Ben watched Jess’s eyes when he said this, wondering if his being a billionaire would make any difference to her. Quite frankly, he didn’t care if it did. He loved her and he had every intention of marrying her. He understood now how his father had felt when he’d proposed to his mother. Love did have a blinding effect on one.
But Jess was nothing like his mother. Ben felt sure of that.
‘Amber might be there,’ he said, feeling that he should warn Jess in advance. ‘Her father was a close business associate.’
‘That’s okay,’ she said. Though it wasn’t. Not really. Jess supposed there was a small part of her which was curious to meet this Amber. But she could have managed well without the experience.
The doorbell rang. It was the porter delivering their luggage.
‘Leave it just inside,’ Ben directed, getting out his wallet and handing the man a note.
‘I’d forgotten you have to tip everyone here,’ Jess said after the porter had left. What a different country America was from Australia.
‘You’d better believe it,’ Ben said. ‘No tip, no service.’
She didn’t much like that, but didn’t say anything.
‘Will you be staying with me in the master bedroom?’ he asked her. ‘Or do you want one of the guest rooms?’
‘Where do you want me to stay?’ she returned, suddenly feeling nervous. Realising that she loved him seemed temporarily to have banished any desire for the exciting love-making they’d shared. Now, she just wanted him to hold her in his arms and make love to her like they were normal people.
‘With me, of course.’
‘Okay. As long as you don’t…you know…’
His eyes clouded over. ‘You needn’t worry. I’m not in the mood for fun and games at the moment, Jess.’
‘No, no, of course not. I just…’ She stopped, then let out a long sigh. ‘I’m sorry. That was insensitive of me. Of course you don’t want to do things like that at the moment. I know exactly how you must be feeling. When my grandmother died last year, it felt like someone had taken a huge jagged spoon and scraped a great big hole out of my heart. I’m sure that’s how you’re feeling at this moment. Maybe even worse. He was your father.’
He looked at her with such sad eyes. ‘I think he knew something was wrong with him. They say sometimes people have a premonition of their death from a heart attack, even when there are no actual symptoms.’
‘Yes, I’ve heard that’s true,’ Jess said.
‘He rang me, you know. On the night before we drove out to Mudgee. It wasn’t like him to ring unless it was to discuss business. But he just chatted away. And then, right before he hung up, he said, “give my regards to your mother”. I thought that was a bit odd at the time. Now I think it was because he knew he was going to die and he wanted to put all that old bitterness behind him.’
Ben gave an unhappy sigh. ‘I did send Mum a text in the taxi about Dad dying and she answered me; said how sad it was for me but not to expect her to fly over for the funeral. I knew she wouldn’t come, that’s why I went ahead with the arrangements for tomorrow. She believed Dad hated her. But she’s wrong about that. I think he actually loved her.’
‘Yes. Of course he did,’ was all Jess could think of to say.
Just when Ben looked as though he was going to burst into tears, he dragged in another deep breath, then straightened his spine.
‘Dad would expect me to be strong,’ he said.
Jess wanted to tell him that tears didn’t make a man weak but she knew it would have been a waste of time. Her father had never cried in front of her, neither had her brothers. It was just the way lots of men were.
‘I’ll put these in the bedroom,’ he said as he picked up their bags and headed down a hallway.
Jess followed him with a heavy heart.
The master bedroom was magnificent, of course. Lavishly furnished with a king-sized bed and everything anyone could possibly want, including a huge flat-screen TV built into the wall opposite the bed. Ben opened the door of a walk-in dressing room which proved bigger than her bedroom back home. She tried not to gape as she hung up her outfit for the funeral, but the extent of Ben’s wardrobe was mind-boggling. How could one man wear so many suits?
She unpacked the rest of her things silently, thankful that she’d thought to bring her newest and best nightie. To wear something cheap in this place wouldn’t seem right. It was made of white satin, adorned with white lace. The colour would even match the room, which was mainly white and grey, not a single piece of dark wood in sight.