Page 99 of Under Your Spell

He sounds so sure that it takes the edge off the panic crowding my body. ‘Okay,’ I manage.

‘We’re going to leave you to get ready for the wedding,’ Ava says. ‘Theo, send me the details for the call, okay?’

‘Will do,’ Theo nods, and we say our goodbyes.

A weighty silence fills the room.

‘What should we do?’ I say finally. ‘Should we leave? I think I should go home.’

Theo shakes his head. ‘I think it will make things worse – there are people camped outside and if we leave early, or even if you leave by yourself, there may be a bigger story. Plus I think Lisa would kill me.’ He growls low in his throat. ‘I can’t believe this. I can’t believe I’ve managed to bring this fucking circus to her door on the most important day of her life.’

‘It wasn’t just you,’ I say bleakly. ‘If it wasn’t for me, and my connection to Ripp…’

‘No, Clemmie.’ Theo grabs my hand. ‘This is all me. I can’t—’ Whatever he’s about to say is cut off by the shrill ring of his phone. ‘This is the lawyers,’ he says, looking at the screen. ‘I’ll take this while you get ready. We’ll go to the ceremony and duck out of the reception early, then I’ll drive you home, okay?’

‘Okay,’ I agree weakly.

I go back to the dressing room, pull on my dress – a heavily embroidered lilac tulle halter neck that only an hour ago I’d been excited about wearing – with a mechanical indifference. I brush my hair, but don’t have time to do much beyond French-plaiting it into a long braid.

My face in the mirror is pale and pinched. The glowing woman from yesterday has disappeared, and no amount of blusher and highlighter is bringing her back. There’s a knock on the door and Theo appears. When did we start knocking? He’s being careful with me, and I can hardly stand to look at him – scared of what I will see in his eyes.

‘Are you ready to go?’ he asks. He’s changed into another suit, blue this time, with black lapels. He’s as gorgeous as ever, but there’s tension written in every line of him.

I get to my feet. ‘Yes,’ I say.

‘You look beautiful.’ His voice is soft.

‘So do you.’ I manage a small smile. There’s a pause. ‘This is going to be bad, isn’t it?’

His expression tightens. ‘It’s going to be fine.’ He takes my hand in his and squeezes my fingers just for a moment before letting go, and then we head out to the wedding.

Lisa and Rob are getting married at the small church in the grounds of the hotel – once part of the grand estate that belonged to some real-life Mr Darcy character. The birds are singing, the church bells ring, the sound cutting through jasmine-scented air. It’s so lovely it feels like a joke. How can the world just carry on like nothing has happened?

As we near the church, the tickling sensation skitters across my skin. Heads turn. Whispers start. It’s different from yesterday. No one seems to want to look me in the eye, but I can still feel the weight of their interest. They’ve all seen the pictures. Of course they have. Every single person here has seen what Theo and I got up to last night.

I remember how it felt the last time – when the papers had run stories about me being on drugs, and then I’d had to be out in the world with people I knew, school friends who had looked at me with a sort of gleeful fascination, strangers who did a double-take in the street, their curiosity slithering over me like an uninvited touch.

I plaster a fake smile on my face, but I feel like I want to throw up in one of the perfectly tended flowerbeds. The feeling only grows when we join Theo’s mum in the church.

Alice’s eyes betray her own worry as she greets us. I blink hard when she asks me if I’m okay. I hate that she’s dealing with this on Lisa’s wedding day, that I’ve caused all this drama for their family. I also don’t love that she must have seen the pictures of me and Theo together… not everyone has Dee Monroe’s laissez-faire attitude to these things.

‘Today’s not about us,’ Theo says, and I nod in agreement. ‘Let’s focus on Lisa and Rob.’

‘I can worry about both my children at the same time, Teddy,’ Alice says. ‘I’m your mother.’

‘I’m so sorry this happened, Alice,’ I manage.

She frowns. ‘It’s not your fault. It’s those bloody vultures again. Are they really waiting outside the hotel? I’d love to go out there and give them a piece of my mind.’

‘They’d enjoy that,’ Theo says with a small smile. ‘Theo Eliott’s mum on the rampage. I can see the headlines now.’

‘I’ve been taking Tae Kwon Do classes in the village hall,’ Alice mutters darkly. ‘I could do some serious damage, you know.’

‘Let’s save the lawyers’ fees and just rise above it instead,’ Theo says. ‘We can call you karate kicking the shit out of them Plan B.’

‘Fine,’ Alice grumbles. ‘But don’t you let them get to you, okay? No one blames you for this.’

Theo doesn’t say anything, only nods tightly. I can tell he doesn’t agree, and from Alice’s defeated look I’d be willing to bet she can too.