The Billionaire’s Bride Of Vengeance Read online

  Nicole had to admit that the ivory silk evening dress she’d bought in Bangkok suited her admirably, the colour complementing her sun-kissed skin, as did the halter-neckline. Although the style was simple, it was classy-looking and elegant, following her very feminine figure before falling in gentle folds from her hips to her ankles.

  But it wasn’t a proper bridal gown.

  Still, she hadn’t wanted a big, fancy wedding; hadn’t wanted to have what she’d known Alistair would have given her if she’d married David a few months ago. She knew she was probably being a bit silly, but the thought of a sinfully expensive designer dress was anathema to her, not to mention the kind of reception which would have fed the population of a Third World country. Hence the very small guest list and the simple dress, frangipanis adorning her hair instead of the jewel-encrusted tiara and frothy veil that her mother would have chosen for her.

  This last thought made Nicole’s heart squeeze tight.

  Her mother knew she was getting married today, Nicole keeping her up-to-date with her life through phone calls and text messages. The news of her daughter’s engagement to Russell had been greeted with surprise and concern at first. But all worry over the speed of their romance had disappeared after Nicole revealed that Russell was wealthy.

  Initially her mother said she was coming to the wedding, but Alistair had forbidden it. He’d been worried that certain government officials might find out where he was if his wife returned to Australia. Alistair had finally and grudgingly supplied Nicole with an email address where she could send photos of her special day, testing her earlier resolve never to tell her mother about the fake-jewel fiasco. In the end, Nicole had swallowed her gall, and even emailed a few photos of Megan’s wedding so that her mum could at least see what her future son-in-law looked like.

  She hadn’t had a reply as yet. Hadn’t had a phone call today, either. Yet it had just gone four o’clock, the time set down for the ceremony.

  ‘You’re thinking about your mum, aren’t you?’ Kara said with one of her occasional bursts of intuition.

  ‘I thought she might have called me today,’ Nicole said, tears pricking at her eyes. ‘But she hasn’t.’

  ‘Don’t you dare start crying!’ Kara warned. ‘We don’t have time to do your make-up again.’

  A tap on their door, accompanied by Kara’s dad asking if he could come in, had Nicole swiftly blinking away any tears.

  ‘Well, well,’ he boomed on seeing them both. ‘Don’t my two girls look absolutely gorgeous?’

  ‘And so we should,’ Kara retorted. ‘It’s taken us all day to get ready.’

  This was true. They’d set off for the beauty salon at eight this morning, only returning just over an hour ago. Nicole had given in to a full range of pampering after Kara presented her with a complimentary gift certificate which the salon had supposedly given to her for being such an excellent customer.

  A white lie, Nicole suspected. But it seemed churlish to refuse. And in truth, the experience had been wonderfully relaxing, especially the massage. It had also given her time to lie back and reassess her future lifestyle as Russell’s wife.

  ‘If you want to continue with your charitable works,’ Russell had stated unequivocally during the flight home from Bangkok, ‘then you should join me in my real-estate business. You’d be a great salesperson, with your looks and your personality. That way, you could give away your own money, rather than mine.’

  The idea had appealed to her. So had Russell’s confidence in her abilities. Of course, she would have to dress the part…

  By the time they had finished at the beauty salon, Nicole had resolved to buy some off-the-peg power suits, and to get her hair professionally done at least once a fortnight. The rest, she would do herself.

  ‘Mother suggested you wait up here till you were fashionably late,’ Mr Horton said, glancing at his watch, ‘but I don’t think that’s a good idea. The groom is already on the twitchy side,’ he directed at Nicole. ‘And the best man’s not much better.’

  Nicole had to smile. She’d got to know Hugh a lot better since returning to Sydney. Got to know James better, too. The two friends had tossed for the privilege of being Russell’s best man and Hugh had won again. Or lost, depending on how you looked at it.

  Weddings, Hugh had explained over drinks the other night, did not bring out the best in him. Bad memories, caused by his father’s many marriages. James had scoffed at this, saying this excuse had whiskers on it and it was about time he grew up.

  James was the pragmatic one of the trio, Nicole saw, Hugh the sensitive one. And Russell was the secretive one.

  Nicole almost choked on this last thought. Now, where had that come from? She and Russell had no secrets from each other. Russell had always been very open with her, even telling her about his father’s suicide, not something any man would relish revealing.

  ‘Let’s go, girls,’ Mr Horton said.

  Nicole gave herself a mental shake and picked up her small bouquet of frangipanis.

  ‘Thank you so much for giving me away, Mr Horton,’ she said as the three of them left the room. ‘And for letting me have my wedding here.’

  ‘My pleasure, my dear. You’ve always been a joy to have around. Your Russell is a lucky man.’

  ‘And our Nickie is lucky, too,’ Kara piped up as she moved past them to go down the stairs first. ‘Now, watch your step. Don’t want any last-minute hiccups, do we?’

  The staircase was wide and grand, leading down to a black-and-white tiled entrance hall which then led into an elegant dining room on one side and a formal reception room on the other. It was this latter room which Mrs Horton had chosen as the venue for the ceremony and where she’d set up three rows of chairs on either side of a runner of red carpet, at the head of which she’d placed a lectern for the marriage celebrant, borrowed from a minister friend of theirs.

  Nicole and Kara had peeped into the room before going upstairs to get ready an hour ago. At that time, the place had been empty and she hadn’t felt nervous at all. Now every chair had an occupant and swarms of butterflies quickly gathered in her stomach.

  ‘Don’t be nervous,’ Mr Horton said, and patted her on the hand. ‘Just smile and keep your eyes straight ahead.’

  Easier said than done. Impossible not to glance around, especially with Kara right in front of her, blocking her vision of straight ahead. But at least she managed to smile at everyone. Firstly at several of Russell’s branch managers with their partners, all of whom she’d met the other night over dinner. Then the Hortons’ next-door neighbours, who’d often minded Kara and Nicole when they were children. James and Megan. Kara’s boyfriend. Mrs Horton herself.

  When she caught the eye of Russell’s mother, Nicole’s smile froze. The woman didn’t look as happy as she had the previous weekend. She’d welcomed Nicole with open arms that day, showing nothing but delight at her son’s choice of bride. Today there was tension in her facial muscles, which leapt across the space between them and wound Nicole’s stomach even tighter than it already was.

  Thankfully, Kara reached the head of the makeshift aisle at that point, moving to the left and giving Nicole an uninterrupted view of the man she’d come to marry.

  There was no tension on Russell’s face. There was nothing but love. It radiated from his eyes, chasing away her irrational fears and bringing back the warmth in her own smile.

  After that, she saw nothing but him till the simple ceremony was over and Russell was kissing her. She did not hear the front door burst open, or the hurried click-clack of high heels across the tiled foyer. She was totally unaware of her mother standing in the doorway of the room, watching them with a horrified look on her face.

  Something—some ghastly sixth sense—infiltrated Russell’s mind. His mouth jerked up from his bride’s, his brain taking a moment to get into gear as his head turned round.

  He recognised the woman straight away.

  She recognised him, too.

  ‘I’m
too late, aren’t I?’ Nicole’s mother croaked out as she stared at him.

  Russell didn’t say a word. He couldn’t. Despair was rising up within him like some hideous beast in a horror movie.

  ‘Mum!’ Nicole exclaimed by his side in the happiest voice. ‘You came!’

  Cold green eyes speared him. ‘She has no idea, has she?’

  Nicole glanced up at him, her forehead wrinkling into a puzzled frown. ‘No idea about what?’

  ‘You poor darling,’ her mother said as she walked towards them. ‘You think he loves you, don’t you?’

  A collective gasp reverberated around the room.

  Nicole’s fingers tightened around her husband’s. ‘Russell does love me.’

  ‘Tell her. Tell her the truth.’

  ‘The truth is I do love her,’ Russell said, steeling himself for the fight of his life. ‘Nicole is the love of my life.’

  ‘Liar!’ The vicious word echoed in the now silent room. ‘I thought it was you as soon as I saw your photo. But I couldn’t be sure. I had to come and see for myself. Alistair said you couldn’t possibly be the same boy. But you most definitely are. I’ve never forgotten your eyes, or the hate I saw burning in them that day. You would have killed Alistair if I hadn’t stopped you.’

  Nicole lifted a shocked face to his. ‘Russell, what is Mum talking about?’

  ‘I’m talking about revenge,’ the woman swept on before he could voice any defence. ‘Your new husband held Alistair responsible for his father’s suicide. Something to do with Power Mortgages repossessing the family property. He vowed he would get even with Alistair one day. Vowed to take everything Alistair held dear. You yourself told me he bought our place in Belleview Hill.’

  ‘Which I have already sold,’ Russell broke in.

  ‘Only after you found a better revenge. You are not the love of his life, my darling daughter. You are his bride of vengeance.’

  Nicole wasn’t the only one in the room to suck in sharply.

  ‘Ask him!’ her mother demanded. ‘Ask him to tell you the truth right now in front of everyone. If he really does love you, then the truth should hold no fear for him.’

  Once again, Nicole looked up at him. ‘Russell?’

  ‘It’s not his fault!’

  Everyone in the room stared at the man who’d spoken.

  ‘He wanted to tell you the truth right from the start,’ Hugh added as he strode round to take Nicole’s hands in his, ‘but I talked him out of it. I said it was a risk he didn’t need to take. No one else knew about that ancient history, except for me and James and his mother. And it was easy to get the others to keep quiet. But I never thought of your mum, dear Nicole. You have to believe Russ. He really loves you.’

  Russell was touched by Hugh’s truly gallant gesture, but he could not let his good friend take the fall for him.

  It was time for the truth, warts and all.

  ‘Nice try, Hugh,’ he said, and squeezed his shoulder, ‘but Nicole deserves the total truth.’ He turned her to face him so that she could look into his eyes and hopefully see for herself that he wasn’t lying. ‘Initially, I did entertain the thought of getting some kind of revenge through you. I was angry that Alistair had escaped overseas and not faced justice for what he’d done. Buying his house hadn’t satisfied me. I needed more. When we first met, I mistakenly thought you were his flesh-and-blood daughter…’

  She continued to stare up at him, her eyes searching his as he relayed what had to be the most hurtful facts.

  ‘Hugh was appalled by my trying to use you as a weapon of vengeance. He threatened to tell you the truth that night we had dinner together at Neptune’s. But I made him promise not to breathe a word. He wasn’t happy about it but I convinced him that silence was the lesser of two evils. I told him that the truth would break your heart, which was the last thing I wanted. Because by then, my darling, I was already falling in love with you.’

  Nicole remembered that night well, remembered the false conclusions she’d jumped to over Hugh’s behaviour.

  It hadn’t been Hugh who’d been the villain on that occasion. It had been Russell, the man she loved, the man she’d just married. Russell, who’d seduced her out of revenge, in her own mother’s bed.

  She should have been appalled. So why wasn’t she?

  ‘I know what I did was unforgivable,’ he went on, his eyes carrying that sadness which she’d sometimes glimpsed in them. ‘I’ve had great difficulty forgiving myself. But I do love you, Nicole, with a love so strong that it transcended revenge. Trust me when I say that has to be a very great love, because the thought of revenge sustained me for sixteen years. I lived and breathed it. But then you came along and soon I didn’t want revenge any more. I just wanted…you.’

  Nicole’s heart turned over at the tender emotion in his voice, at the cracking in his voice. What he’d done was wrong. Yes, very wrong. But perfectly understandable. If she’d been in his place she might have done the same. As she stared up into Russell’s tortured face she saw the truth as it stood today. He did love her. Everything else was past history. Everything else was irrelevant.

  ‘I do love you, my darling,’ he insisted. ‘And I’m so very, very sorry. I will understand, however, if you don’t want anything more to do with me,’ he added with a weary sigh. ‘I’m sure an annulment could be arranged. It’s up to you.’

  There was hushed silence in the room, everyone waiting with bated breath to hear what she was going to say.

  ‘I’m sorry, too,’ she said, ‘that you didn’t feel you could tell me all this earlier. Because it makes absolutely no difference to me why and how we got together. I know you love me as much as I love you.’

  When he stared down at her she smiled up at him.

  ‘Don’t be such a blind fool!’ her mother exclaimed.

  ‘That’s enough from you!’ Nicole snapped, her eyes whipping round to her mother. ‘You stood by a man who’s done much worse than my Russell. I will not have another word spoken against my husband. We love each other and that is all that matters here today.’

  ‘Absolutely,’ came a girl’s voice.

  It was Megan who stood up and began to clap. Sweet shy Megan.

  Nicole would be eternally grateful to her.

  Everyone else followed, standing up and clapping. Even her mother, who looked chastened by her daughter’s blunt words.

  ‘Would you mind if I kissed you again?’ Russell whispered to Nicole.

  She didn’t mind one bit.

  Russell closed his eyes as his lips met hers. Closed his eyes to everything but what this beautiful girl could make him feel.

  Love.

  Nicole was so right. It was all that mattered…

  All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

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&n
bsp; First published in Great Britain 2008

  Paperback edition 2009

  Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,

  Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

  © Miranda Lee 2008

  ISBN: 9781408907627