Marion Lennox - The Last-Minute Marriage

‘Oh, Marcus. It’s lovely.’

‘Really?’

‘Really.’ She faltered. ‘I should have something for you.’

‘You have you. You have your love.’

‘Will…will you wear gumboots for me?’ she said in a voice that wasn’t quite steady.

He kicked off his shoes and his spectacular gumboots were on his feet in an instant. She looked down at them and she managed a shaky chuckle. ‘They’re wonderful.’

‘Did you know that I fell in love with your bare toe?’ he asked and she looked at him with wonder in her eyes.

‘How can that be?’

‘Sexiest toe I’ve ever seen. Just like Cinderella.’

‘Marcus…’

‘Mmm.’

‘Do you intend to kiss me or will I kiss you?’

‘Well, there’s a problem.’

‘A problem?’ Her heart felt as if it must surely burst. Her Marcus. Her love…

‘I’m a bit worried about this fairytale thing we appear to be stuck in,’ he admitted and stared down at his gaudy feet. ‘My feet are already transformed. If you kiss me, will I turn into a frog?’

‘Let’s try, shall we?’ she whispered. ‘Let’s try really hard. And if you turn into a frog-I promise to keep right on loving you. Marcus Frog. Marcus Anything. I’m yours for ever.’

A WEEK later they were heading home-home to another wedding ceremony that was even simpler than the first but far, far more important. Marcus ushered her on board his jet; he took her into his arms and, as the jet soared to cruise altitude, he silenced her protests with a kiss.

But he couldn’t silence her for ever.

‘Marcus, this is obscene! You promised me that you wouldn’t fly first class. And this…’

‘Why? What’s wrong with it?’ He was inclined to be indignant.

‘This is so… First class has nothing on this!’

‘I know,’ he said smugly. ‘This is nothing like first class. First class, by definition, is the set of seats for those with more money than the normal passenger. The seat you’re sitting on is the seat for the normal passenger. Therefore, it’s economy. Cattle class.’

‘It’s your own private jet.’

‘Yep. And you’re in the economy section. Get used to it.’

But still she was stunned, torn between indignation and laughter.

‘Marcus, how much did it cost to get those gumboots painted?’

‘Do you care?’

‘Yes!’

But he was smiling. ‘My love, we’ll do good things with our money,’ he told her. ‘Wise things for the needy. Sensible things for our family and for our farm. For the good of our cows and our dogs and our kids. And we’ll do fun things. Fun things just for us. I’ve worked too hard for my fortune not to derive some pleasure from it.’ His smile deepened. ‘Like the money I spent to pay out Charles’s lease so that neither you, nor I, nor any of our employees have to see the man again.’

‘Marcus…’ Once again he’d left her speechless.

‘Mind, I can’t help feeling almost sorry for the man,’ Marcus told her gently. ‘He’s just so…stupid. He can’t see that all he’s hurting is himself.’ He smiled softly into her hair. ‘Maybe he needs to find his own Cinderella,’ he whispered. ‘But he’s not having mine. Mine’s taken. Now… What do we do in economy seats? Do we put our knees under our chins? I think I promised to do that, and I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to make you happy. Or will you kiss me instead, my love? What do you think? Take your pick.’

Take your pick. He was incorrigible. Peta tried to glare but it didn’t come off. Instead she chuckled but her chuckle was drowned as his lips met hers and she was kissed as he’d never stopped kissing her and he never would.

Their seats inched back to reclining. Man and woman, loving each other. For ever.

Heading homeward, for a life together-in the world’s most extraordinary gumboots!