Nick's hand hastily disengaged itself from Barbie's hair and he threw up an arm to ward off its descent. 'Quit it, Tanya!' he grated.

'You quit it!' came the fierce retort.

Tanya, the black-haired witch! Dazedly, Barbie stared at the furious attacker, feeling oddly detached from the emotional violence playing across the other woman's face.

'How dare you kiss her, in front of me!' she snarled as Nick swivelled to grab the damaging wand from her.

Tanya whipped it out of his reach and advanced on Barbie who was now hugged to Nick's side but open to frontal a.s.sault. The red mouth was stretched into an ugly jeer as her arm swung back to deliver another forcible blow, this time aimed at Barbie's head.

'And you...you fairy cow...can milk someone else for s.e.x! Nick is mine!'

It was Leon Webster who caught the wand in mid-swing, tore it out of her grasp and tossed it onto the dance floor. 'Cool it, Tanya!' he commanded.

Being de-weaponed, however, did nothing to lower the raging fury. With arms raised and fingers curled like talons, Tanya lunged at Barbie, hissing like a snake.

Nick threw in a shoulder-block. Leon knocked her arms down and pinned them to her sides in a smothering hug from behind. Everything had moved so fast, Barbie was still in a shocked daze, though her body was quivering in reaction to the chaos without and within.

'Let me go!' Tanya seethed.

'Not until you're ready to behave,' Leon tersely retorted.

'Right!' another voice cracked into the maelstrom.

Sue!

'No indignities you said, Mr. Webster!' she reminded him in high dudgeon. Her hands were planted on her hips in aggressive mode as she subjected Nick and Leon-still holding the struggling Tanya-to a look of arch scorn. 'The creme of young Sydney society?' she drawled with biting acid.

'Miss Olsen...Sue...' Leon started ingratiatingly.

'My fairy princess gets grabbed and ravished in plain view of a hundred people...'

'I didn't antic.i.p.ate she'd be so...'

Sue cut him off. 'We delivered precisely what you ordered, sir. s.e.xy, you said. Indeed, you insisted.'

'I know. I know. But...'

'Control, Mr. Webster, was in your court.'

'I'm doing it. I saved her from being attacked. Tanya, apologise to the ladies.'

'Ladies! They're no better than wh.o.r.es!' she shrieked.

'More indignities,' Sue hammered. She glared at Nick. 'Kindly unhand my fairy princess, sir. I am taking her out of this unsavoury scene.'

His warm, supporting arm was removed, leaving Barbie feeling chilled and shivery. He gestured a plea to Sue. 'I'm sorry things got out of hand...'

'Perhaps you'll now take them in hand,' Sue shot at him, glancing meaningly at Tanya. 'I expect Mr. Webster to escort us out of this marquee, guaranteeing safety for my fairy princess. And may I say, sir...' Her green eyes knifed into Nick's. '...your choice of companion is no lady.'

'Who the h.e.l.l do you think you are!' Tanya snarled.

Sue ignored her, nodding to Barbie. 'The wand needs collecting.'

Barbie took a deep breath, gathering herself together, then stepped away from Nick, trying to maintain an air of dignity as she set off to where the wand had fallen on the dance floor.

'No, wait!' A hoa.r.s.e plea from Nick.

Barbie hesitated, still feeling the magnetic pull he'd held on her, but she resisted it, realising Sue was right in her judgement to get them out of here, p.r.o.nto! Nothing good could eventuate from what had already gone on. Revenge, she decided, was a very tricky thing to play with.

'Please...stay!'

It was an almost anguished cry from Nick this time, curling around Barbie's heart, squeezing it, throwing her into confusion. Before she could respond either way, her wings were grabbed from behind and jerked from the boned slot in the back of her dress. Crying out in horror at the damage that might be done, she swung around to find Nick juggling the wings with an equal expression of horror, babbling apologies. 'I didn't mean... I just wanted...'

'More indignities!' Sue accused hotly. 'Mr. Webster...'

'For G.o.d's sake, Nick!' Leon begged. 'Leave her be and take Tanya from me.'

'I don't want Tanya!' Nick snapped at him. 'She can go take a flying leap off the Harbour Bridge for all I care!'

'You sc.u.m!'

The black-haired witch broke free of Leon and smashed Barbie's wings out of Nick's hands with her fists. They fell to the floor and she jumped on them, stamping her feet all over them like a dervish, her red toenails splayed openly in black stilleto sandals, looking like drops of blood on the silvery gossamer as she wreaked her malicious damage.

Sheer shock paralysed everyone for several seconds.

'No...no...' Barbie moaned.

It shot Nick into action, hauling the hysterical woman off her feet and carrying her to the other side of the table where he forcibly held her to prevent any more harm being done.

Barbie stared down at the broken wings. They'd taken her so many hours to create and they'd been beautiful. Tears welled into her eyes. It was like a desecration...

Someone tapped her on the arm and offered her the wand she'd meant to collect. The star was hanging drunkenly at the end of the silver rod. It was broken, too.

'You're going to get a huge damage bill for this, Mr. Webster,' Sue threatened darkly, folding her arms in firm belligerent style.

'Okay. I'll pay,' he promised on a ragged sigh. 'If we could move now...'

They moved, Leon shepherding both Sue and Barbie through the loud melee in the marquee. The wings were left where they lay crushed. Leon muttered something about a good joke going awry. Sue castigated him for not providing adequate protection. Barbie stared at the battered wand in her hand.

A falling star, she thought.

A wish...

Did wishes ever come true?

CHAPTER THREE.

LEON swept into Nick's office for their usual Monday morning conference, hoping his friend had wiped the birthday disaster from their joint slate, only to be faced with incontrovertible evidence that Nick was still obsessed with it!

'What are those fairy wings doing on your desk?' he demanded in exasperation.

Nick lifted a belligerently determined face. 'I'm going to fix them.'

'And just how do you propose to do that? Tanya punched so many holes through them with her stiletto heels, the fabric is irreparable.'

'I am aware of that, Leon.' He glowered dangerously. 'Which is why I need to get the fabric matched so I can replace it. I decided you wouldn't mind lending me your secretary for a while this morning. She'd probably know how...'

'You can't use Sharon for personal jobs.'

One black eyebrow lifted in challenge. 'Can't I?'

'This is ridiculous!' Leon expostulated. 'I said I'd pay the bill for damages and I will. As soon as it comes in.'

'I'm going to fix the wings,' Nick repeated stubbornly.

'Why?'

'Because I want to. Because it will mean something when I give them back to her.'

Leon expelled a long breath. Nick was definitely out of his tree. He lifted his hands in a plea for sanity. 'It was just an act. An act I paid for, Nick. Nothing more. Just a...'

'It turned into something more.'

'Okay, she was beautiful. She was s.e.xy. She turned you on. But you don't even know the woman, Nick. She might be...'

'I don't care who she is!' His hand slammed down on the desk as he stood up. 'I want to feel that again. I have to know. And I will know.' He paced around the office, clearly disturbed, his hands moving in agitated gestures. 'When I kissed her... I've never experienced anything like it in my life before. She's different, Leon.'

'Fairy princesses tend to be different, Nick. Kind of like dream stuff.'

That perfectly rational point earned a flash of impatience that said he didn't understand, didn't have the experience to understand.

'I can't let it go,' came the steely resolve.

Totally out of his tree!

Recognising a brick wall when he saw it, Leon asked, 'So, have you tracked her down, arranged to meet under normal circ.u.mstances?'

Nick's face twisted with frustration. 'I called and called the Party Poppers number yesterday and all I got was an answering machine. Then finally, this morning, I reached that Sue Olsen on the phone, but she flatly refused to give out the name and address of her fairy princess. Against company policy.'

Dead right, Leon thought approvingly. Fantasy and reality didn't mix. Expectations could never be met and it was a stupid waste of time to go chasing them.

Nick grimaced and muttered, 'But I'll get it somehow. Sue Olsen said something about Singing Sunflowers before I started in on questions. I'll ask my sister to book that act for her kids. My fairy princess is a singer...right? She might be a sunflower, too.'

The desperate hope in Nick's voice told Leon his friend needed help fast or very little creative work was going to get done on the designs they'd been contracted to deliver. He instantly revised his opinion. The sooner hopes and expectations were blasted, the better.

'No need to go to that trouble, Nick,' he soothed.

'I'll go to any lengths,' came the punchy retort, his eyes flashing unshakable determination. 'I have to find her.'

'Sure you do. I understand,' Leon quickly inserted. 'All I meant was...leave it to me. I'll have the name and address you want before today is out.'

Nick frowned, suspicious of his confidence. 'How?' he demanded.

'I'll call Sue Olsen, ask her out for lunch as an apology for the mess on Sat.u.r.day night. Restaurant of her choice. Promise to write out a cheque for the damages bill there and then. b.u.t.ter her up. Piece of cake. As you well know, I am the best salesman in the business.'

'What about her company policy?'

'I'll find a loophole. Trust me.'

Nick expelled a deep sigh. Then his eyes narrowed. 'You won't put her further offside?'

Leon laughed. 'That feisty little redhead wasn't offside. She was making hay while the sun shone. A dyed-in-the-wool opportunist, like me. In fact, I'll enjoy having lunch with her. I have the feeling Miss Olsen and I speak the same language.'

'Okay. Just don't slip up, Leon. This is really important to me.'

'No problem, Nick, I swear. Just shovel those wings off your desk and get to work while I...'

'I'm still going to fix them. If you'd send Sharon along...'

Leon ungritted his teeth enough to bite out, 'Okay. But don't take up too much office time on it. It's bad business getting secretaries to do personal jobs, Nick, and you've got a full schedule, too.'

'I just want to ask her advice,' he insisted.

'Fine! Speak to you later.'

Leon went off fuming.

Women!

He'd got rid of Tanya Wells for good, only to be loaded with another festering problem. There was black irony for you. A fairy princess was supposed to remove trouble not make it. He should have hired a doll, not a real woman. Big mistake, Leon, he castigated himself. Though there was one bright spot.

A very feisty little redhead.

Cute, too.

He wouldn't mind having lunch with Sue Olsen at all.

Yes, that was definitely a bright spot.

Barbie was still trying to mend the broken wand when the Drop Dead Deliveries telephone rang. She frowned at it. Sue had gone off to lunch with Leon Webster, a.s.sured of getting the damages cheque, while she was supposed to deal personally with any bookings that came in. Except Barbie didn't like answering the revenge phone, as she thought of it. Why couldn't it have been the Party Poppers one?

'Business is business,' she muttered, putting the wand down with a resigned sigh.