The Sweetest Revenge. Emma Darcy

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СКАЧАТЬ sat down, not wanting to fight with her friend but mutinously resolved on sticking to her guns. She would not sing for Nick Armstrong. Never!

      ‘Remember the other side of our business—Drop Dead Deliveries?’ Sue prompted as she propped herself on the large padded armrest of the chair.

      The idea of someone delivering a bunch of dead roses to a party who had injured them had appealed to quite a few clients. It was a relatively harmless outlet for feelings of frustration and anger, a healthy outlet, Sue had argued, when Barbie had voiced doubts. At least it stopped people doing worse and gave them the satisfaction of doing something instead of just being a victim. Which was probably true.

      Nevertheless, Barbie preferred to pass on those jobs to Sue who liked doing them. She didn’t. And delivering wilted flowers to Nick Armstrong to demonstrate what she thought of him and his actions was no answer. She wanted no contact with him at all.

      ‘Forget it, Sue. I’d rather face a tiger snake, and you know how I feel about snakes.’

      With an expressive shudder, Barbie leaned the other way, resting her elbow on the other armrest and adopting an air of unwearable-down patience. Her friend could rail at her as much as she liked, but on this issue, she would not be moved.

      ‘Forget the dead roses. That’s not what I’ve got in mind,’ Sue assured her.

      ‘Then why bring it up?’

      ‘Because there’s nothing like a bit of revenge when someone’s done the dirty on you,’ Sue went on, beginning to wax lyrical with their own advertising copy. ‘Having the last laugh is wonderful. You can then get on with your life, knowing you squared the ledger. Clean slate.’

      Barbie rolled exasperated eyes at her.

      It didn’t stop Sue.

      ‘Revenge is sweet,’ she declared with relish, her eyes beginning to sparkle again as she spread out her hands like a magician about to perform a marvellous illusion. ‘Now imagine this, Barbie …’

      CHAPTER TWO

      BARBIE was literally trembling, her nerves a total jangle as she waited to make her entrance. She shouldn’t have let Sue talk her into this. Somehow her friend had plumbed a well of pride, stirring it to the point where Barbie had actually thought that seeing the stunned look on Nick Armstrong’s face might mend the scars on her heart. Especially when she sprinkled stardust over him, turning him into the child, with her being the adult, falsely smiling at him.

      Sweet revenge, Sue called it, but right now Barbie seriously doubted that anything about this gig could turn out sweet. She would hate it if Nick Armstrong didn’t recognise and remember her and she would hate it if he did. And it was useless to even try to pretend she had forgotten him.

      Nevertheless, she was here, outside the party marquee on Observatory Hill, and it was too late to call off the promised performance. Someone inside was making a speech—Leon Webster?—to bursts of appreciative laughter and occasional guffaws. About a hundred guests, dressed in very trendy evening gear, Sue had reported, definitely a moneyed crowd.

      Since the sides of the marquee were clear plastic for the guests to have an unimpeded view of the harbour and its spectacular coathanger bridge, as well as the myriad night lights of North Sydney, Barbie was standing out of sight behind their car while Sue stood at the entrance, watching proceedings until the vital moment came.

      At least she could make a fast getaway, Barbie consoled herself, with the car so close by. Ten minutes—just ten minutes—of being a fairy princess and she could be out of here. Sue, of course, didn’t want to leave. She was all dressed up to party in a slinky green satin slip dress—a very sexy pixie tonight—but she’d promised she would find her own way home if Barbie wanted to take off.

      A burst of applause made her heart start skittering. Sue held up her hand, the signal to get ready. Barbie briefly closed her eyes and prayed that her wings wouldn’t fall off, that the long train of her skirt wouldn’t catch on anything, that her vocal cords wouldn’t collapse on her, that the stardust mechanism on her wand would work without a hitch. One perfect performance, she pleaded, for this one night.

      Leon Webster grinned around at his audience as the applause for his speech died down. ‘Please … hold your seats, everyone. We have a special surprise coming up for Nick, just to add a little bit of magic to the big 3-0 milestone.’

      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 СКАЧАТЬ