He looked confused.
‘But Gid’s parties are apparently epic.’
‘There’s a party in Oxfordshire. Georgia’s cousin, actually.’
‘Who’s she?’
‘Clarissa Carlyle, some place called Stapleford.’
Daniel’s jaw dropped open, his annoyance suddenly replaced with interest.
‘We’ve been invited to Stapleford? Bloody hell, Amy. How did you wangle that?’
‘You’ve heard of it?’
‘Heard of it? It’s one of the best houses in the entire country. Great shooting. My parents have been desperate to go for years. An invitation always seems just out of reach, however.’
‘Well, it’s not something I’m looking forward to,’ she said quietly.
‘Why not? It’ll be a blast. Hey, we could even pop into my parents’ on the way home. That will keep them quiet, telling them we’ve been to Stapleford.’
‘It’s not a plus one, Dan.’
‘What do you mean, it’s not a plus one?’
‘You can’t come.’
‘I can’t come?’ he frowned.
‘Someone’s invited me.’
‘Who?’ he asked, looking completely miffed.
‘Georgia’s cousin’s son.’
Daniel was shaking his head angrily.
‘What’s going on, Amy? Is this some sort of revenge for what happened at the Tower?’
‘Revenge?’
‘Or are you having an affair?’
‘Of course I’m not having an affair. He’s gay, Daniel. I’m going to meet the family because some things need to be said about Georgia.’
Daniel fell silent, but at least he looked partly mollified. Amy had no idea about Will’s sexual orientation. From his banter with the pretty Primrose Hill barista, he was almost certainly straight, but it would keep Daniel quiet.
‘We’ll make a little networker out of you yet, Miss Carrell,’ he said finally, smiling.
Amy wanted to tell him she wasn’t doing it for that reason, that she didn’t care about social climbing, that she was only doing it for her friend. She wanted to ask his opinion about what to say to Clarissa and Christopher Carlyle, but just then she heard the gentle ‘put-put-put’ of the delivery bike arriving.
‘Chinese is here,’ Daniel said, standing up.
‘Well, I’ll go and put some PJs on while you sort it out, okay?’
He hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her closer.
‘PJs? Killjoy,’ he purred. ‘I wasn’t joking about naked Chinese.’