"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 br**sts. "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 br**sts 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.