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'Lover-boy?'
'Nick Armstrong. Let's get the personal stuff out of the way before business hours begin. Okay?'
'Nick... on the phone...' Her heart started to flutter.
'Asking for Anne Shepherd so I take it you didn't 'fess up.'
Barbie flung off the bedclothes and scrambled to her feet, struggling to clear her woolly head. Nick may well want answers to why she had left without telling him. How could she say that in the end, she hadn't quite trusted him to keep wanting her? After all, he didn't know who she was, and leading her into his bedroom so soon after meeting...was that his habit with any woman he desired?
Once he'd gone to sleep, the bed and breakfast thing had started haunting her, leaving her very uncertain about what the night had meant to him. She couldn't stay, couldn't handle being faced with...less than she wanted from him.
'I can't imagine what you managed to talk about until three o'clock in the morning,' Sue drawled.
'Couldn't have been about Barbie Lamb. And I doubt any restaurant stays open to that hour, either.'
'Three?' Was it that late when she'd left Nick's apartment? She hadn't looked at clocks. Too much else jamming her mind.
'It was almost four when I heard you come in,' Sue dryly stated. 'Did he take you on to a nightclub?'
'He's waiting on the phone,' Barbie reminded her, cutting off the inquisition. 'And we agreed this was my business, Sue.'
'Right!' she mocked, stepping back from the bedroom doorway to let Barbie out to the living area.
'Go ahead. Make a mess of things.'
She winced, knowing she could look for no understanding or helpful advice from her friend. 'Thanks for waking me up.'
'I wish you would wake up,' Sue muttered darkly, swinging away to go into her own bedroom, respecting Barbie's right to privacy with this personal call, despite strongly disapproving the relationship as it stood. 'And don't forget we've got a gig at the line-dancing club tonight,' she tossed over her shoulder. 'So no making other plans.'
On a beeline for the telephone, Barbie raised a hand to indicate she'd heard. Her mind was feverishly playing through what to say to Nick. This call had to mean he wanted to continue the relationship with Anne Shepherd.
Or have more sex with her.
Had it been a terrible mistake to go to bed with him? The memory of her madness in wantonly goading him into it burned through her as she picked up the receiver. Swamped by a rush of self-consciousness, 'Hi!' was all she could manage.
'Hi to you, too,' Nick replied. Then after a pause she didn't know how to fill, he added, 'I missed you this morning.'
Her cheeks bloomed with heat. 'I thought it best I go,' she gabbled. 'I wasn't sure...I mean...I'd parked the car in the street and...and I couldn't remember how long that was legal for, once it was morning and the traffic started up...and I knew Sue would be expecting me home...and...'
'And you didn't want to wake me to say goodbye,' he helped her somewhat dryly.
She sighed, relieved he seemed to be accepting her explanation. It was impossible to go into the emotional conflict he stirred because much of it was related to a history that still made her feel extremely vulnerable where he was concerned. More so after abandoning herself so utterly to him in bed.
'I did wonder if last night was as special to you as it was to me,' he went on after another pause she didn't know how to fill.
'Yes. Very special,' she said feelingly, unable to help herself from admitting she had been a very willing partner in their intimacy, revelling in it as long as it lasted.
'So there's nothing...troubling you?'
About a thousand things, but none she could bring herself to speak of. 'I'm fine, Nick,' she assured him
'I'm sorry I left without a word but...it was late...and...'
'Yes, I understand. It simply occurred to me that talking was... limited... after we... connected in other ways. If there's anything you want to say...any concern... I do want to be with you again.
Very much.'
'I want that, too,' she rushed out, recklessly squashing the doubts about the path he was treading with her. Time would tell, she told herself. She needed more time.
'Then what about tonight?'
Sue's warning stopped an eager assent. 'I'm booked to work tonight, Nick. I'm free tomorrow evening if that suits you.'
'Fine! I'll pick you up from your place at seven.'
'Here?' Barbie frowned, imagining Sue in the background making smart cracks. 'I don't mind meeting you in the city.'
'Better not to have problems with your car. I'm; happy to take you home whenever you want to go. All you have to do is tell me.'
'Oh!' Guilt squeezed her heart. It had been wrong to sneak off as she had, leaving him wondering how she felt the morning after. 'I'm sorry, Nick. I should have written you a note. Come Wednesday night, I'll be ready on the dot of seven.' And be off before Sue could get a look in. 'You've got the address?'
'Yes. From the phone book. What apartment number?'
'Four.'
'Thank you. I'll look forward to seeing you.'
'Me, too,' she said warmly, and was smiling as she heard the disconnection and lowered her own receiver.
Nick was not smiling. He'd just given her another chance to open up to him but the deception ride was still on and he still did not know if it was a vengeance trip or a trial run towards a judgment on him. Now he had to wait two more days for the next move.
Just how far did she want him to commit himself before the truth came out... or before she cut him off at the knees? Had that been an act on the phone—the embarrassed apology and the warm pleasure in hearing from him?Nick shook his head, the only certainty slicing through the pummelling of doubts was that he couldn't bear to carry on with her in this false way. It was dishonest on both sides, with him hiding his knowledge and her pretending to be someone who'd never entered his life before. It had to stop.
It would be impossible for him to act naturally towards her tomorrow night. He'd be grinding his teeth at her duplicity if she persisted with it, and she'd just indicated she intended to.
Nevertheless, directly facing her with the fakery was tricky business.
It might make her feel a fool, realising she had been recognised. She might even hold last night's plunge into intimacy against him, regardless of how it had turned into something...incredibly good... totally unique in his experience. Surely in hers, too.
He didn't want that twisted into something bad.
Though he was so twisted up inside at the present moment, he had to find some resolution that would work positively and get him out of this mess.
What he needed was some outside intervention that would force her hand, make her reveal the motivation that was driving her decisions. Once he knew precisely what he was dealing with, he could win her around to trying a future together. He couldn't believe she had done what she'd done last night, without feel-ing genuine pleasure in him.
So what outside intervention could he bring into play?
Leon?
He instantly dismissed the idea of confiding this problem to his friend.
Sue Olsen knew, but she had no reason to help him.
His sister popped into his mind. He had intended asking her to help him find the fairy princess. If she booked The Singing Sunflowers... yes, Carole would certainly remember Barbie Lamb. The secret would have to come out, because Carole might blab to her brother and there'd be no evading the truth any longer.
Nick reached for the telephone again.
He didn't stop to question the wisdom of the plan evolving in his mind.
He wanted Barbie Lamb, not Anne Shepherd.
And he wanted her tomorrow night.
CHAPTER TWELVE
'I don't see any preschoolers whooping it up,' Barbie said, eyeing the beautifully landscaped grounds that were totally empty of children. 'Are you sure you've got the right address, Sue?'
'I double-checked. She's probably rounded them up and put them inside for the big surprise.
Barbie wasn't convinced. The exclusive little cul-de-sac in the high-class suburb of Pymble reeked of expensive privacy, not the place for young families. 'It doesn't feel right. And with the call only coming in yesterday... such short notice. Maybe it's some black joke.'
'Who cares? The fee was paid upfront. We're here. We go in,' Sue declared, dismissing Barbie's doubts. She checked her watch. 'Ten fifty-seven. Three minutes to show time. Let's get our hats and cuffs on.' They were already wearing their green bodysuits and yellow petal skirts. Barbie reached over to the back seat of the car and collected the rest of their costumes.
'There's a woman coming out of the house now,' Sue informed her. 'Probably been watching for us to arrive. Better be quick, Barbie. It's bound to be Mrs. Huntley. Looks the right age to be the mother of toddlers.'
The brown cuffs with the flare of yellow petals were easy to shove on, but the hat was tricky, positioning it just right for the full sunflower to circle their faces. In her haste to get fully costumed, Barbie didn't even glance at the woman. She was only too relieved that no mistake had been made and the party call was genuine since they were expected by the home-owner. Sue was out of the car first, ready to greet their client. Barbie hurried to line up with her, pausing to pick up the portable sound system which they needed for their act. The music for the action songs little children loved was all prerecorded, ready to play, and Sue had said the client had agreed to activate it on cue, no problem with having a power-point handy.
'Hi! So glad you're on time,' the mother was saying. 'I have the children packed into the family room downstairs with the other mothers looking after them. I wanted you to be a surprise for them.'
It must be a split-level house, Barbie thought, although that wasn't obvious from the street. The sloping block of land disguised it. 'Mrs. Huntley?' Sue prompted. 'Yes, I'm Carole Huntley. Stuart and Tina are children.'
