Jake looked at the person asking the question. ‘I said yesterday that what I said wasn’t what I really think. I was trying to distract someone from something I didn’t want them to know. I made a big, stupid mistake to say what I did. I have written ten romance books. Why would I do that if I didn’t love reading and writing romance? It would be a pretty miserable way to have spent my working life. I know I upset a lot of you. I am so sorry about that. I want you to remember how you felt reading one of my books. If you enjoyed reading them then hopefully, you will realise that I enjoyed writing them.’ He then turned to me and I gave him a nod. That had been a good answer.

‘Jake gave me some great advice when I was starting out,’ one of the other authors on the panel said then. ‘And he read one of my early manuscripts. That meant a lot to me, and I believe the reason I got my first book deal was because of the feedback he gave me. You can’t fake that kind of interest,’ she added with a grateful smile at him.

‘You’re really talented,’ Jake told her.

‘Probably shagged her,’ Davis whispered in my ear.

I refused to respond to that.

The panel chair ended the session then. I listened to readers as everyone shifted and got ready to leave, and the comments were definitely more positive about Jake.

‘He answered those questions well.’

‘I like that he has supported other authors.’

‘God, now I really want to read the book he spoke about!’

‘I wonder when it’s out?’

When I heard that, I tapped the woman on her shoulder. ‘You should ask his publishers that on social media.’

‘Good idea,’ she said.

I smiled with satisfaction.

‘It’s gone really well,’ Liv said quietly to me.

‘I think so too,’ I said back. A little bit of hope returned to me that this trip wasn’t going to be a complete failure after all. I quickly typed out another email to Hayley to say the panel had been a success and things were improving and to look on social media. I was praying she would see we were working hard to make it right.

Davis turned to me then. ‘I can’t believe Jake’s managing to pull the wool over people’s eyes like this,’ he groaned.

‘If you hadn’t pushed him to say what he said, he wouldn’t have to try to save his career,’ I replied.

‘Aren’t you worried about what his big secret is?’ Davis challenged me. ‘How about we go for lunch and we can talk about it?’ He gave me a lewd grin.