Hen Party 1 (Hen Party #1) (5 page)

Paul and Elin approached. He gave Kyra the thumbs up. “Hey lady, you’re stealing my show, but the view is worth it,” he growled.

The Henriettas clapped boisterously and chanted for Kyra to do a double strip act with Paul.

She shook with outrage. She wasn’t a person with feelings to the Henriettas. She was someone to laugh at. “Maddy…” She glared at the fullback. Kyra wasn’t going to take the lack of respect any longer. The strength in her voice grew. “This is your opportunity to get your gear off. Don’t miss it.”

“Oh, no,” Elin gasped. “Kyra, it’s a party joke, please don’t take the teasing personally.”

“It’s a personal backbite all right. I’ve had enough of being the target for cheap jokes.”
This raspberry is for my relationship fails. I’m reclaiming my fighter-spirit.
“I’ll deal with the situation. Elin, just stand back and stay out of it,” Kyra said.

“But now I’m worried about you fighting with Maddy.” Elin clutched Paul’s arm.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m wearing my big girl panties, and you’re not taking part in the argument. Think of your beau, not Maddy and me,” Kyra said.

“What is she going to do?” one of the Henriettas murmured in the background.

“Maddy is too stubborn and strong. Ka-Ka will never defeat her,” another woman added to the conversation.

“It’s not a competition. This is pest control,” Kyra snapped. With her spare hand, she lowered her handbag to a table and tied up the straps of her dress in a clumsy bow. She glared at the source of her extreme humiliation, the smirking relationship advisor from hell. She stalked over to her, intent on wiping the smug expression from her face once and for all.

“Kyra, stop!” Joe called.

Kyra didn’t take her eyes off Maddy as she closed the distance between them. “You’re not going to ruin the night for Elin by behaving like a maniac. You’re leaving the party now.” She raised her voice, “Call a taxi, and I’ll put
you
in it.”

Maddy scuttled behind the row of square dinner tables placed against the long main wall of the lounge. She bent over with the posture of a hockey player holding a stick on the ground, waiting for the ball to come her way so she could belt it down the field.

“Ka-Ka, don’t be ashamed of flashing your bouncing boobs in our faces. Wear the pair of them with pride and use them to get more Vadge action.”

“I’m done with your tart tips.” Kyra accidently scrunched up the linen cloth as she squeezed into the slot between two tables. She lunged to grab hold of the fullback. At the last moment, Maddy darted to the side and Kyra fell on the bench seat. She picked herself up to chase Maddy around the next table.

“I was only helping you, um…break free. No, they’re not the right words.” Maddy raised her voice, “You’re too stuck up to ask for help with your man problems.” She jammed a table into Kyra’s thighs, knocking over the containers of condiments.

Kyra was sandwiched by the table behind her and couldn’t move. “Damn you! Look after the fire between your own legs, not mine.” She shoved at the table to widen the gap and get free. The napkin holder toppled to the floor.

Maddy swayed from side to side like she was on the astro-turf, deciding where to hit the ball to dodge her opponent. “I couldn’t keep watching your false starts with blokes without staging a relationship intervention. Someone had to tell you to get over yourself.”

“I’m not listening to your rubbish advice.” Kyra dashed around the furniture and this time, caught a handful of Maddy’s awful dress. With all of her might, Kyra dragged the fullback’s weighty body away from the dining area.

“After you’ve spent the night kissing a guy, getting all hot and steamy, you’ll thank me in the morning for liberating the prude.” Maddy cast a leering look at Joe. “What about him?”

Embarrassment paralyzed Kyra’s limbs. “I’m done with the weird, too.” Trying to persuade Kyra to get it on with Joe, a man she’d known for an hour, was the fullback’s final attempt at whacko humor. With sheer, bloody determination rather than muscle power, Kyra hauled Maddy a few more steps closer to the front bar door.

* * *

Shockwaves rippled through Jovanni at Maddy’s suggestion that he should take Kyra to bed tonight. With a deliberate step, he navigated a path around the jumbled tables to reach the two bickering women. Never before had he witnessed the untamed menace females could inflict on each other. The hostile emotion directed at Kyra didn’t feel that different to the nasty rumors Gina made up about him and spread around Sydney because she’d married the wrong man and blamed him for the mistake.

He strode up to Maddy and drew himself up tall. “Why is Kyra going to thank you in the morning?” he asked.

The short woman gave an awkward laugh. “Do you really need me to tell you why?” she said, sarcastically. When he kept his silence, she grabbed a handful of her dress a few inches higher than Kyra’s twisted hold on the garment. “Well, you know, you’re Kyra’s Mr. Right, the bloke with the drooling good looks and expensive threads…” Her voice trailed off. “Okay, you’re Mr. Right, for now.”

“Your match-making skills have missed the mark,” he said with authority. “I’m Kyra’s Mr. Wrong. I play my own part in relationship hemorrhages.”

“All right, I can run with you being Mr. Wrong for now,” Maddy said. “Let the Vadge decide your title.”

His gut tightened as Maddy gave a powerful jerk of her arms. The dress ripped through Kyra’s hands. With a startled cry, she slipped in her heels. Jovanni scrambled to catch one of her flailing arms to slow her fall and stop her head from hitting the hard boards. She landed in a crumpled heap on the floor, but appeared unhurt.

Like the alpha victor in the catfight, Maddy triumphantly stood over Kyra’s sprawled figure. “Now, close your eyes and banish the princess forever,” Maddy said in a coarse voice. “Expecting the best of everything made you unhappy and hoity-toity toward men. Running home to live with your Mummy and Granny when you mess up your relationships,” she scoffed. “Changing jobs to escape the problems you stir up.” She bent down to Kyra. “Jump off the hamster wheel and give it all you’ve got to become a shiny new woman like we’ve never seen before.”

Kyra’s eyes brimmed with tears. She gave a heartfelt sob before pushing herself up on one elbow. “What hamster wheel are you mouthing off about?”

“Running around in circles and going nowhere. Your life is the hamster wheel, sweetie. Change it before life changes you,” Maddy said.

Jovanni let go of Kyra’s arm and grasped her hand. “Let me help you stand up.” She avoided looking at him. His gaze softened over her defiant figure. She’d fallen down low, but she wasn’t knocked out by Maddy.

“No, I’ll be okay,” she mumbled, but didn’t move a limb.

He let go of her hand and squatted down beside her. “You can’t stay on the floor. You’ll get trodden on.”

Her glistening eyes turned his way and, for a moment, he was transfixed by the fiery courage he saw in the hazel depths. His heart drummed victory for the strength she drew out of her humiliation and vulnerability. He didn’t want her to change who she was. Kyra Jamieson was a magnificent, passionate woman.

“Okay, I’m coming,” she said eventually. Then, with her full, dignified beauty, she rose to her feet to face her tormenter.

He swung around as the other girls yahooed for the catfight to continue. He had to end the spat before Kyra or Maddy got injured. “Kyra, don’t move.” She turned her head at the sound of his voice. “Maddy, go to the public bar until Kyra cools down,” he ordered. There shouldn’t be any more conflict there. Maddy was a tough woman, and the worst of the louts had left the pub.

“Okey-dokey,” Maddy conceded with a shrug. “I’ll be back,” she threw over her shoulder before heading to the door.

He rubbed a hand across his forehead at Maddy’s easy surrender and her threat to continue the fight later on.
Where would it end?

Kyra frowned as she watched Elin’s dash to the front bar door with stripper Paul following after her. “Where is Elin hurrying off to?” She turned to ask Jovanni. “Why is she leaving the lounge with Paul? Kyra was thinking out loud and Jovanni didn’t have the answers to her questions.

“Is she upset with me because I stood up to Maddy? Is Elin deserting me?” Kyra ran her fingers through her long locks. “What have I done? Have I ruined my friendship with Elin? I have to speak to her and sort this out. Oh no, the sleaze bags in the bar might get to Elin.” Kyra went to take off after her friend.

Jovanni stopped her by cupping his hands around her shoulders. “You don’t have to rush off in a panic. The louts have left the bar.” As he tried to steady her, he felt a tremor pass through her body and his hands. With each passing moment of the party fiasco, she was dancing on the edge of her nerves and heading toward her own personal collapse. She bit down on her lip and looked up at him with soulful eyes. She melted his heart a little bit more.

“Calm down before you hurt yourself,” he said.

She wriggled her shoulders free of his grasp. He had to look away from her halter neck dress to keep his thoughts about her sexy breasts in check.

She stared trance-like at the door. “Don’t tell me to calm down,” she said, her voice quivered. “I want to get rid of Maddy forever.”

“I know you do. You’ve tried your best to end the stud show, you can’t do any more,” he assured.

Red-faced, she dragged in a breath. “Who are you to decide what I can or can’t do?”

The air sizzled between him as he hesitated to tell her why he cared about what happened to her. Because of her written reports to him, she was his trusted manager, the lady who intuitively knew how to get under his skin. She probed his thoughts, poked his emotions, and streamed light through the dark clutter.

The bitter self-talk about his ex-lover Gina had quietened, but his chest was still tight with jealousy over Marco’s contentment with Elin.

Jovanni wanted a loving woman by his side, too, and now there was only one smart, principled beauty to pursue. If he could find a way to breach the divide between the personal chemistry he had with her and their business positions. What about the family expectation of him to pair up with a girl from good Italian stock? Marco’s choice of a blond, Australian fiancée wouldn’t be forgotten for a generation.

“I’m a bystander watching a group of women lose control of their behavior,” he said candidly. “Before you blast me with your flaming temper again, consider this: Maddy isn’t blessed with an attractive figure like you, so she uses whatever means she can to draw attention to herself.”

* * *

Joe’s mention of physical appearance put a sour taste in Kyra’s mouth. “I know Maddy wants attention, demands it even. That’s how she is. But you’re wrong to think that I use my body to get noticed. How I look on the outside hasn’t brought me a lot of happiness so far.”

His eyes skipped over her face. He didn’t have a comeback. She wondered if he’d experienced his own false starts to relationships with good-looking women.

He looked away for a moment.

The Henriettas gathered around the front bar door.

“When Maddy finds her place in the world she’ll stop behaving in such a self-destructive manner. I think the same about you.”

His words were arrows that shot straight into the center of her pent-up frustrations. “Maddy takes every opportunity to bring me down to her level,” she said. “I don’t remember asking for other’s people opinions about my life.”

In the background, the Henriettas booed at her criticisms of Maddy.

“Let’s go outside where we can talk without an audience,” he said, cupping her elbow.

She tucked her arm against the side of her body. “I don’t want to chat to you about my man problems.” She rolled her eyes at the ceiling. “Heavens above, please send me a team of angels to take Maddy home and lock her up for the night.”

“You go, girl. Go away!” Dizzy Denise, the spiky-haired Henrietta, called out from behind Kyra’s back.

Kyra half-turned toward the slim woman wearing a blue mini-skirt, sleeveless blouse and biker boots. She folded her arms across her chest, which lifted her small bust line higher. Denise stood in the line-up of women barricading the door to the front bar.

Kyra’s stomach dropped at the sight of the hockey tactic she’d seen many times, when the players used their bodies to defend the midfield and block the game of the opposition. Now they were using the tactic to stop her from reaching Maddy. Bile rose up the back of her throat at the realization she was outnumbered, and beaten by the aggressive barrier.

Denise broke away from the row and stomped forward in her boots. “Look at you,” she said, her voice loaded with contempt. “Ka-Ka, you’re a mess…your hair…clutching your skimpy dress against your boobs like a desperate tart.”

The terrible feeling of being singled out for more verbal abuse gave Kyra the shakes. “Stop ripping me apart,” she cried out.

“Back off from Maddy,” Denise said with snark. “Ka-Ka, go home.” She pointed at the French doors. “We won’t miss you.”

Hot tears sprung into the corners of Kyra’s eyes. She turned her back on the pack of Henrietta hyenas. She didn’t want to cry in front of them. She didn’t want to cry at all. She squeezed her eyes shut to stop the waterworks.

“Kyra, come with me,” Joe said in a kind voice.

She opened her wet lids to find him standing in front of her. “I’ll be fine. I want to be left alone,” she said, her voice full of saw dust.

“Go with your new boyfriend and get lost,” Denise yelled, which was greeted with a round of applause from the Henriettas.

Kyra flung a hand over her mouth to muffle her sobs.

“Let’s go,” Joe said, steering her to the outside doors that led to the garden restaurant.

Kyra tasted defeat as the gloating Henriettas bunched together and watched her walk out through the French doors. She had to get away from everyone before she cried like a baby. Leaving Joe’s side, she grabbed hold of the handrail to climb down the short staircase.

She blinked to clear the water in her eyes and looked around the empty brick courtyard strung with garlands of sparkly, fairy lights. Mad Maddy must have also booked the outdoor area for Elin’s party. She wiped the back of her hand across her wet face. At least there were no spectators to see the unwanted tears drying on her cheeks.

Against the timber-slated walls, the white and red lilies in the garden beds gave a light perfume to the night air. There were tubs of greenery placed in the gaps between the hewn pine tables. It was a tranquil haven, except for the spying eyes at the doors, watching her every step. When she glanced back, the rude finger gestures from the Henriettas gave her legs a fresh spurt of power, and she ducked behind a large fig tree growing in a terracotta pot.

Alone and out of sight, her emotions overflowed. She couldn’t keep a man in her life. She closed her eyes to accept the truth Maddy had forced out of her for all the other women to laugh at. She was dateless, now friendless, a wreck, and what the critics didn’t know was that her career had plateaued too.

She huddled deeper into the leaf cover where no one could see her. In her mind, the ambition to lead an exciting life and love an amazing guy had toppled from its lofty height and fallen apart. The reality check made her want to scream, she’d wasted years chasing a fantasy and got nowhere. She was no different to the spinster sisterhood of Henriettas, another try-hard
want-to-be but not going-to-be
. The high-flying career, the keeper man, and the suburban house with the kids were far beyond her reach.

Her body turned into a pillar of ice. She crossed her arms over her chest to hug herself against the chill spreading over her skin. Despite hearing the sound of footsteps heading her way, she couldn’t pull herself together.

Joe lifted aside a small tree branch to glimpse at her. “Hi there,” he said with a drawn-out sigh. “Kyra, are you okay?” His worried eyes searched her face.

She unfolded her arms from the awkward, straitjacket position. “I don’t know what to say to you,” she said, her voice strained.

He shifted on his feet. “Are you going to stay here or leave the party?”

He stood close to her, and her battered emotions longed for his muscly arms to hold her while she recovered from her crisis. And then she would repeat the pattern of sabotaging a potential relationship with an avalanche of neediness.

She stepped away from the bush to put some distance between them. “I haven’t made up my mind what I’ll do,” she said, just above a whisper. Under the fairy lights, his brow was furrowed and his mouth was a glum slash across his face.

He buried his hands in his trouser pockets. “If you want to call it a night, I’ll phone for a taxi, or I can drive you home in my hire car if you prefer.”

Oh, this guy was unbelievable. He was throwing her a rope to climb up from rock-bottom, but her emotions were still see-sawing in a gloomy, lonely abyss.

“Kyra, it seems that you’ve become an easy target for the angst of the other women.” His dark velvet eyes reflected the same message of concern.

Her heart dropped a beat that couldn’t be recovered because he’d stolen it away with his kind words. Tears dripped down her cheeks. Did he care about the disgraceful squabble she’d had with Maddy? What would happen next in the relationship intervention that Maddy had set in motion?
Kyra closed her eyes to stop more tears from welling up.

“You didn’t deserve to be attacked for challenging the pack mentality,” he said in a soothing tone that spread around her like a comforting blanket.

She took a deep breath to fill her cramped lungs with air. How did this man find just the right words, along with a genuine way to say them? He’d witnessed the entire catfight in the lounge and the flash of her breasts, yet he hadn’t acted any less the gentleman. She’d never met a man with his type of good manners. He was lifting her higher out of the pit of despair.

She slowly opened her eyes and took her fill of the gorgeous shape of his face and the soft tint in his dark eyes. He was staking a claim on her heart. “Joe, I acted on my beliefs. Do you think I was wrong to try and stop the stripper act?” Her raspy voice begging for his approval didn’t sound like her own, but sadly it was.

He grimaced, and moments passed before he answered. “Only a foolish man picks sides in a woman’s argument,” he said sagely. “It’s not my party. What I think doesn’t matter.” He gave a tight shrug of his broad shoulders.

“I would like to hear your opinion,” she said with a heavy weight pressing on her chest.

“I’ve had my turn at shattering other people’s expectations and being punished for it. For years I was cut away from those I cared about,” he said quietly. “Do I have any regrets from opposing what others thought about me? No, I don’t.” His gaze locked with hers. “But if I had my time again, I would keep a lid on my hot temper and wait for the truth to reveal itself.”

In the depths of his eyes, she saw reflections of a guy with his own demons and fears, but they hadn’t torn him apart because he’d found a way to live with them. She grasped her hands together in front of her body to stop herself reaching out to him while the grief lingered in his eyes.

“Your temper is a near relative to mine.” His smile was a blend of shy confession and camaraderie.

The snippet of humor brightened her spirits a little more. “I don’t believe you have a temper,” she murmured.

“Don’t doubt it, Kyra. It’s the reason why I understand yours,” he said with more spunk.

A small chuckle escaped from her lips.

“When you mix fire and passion together, it’s a volatile mix,” he said, knowingly. “Maddy sparked the fire. You safeguarded Elin’s happiness with a passion. Then, boom, there was an explosion of wild forces.”

Kyra brushed her fingers over her wet cheeks. “I thought I was losing my mind over Maddy’s meddling and acting like a psycho sister to Elin. Tell me more, Joe.”

He laughed softly. “No, Kyra, I’ve said more than I should. What man wants to be accused of interfering with the guests at a hen party?”

“I think that if you told me your thoughts, it would be a fair swap of information.” She challenged with her own smile.

He had tilted his head to listen, and his eyes lightened from the glow of the overhead fairy lights.

I told you about Elin’s situation with Marco.
I leaned into you for your understanding and support.
She paused to find the words to tell him what his companionship meant to her. “I thought you were my chivalrous knight-to-the-rescue?”

He lowered his eyelids to shield his gaze.

She chomped down on her lip as her suspicions worsened over the mixed messages he was giving her.

He smoothed down his hair even though there wasn’t a single strand out of place. “Kyra, don’t think of me that way,” he said in a thick voice that sounded like it came from the bottom of his chest. “I’m a black knight, and I’m not here to save you.”

He was trying to discourage her romantic illusions of him. Shake her off with his claim of being her Mr. Wrong? He was ignoring their mutual attraction and the click of their personalities.