I ignored her and set off to follow Tamar’s directions. Gloria chased after me, plucking ineffectually at my jacket sleeve. When I got to the door of the rehearsal room, I shook off her arm and said, “Now you’ll see whether or not I’ve got an appointment.”

Chapter   5

I opened the door and walked in to hear a man shouting, “How many times do I have to tell you? You just don’t need anyone else to …”

At the sound of the door, he whirled round and fell silent. There were two other men in the room. Neil Webster was sitting in a canvas director’s chair with an air of fascinated satisfaction. Jett was leaning against a white grand piano with a sulky expression on his face. The third man, the shouter, I recognized at once. I’d seen him talking to Jett at the dinner where we’d met. Richard had told me he was Kevin Kleinman, Jett’s manager.

Before any of us could say anything, Gloria erupted into the room and shoved past me. I couldn’t believe the transformation in her. She’d altered from the dragon at the gates to a sweet little kitten. “I’m so sorry, Jett,” she purred. “But this woman just forced her way in. I tried to stop her, but she just pushed past me.”

Jett shrugged away from the piano with an exasperated sigh. “Gloria, I told you I was expecting Kate. Christ, how could you have forgotten?”

The effect of Jett’s words on Gloria was out of all proportion to their sting. She blushed scarlet and almost seemed to cringe out of the room, muttering apologies. To Jett, not to me. Her exit did nothing to diminish the air of awkwardness in the room. With an almost palpable effort, Jett turned the full force of his charm on me and smiled. “Kate,” he said. “I’m really glad you could make it.”

My reply was drowned by Neil, who called across, “You’re really going to be doing all of us a big favor, Kate. I can’t tell you how pleased I am for Jett that you’re going to sort this business out.”

I caught Kevin’s scowl at Neil before he too turned to me and