began to believe what he'd said before. She held his gaze and held her breath.

'When our parents died I felt a little bit of me die too. And then, over the months that followed, as we learnt more about our father's gambling and affairs and our mother's needy dependency on him and then alcohol, I started to feel anger. And it was so strong.' Matt's voice hardened and he stared straight in front of him. 'I felt anger for the way he'd treated our mother. She was such a beautiful person, so free spirited and loving. But the anger I felt the most was how they'd been so careless with their children. They'd given birth to four of us and then lived so selfishly.' Matt tightened his hold on her as the long held, dark emotions swirled to the surface.

'For months, Zander and I held the girls in our arms at bedtime as they sobbed and sobbed for their parents to come back. The pain in their tears broke my heart and the anger I felt settled in the void. I swore I would never get close enough to someone to risk causing that sort of pain. And after years of bringing up the girls I swore I'd had my fill of kids.'

Matt relaxed and looked down at her again. 'And then you trespassed into my life and without me knowing what was happening you healed the gaping wound in my heart.' He stroked the side of her face. 'Only to rip it wide open when I heard you'd been kidnapped.' He reached down and kissed her gently on her lips.

'But this time, I felt it crush into tiny pieces at the thought of losing you. Losing my parents was nothing compared to what I would feel if I lost you.'

He looked at Ella with love shining from his eyes. 'I love you Ella. Please, will you marry me, have kids with me and grow old with me?'

Tears fell from her eyes. 'I love you too Matt - have done for most of my life. Yes, please - to it all.'

Matt pulled her close and just held her, breathing into her hair.

'Will you come with me to Long Island this week and marry me there? I want to get you as far away from your family as I can and I won't rest until I have my ring on your finger.'

Ella should feel affronted at Matt's chauvinistic words but for now she felt very loved and that was something she'd been starved of for most of her life. She had a lifetime ahead to be an equal.

They finally went back to bed having made plans to leave on the first flight out they could get. Matt told her it was a family holiday they did together every year and it would be a great surprise for the others to arrive and discover what they were about to witness. He promised he'd fly out Daniel and Mr & Mrs Brown as well.

Ella was overwhelmed with the thought of having the people that really mattered to her at her wedding. With the love of her new family, she would come to terms with her mother's and sisters' estrangement.

Chapter 13

'Oh my god!'

'It's Ella!'

Tess and Ronnie launched themselves out of the car and screamed as they gathered Ella in a great big hug.

'What are you doing here?'

'How are you?'

'Oh my god, we've been so worried.'

'You just disappeared. The press have been going bonkers!'

Ella laughed as she tried to keep up with the twins talking over each other.

Matt joined them and put his arm round Ella's waist.

'As you can see, she's fine.'

'Matt!'

'Matt!'

They enveloped him in a joint hug too.

Matt hugged them back without letting go of Ella. His sisters were so excitable at times, but it was good to have them here.

The twins stepped back and looked at them standing with their arms round each other.

Realisation dawned and Tess got in first.

'You're…' She bounced her finger from Ella to Matt and back again, then pointed it at Matt. 'You brought her here!'

'Of course he did.' Ronnie rolled her eyes. Her sister was a master at stating the obvious.

Matt and Ella smiled a knowing smile at each other.

Ronnie was the only one that noticed but then she was less excitable than Tess and generally did spot the subtle things first.

'Question is… why?'

Tess looked at her.

'Why… did Matt go charging off to the rescue like a knight in shining armour? Why… did Matt bring her out here to a place where none of us has ever brought anyone else?' And with a great big grin on her face, delighted that she was one step ahead of her sister for once. 'Why… does Ella have a ring on her engagement finger?'

Tess screamed, Ella grinned from ear to ear and Matt groaned. Maybe it wasn't so good having them here - he was going to have to make an appointment to see his fiancée. Just wait 'til they realised they were here for the wedding.

The girls were jumping up and down and had enveloped Ella in another hug.

'Oh my god!' Tess screamed. 'We're getting a new sister.'

Tess was beside herself with glee. 'We're getting our best friend as a sister!'

Ronnie, quieter than her sister, had calmed down and moved on to the practicalities. 'When's the wedding? Where is it? Who's going to be there? We want all the details!'

'No, first I want to see the ring.' Tess grabbed Ella's hand. 'God Matt, it's gorgeous! You didn't choose this did you?'

Matt tried to look affronted that his sister doubted he could have such good taste, but he was too damned happy to care. 'We chose it together.' He kissed Ella on the side of her head.

Ronnie admired the detail of it. 'It's so unusual. What's it a mix of?'

Ella described her ring to them. She and Matt had both fallen in love with the tension set design the minute they'd seen it. One leg was platinum and the other was eighteen carat gold. Each was studded with eleven pavé set diamonds. In the centre was a two carat diamond that looked like it was floating between the two legs. It was classy and elegant and looked incredibly delicate against Ella's long slim fingers. To complement the ring they'd chosen matching wedding rings, each with a band of eighteen carat gold set between two bands of platinum.

Tess and Ronnie flanked Ella as they all walked inside, leaving Matt to bring in their bags. The girls fell over each other again with their questions.

A moment later, they both let out an ear piercing scream. Matt winced. Ella had obviously told them they were getting married this weekend.

He longed for his brother to arrive - he was feeling decidedly outnumbered now with three excited women in the house.

*

Matt felt someone watching him as he powered through the pool. Before he even looked he knew it was Ella. They hadn't been together long but his radar was already fine-tuned to when she was near. Ella dived in and came up alongside him.

'You've escaped then?'

Ella smiled. 'They're just the best.' She put her arms round his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist. 'I'm so lucky Matt. Not only am I marrying the man I love with all my heart, I'm getting two brilliant friends as sisters. Every dream I ever had as a child is coming true.'

While he walked them across to the edge of the pool so he could rest against it and support Ella, he kissed her - a long, deep kiss that told her he felt just as blessed. His hands moved up her back in a caress that sent shivers down her spine. She was sitting on top of his erection and felt it nudge at her through her costume. It was all she could do not to grind down onto him. They needed to get to their bedroom. Now!

'Eugh! Matthew Christophe Duval-Adams! I do not want to see my big brother making out in the pool!' Matt waited for the pain in his chest at hearing his full name that only his mother had ever used. It didn't come. Ella truly had healed him.

'Don't look then.' Matt cursed his sister's timing. For the next few days he'd have to rein in his desires, otherwise it would be more than just Tess having words.

He gave Ella a hug before she untwined herself. She went off for a swim to calm her body down. Matt wished he could do the same but he knew Tess would just follow. He kept his body underwater to hide his raging erection and stayed, letting Ella escape Tess's knowing look.

He'd had Ella all to himself since they'd arrived at Blue Star Ranch three days earlier, and would again after the wedding - for a short honeymoon. It would never be enough.

The family that owned the ranch, who had become good friends over the years, had given them privacy once Matt had explained why they were there earlier than expected. They had been three wonderful days as they'd sorted out the details for their wedding, ridden around the ranch on horseback, wandered along the part of the beach that was owned by the ranch, swum in the pool and made love. Even though the ranch was now mainly a tourist resort, the owners worked a few horses and cattle and had their own private residence away from the resort along with their own pool. Matt and Ella were in the guest house next to the main house that the owners reserved for personal friends and had use of the private pool. Everyone else was staying in the house too - it would be full by the time they all arrived.

'Where's Ronnie?'

'On the phone - some translation thing she's been asked to get involved with. She should be like me and keep her phone off when she goes away.'

'She doesn't have your confidence Tess that they'll phone back. It's a shame the agency she worked for collapsed and her only choice was to go self-employed. She's spending too much time chasing work and travelling between the UK, France and Spain to translate. She worries herself sick that the phone won't ring, that she'll go out of business too. Zander and I worry about her.'

Tess pulled a face. 'I know. But she keeps telling me she's okay. I think this job she's on the phone about will give her some stability.' She shrugged as if to say she didn't know what she could do just now to help, and dived into the pool to surface just beyond him.

'You owe be big time brother!'

Matt arched his eyebrow in a 'how do you make that out' gesture.

'If I hadn't let Ella into your kitchen that night, you might never have met.'

Tess had a great big 'I'm very pleased with myself' grin on her face. 'I take full credit for you two getting together!'

Matt rolled his eyes. Tess would never let him forget the part she played in them meeting.

'And did you wave a magic wand over us so we would fall in love?'

Tess sighed. 'Oh, that's so romantic Matt. I love that you're comfortable enough with yourself to admit you're in love. I so hope I meet a man like you.' She shook herself out of her reverie. 'Well, maybe not quite like you.' She turned to Ella who had swum back to join them. 'No offence Ella. But he can be overbearing at times.'

Ella laughed. It was such a joy to be part of a close, loving family. She only hoped she still thought the same twenty years from now! Tess and Ronnie in full flow were overwhelming.

*

Matt was the lone welcoming party as his brother, Daniel and the Browns arrived.

He hugged Zander. 'Thank god you're here bro. Three overly excited women planning a wedding are driving me insane!'

Zander laughed. Matt had already told him over the phone what would be happening this weekend. There was that twinge again at the thought of Matt settling down.

The others cottoned on and congratulated Matt on his engagement. It was a few minutes before they all moved inside. Matt reflected on how much calmer their reaction had been in comparison to that of his sisters.

'The women are in town fitting their dresses. They've been gone since nine this morning - lord knows what's taking them so long. I was in and out with my suit in thirty minutes! I've arranged for you all to be kitted out tomorrow, and Mrs B, I'm sure the girls would love to have another excuse to go shopping!'

Over refreshments, they talked about the surprise at being asked over. Daniel had hinted at it being a wedding, otherwise why would he have been invited but the Brown's hadn't been so sure. Zander had stayed out of the speculation and concentrated on work. Just as now he was saying very little.

Matt noticed them start to droop - the long journey catching up with them. 'Come on, I'll show you to your rooms and you can rest for a while. It's just us in this house so there's no standing on ceremony. We'll have dinner about seven, providing the women remember we're here and come back!' The others laughed at that as they gathered their bags to go upstairs.

Having settled them, Matt went to Zander's room where he was lounging on one of the beds. 'I'll be bunking in with you tomorrow night - Tess and Ronnie are forbidding me from spending the night before my wedding with Ella.'

'Fancy our sisters being so traditional.' Zander sounded tired.

Matt threw himself down on the other bed and stated the obvious. 'You're tired Zander. Work getting to you?'

Zander shook his head slightly - there was no hiding from his twin. 'Mike's accident has hit the staff hard. On top of that the supervisor has gone off on maternity related sickness. I'm juggling being in that department with the rest of my workload, and the stock market is volatile just now. It needs a constant eye.'

'You're going to have to get someone in.'

'Yeah, I know. Just before I left for the airport, I had a phone call from a woman who claimed she was phoning on the off chance we had an opening.'

'That's good isn't it? If she's experienced, she'll take the weight off.'

'Hmm, I'm still being bugged by that reporter. There was a small article in the press this week suggesting all was not as it should be. I don't know, maybe I'm just tired but her call just seems a bit fishy to me.' Zander was surprised that the police hadn't been in touch. The reporter had made an initial fuss with his threats but it was all still pretty low key. Didn't make sense to him, and what did this woman know who'd phoned saying 'you're just one of many companies I'm trying'?

Matt had every confidence that his brother would make the right call. He also knew he was as clean as a whistle and ultimately they had nothing to worry about. 'Well, I'm just glad you could be here. It wouldn't have been the same without you.'

Zander looked across at him. 'There's no way I would have missed your big day Matt. After all we said over the years, that marriage and kids weren't for us, that we'd done our stint of being tied down, I've got to see you tie the knot with my own eyes.'