Page 24 of Under Your Spell

‘Don’t you dare smile at me,’ I snap, flustered. The reality of this bizarre scene is starting to sink in and I feel queasy. I poke him in the chest with my finger. ‘You’re really telling me you’re not called Edward?’

A look of chagrin passes over his face. ‘Yes. I mean no,’ he says, ‘I’m not called Edward.’

‘And you are, in fact, this Theo Eliott person who is a famous musician?’ I continue, my voice deadly calm.

‘Um, yes,’ Theo says meekly.

‘So why did you tell me your name was Edward?’

‘Actually I didn’t,’ he says, and the smile flickers back to life, though it’s more muted now. ‘I told you my mum calls me Teddy, which she does, and you extrapolated from there.’ He looks pleased with himself.

I think back to our conversation, try to remember if what he says is true. ‘Teddy is short for Theodore?’

He nods.

‘But why didn’t you correct me?’ I ask, and I can feel that my calm is slipping now, but I cling on to it for dear life.

‘That’s hard to explain,’ he says.

‘Try,’ I grind out.

He runs a finger round the rim of his glass. ‘I suppose at first it was because you didn’t know who I was, and that was something of a novelty. And then… I got distracted.’

‘Distracted!’

‘Yes, and I honestly forgot about the whole name thing until the morning when I saw your note. I would have told you the truth then…’ – he pauses here and treats me to a stern look from under his brows – ‘but you had already disappeared. Snuck out while I was in the shower.’

‘You’re not going to make me feel bad about anything when you—’

‘Hold on,’ Serena jumps in here. Up to this point she’s been silently observing our back and forth like she’s watching a tennis match, but she seems to have gathered her wits. ‘I think we need to move somewhere more private for this conversation.’

She glances over her shoulder, and I notice that several people are showing interest in our little group. At the moment they’re all at a polite distance, and the music is quite loud, but that might not last. And there’s also every chance that I’ll end up shouting.

I glance at Theo’s handsome face. Oh yes, there will definitely be shouting.

Stiffly, I follow Serena as she cuts through the crowds, very aware that Theo is walking close behind me. At one point someone steps out in front of me and tries to talk to him. Theo mutters something, his hand on the small of my back as he guides me past, his body curving protectively around mine. I shake him off as soon as possible, trying very hard to be unaffected by the tingling feeling that insists on running up and down my spine.

We duck through a door that says EMPLOYEES ONLY and climb a flight of stairs, eventually ending up in a small office that presumably belongs to the manager.

As soon as we’re over the threshold, Serena whirls on Theo. ‘Let me catch up here. Are you telling me that you slept with my sister?’

‘I didn’t know she was your sister,’ Theo says, holding his hands up in front of him.

Serena whacks him on the arm. ‘Not the point, Theo! You are an absolute liability. Do you have to sleep with everyone?!’

Something flickers across Theo’s face at that, something that looks almost like hurt, but it’s replaced by that charming smile so swiftly that I wonder if I imagined it. He leans back against the wall, his arms folded. ‘I would say that what happened between Clemmie and me was just between the two of us, but it seems you’ve already had a thorough report.’

‘Oh my God,’ I mutter, swigging from the Martini glass still gripped tightly in my fingers. (At this point they would pry the booze from my cold, dead hands.) ‘How can this be happening? I slept with someone and I didn’t even know his name? And he’s a famous rock star?’

‘Your tone is confusing,’ Theo says. ‘Which of those two things is worse?’

‘The rock star thing.’ I take another long drink. ‘Definitely the rock star thing.’

‘Huh.’ Theo sounds nonplussed.

‘Put it together, genius,’ Serena snaps, throwing herself into the chair behind the desk. ‘If Clemmie is my sister…’

‘If she’s your sister then… she’s also Ripp’s daughter,’ Theo says slowly. ‘Oh shit.’ He looks at me. ‘You’re Ripp’s daughter?’