The Sweetest Revenge

He gestured an over-to-you to the bandleader and stepped off the podium, having stirred a buzz of speculation around the tables. Nick watched his friend striding across the dance floor to their table, a slight swagger to his gait. Leon was certainly in top form tonight. He’d pulled off a hugely entertaining speech and now he was about to pull something else out of his hat of amusing tricks.

Leon was a great party guy, Nick reflected, smiling at the high-octane energy still radiating from him as he dropped into his chair at their table. Over the years they’d had a lot of fun together—all through university, setting up the business and running it. Long-time friends and always would be, Nick thought, knowing each other probably better than any women in their lives ever would.

The band started playing something he didn’t recognise until the clarinetist came in with the melody. Then Nick burst out laughing at Leon. ‘‘‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’’?’

‘The pot of gold is coming, man.’

‘A bit childish, isn’t it, Leon?’ Tanya sniped.

Nick gritted his teeth, biting down on the urge to tell Tanya to take a hike. She’d been in a picky mood all evening—criticising everything—and very soon now he was going to advise her to join another table.

Leon gave her a smile that smacked of sweet satisfaction. ‘I’m giving Nick a touch of romance, Tanya. He needs it.’

Nick felt Tanya bristle and braced himself for another snide sling off at him. The surprised exclamations of ‘Oh, look!’ and ‘Wow!’ from other guests came as welcome relief, drawing their attention to where everyone else was turning. Swivelling around in his chair, Nick was initially hit with stunned disbelief.

A gorgeous glittering blonde with gossamer wings?

Then he took in the total image and barely stifled a glorious bubble of laughter. Leon—with undoubtedly the most wickedly Machiavellian pleasure—had got him a fairy princess with a magic wand! Tanya, of course, would not appreciate the joke, but Nick no longer cared what Tanya thought. Or did. In fact, if a wave of that wand could make her disappear, he’d have no objection at all.

He smiled at the fairy princess. He wouldn’t be leaving her on a shelf for long if he had her in his keeping, and he wouldn’t need any magic to spark off desire, either. She was the best-looking fantasy he’d even seen in the flesh.

And what flesh!

The gauzy silver evening dress shimmered around hourglass curves and the clingy fabric clearly revealed there was no artful underwear involved in creating the sexy effect. This was all living, breathing woman, so perfect she could have emerged from the pages of a fairytale.

Her lovely face was made even more luminous by a smile that could have made gooey mush out of a stone heart and eyes that sparkled through a sprinkling of stardust. A delicate diamanté tiara crowned a long rippling flow of silky blond hair which looked all the more beautiful, framed by the wings with their fine network of silver spokes and loops.

A princess indeed, Nick thought, and hoped she would grant his wish for her to stay on at the party so they could work some magic together.

So far, so good, Barbie told herself, smiling so hard her face ached. She’d made it up the aisle between the tables from the entrance to the dance floor without a falter or mishap. Her surprise appearance was certainly coming off as a surprise and she was intensely grateful that the response from the guests was positive—no cat-calling or anything off-putting, just a buzz of wonder and appreciation and a heightened sense of anticipation for what would happen next.

She spotted Nick Armstrong as she stepped onto the dance floor. Leon had told Sue that he and the birthday boy would be at the table directly opposite where the band was set up, and there they both were, Leon emphatically pointing at Nick to identify him as the guest of honour.

Barbie nodded to show she understood. Nick was happily smiling at her, looking even more handsome than she remembered him, a dark blue shirt enhancing his dark colouring and heightening the vivid blue of his eyes … eyes that were gobbling her up as though she were everything his heart could desire.

For a moment, her heart leapt with treacherous joy … Nick loving the image of her. Then her mind savagely kicked in—lust, not love, you fool. He’d probably have the same look for a curvaceous bikini girl popping out of a birthday cake.

Her gaze slid briefly to the woman sitting next to him—masses of black hair in a tousled mane, pouty red lips and a red dress with a décolletage that had undoubtedly attracted him—out of the same mould as the scarlet tart he’d preferred to true love on his twenty-first birthday.

Barbie hated her on sight. And quite clearly, the woman was making no bones about hating her right back. The fairy princess for Nick was not going down at all well with her.

Unaccountably a sweet sense of satisfaction swept through Barbie. She bestowed an especially warm smile on Nick before turning to walk to the podium where the microphone awaited. Let him lust after her instead of his black-haired bed-pet, she thought wickedly, and put a more seductive sway into her hips to help him focus his attention where she wanted it.

Sue was right about revenge. It would be balm to her wounded soul if Nick ended up panting after her tonight. Of course, it would mean he was a shallow rat, but proving that beyond a doubt might help to finally put him behind her. And then she could crush him and walk away. Walk away forever!

She timed her arrival at the podium to the last chords of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow.’ The musicians were grinning at her, thoroughly enjoying the effectiveness of her appearance. The bandleader winked his approval and another wicked idea slid into her mind.

‘Remember Marilyn Monroe singing ‘‘Happy Birthday’’ to the president?’ she whispered.

He nodded, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

‘I want that tempo. Okay?’

‘You got it, babe.’

She took the microphone and swallowed a couple of times to moisten her throat. One of her talents was doing a good mimic. She hoped she could pull this one off tonight. It was worth trying, anyway, she boldly reasoned, even if her voice did waver off the note. If it was sexiness that turned Nick Armstrong on, she’d pour it out at him.

The audience settled and hushed. Sue gave her a thumbs up sign from where she still stood at the entrance to the marquee. Leon Webster leaned forward, saying something to Nick at their table. The black-haired sexpot looked furious. Nick flashed a grin at his friend, ignored the woman beside him, turning his back to her as he concentrated his attention on the fairy princess about to sing for him. Not polite attention, Barbie noted triumphantly. Wolfish attention!

The band struck up a vibrant opening chord. Barbie took a deep breath and lifted the microphone close to her mouth so she could purr into it.

‘Ha … ppy birth … day …’ another big breath ‘… dear … Nick …’

A ripple of amusement ran around the marquee. It was pure over-the-top candied honey. Nick tilted his head back in delight, a low chuckle emerging from his throat … music to Barbie’s ears. He was captivated all right.

She repeated the line, putting a huskier edge on her voice. The band paused for her until the appreciative laughter died down, picking up again as she started the third ‘Happy Birthday’, soaring with her as she poured more volume into the high note, then dropping softly to the ‘Dear Ni … ick,’ into which she pumped a load of seductive come-on.

He was not the least bit embarrassed by it. His head was cocked slightly to one side, as though bewitched and bemused, wanting more.

Barbie gave it to him, drawing out the last line and loading it with sensual innuendo as she sang ‘… to … you-ou-ou,’ her lips rounded in a suggestive oval, sending a long, long, visual kiss.

The crowd in the marquee erupted then, guys standing up on chairs, clapping and hooting and whistling, the women laughing and cheering. Leon Webster jumped to his feet, arms up in the air, drinking in the credit of being a magnificent impresario to have brought this off.

But Nick didn’t even glance at his friend. Or at his rollicking guests. His gaze was burning up a line that linked him straight to his fairy princess, and Barbie didn’t feel her face ache at all as she smiled some sizzling heat right back at him. She replaced the microphone on its stand and stepped down from the podium, all primed for the final part of her act.

‘Everybody join in singing now,’ Leon shouted, swinging around and waving up more enthusiasm.

The band broke into a more jolly rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ and everyone who wasn’t already standing, rose to give loud voice in accolade to the one man who remained seated. Hands slid over his shoulders as Barbie walked towards him, her wand benevolently raised—hands with long red nails, claiming jealous possession.

If Nick felt them he showed no sign of it. No appeasing smile was flashed at the woman behind him. His gaze remained fixed on the princess approaching him, feasting on every physical facet of the illusion.

Barbie feasted on the sense of power this gave her. It was more exhilarating than any applause she had ever received for entertaining people. This was real woman-power and she was holding it over the one man in the world she most wanted to hold it over … Nick Armstrong.

Her stomach was contracting in spasms of delight. Her breasts seemed to thrust themselves out more, peaking and tingling. Her hips rolled in voluptuous provocation, her thighs sliding sensuously against each other with every step she took towards him. She was intensely conscious of every part of her femininity, as though it had not only been awakened to a new level of awareness, but aroused to fever-pitch and highly primitive immediacy.

Nick was facing her, still seated, but with his face upturned when she stopped in front of him, barely a step away. It was a miracle she remembered what had to be done with the wand. His eyes were locked on hers, transmitting a blazing quest for more knowledge of her, intimate knowledge of her, and the desire to get it.

‘Make a wish,’ she invited huskily, smiling as she lifted the wand over his head and pressed the button on the silver rod, opening the star at the end of it to release a shower of silver glitter. It speckled his hair, his nose, his cheeks, and the brilliant blue of his eyes suddenly seemed to become more piercing, magnetic in its intensity.

She bent to bestow a fairy kiss on his cheek. Her heart was drumming in her ears, driving the noise around them off to some far distance. She saw his lips part slightly and temptation seized her. Instead of planting her mouth where it should have been planted to seal the wish-spell, an irresistible force dragged it down to meet his.

The moment the first tantalising contact was made was the last Barbie had any control over. Nick surged to his feet, a thumb hooked under her chin, fingers thrusting into her hair, taking a firm grip, tilting her head back, his mouth dominating hers as his other arm burrowed under her wings and scooped her in to a full body blast of his highly energised masculinity.

It was like no other kiss Barbie had experienced in her whole life—a wild, storming kiss that electrified every nerve, a stampeding kiss that reduced her mind to a whirlpool of fantastic sensation, an ecstatically passionate kiss that taught her that lust had an intoxicating excitement that could not be denied. Enthralled by these overwhelming factors, she was unaware of the removal of the wand from her grasp. Indeed, she didn’t even realise where her hands were.

With shocking abruptness, the mouth that had wrought such intense rapture was wrenched from hers. The harsh words, ‘What the hell!’ rang in her ears. Her eyes flew open just as the star at the end of her wand was slammed down on Nick’s head as though it were a flyswatter being wielded with deadly intent. Glitter sprayed from the impact.

‘I’ll give you magic!’ a woman’s voice screeched, and the wand lifted, ready to crash down again.

Nick’s hand hastily disengaged itself from Barbie’s hair and he threw up an arm to ward off its descent. ‘Quit it, Tanya!’ he grated.

‘You quit it!’ came the fierce retort.

Tanya, the black-haired witch! Dazedly, Barbie stared at the furious attacker, feeling oddly detached from the emotional violence playing across the other woman’s face.

‘How dare you kiss her, in front of me!’ she snarled as Nick swivelled to grab the damaging wand from her.

Tanya whipped it out of his reach and advanced on Barbie who was now hugged to Nick’s side but open to frontal assault. The red mouth was stretched into an ugly jeer as her arm swung back to deliver another forcible blow, this time aimed at Barbie’s head.

‘And you … you fairy cow … can milk someone else for sex! Nick is mine!’

It was Leon Webster who caught the wand in mid-swing, tore it out of her grasp and tossed it onto the dance floor. ‘Cool it, Tanya!’ he commanded.

Being de-weaponed, however, did nothing to lower the raging fury. With arms raised and fingers curled like talons, Tanya lunged at Barbie, hissing like a snake.

Nick threw in a shoulder-block. Leon knocked her arms down and pinned them to her sides in a smothering hug from behind. Everything had moved so fast, Barbie was still in a shocked daze, though her body was quivering in reaction to the chaos without and within.

‘Let me go!’ Tanya seethed.

‘Not until you’re ready to behave,’ Leon tersely retorted.

‘Right!’ another voice cracked into the maelstrom.

Sue!

‘No indignities you said, Mr. Webster!’ she reminded him in high dudgeon. Her hands were planted on her hips in aggressive mode as she subjected Nick and Leon—still holding the struggling Tanya—to a look of arch scorn. ‘The crème of young Sydney society?’ she drawled with biting acid.

‘Miss Olsen … Sue …’ Leon started ingratiatingly.

‘My fairy princess gets grabbed and ravished in plain view of a hundred people …’

‘I didn’t anticipate she’d be so …’

Sue cut him off. ‘We delivered precisely what you ordered, sir. Sexy, you said. Indeed, you insisted.’

‘I know. I know. But …’

‘Control, Mr. Webster, was in your court.’

‘I’m doing it. I saved her from being attacked. Tanya, apologise to the ladies.’

‘Ladies! They’re no better than whores!’ she shrieked.

‘More indignities,’ Sue hammered. She glared at Nick. ‘Kindly unhand my fairy princess, sir. I am taking her out of this unsavoury scene.’

His warm, supporting arm was removed, leaving Barbie feeling chilled and shivery. He gestured a plea to Sue. ‘I’m sorry things got out of hand …’

‘Perhaps you’ll now take them in hand,’ Sue shot at him, glancing meaningly at Tanya. ‘I expect Mr. Webster to escort us out of this marquee, guaranteeing safety for my fairy princess. And may I say, sir …’ Her green eyes knifed into Nick’s. ‘… your choice of companion is no lady.’

‘Who the hell do you think you are!’ Tanya snarled.

Sue ignored her, nodding to Barbie. ‘The wand needs collecting.’

Barbie took a deep breath, gathering herself together, then stepped away from Nick, trying to maintain an air of dignity as she set off to where the wand had fallen on the dance floor.

‘No, wait!’ A hoarse plea from Nick.

Barbie hesitated, still feeling the magnetic pull he’d held on her, but she resisted it, realising Sue was right in her judgement to get them out of here, pronto! Nothing good could eventuate from what had already gone on. Revenge, she decided, was a very tricky thing to play with.

‘Please … stay!’

It was an almost anguished cry from Nick this time, curling around Barbie’s heart, squeezing it, throwing her into confusion. Before she could respond either way, her wings were grabbed from behind and jerked from the boned slot in the back of her dress. Crying out in horror at the damage that might be done, she swung around to find Nick juggling the wings with an equal expression of horror, babbling apologies. ‘I didn’t mean … I just wanted …’

‘More indignities!’ Sue accused hotly. ‘Mr. Webster …’

‘For God’s sake, Nick!’ Leon begged. ‘Leave her be and take Tanya from me.’

‘I don’t want Tanya!’ Nick snapped at him. ‘She can go take a flying leap off the Harbour Bridge for all I care!’

‘You scum!’

The black-haired witch broke free of Leon and smashed Barbie’s wings out of Nick’s hands with her fists. They fell to the floor and she jumped on them, stamping her feet all over them like a dervish, her red toenails splayed openly in black stilleto sandals, looking like drops of blood on the silvery gossamer as she wreaked her malicious damage.

Sheer shock paralysed everyone for several seconds.

‘No … no …’ Barbie moaned.

It shot Nick into action, hauling the hysterical woman off her feet and carrying her to the other side of the table where he forcibly held her to prevent any more harm being done.

Barbie stared down at the broken wings. They’d taken her so many hours to create and they’d been beautiful. Tears welled into her eyes. It was like a desecration …

Someone tapped her on the arm and offered her the wand she’d meant to collect. The star was hanging drunkenly at the end of the silver rod. It was broken, too.

‘You’re going to get a huge damage bill for this, Mr. Webster,’ Sue threatened darkly, folding her arms in firm belligerent style.

‘Okay. I’ll pay,’ he promised on a ragged sigh. ‘If we could move now …’

They moved, Leon shepherding both Sue and Barbie through the loud melee in the marquee. The wings were left where they lay crushed. Leon muttered something about a good joke going awry. Sue castigated him for not providing adequate protection. Barbie stared at the battered wand in her hand.

A falling star, she thought.

A wish …

Did wishes ever come true?

CHAPTER THREE

LEON swept into Nick’s office for their usual Monday morning conference, hoping his friend had wiped the birthday disaster from their joint slate, only to be faced with incontrovertible evidence that Nick was still obsessed with it!

‘What are those fairy wings doing on your desk?’ he demanded in exasperation.

Nick lifted a belligerently determined face. ‘I’m going to fix them.’

‘And just how do you propose to do that? Tanya punched so many holes through them with her stiletto heels, the fabric is irreparable.’

‘I am aware of that, Leon.’ He glowered dangerously. ‘Which is why I need to get the fabric matched so I can replace it. I decided you wouldn’t mind lending me your secretary for a while this morning. She’d probably know how …’

‘You can’t use Sharon for personal jobs.’

One black eyebrow lifted in challenge. ‘Can’t I?’

‘This is ridiculous!’ Leon expostulated. ‘I said I’d pay the bill for damages and I will. As soon as it comes in.’

‘I’m going to fix the wings,’ Nick repeated stubbornly.

‘Why?’

‘Because I want to. Because it will mean something when I give them back to her.’

Leon expelled a long breath. Nick was definitely out of his tree. He lifted his hands in a plea for sanity. ‘It was just an act. An act I paid for, Nick. Nothing more. Just a …’

‘It turned into something more.’

‘Okay, she was beautiful. She was sexy. She turned you on. But you don’t even know the woman, Nick. She might be …’

‘I don’t care who she is!’ His hand slammed down on the desk as he stood up. ‘I want to feel that again. I have to know. And I will know.’ He paced around the office, clearly disturbed, his hands moving in agitated gestures. ‘When I kissed her … I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life before. She’s different, Leon.’

‘Fairy princesses tend to be different, Nick. Kind of like dream stuff.’

That perfectly rational point earned a flash of impatience that said he didn’t understand, didn’t have the experience to understand.

‘I can’t let it go,’ came the steely resolve.

Totally out of his tree!

Recognising a brick wall when he saw it, Leon asked, ‘So, have you tracked her down, arranged to meet under normal circumstances?’

Nick’s face twisted with frustration. ‘I called and called the Party Poppers number yesterday and all I got was an answering machine. Then finally, this morning, I reached that Sue Olsen on the phone, but she flatly refused to give out the name and address of her fairy princess. Against company policy.’

Dead right, Leon thought approvingly. Fantasy and reality didn’t mix. Expectations could never be met and it was a stupid waste of time to go chasing them.

Nick grimaced and muttered, ‘But I’ll get it somehow. Sue Olsen said something about Singing Sunflowers before I started in on questions. I’ll ask my sister to book that act for her kids. My fairy princess is a singer … right? She might be a sunflower, too.’

The desperate hope in Nick’s voice told Leon his friend needed help fast or very little creative work was going to get done on the designs they’d been contracted to deliver. He instantly revised his opinion. The sooner hopes and expectations were blasted, the better.

‘No need to go to that trouble, Nick,’ he soothed.

‘I’ll go to any lengths,’ came the punchy retort, his eyes flashing unshakable determination. ‘I have to find her.’

‘Sure you do. I understand,’ Leon quickly inserted. ‘All I meant was … leave it to me. I’ll have the name and address you want before today is out.’

Nick frowned, suspicious of his confidence. ‘How?’ he demanded.

‘I’ll call Sue Olsen, ask her out for lunch as an apology for the mess on Saturday night. Restaurant of her choice. Promise to write out a cheque for the damages bill there and then. Butter her up. Piece of cake. As you well know, I am the best salesman in the business.’

‘What about her company policy?’

‘I’ll find a loophole. Trust me.’

Nick expelled a deep sigh. Then his eyes narrowed. ‘You won’t put her further offside?’

Leon laughed. ‘That feisty little redhead wasn’t offside. She was making hay while the sun shone. A dyed-in-the-wool opportunist, like me. In fact, I’ll enjoy having lunch with her. I have the feeling Miss Olsen and I speak the same language.’

‘Okay. Just don’t slip up, Leon. This is really important to me.’

‘No problem, Nick, I swear. Just shovel those wings off your desk and get to work while I …’

‘I’m still going to fix them. If you’d send Sharon along …’

Leon ungritted his teeth enough to bite out, ‘Okay. But don’t take up too much office time on it. It’s bad business getting secretaries to do personal jobs, Nick, and you’ve got a full schedule, too.’

‘I just want to ask her advice,’ he insisted.

‘Fine! Speak to you later.’

Leon went off fuming.

Women!

He’d got rid of Tanya Wells for good, only to be loaded with another festering problem. There was black irony for you. A fairy princess was supposed to remove trouble not make it. He should have hired a doll, not a real woman. Big mistake, Leon, he castigated himself. Though there was one bright spot.

A very feisty little redhead.

Cute, too.

He wouldn’t mind having lunch with Sue Olsen at all.

Yes, that was definitely a bright spot.

Barbie was still trying to mend the broken wand when the Drop Dead Deliveries telephone rang. She frowned at it. Sue had gone off to lunch with Leon Webster, assured of getting the damages cheque, while she was supposed to deal personally with any bookings that came in. Except Barbie didn’t like answering the revenge phone, as she thought of it. Why couldn’t it have been the Party Poppers one?