Her friend groaned. ‘You know, I wish I had your kind of professional dilemma just once. Heat is good! Most of my clients are old enough to have taken Cleopatra to the Egyptian prom. And you’re complaining that Ward McKenzie wants to take you to the Plaza.’

‘I’m not complaining. I’m just not sure if it’s the best idea that’s all. I mean I’ll go – in a professional capacity obviously,’ she stressed for Zoe’s benefit. ‘But there’s no way I’m going to endanger my job or our client relationship because of my personal feelings.’

‘Aha, I knew it! Didn’t you just hear what you said? So that means you do have the hots for McKenzie. Here’s what I think, Cinderella: go to the ball and watch with pride as your client enjoys his moment in the sun being welcomed back to the Panthers. McKenzie’s happy, the New York office is thrilled with a job well done etc. Then, you can drop the account and – safe in the knowledge that there’s no longer a conflict of interest – you’re free and easy to jump the wildcat’s bones and live happily ever after. The End.’

Chapter 40

WARD

Ward ran the vacuum cleaner over the same spot on the carpet for the fifth time and finally just got down on his hands and knees and picked up the small furball that must’ve been Pretzel’s.

Great. What was the point of having an expensive machine that couldn’t even pick up a small piece of debris? He had half a mind to demand his money back and then remembered that he’d been paid to promo this thing and had actually got it for free. It bothered him that his name was being used to promote an obviously defective piece of equipment that people were going to pay their hard-earned money for, but Hannah had arranged this plus a whole other selection of endorsements, so he had to pretend it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Man, was he tired of pretending. He couldn’t wait for all this bullshit PR stuff to end so that he could go back to the way things used to be. He seriously hoped that next week’s event would in fact be the end of it and he was being welcomed back to the team in a blaze of glory.

But despite Hannah’s optimism, Ward had a feeling that things weren’t that simple. She didn’t know Craig Sumners like he did. If the team owner wanted Ward back on the team, he didn’t have to make a big public song and dance about it. There was more to this, he was certain of it. Which was probably why he’d come right out and asked Hannah to go along with him on the night.

As backup.