Anne Mather - A Rich Man's Touch

Mills & Boon is proud to present a fabulous collection of fantastic novels by bestselling, much loved author

ANNE MATHER

Anne has a stellar record of achievement within the publishing industry, having written over one hundred and sixty books, with worldwide sales of more than forty-eight MILLION copies in multiple languages.

This amazing collection of classic stories offers a chance for readers to recapture the pleasure Anne’s powerful, passionate writing has given.

We are sure you will love them all!

I’ve always wanted to write—which is not to say I’ve always wanted to be a professional writer. On the contrary, for years I only wrote for my own pleasure and it wasn’t until my husband suggested sending one of my stories to a publisher that we put several publishers’ names into a hat and pulled one out. The rest, as they say, is history. And now, one hundred and sixty-two books later, I’m literally—excuse the pun—staggered by what’s happened.

I had written all through my infant and junior years and on into my teens, the stories changing from children’s adventures to torrid gypsy passions. My mother used to gather these manuscripts up from time to time, when my bedroom became too untidy, and dispose of them! In those days, I used not to finish any of the stories and Caroline , my first published novel, was the first I’d ever completed. I was newly married then and my daughter was just a baby, and it was quite a job juggling my household chores and scribbling away in exercise books every chance I got. Not very professional, as you can imagine, but that’s the way it was.

These days, I have a bit more time to devote to my work, but that first love of writing has never changed. I can’t imagine not having a current book on the typewriter—yes, it’s my husband who transcribes everything on to the computer. He’s my partner in both life and work and I depend on his good sense more than I care to admit.

We have two grown-up children, a son and a daughter, and two almost grown-up grandchildren, Abi and Ben. My e-mail address is mystic-am@msn.comand I’d be happy to hear from any of my wonderful readers.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Cover

About the Author Mills & Boon is proud to present a fabulous collection of fantastic novels by bestselling, much loved author ANNE MATHER Anne has a stellar record of achievement within the publishing industry, having written over one hundred and sixty books, with worldwide sales of more than forty-eight MILLION copies in multiple languages. This amazing collection of classic stories offers a chance for readers to recapture the pleasure Anne’s powerful, passionate writing has given. We are sure you will love them all!

Title Page A Rich Man’s Touch Anne Mather www.millsandboon.co.uk

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

EPILOGUE

Copyright

‘HEY, isn’t that Gabriel Webb sitting over there by the window? Wow!’ Stephanie’s eyes were wide with speculation. ‘What’s he doing in here? Slumming?’

‘Do you mind?’ Rachel bent to take a tray of golden-brown scones from the oven, hoping her friend would attribute her reddening face to the heat emanating from the cooker. ‘Coming into my café is not slumming!’

‘Oh, you know what I mean,’ exclaimed Stephanie ruefully, tying the ends of her apron about her waist. ‘But I’ve never seen him in here before, have you?’ She grimaced. ‘You have to admit, Rachel’s Pantry is not his usual hangout.’

‘I don’t know where he usually has his morning coffee,’ retorted Rachel, refusing to admit that she had spent the last twenty minutes wondering much the same thing herself. ‘So long as he pays his bill. That’s all that matters.’

Stephanie gave her friend a wry look. ‘Oh, right. And it doesn’t concern you at all that he should choose to come into this particular café. I mean, Kingsbridge is not a big place, I know, but it does have a couple of good hotels, and I know for a fact that when any of the executives from Webb’s Pharmaceuticals are in town they usually stay at the County.’ She glanced surreptitiously over her shoulder. ‘What did he say?’

‘I haven’t spoken to him,’ said Rachel shortly. ‘Patsy took his order.’

‘Which was?’

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, Steph!’ Rachel gazed at her friend with disbelieving eyes. ‘A pot of tea, if you must know. There: are you satisfied now?’

‘Tea!’ Stephanie cast another glance towards the occupant of the window table. ‘Not coffee?’

‘Tea,’ repeated Rachel in a low, forbearing tone. ‘Now, do you mind starting on the lasagne? It’s going to be lunchtime before we know where we are.’

‘Okay, okay.’ Stephanie held up her hands in mock submission. ‘I’m starting right now.’ She turned to take a pile of dishes from the shelf behind her. ‘And I’m sorry if I’m a bit late but I ran into Mrs Austen in the High Street and she couldn’t wait to tell me all about her trip to see Mark and Liz in Australia. I couldn’t shut her up, honestly, Rach. According to her, they’ve got this really lovely house in a Sydney suburb, and Mark’s going into business with someone who makes power boats, jet skis, that sort of thing.’ She glanced at her friend as she started unfolding sheets of pasta. ‘Pretty exciting, huh?’

‘What? Oh, yes.’

Rachel managed a suitable response, but in all honesty she hadn’t really been listening to what the other woman was saying. Despite her protestations to the contrary, she was supremely conscious of Gabriel Webb’s presence, and the uneasy suspicion that perhaps he had come here to talk about Andrew couldn’t be denied.

Her lips tightened. Surely that was ridiculous. She hadn’t seen Andrew for over a year. As far as she knew he was living in London, and although she’d heard recently that his father had come back to the mansion the Webbs owned in Kingsbridge, she hadn’t associated his return with herself.

Nor did she wish to, she acknowledged grimly. Andrew had hurt her, in more ways than one, and she wanted nothing more to do with him or his family. His mother was dead, of course, but if Gabriel Webb had some idea about warning her not to try and contact his precious son again, he was wasting his time. Rachel had no intention of letting the younger man back into her life.

‘So how long has he been there?’

Stephanie’s head was bent over her task but Rachel knew exactly who she was talking about. However, she didn’t intend to get involved in another discussion about Gabriel Webb, and, being deliberately obtuse, she said, ‘About five years, I think. He and Liz emigrated the year after Hannah was born. Did Mrs Austen say if she had any grandchildren yet?’