Anybody But Him

What happens when you fall in love with the man you hate?

Nicola Doyle's dating record is a disaster, and it doesn't improve when she returns to Redgum Valley, after an absence of twelve years, to look after her increasingly eccentric parents. There, she's thrown into regular contact with Blair Morrissey – the very reason she couldn't wait to leave town in the first place.

The decade-old scars are still raw from that humiliating day in high school – when Blair went from the boy she loved to the boy she hated.

Except Blair doesn't seem to be a ‘bad boy' any more – in fact, he's charming, infuriatingly helpful and
extremely
attractive.

If only Nicola could forgive and forget …

Cover

About the Book

Title Page

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

About the Author

More Random Romance

Copyright Notice

Loved the book?

‘Whatcha doin'?' Lainey plonked herself down on the steps outside the gym where Nicola liked to sit during recess.

‘Nothing,' Nicola said quickly, shutting the purple notebook and shoving it into the pile of books on the step beside her.

Lainey frowned. ‘What were you writing?'

Before Nicola could reply, the double doors of the gym behind her slammed back making her jump. Three laughing lanky boys erupted from the doorway and clattered down the steps. One of them caught her pile of books with the toe of his Nike sneaker and scattered them all over the concrete path.

She leapt to her feet, but couldn't make it to the purple notebook in time to prevent Mark Wilson – who she couldn't stand –seeing the word on the front cover.

‘Private?' He picked it up and gave her a rodent-like grin.

‘Give me that!'

She snatched at the notebook, but Mark jumped back, holding it out of reach and laughing at her vain attempts to stretch for it. Then she watched in horror and humiliation as he flicked through the pages. His grin grew meaner and he put on a girly voice as he began to read out loud.

‘Bluer than the summer sky,

Or the deepest sea,

Your eyes make me sigh,

When you look at me.'

Nicola wrapped her arms around herself and held on tight, feeling helpless and hating it. Nobody,
nobody
, was supposed to read her poetry.

Lainey stepped towards Mark. ‘Stop it! Give that book back.'

Mark snickered and turned his back on her, then yelled to his mates, ‘Hey, listen to this!'

‘From your kissable lips,

To your dark curly hair,

My heartbeat skips,

When I see you, Blair.'

Nicola's stomach dropped and she squeezed her eyes shut. Now they knew it wasn't just a stupid poem, it was a stupid poem about one of the coolest boys in school. Why?
Why
was this happening to her?

The three boys guffawed, then Mark said, ‘You've got the hots for Blair Morrissey? That's so—'

‘There he is,' one of the other boys cut in. ‘Hey, Blair! Over here.'

Her eyes snapped open. It wasn't a cruel joke. Blair was heading their way, and as much as she lived for the brief glimpses she caught of him between lessons, he was the absolute last person she wanted to see right now.

Blair joined them. ‘What's up?'

Mark was flicking through the purple notebook again. ‘Listen.'

‘I dream about you every night,

And think about you at first light.

I wish I knew if you could care,

About me ever, beautiful Blair.'

‘
What
?' Blair lunged for the book, taking Mark by surprise and snatching it from his hands. ‘Who wrote that rubbish?'

The three boys laughed maliciously and pointed at her.

‘Nicola Doyle,' Mark said with a sneer. ‘She lives down the street from me. Her parents are right weirdos.'

When Blair turned his head to look her up and down, it all seemed to happen in slow motion. His gorgeous face – the face she'd been secretly idolising for nearly a year – twisted in a sort of half-amused, half-horrified expression. He was the love of her life and he hadn't even known she existed until this mortifying moment.

‘Hey, you going to take her to the formal?' Mark's words dripped with sarcasm.

Blair jerked back to face Mark. ‘Not a rat's chance.'

Nicola's heart shattered into tiny pieces. Splinters of it broke free and stuck in her throat, her lungs, her stomach.

Blair had taken a few steps away, but must have realised that he was still gripping her notebook. He turned and walked back towards her. When he was within arm's length he held out the book.

Her hand shook as she reached for it. There was an awkward moment when he stood there, apparently waiting for her to look up, or at least say something, but she was too afraid to do either. She kept her eyes on the book and her mouth closed.

He sighed, spun away from her and strode off.

Mark and his mates ran off, laughing.

Lainey touched her elbow. ‘Are you okay?'

Nicola dragged in a shuddery breath and nodded.

Lainey was holding her books.

‘Thanks,' she said. She grabbed her backpack from the step where she'd discarded it earlier and started to slide books into it.

‘I didn't know you liked him,' Lainey said gently.

Nicola shrugged. ‘I don't any more. I
hate
him.'

‘It's a pity Mrs Glebe isn't home yet.'

Nicola wasn't really interested in her mum's next-door neighbour. She had enough to think about, what with trying to jemmy open a window
and
balance on top of a wobbly stepladder.

But her mother ignored her lack of response. ‘Save you doing that, it would. She's usually back from her little job by now. If she was home, she could go in and open the window for you.'

Nicola's reflection in the bathroom window resembled a rabbit staring at the lights of an approaching truck. ‘Mum?'

‘Yes, love?'

‘How would Mrs Glebe get into the house to do that?'

‘Well, how do you think, love? She'd use the spare key she keeps in the trinket box on her hall table.'

‘She has a spare key to your front door?'

‘Bless you, didn't I just say that?'

‘So, why am I trying to break in through the bathroom window?'

‘Because you said it was the only way to get in, love.'

‘But I didn't know that Mrs Glebe had a key. Why didn't you tell me?'

‘Well, I thought you knew best, love, what with your high-powered career and all.'

A career in
burglary
that would be, would it? ‘I'm coming down.'

A dog trotted in through the open gate, and her mum let go of the stepladder to flap her hands at him. ‘You cheeky beggar. Get off my flowers.'

‘Mum! Hold the—'

Too late. The dog careened away from her mother and slammed into the stepladder, making it rock.

This was the sort of thing that happened around her parents. Only a week ago she'd been the financial controller of a corporate giant, now she was spreadeagled in the wet dirt – her mum must have been watering her precious plants. The dog sniffed her, then dashed off, apparently satisfied with his work.

‘Are you all right, love?'

Nicola struggled to sit up. ‘I think so.'

‘Well then, would you get off the garden? You're squashing a whole row of plants. Oh look, there's Mrs Glebe. I'll ask her for the key and then we can go inside and have a nice cup of tea. Now, where has your father disappeared to?'

Nicola rolled onto her hands and knees before getting to her feet. ‘No tea for me, Mum. I want to call in to Lainey's house. I'll come back for a cuppa tomorrow.'

Glad she'd worn dark jeans and a black shirt, Nicola brushed the dirt off them as well as she could and set off on foot. She'd have to call a mechanic to look at her sister's car soon; she'd had enough of all this walking already and she'd only been back in town for a few days.

She found her father halfway along the street. ‘Mum's looking for you. She's making a
cuppa.'

‘Okay, love.'

She watched him for a moment. ‘Um … what are you doing, Dad?'

‘What does it look like?'

‘It looks like you're measuring the distance between the kerb and the Wilsons' wheelie bin.' Assuming that the Wilsons still lived at number thirty. She glanced at the house and it looked exactly the same as she remembered, so it was a good bet that they did.

‘Well, there you go, then,' her dad said. ‘You didn't need to ask, did you?'

‘But, why?'

‘To make sure it's the same as all the others.'

‘You've measured all of them?' She glanced along the street at the regimented line of wheelie bins. It certainly looked as if he had. People would be watching, laughing at her dad from behind their curtains. Her skin prickled with humiliation.

‘How would I know they were all the same unless I measured them?'

She shook her head, not trusting herself to answer. She had neither the time nor the energy to debate the question with him; he could argue with a signpost and win. ‘I have to go, Dad. I'll see you tomorrow.'

‘Do you want me to drive you home? I'm going into town.'

‘I'm going to Lainey's house. You could drop me in town, if you don't mind.'

And so began one of the most unbelievable car journeys of her life. He steadily accelerated until the car was travelling at ten kilometres over the speed limit, then braked until the speedo dropped to ten kilometres below the limit – and then repeated the cycle.

It took her a few cycles to understand what he was doing. She'd never noticed him doing it in the past, but she hadn't been in the car with him since she was a teenager, and she hadn't been a driver herself back then. Still, she would have spotted this, surely? It had to be
a new thing– one of those changes that had her sister so stressed.

‘Why don't you just take your foot off the accelerator until you're going at the correct speed, then hold it there?'

He looked at her as if she'd fallen out of the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down.

‘Go on, try it.'

He shook his head, but lifted his foot off the pedal. As his speed fell, and then hovered around the speed limit while he got a feel for it, he said, ‘That's a nifty trick. Do you think many people know about it?'

‘Oh,' she said with a shrug, ‘probably.'

It wasn't far from her childhood home to the main street of Redgum Valley, and she stared out of the window as they reached it. Not much had changed over the years, and nothing at all since her brief visit to her parents last Christmas. Parking meters had sprouted along the edge of the road at some stage, but most of the shops remained the same as in her younger days. Maureen's hair salon had closed down, and some time ago by the look of it. Probably for the best. Faded pink venetian blinds hid the inside of the empty shop from view, but she remembered how it looked. She also remembered the embarrassment of going into the salon in the mid-nineties and asking Maureen for a Jennifer Aniston, only to leave the salon looking like Cyndi Lauper.

She wondered what the locals did for haircuts now. More to the point, what was
she
going to do for a haircut for the next three months? Not to mention her caramel and gold highlights. Her hairstyle had been a big part of the makeover that had helped her shake off her nerdy image and gain the confidence to compete in the corporate world. A good hair stylist was just one of the many things she would miss during her months in purgatory.

Having walked the length of the main street, Nicola turned left, following the road
around to the housing development where her friend Lainey lived. She was glad they'd kept in touch over the years– at least she'd have someone to whine to if being back in Redgum Valley became too much. Lainey knew how she felt about the town and wouldn't judge her.

When Lainey opened the door of the neat, unpretentious house, her eyes widened. ‘Nicola! I wasn't expecting you.'

‘I can see that. I should have called.' Nicola gestured at Lainey's towelling robe. ‘I've come at a bad time, haven't I?'

Lainey shook her head. ‘It doesn't matter. It's great to see you.'

She stepped forward, her arms spread wide for a hug. At the same time, a loud
crack
made Nicola jump and Lainey grabbed for the door knob.

‘What the—? Are you all right?'

‘Yes.' Lainey rolled her eyes. ‘My legs were stuck together.'

Nicola stared, uncomprehending.

‘Cling wrap. It's a new treatment for cellulite. You put this special cream on, then wrap your thighs and the cellulite melts away.'

‘Guaranteed, huh?'

‘I'm trying something different each day while I have the time.'

Nicola frowned at her. ‘This is how you're spending you're week off work? Doesn't sound like much fun.'

‘It's a serious problem. Do you mind if I don't get dressed? Only I need to leave it on for a bit longer or it won't work.'

‘No, I don't mind, but I don't think leaving it on longer will help.'

‘Don't burst my bubble.' After completing the interrupted hug, Lainey led the way into the kitchen walking like John Wayne after a long day in the saddle. While she filled the kettle she said, ‘I still can't believe you've come home for more than a couple of days. I think the
longest you've stayed is a week since you left to go to uni.'

‘You're right.' Nicola hitched herself onto a bar stool.

‘How are you settling into Una's house?'

‘Hmm. Okay, but it seems to be falling apart. Everything I touch disintegrates.'

The state of Una's house said a lot about the way she lived, and Nicola had had no idea it was so run down. Between the house and the car, very little was in working order. If Una had told her, Nicola would have sent money, but her sister had never mentioned being hard up. Of course, she hadn't complained about having to keep an eye on their parents either, until recently, and then in one scathing email she'd exploded, accusing Nicola of evading her share of the responsibility.

Lainey flicked the kettle switch, got two mugs down from an overhead cupboard and spooned instant coffee granules into the mugs. ‘Do you think there's a chance she might not want to come back? I mean, she might get used to living in a swanky apartment with a harbour view, and not having to worry about anyone but herself.'

Oh God, she hadn't thought of that. ‘But she has to come back,' Nicola said, shaking her head. ‘She promised.'

‘It was just a thought.'

‘No, she wouldn't do that to me. We agreed on three months. She said that would be long enough for her to write her book, and besides, she knows that if I'm out of the job market for too long, my chances of walking straight into an equivalent position will deteriorate. I can't get stuck here for longer than we agreed.'

‘Some of us are stuck here permanently.'

Nicola winced. ‘It's different for you. You never wanted to live anywhere else, did you?'

‘I've never even considered it. I suppose that makes me boring?'

‘No, it means you're comfortable here. I thought Una was too, so that shows what I know. She only ever wanted somewhere to write her stories, and she always said she could do that here as well as anywhere else.' Except that their parents, who had always been oddball characters, had become increasingly forgetful, and now Una claimed she spent more time worrying about them than writing. After today's incidents, Nicola was beginning to understand why.

‘I couldn't believe it when you said you'd walked out of your job,' Lainey said. ‘Was your boss upset to lose you?'

‘People don't get upset about their employees in the corporate world. They don't care enough about them for that. All they care about is whether there's someone else who can fill the void and make them look good. My boss will hardly notice I'm gone anyway, because my management accountant was bursting to step into my shoes.'

She hoped they pinched his toes. Cliff had been undermining her for ages, and doing his best to make himself appear the perfect candidate for her job, not caring that she was still in it, or that he wasn't even particularly good at his own job. She should have fired him when she first realised what he was like. Instead, she'd allowed him to needle her and she wasn't proud of the fact. He'd been a source of daily tension, and she'd act differently if she ever came across someone like him in the future. For now, she'd held back from telling him everything there was to know about the job. Let him find out for himself that the position wasn't all about the perks.

Nicola took a mug of coffee from Lainey and smiled her thanks.

‘Will you miss it, though?'

‘Not really. It was time to leave.'

‘Oh, right.'

Lainey looked surprised, and Nicola reminded herself that in a small town people didn't
walk out on a highly paid job with benefits. They stuck it out for a mere forty years or so, since there was very little choice. They didn't move on for a better view from the office, or a salary package that included membership of a gym in the same building.

‘Will you need to work while you're here?'

‘I've got some savings, and they'll tide me over if I need them to, but I'd rather not use them up if I can help it. I don't know how long it will take to find a job when I go back to Sydney, so I'd rather pick up some temporary work here if I can.'

Lainey grinned. ‘Well, in that case, I can help.'

‘Help how?'

‘Our chief accountant walked out last week.'

‘You're kidding?'

Shaking her head, Lainey said, ‘I don't know what happened between him and Corinne – my boss –but I heard them arguing. Not long after that he walked out carrying a cardboard box. I asked if everything was all right, and he said he was leaving.'

Lainey paused to add an artificial sweetener to her coffee. ‘As soon as I could slip away from the reception desk, I went straight to Corinne and told her that I knew someone who might be interested in the position on a temporary basis.'

‘You did? Hey, thanks.'

‘When I told her where you've been working, she was very impressed.'

‘She wants me to apply?'

‘Better than that. She's going to be away in Sydney for a week, but she wants you to email your CV to her, and she'll interview you over the phone. She gave me the impression that it would be more of a chat to see if you get on with each other. I'll give you her email address.'

‘So she's not going to advertise the position?'

Lainey shook her head as she wrote on a scrap of paper she'd ripped from the weight-loss magazine that was sitting on the breakfast bar. ‘She's keen to get someone in quickly, and she seemed really pleased to hear about you.'

‘That's great. She knows I'm only here for a few months, right?'

‘Yes. She said it will give her time to find a replacement without having to rush into a decision. I'm sure it won't be anything like your old job, so don't get too excited about it.'

Nicola shook her head. ‘I'm not looking for a challenge. I need to be available for Mum and Dad. That's the whole point of being here.'