Miranda Lee - Seduction - The Billionaire's Bride of Vengeance

Nicole stayed hidden whilst all the photographs were taken, but not so hidden that she couldn’t get a few surreptitious glimpses of the annoying man whom she didn’t want to fancy … but did.

Finally the wedding party left, and Nicole called out to Kara, who was obviously looking for her.

‘So there you are!’ Kara said. ‘What are you doing, skulking off in this corner? As if I don’t know! Come on, we’re off to the reception. And before you say it, no, we can’t possibly take you home. It’s too far for one thing. Leyton would have to drive back across the harbour bridge, then back again. The reception is being held at a yacht club not far from here.’

‘I could always take a taxi,’ Nicole said. She was no longer stone-broke, having sold a good proportion of her wardrobe yesterday.

‘Mum would not be pleased if you did a flit. And the mother of the bride would be livid. You’re stuck, sweetie. Not that I’m sure why you’d want to run away. Your Mr McClain is quite yummy, if you like the gladiatorial type. And he’s not into the second bridesmaid, by the way, even though she practically glued herself to his side during the photographs.’

‘How do you know that?’ Nicole had been feeling quite jealous of the attractive redhead, whose burgundy satin bridesmaid dress had showed an impressive cleavage.

‘Because he hasn’t even looked at her boobs,’ Kara said. ‘And just about every other man has, I can tell you.’

‘He can look if he wants to,’ Nicole said offhandedly. ‘What do I care?’

‘Oh, come, now, Nickie. You don’t fool me for a minute. You’ve got the hots for the guy.’

‘I wouldn’t go that far.’

‘I would. You know, I don’t understand what your problem is. In the old days, you’d have just sashayed up to him and in no time flat he’d have been toast.’

‘That was then and this is now,’ Nicole said, thinking that what Kara said was true. She used to have great success in attracting the opposite sex, and great confidence.

But David had destroyed a lot of her self-esteem, his critical words still stinging.

‘The trouble with girls like you,’ he’d thrown at her when she returned his ring, ‘is that you think being drop-dead gorgeous is enough for a man. But it isn’t. What we want is a woman with some passion in her veins, not some vain little puss who expects to just lie back and let the man do all the work.

‘And that’s another thing,’ he’d added. ‘If you think I’m sorry this engagement is over then you can think again. You might be beautiful to look at, sweetheart, but you’re a bloody bore in bed.’

Ever since that day, whenever a man had looked at her with interest Nicole had run a mile.

A light suddenly went on in her brain. Up till now, she’d convinced herself she’d seen nothing in Russell McClain’s eyes the other day but dislike.

But now she realised that was not strictly true. Along with the dislike, she’d glimpsed something else.

Desire.

Unfortunately, this time, Nicole didn’t want to run a mile. Despite her fear of further humiliation, she wanted to sashay up to him at the wedding reception. She wanted him to be toast.

But she just didn’t have the courage, or the confidence.

Kara sighed a long, exasperated-sounding sigh. ‘Whatever am I going to do with you? That creep has a lot to answer for.’

Nicole blinked up at her. ‘What creep?’

‘David, of course. Who did you think I meant? Surely not Mr McClain. He hardly qualifies as a creep. He was nice to you in the end, wasn’t he?’

‘I suppose so.’

‘You worry too much these days. Come on, let’s go. Leyton’s already gone back to his car and he’ll be wondering where we are.’

Nicole reluctantly allowed herself to be led away, all the while thinking she should never have agreed to come to this wedding in the first place. At the same time she could not deny that there was a small sliver of excitement running through her veins at the prospect of meeting Russell McClain again.

At least she was looking her best, having been to the hairdresser’s first thing this morning with Kara, then having spent quite a long time afterwards on her body. Months of not bothering had been reversed as she’d buffed herself to the max. Her make-up had taken her almost an hour, but overall the final result had been most pleasing.

The dress she was wearing—one of only a few dresses she’d not sold yesterday—was a pale green, empire-line, halter-necked number with a low-cut draped bodice and a swishy skirt which finished just above her knee. More of a party dress than the kind of thing one wore to a snooty wedding. But she’d always liked it.

She hadn’t been going to wear jewellery, despite having not sold any yet. But Kara had talked her into donning the emerald and diamond set Alistair had presented her with on her twenty-first, which consisted of a pendant and two drop earrings.

‘This is a society wedding, sweetie,’ Kara had said somewhat impatiently. ‘If you’re not going to wear a more formal dress, then you have to at least wear some serious bling, not to mention decent shoes.’

The handmade Italian shoes Kara had produced for her to wear were extremely glamorous, a slender crisscross of exquisitely beaded straps somehow managing to anchor her feet to their very high heels. Stockings had been out of the question, so Nicole had sprayed her legs with some fake tan to match the natural tan she had acquired on her upper half in Thailand.

‘No sitting in a corner tonight,’ Kara said during the drive to the yacht club. ‘I want to see you up and dancing and having some fun.’

‘In these shoes?’

‘Shoes never stopped you in the past. And if a certain someone asks you to dance then you must promise me you won’t say no.’

‘You can be terribly bossy, do you know that?’

‘I do,’ Leyton interjected—though not unhappily.

‘Promise?’ Kara insisted.

Nicole didn’t have to promise any such thing. Because if Russell McClain asked her to dance, she knew she would not be able to say no. All she could hope was that he wouldn’t ask her.

Because there was something about the man which she didn’t trust—and she’d had enough of untrustworthy men.

‘OK,’ she said. ‘I promise.’

RUSSELL’S frustrated gaze was scanning the guest tables in search of feminine prey when his eyes landed on the very female who’d put him in this appalling state in the first place.

His heart lurched at the sight of her. So did something else.

Blast! What on earth was Nicole Power doing at James’s wedding?

His gaze shifted to the rest of the people at her table, but he didn’t recognise any of them. There again, he didn’t recognise most of the guests. Despite his wealth, he wasn’t a social animal. Not like James, or Hugh; they enjoyed entertaining and being entertained. Russell had had had other priorities up till now.

His need for revenge had consumed him.

Now something else was consuming him.

The more he stared at her, sitting there looking absolutely delicious in the sexiest green dress, the more he wanted her.

Had she seen him yet? he wondered.

She must have. He was in the main wedding party. Strange that he hadn’t spotted her before this. Perhaps she was deliberately avoiding him? He could well understand why: he’d been pretty obnoxious the other day.

Hugh suddenly leant over from the chair next to him.

‘I see you’re eyeing that hot-looking blonde over there,’ he said. ‘Presumably, you haven’t recognised her. That’s Nicole Power, your enemy’s daughter.’

‘Yes, I know.’

‘You know ?’