'Yes. Very special,' she said feelingly, unable to help herself from admitting she had been a very willing partner in their intimacy, revelling in it as long as it lasted.

'So there's nothing...troubling you?'

About a thousand things, but none she could bring herself to speak of. 'I'm fine, Nick,' she a.s.sured him. 'I'm sorry I left without a word but...it was late...and...'

'Yes, I understand. It simply occurred to me that talking was...limited...after we...connected in other ways. If there's anything you want to say...any concern... I do want to be with you again. Very much.'

'I want that, too,' she rushed out, recklessly squashing the doubts about the path he was treading with her. Time would tell, she told herself. She needed more time.

'Then what about tonight?'

Sue's warning stopped an eager a.s.sent. 'I'm booked to work tonight, Nick. I'm free tomorrow evening if that suits you.'

'Fine! I'll pick you up from your place at seven.'

'Here?' Barbie frowned, imagining Sue in the background making smart cracks. 'I don't mind meeting you in the city.'

'Better not to have problems with your car. I'm happy to take you home whenever you want to go. All you have to do is tell me.'

'Oh!' Guilt squeezed her heart. It had been wrong to sneak off as she had, leaving him wondering how she felt the morning after. 'I'm sorry, Nick. I should have written you a note. Come Wednesday night, I'll be ready on the dot of seven.' And be off before Sue could get a look in. 'You've got the address?'

'Yes. From the phone book. What apartment number?'

'Four.'

'Thank you. I'll look forward to seeing you.'

'Me, too,' she said warmly, and was smiling as she heard the disconnection and lowered her own receiver.

Nick was not smiling. He'd just given her another chance to open up to him but the deception ride was still on and he still did not know if it was a vengeance trip or a trial run towards a judgement on him. Now he had to wait two more days for the next move.

Just how far did she want him to commit himself before the truth came out...or before she cut him off at the knees? Had that been an act on the phone-the embarra.s.sed apology and the warm pleasure in hearing from him?

Nick shook his head, the only certainty slicing through the pummelling of doubts was that he couldn't bear to carry on with her in this false way. It was dishonest on both sides, with him hiding his knowledge and her pretending to be someone who'd never entered his life before.

It had to stop.

It would be impossible for him to act naturally towards her tomorrow night. He'd be grinding his teeth at her duplicity if she persisted with it, and she'd just indicated she intended to. Nevertheless, directly facing her with the fakery was tricky business.

It might make her feel a fool, realising she had been recognised. She might even hold last night's plunge into intimacy against him, regardless of how it had turned into something...incredibly good...totally unique in his experience. Surely in hers, too.

He didn't want that twisted into something bad.

Though he was so twisted up inside at the present moment, he had to find some resolution that would work positively and get him out of this mess.

What he needed was some outside intervention that would force her hand, make her reveal the motivation that was driving her decisions. Once he knew precisely what he was dealing with, he could win her around to trying a future together. He couldn't believe she had done what she'd done last night, without feeling genuine pleasure in him.

So what outside intervention could he bring into play?

Leon?

He instantly dismissed the idea of confiding this problem to his friend.

Sue Olsen knew, but she had no reason to help him.

His sister popped into his mind. He had intended asking her to help him find the fairy princess. If she booked The Singing Sunflowers... yes, Carole would certainly remember Barbie Lamb. The secret would have to come out, because Carole might blab to her brother and there'd be no evading the truth any longer.

Nick reached for the telephone again.

He didn't stop to question the wisdom of the plan evolving in his mind.

He wanted Barbie Lamb, not Anne Shepherd.

And he wanted her tomorrow night.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

'I DON'T see any preschoolers whooping it up,' Barbie said, eyeing the beautifully landscaped grounds that were totally empty of children. 'Are you sure you've got the right address, Sue?'

'I double-checked. She's probably rounded them up and put them inside for the big surprise.'

Barbie wasn't convinced. The exclusive little cul-de-sac in the high-cla.s.s suburb of Pymble reeked of expensive privacy, not the place for young families. 'It doesn't feel right. And with the call only coming in yesterday...such short notice. Maybe it's some black joke.'

'Who cares? The fee was paid upfront. We're here. We go in,' Sue declared, dismissing Barbie's doubts. She checked her watch. 'Ten fifty-seven. Three minutes to showtime. Let's get our hats and cuffs on.'

They were already wearing their green bodysuits and yellow petal skirts. Barbie reached over to the back seat of the car and collected the rest of their costumes.

'There's a woman coming out of the house now,' Sue informed her. 'Probably been watching for us to arrive. Better be quick, Barbie. It's bound to be Mrs. Huntley. Looks the right age to be the mother of toddlers.'

The brown cuffs with the flare of yellow petals were easy to shove on, but the hat was tricky, positioning it just right for the full sunflower to circle their faces. In her haste to get fully costumed, Barbie didn't even glance at the woman. She was only too relieved that no mistake had been made and the party call was genuine since they were expected by the home-owner.

Sue was out of the car first, ready to greet their client. Barbie hurried to line up with her, pausing to pick up the portable sound system which they needed for their act. The music for the action songs little children loved was all prerecorded, ready to play, and Sue had said the client had agreed to activate it on cue, no problem with having a power-point handy.

'Hi! So glad you're on time,' the mother was saying. 'I have the children packed into the family room downstairs with the other mothers looking after them. I wanted you to be a surprise for them.'

It must be a split-level house, Barbie thought, although that wasn't obvious from the street. The sloping block of land disguised it.

'Mrs. Huntley?' Sue prompted.

'Yes, I'm Carole Huntley. Stuart and Tina are my children.'

'I'm Sue Olsen and this is my partner...'

Barbie quickly swung around to join Sue and smile at the client.

'...Barbie Lamb.'

The smile froze on Barbie's face as recognition hit. Carole Huntley was Carole Armstrong-Nick's sister! She'd been stylish at eighteen. She was even more stylish now, her thick black hair brilliantly cut in a short bob and her boutique clothes perfectly coordinated.

'Barbie Lamb?' Carole repeated incredulously. 'You're not...?' Her bright blue eyes stared searchingly at the face that was encircled by a sunflower. 'Yes, you are. Those eyes are unmistakable. Barbie Lamb, after all these years...' She shook her head in amazement. 'I was Carole Armstrong. Remember? Two years ahead of you at school? Danny's and Nick's sister?'

'Carole...' Barbie repeated numbly, her heart sinking like a stone.

'My goodness! It must be...nine years. The last time I saw you was at Nick's twenty-first birthday. You sang.' Her face beamed with pleasure in her recognition. 'And you've made a career of singing?'

'A career of sorts,' Barbie mumbled, barely able to speak over the shock of being confronted by a member of Nick's family, her ident.i.ty made certain by Sue's introduction.

'How fantastic!' Carole burbled on, delight and avid curiosity in her eyes-the same vivid blue as Nick's. She laughed, taking in the whole of Barbie's appearance. 'I must say you make a beautiful sunflower.' Her gaze slid to Sue in sparkling pleasure. 'Both of you.'

'Thank you,' Sue quickly returned. 'Hope the children think so, too. If you'll show us the way...?'

'Yes, of course.' Carole flashed an apologetic smile. 'No time for memory lane right now.' As she turned to usher them down the path to the front door, she looked appealingly at Barbie. 'Perhaps afterwards you'll stay for coffee? I'd love to catch up on your news.'

'We...we have another gig this afternoon,' Barbie lied, desperate for any excuse to get away.

'Not a good idea anyway, Mrs. Huntley,' Sue chimed in. 'It would spoil the illusion for the children. Best that we come and go.'

'Oh! I guess so.' Carole looked disappointed.

'You didn't say whose birthday it was, Stuart's or Tina's,' Sue rattled on, taking the heat off Barbie.

'Neither. Stuart is three and a half and Tina's not quite two. Stuart broke his arm last Sat.u.r.day and hasn't been able to go to play-school. I thought I'd throw him a party to cheer him up.'

Which explained the short notice, Barbie thought dazedly, still plunged into turmoil by the terrible coincidence of coming face to face with two Armstrongs through the Party Poppers business, both within a week of each other. And this meeting with Nick's sister could very well blow her cover as Anne Shepherd. Carole was always the gossipy kind.

The discomforting blue gaze targeted Barbie again. 'The accident stopped us from going to Nick's thirtieth birthday party. Which reminds me...'

'These things happen,' Sue cut in sympathetically, waving to the front door. 'Now before we go in, and since the children are in the family room out of sight...perhaps the best idea is for you to take our music box, Mrs. Huntley, and go ahead of us, plugging it in all ready to play. That way we can really make a surprise entrance.'

Barbie was intensely grateful for the timely distraction. She offered the player to Carole who took it and looked down at the control panel as Sue explained what had to be done.

'Yes, fine,' she agreed. 'It's okay for you to wait in the foyer for a minute while I go ahead and switch on. They can't see you from there.'

Finally accepting the focus on business, she ushered them inside the house, leaving them to watch the direction she took to the family room-straight ahead, down the stairs, along a lower-level foyer and through an archway from which the noise of a lively party drifted.

'Get yourself together, Barbie,' Sue whispered warningly. 'I can't do this act by myself.'

She took a deep breath, needing the oxygen to clear her whirling head. 'Thanks for taking the flack off me, Sue.'

'You looked like a stunned mullet. Just forget her and concentrate on the toddlers. The show goes on.'

'I won't let you down.'

'You'd better not. If the fat's in the fire, it's of your own making and it's not fair to burn me, too. If you don't perform, I'll kick you.'

'I'm ready.'

'Then let's do it and get out of here.'

They did it. From the moment they showed their sunflower faces in the archway, a dozen or so under-fives were goggle-eyed, then enthralled by the act that followed, repeating phrases of the songs when urged to, following the simple dance steps, clapping in time with the sunflowers, and beaming joy in the wonder of it all.

With her energy fiercely channelled into connecting with the children, Barbie was barely aware of the mothers who sat watching. She couldn't risk a look at Carole for fear of being put off her stride, and the other women present were simply blurs in the background. However, they did come in useful, keeping the children from following them as she and Sue bowed out after forty minutes of highly concentrated entertainment.

Carole, of course, had to follow them, bringing their sound system with her. 'That was absolutely marvellous!' she enthused, once they were outside with the front door safely shutting the children in the house. 'My friends thought so, too.'

'Great!' Sue replied, whipping out a small bundle of business cards she'd tucked in her sleeve. 'Please pa.s.s these around. It's lovely to work from recommendations.'

As Carole took them, Sue deftly relieved her of their property. 'Thanks so much for your help with the music. Perfect timing. Why not go back to Stuart and Tina now? Enjoy their excitement. We'll see ourselves off.'

'Yes. Nice seeing you again, Carole,' Barbie quickly put in, desperately hoping Nick's sister would take the hint and let her escape reminiscences which were not welcome in any shape or form.

Unfortunately the dismissal didn't work. 'No, I'll walk up to the car with you. I understand you have to get on your way, but I've just been thinking, Barbie...'

Please don't!

Somehow she stretched her mouth into a polite smile as they started walking up the path, but she wished Carole Huntley onto another planet.

'It's Mum's fiftieth birthday this coming weekend,' she went on, 'and my husband and I are throwing a party for her on Sat.u.r.day night. Danny's even flying home from San Diego for it. A big family and friends get-together. Like Nick's twenty-first. It would be lovely if you could come...'

The reminder of Nick's twenty-first set up an instant and violent recoil. Words spilled out before she could even begin to relate the invitation to her current situation with him.

'That's very kind of you, Carole, but I'm not free.'

'Oh! What a shame! It would have been a great surprise to have you sing "Happy Birthday" to Mum. She always said you had a beautiful voice.'

The sheer insensitivity of that comment had Barbie grinding her teeth. 'I get paid for doing that now, Carole,' she bit out.

Carole instantly looked stricken by her blunder. 'I didn't mean for you only to come for that. I'm sorry if it sounded...' She heaved a mortified sigh, her eyes begging forgiveness. 'Our families used to be close. I just thought it would be nice to...'

'Perhaps another time.'

'Barbie, I honestly wasn't asking for a...a professional freebie. I wanted your company. The whole family would, I'm sure. And there'd be other old friends from Wamberal for you to catch up with.'

It took a huge effort to stretch her mouth into another stiff smile but Barbie managed it as her hand reached for the handle to the pa.s.senger door of the car. 'Well, it sounds like your mother will have a wonderful fiftieth. I hope you all have a marvellous time together.'

Hearing Sue open the driver's door-the cue for a fast getaway-Barbie nodded a farewell. 'Thanks again for the invitation. I'm afraid we must go now.'

'Yes, we must,' Sue echoed across the hood of the car. 'And may I say, Mrs. Huntley, you're very lucky to have such beautiful children. They're a delight.'

Which was a better exit line than any Barbie had given. It held Carole silent while they got in the car. Sue gunned the engine, and they were off, but not quite away. They had to use the turning circle at the end of the cul-de-sac, which brought them back past Carole who hadn't moved.

She stood on the verge of the road, her hands interlacing worriedly, her face obviously troubled. Barbie lifted her hand in a last salute, wishing she hadn't taken such quick offence at the tactless invitation. It would make the next meeting with Nick's sister awkward...if there was a next meeting. One thing was certain. She couldn't spin out the Anne Shepherd cover much longer with Nick. If brother and sister were in contact over plans for celebrating their mother's fiftieth...