That earned him a surprised look, but a scowl soon settled back across her face, as she looked back at her screen. ‘Apparently it was derivative and reductive.’
He didn’t contradict her, even though he hadn’t thought that at all. His opinion wouldn’t matter to her, he guessed, and even on five minutes’ acquaintance he was sure she wouldn’t hesitate to tell him so. He had enough experience of being told that his job was meaningless or didn’t qualify him to talk on any subject except charming people. He suspected Celeste would say the same about him, and he couldn’t imagine that tonight’s quiz was going to change that.
Shame. This was one guest he’d actually been looking forward to meeting, had lobbied to have included because he’d assumed she’d be as fascinating and engaging in real life as she was when presenting on the radio. He’d hoped he’d be able to talk to her about his own interest in history, his own studies and hopes to move more into that sphere.
Apparently not. This was why people should never meet their heroes.
Theo got to his feet, fairly sure Celeste wouldn’t notice or care if he just left now. Still, the good manners his mother had ingrained in him long before his agent had insisted on them meant that he couldn’t just walk away. So he smiled, and said, ‘Well, I’d better go and get ready—we’ll be starting filming soon. I’ll see you out there. Break a leg!’
Celeste winced at his words, then nodded at him in acknowledgment, before beginning to type again.
Right, then. Clearly not a people person—which was a shame, since apparently charming people was the only thing Theo was qualified to do. Celeste Hunter was uncharmable, though, it seemed.
Which was fine. After all, once they got through filming tonight’s show, he’d never have to see her again anyway.
Whistling to himself, Theo waved goodbye to the other guests and headed back to his dressing room to perform his traditional pre-show routine.
This was going to be a great show, a great night, and Celeste Hunter wasn’t going to ruin that for him.
* * *
Where the hell are Damon and Rachel?
Celeste paced the corridor outside the green room, waiting for her brother and best friend to finally show up. She’d tried working on her manuscript to distract her from her growing nerves and her mother’s voice in her head, telling her that this show was an insult to her PhD, but then Theo Montgomery had interrupted her with that charming TV-star smile, and reminded her all over again that this sort of show was not what she’d studied all these years to do.
God, her parents were going to be so disappointed when they found out about this. A TV series of her own, she might have just about been able to swing. Well, probably not, but she could dream... The Christmas Cracker Cranium Quiz? No. She’d tried mentioning it before, in rather vague terms, but the look on her mother’s face had stopped her even considering going into details.
Normal parents would be excited for her. Proud, even. But then Jacob and Diana Hunter had never pretended to be normal. Never wanted to be, either.
Which was why she needed Damon and Rachel to just get here. They were normal people. They’d remind her that, actually, this was fun and festive and a boost to her career. The chance to show that production company that she had what it took to front her own show. It was the kind of opportunity most people would be hugely grateful for, even if she had no idea who at the network had dredged her name out of the halls of academia to take part.
She had a feeling it wouldn’t happen again, not after that moment in the green room.
She’d been rude to Theo Montgomery. She hadn’t meant to be, exactly. She just didn’t deal with interruptions well. And since she’d already been freaking out a little bit about the company she was keeping in there—people her parents would probably recognise, and they didn’t even own a television—well, she’d sort of just reacted, without thinking about it. Damon had been trying to break her of that habit for most of his life, but it never seemed to take.
She should probably apologise. Later.
First, she needed to get through the filming.
Celeste had never done anything like this before. Radio, sure, where she just had to answer a few questions she definitely knew the answers to—that was why they asked her to come on the show, because she knew about it. They were always pre-recorded, and usually she had an idea of the questions the presenter was going to ask before she even showed up, so she could prepare.
She liked being prepared.
But this...as she’d looked around the green room it had been obvious that this was a general knowledge quiz, ranging from science and maths to literature and arts, and hopefully history somewhere in between. She would be expected to know things outside her area of expertise.
The exact opposite of what she’d been training for her whole life.
‘You have to specialise, Celeste,’ her parents had been telling her, ever since she was in her teens. ‘If you don’t know exactly what matters to you, then you won’t matter at all. Generalists never get anywhere. You need to find a niche, squat in it, and defend it with your life.’
Her parents were academics. She’d wanted to be an academic. Of course, she’d listened to them.
Her brother, Damon, meanwhile, had rebelled, gone completely the opposite way, and become the quintessential Jack of all trades. While she had settled into her niche—women in the ancient world—and only dabbled in other areas of historical research as a bit of a hobby.
A well-rounded view of world history was generally encouraged in the Hunter household. A well-rounded view of anything else was generally not.
And appearing on a Christmas quiz show that reduced human knowledge to questions about Christmas number ones was definitely frowned upon.
She’d swotted up on a lot of festive history, ready for the occasion, though. Just in case.