A Rich Man's Touch. Anne Mather

       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 [email protected] and I’d be happy to hear from any of my wonderful readers.

      A Rich Man’s Touch

      Anne Mather

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      CONTENTS

       Cover

       About the Author

       Title Page

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

CHAPTER ONE

      ‘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.