Bedding The Billionaire (17 page)

And he'd get out of her life forever.

"Are you nuts?" Lucy's shouted.

"Possibly," said Abbey. "But I don't
want a lecture."

They were in Lucy's office, facing each other across
the desk.

"So you're going?"

Abbey nodded. "Why not? Like Tarken said, it's a
good opportunity to network. I need a job, Lucy."

"Yes, but there's other ways of getting jobs that
don't involve seeing that Vane creep again."

"He's many things, but a creep is not one of
them. Besides, it'd be good to get some closure on our relationship."

Lucy threw her hands in the air. "Closure. That's
a pathetic excuse. You just want to go to bed with him one last time. And then
where will you be? Sobbing in my apartment, that's where, because you've fallen
in love with a creep."

"He's not a creep and I'm not in love." She
hoped not anyway. "Besides, I deserve some good sex. I need some good sex.
Something tells me I'm not going to get it for a while after Damien leaves
town."

Lucy looked like she was about to make a smart ass
comment when the phone rang. She picked it up.

"Vane? What do you want?"

Abbey straightened. Lucy thrust the phone at her and
she drew in a deep breath.

"Abbey," said Damien on the other end. "How
are you?"

"Fine, thanks." Abbey winced. This was way
too formal for two people who'd had great sex together several times over the
last few days.

"Look, there's a cocktail party tonight for
seminar attendees, and I was wondering if you'd like to come."

Abbey couldn't help smiling. This was going to be one
hell of a cocktail party.

"Okay," she said.

There was a pause at the other end of the line.

"Okay? Really? You'll come?"

The incredulity in his voice was unmistakable. No
doubt he was expecting her to tell him where he could stick his cocktail party.
Maybe she should have made it more difficult for him, given him a chance to use
the speech he'd probably prepared.

Abbey decided it was best to play fair and give him a
fighting chance. She came clean. "Tarken's already asked me. I thought
perhaps you and I could...talk."

A pause. "Okay. We can talk."

Abbey hung up. Lucy was glaring at her, arms crossed
under her breasts. "Abbey," she warned, "is this a good idea? You
like this guy too much and he's going to break your heart. I can feel it."

"Relax, Lucy, and let me handle it my way."

Lucy rolled her eyes. The phone rang again and she
picked it up. "Mrs. Vane. Oh great, you got them."

There was a pause as Lucy listened to the voice on the
other end. When her jaw dropped and her face slowly changed color from puce to
pallid, Abbey knew something was wrong.

The conversation ended abruptly with Lucy barely
managing to say goodbye. She slammed down the phone and her face returned to a
bright, brilliant red. She was furious.

"That son of a bitch!"

"Who? What's going on? Tell me!"

Lucy stomped from one side of the room to the other,
hands on hips, steam rising from her ears.

"I've changed my mind. You should go to that
seminar, and I think you should kill him."

"Who? Damien?"

"No! Yes!" Lucy ran a hand through her short
blond hair and continued storming across her office floor.

Abbey stood in Lucy's way and placed her hands on her
shoulders. "What's going on?"

Lucy huffed and puffed some more then said, "Mrs.
Vane received the photos. It's not Damien Vane!"

Abbey's heart leapt then dove. She shook her head because
it suddenly felt full of cobwebs. "What do you mean? The guy I slept with
wasn't Damien?"

Lucy nodded. "Exactly. It's his boss, Nick
Delaware, the CEO of Software Solutions. Some rich investor from Sydney with a
finger in every pie."

"Oh." Abbey sat down heavily on the edge of
the desk. "So why was he pretending to be Damien Vane?"

Lucy shrugged. "She didn't know."

"So where's the real Vane?"

Lucy shrugged again. "She didn't know that
either."

"Oh my God." Abbey let out a long breath. "What
the hell is going on?" It felt like a cold lump of ice had settled in her
stomach. "And why the hell didn't he tell me who he really was?"

"Because he's a bastard," said Lucy, putting
an arm around her friend. "He's worse than Vane. He's a liar
and
a
sleaze."

"Well, we don't actually know that he's a sleaze
now."

"He slept with you straight away, didn't
he?"

Abbey shrugged. It was true but she'd mostly
contributed to that part. Did that make her a sleaze too?

Whatever she was, one thing was clear. This guy, Nick
Delaware, was a liar, plain and simple. He could've made her life a lot easier
over the last few days if he'd just told her his name wasn't Damien Vane. She
wouldn't have immediately assumed he was married or a womanizer for a start,
saving her from the terrible feeling that had closed around her heart a few
days ago and hadn't budged since.

It might also have meant they could've parted on
better terms instead of the way they'd parted yesterday
—
angry and
hurt. Then again, maybe Delaware was just like Vane. Married and just out for a
good time while his wife's back was turned.

Why else would he have lied? Why else would he have
slept with her without so much as a "nice to meet you"?

Abbey gripped the edge of the desk, her fingernails
tearing at the wood.

"Give me the phone," she said through
clenched teeth.

Lucy held up both her hands, palms outwards, pleading.
"I don't think you should call him, Abbey. Just let him go. He's not worth
it." A smile crept across Lucy's face. "Or you should teach him a
lesson at this party tonight."

Abbey nodded slowly, her brain still trying to come to
grips with the new information and the possibilities of that suggestion. "Yes.
I think he needs to be taught a lesson."

Lucy grinned. "Great. How?"

Abbey sighed. "I have no idea."

Lucy's grin widened into a wicked smirk. "I think
I have a few."

***

Abbey wore a short electric blue dress with tiny
straps. It fitted her snugly around her breasts and waist, then flipped out
with a flirty skirt that skimmed her mid-thigh and set off the movement of her
behind perfectly. So Lucy had said anyway when she picked it off a sales rack
at Myer. Abbey had a matching bag and shoes and she wore her hair long in
gentle waves past her shoulders. When she checked herself in the mirror before
she left, she had to admit she looked good.

"Are you kidding! You look stunning," Lucy
had said.

Tarken agreed. At least, the drool dripping from his
lower lip implied that he did.

"Wow," was all he said. "How come you
never dressed like that for me when we were dating?"

Abbey rolled her eyes at Lucy who flashed her a
hundred-watt grin. They hugged and locked up Abbey's apartment. Lucy hopped
into her convertible and sped off. Abbey slid into the front seat of Tarken's
sleek sports car. She spent the next fifteen minutes dragging his hand off her
thigh at every set of red lights.

"Why don't you come back and work for me,"
said Tarken as he drove slowly around looking for a car park.

"Because you're a rat, and I can get another job.
A better one."

"I'll give you ten thousand extra."

Abbey scoffed. "You'd have to do a lot better
than that."

He pulled into valet parking at the Crown Complex. "Twenty
thousand."

Abbey stifled a gasp. "That's a lot of money. Goldstein
wouldn't allow it."

"I can deal with Goldstein."

Yeah sure
. Tarken hadn't dealt with Goldstein in the four years she'd been his
personal assistant, she saw no reason why he'd start now.

She refused him and he shrugged. "Suit yourself. We'll
talk again in two weeks. I doubt you'll have found anything as good as JJC by
then."

Abbey swallowed her rising anger.

Switching her attention from Tarken's proposal to the
evening at hand, she got out of the car and took a deep breath. She could do
this. She had to. She still didn't have a clue what her plan was, but Abbey
knew it did involve making Nick Delaware realize what he was missing. That was
what the dress and the makeup were for. What happened after he'd realized what
he was missing was anyone's guess.

She hadn't decided whether to confront him with what
she knew, or whether to let him play out his little game and deny him what he
wanted
—
which she hoped would be her. The denying part was the
weakest link in the plan.

Inside, the room was filled with men in dark suits and
women in cocktail dresses. At least she wouldn't feel out of place and would
blend right in.

Wrong.

Heads turned as she walked passed. She heard a few
murmurs, saw a few jaws drop and suddenly she wished she'd worn a dress that
wasn't so tight fitting or at least had a back to it.

The only person who seemed to be enjoying the grand
entrance was Tarken. His arm tightened around her waist and Abbey was too
embarrassed to make him let go. She'd wait until everyone turned around again
then
she'd order him to lay off.

Tarken nodded to a few people he recognized and Abbey
was surprised to see a few faces she knew too. Mostly people from other
pharmaceutical companies who must also be considering new software on
demonstration at the seminar.

She nodded and smiled and expected Tarken to stop and
talk, but he continued on. A waiter handed them a drink of champagne and Abbey
took a sip. Tarken ignored him and pushed through the crowd. He glanced around
the room, scanning the faces, looking for someone. Delaware.

It was the same face she was looking for. A gorgeous,
dark face with eyes that could be black with anger or warm and soft with
desire, and a mouth that twitched sexily when he laughed at her jokes.

She drew in a deep breath and ordered her heart to
stop beating so fast. It didn't listen.

The crowd parted ahead and Abbey suddenly wanted to
turn and run. The man she now knew to be Nick Delaware was chatting with a
group of people. He stopped when he spotted her and the look in his eyes told
Abbey he liked what he saw.

More than liked
—
he wanted her. The muscle
jumping in his jaw was a dead giveaway.

"Damien," said Tarken. Abbey cringed. He'd
turned on his saccharine-sweet tone. "So good to see you again. I believe
you've met my girlfriend, Abbey."

"I'm not your girlfriend, Tarken," she said
through gritted teeth.

Nick looked like he was trying not to smile. Damn.

"Yes, we've met." Nick's voice was luxurious
velvet and his eyes, fringed with black lashes, sparkled at her. He took
Abbey's hand and for a moment she thought he was going to kiss it, but he just
shook it.

She smiled weakly, suddenly wishing she could sit
down. This wasn't how it was supposed to be.
She
was supposed to seduce
him,
not the other way round.

Nick's
eyes moved from her face and traveled the length of her body all the way to her
toes. She heard him suck in a breath before glancing away.

Good. She had him, hook, line and sinker. He wanted
her.

Tarken coughed nervously and pulled Abbey into him,
his fingers curling possessively around her waist. She unclasped his grip and
stepped away. Tarken was not part of her plan. She didn't think Nick would be
jealous of the little wimp.

No, if she was going to make Nick jealous then she
needed a better target. Someone just as good looking as Nick. Making him
jealous was the only way she could make him suffer. Then, when he was insane
with jealousy, she'd tell him she knew all about his lie. Then she'd walk away.

She scanned the immediate faces and there was only one
that would fit the bill. He was tanned, although not as dark as Nick, and quite
good looking, but he didn't have the smoldering eyes or the high cheekbones and
sexy lips of Nick.

Okay, so he wasn't a patch on Nick, but he was good
looking in the classic sense. And he was a better option than Tarken.

The man seemed to sense her looking at him and he
glanced up from the woman he was standing very close to. Within seconds he'd
made his apologies and was introducing himself to Abbey, completely ignoring
Tarken and Nick.

"Hello," he said taking Abbey's hand. Unlike
Nick, he
did
kiss the back of her hand. "I'm Nick Delaware. I own
Software Solutions."

Abbey didn't know whether to laugh out loud or slap
him across the cheek for lying to her as well. This was getting ridiculous. Why
was this man pretending to be Nick while Nick was pretending to be Damien?