Table Of ContentAbout the Book
What happens when you fall in love with the man you hate?
Nicola Doyle’s dating record is a disaster, and it doesn’t improve when she
returns to Redgum Valley, after an absence of twelve years, to look after her
increasingly eccentric parents. There, she’s thrown into regular contact with
Blair Morrissey – the very reason she couldn’t wait to leave town in the first
place.
The decade-old scars are still raw from that humiliating day in high school –
when Blair went from the boy she loved to the boy she hated.
Except Blair doesn’t seem to be a ‘bad boy’ any more – in fact, he’s charming,
infuriatingly helpful and extremely attractive.
If only Nicola could forgive and forget …
Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
About the Author
More Random Romance
Copyright Notice
Loved the book?
For Cathy – brainstormer, beta reader, friend – with my thanks.
Prologue
‘Whatcha doin’?’ Lainey plonked herself down on the steps outside the gym
where Nicola liked to sit during recess.
‘Nothing,’ Nicola said quickly, shutting the purple notebook and shoving it
into the pile of books on the step beside her.
Lainey frowned. ‘What were you writing?’
Before Nicola could reply, the double doors of the gym behind her slammed
back making her jump. Three laughing lanky boys erupted from the doorway
and clattered down the steps. One of them caught her pile of books with the toe
of his Nike sneaker and scattered them all over the concrete path.
She leapt to her feet, but couldn’t make it to the purple notebook in time to
prevent Mark Wilson – who she couldn’t stand –seeing the word on the front
cover.
‘Private?’ He picked it up and gave her a rodent-like grin.
‘Give me that!’
She snatched at the notebook, but Mark jumped back, holding it out of reach
and laughing at her vain attempts to stretch for it. Then she watched in horror
and humiliation as he flicked through the pages. His grin grew meaner and he
put on a girly voice as he began to read out loud.
‘Bluer than the summer sky,
Or the deepest sea,
Your eyes make me sigh,
When you look at me.’
Nicola wrapped her arms around herself and held on tight, feeling helpless
and hating it. Nobody, nobody, was supposed to read her poetry.
Lainey stepped towards Mark. ‘Stop it! Give that book back.’
Mark snickered and turned his back on her, then yelled to his mates, ‘Hey,
listen to this!’
‘From your kissable lips,
To your dark curly hair,
My heartbeat skips,
When I see you, Blair.’
Nicola’s stomach dropped and she squeezed her eyes shut. Now they knew it
wasn’t just a stupid poem, it was a stupid poem about one of the coolest boys in
school. Why? Why was this happening to her?
The three boys guffawed, then Mark said, ‘You’ve got the hots for Blair
Morrissey? That’s so—’
‘There he is,’ one of the other boys cut in. ‘Hey, Blair! Over here.’
Her eyes snapped open. It wasn’t a cruel joke. Blair was heading their way,
and as much as she lived for the brief glimpses she caught of him between
lessons, he was the absolute last person she wanted to see right now.
Blair joined them. ‘What’s up?’
Mark was flicking through the purple notebook again. ‘Listen.’
‘I dream about you every night,
And think about you at first light.
I wish I knew if you could care, About me ever, beautiful Blair.’
‘What?’ Blair lunged for the book, taking Mark by surprise and snatching it
from his hands. ‘Who wrote that rubbish?’
The three boys laughed maliciously and pointed at her.
‘Nicola Doyle,’ Mark said with a sneer. ‘She lives down the street from me.
Her parents are right weirdos.’
When Blair turned his head to look her up and down, it all seemed to happen
in slow motion. His gorgeous face – the face she’d been secretly idolising for
nearly a year – twisted in a sort of half-amused, half-horrified expression. He
was the love of her life and he hadn’t even known she existed until this
mortifying moment.
‘Hey, you going to take her to the formal?’ Mark’s words dripped with
sarcasm.
Blair jerked back to face Mark. ‘Not a rat’s chance.’
Nicola’s heart shattered into tiny pieces. Splinters of it broke free and stuck
in her throat, her lungs, her stomach.
Blair had taken a few steps away, but must have realised that he was still
gripping her notebook. He turned and walked back towards her. When he was
within arm’s length he held out the book.
Her hand shook as she reached for it. There was an awkward moment when
he stood there, apparently waiting for her to look up, or at least say something,
but she was too afraid to do either. She kept her eyes on the book and her mouth
closed.
He sighed, spun away from her and strode off.
Mark and his mates ran off, laughing.
Lainey touched her elbow. ‘Are you okay?’
Nicola dragged in a shuddery breath and nodded.
Lainey was holding her books.
‘Thanks,’ she said. She grabbed her backpack from the step where she’d
‘Thanks,’ she said. She grabbed her backpack from the step where she’d
discarded it earlier and started to slide books into it.
‘I didn’t know you liked him,’ Lainey said gently.
Nicola shrugged. ‘I don’t any more. I hate him.’
Chapter 1
‘It’s a pity Mrs Glebe isn’t home yet.’
Nicola wasn’t really interested in her mum’s next-door neighbour. She had
enough to think about, what with trying to jemmy open a window and balance
on top of a wobbly stepladder.
But her mother ignored her lack of response. ‘Save you doing that, it would.
She’s usually back from her little job by now. If she was home, she could go in
and open the window for you.’
Nicola’s reflection in the bathroom window resembled a rabbit staring at the
lights of an approaching truck. ‘Mum?’
‘Yes, love?’
‘How would Mrs Glebe get into the house to do that?’
‘Well, how do you think, love? She’d use the spare key she keeps in the
trinket box on her hall table.’
‘She has a spare key to your front door?’
‘Bless you, didn’t I just say that?’
‘So, why am I trying to break in through the bathroom window?’
‘Because you said it was the only way to get in, love.’
‘But I didn’t know that Mrs Glebe had a key. Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘Well, I thought you knew best, love, what with your high-powered career
and all.’
A career in burglary that would be, would it? ‘I’m coming down.’
A dog trotted in through the open gate, and her mum let go of the stepladder
to flap her hands at him. ‘You cheeky beggar. Get off my flowers.’
‘Mum! Hold the—’
Too late. The dog careened away from her mother and slammed into the
stepladder, making it rock.
This was the sort of thing that happened around her parents. Only a week
ago she’d been the financial controller of a corporate giant, now she was
spreadeagled in the wet dirt – her mum must have been watering her precious
plants. The dog sniffed her, then dashed off, apparently satisfied with his work.
‘Are you all right, love?’
Nicola struggled to sit up. ‘I think so.’
‘Well then, would you get off the garden? You’re squashing a whole row of
