‘I don’t live with my mother, I live in an overpriced dump in Bethnal Green.’

‘Don’t interrupt. Where was I?’

‘My bloody mother again.’

‘That’s right. Whose bloody mother was a wicked and very powerful queen. Her father the King had gone on a long journey, and the little Princess missed him very much indeed, because she loved her father and wanted more than anything else in the world to please him.’

‘Oh shut up . . .’

‘And so Princess Isabelle shut herself away in an empty tower in the castle, and there she found a sewing machine. Now, Princess Isabelle loved pretty things, because she was pretty herself, and she longed to make lovely dresses and to swan around at fabulous fashion parties wearing them, but unfortunately for the Princess she had the business sense of a small furry animal. And so she sat there, day after day, toying with her bobbins, sighing to the empty tower “Oh, how I wish that I could design a stunning autumn/winter collection that would take London Fashion Week by storm.” And suddenly there was a strange flapping sound, and a fairy flew in at the window. “Hello Princess,” said the fairy. “My name’s Will Francis, and I’m here to make all your dreams come true.” ’

‘You’re not a fairy.’

Will ignored her. ‘And he waved his special magic wand and all of a sudden the empty tower had been transformed into a fully functioning fashion studio, with really excellent north-facing windows, swatches of the finest silks from mills all over the world, and selling agents and PRs and stylists and editors queuing at the door to preview the latest Cissé designs.’

‘Yes? What happened next?’

‘Well, my dear, the fairy waved that very special magic wand of his again, and suddenly Princess Isabelle had a whacking great grant from the British Fashion Council, enough to put on a really good show at London Fashion Week. But she still couldn’t afford to get the samples made up, because she was so frightened of asking the Wicked Queen for a bit of extra dosh so that she could employ a pattern cutter and a machinist.’

‘All right. Point taken. Go on.’

‘And the London Fashion Week show was a huge success, and they got licensed by a big Italian manufacturer, and got their collection taken on by Saks Fifth Avenue, and they got written up in Vogue, and suddenly every celebrity in London was being photographed in Cissé, and before you knew it . . .’

‘Yes?’

‘The most famous woman in the world was walking up the red carpet at the Oscars wearing a Cissé gown. And the little Princess became fabulously wealthy, and she and the fairy Will lived happily ever after.’

‘I like that story,’ she said.

‘So do I.’ He stopped behind her chair, and put his arms around her neck. ‘I like it very much.’

Christine stepped under the hot water, her body aching and tingling as it had not done for some time. Well, that must be the benefits of the exercise, she thought. What else could it possibly be? Certainly not the feel of Joel’s hands on my buttocks during the spinal rotations, or his chest pressed against my back when he was correcting my technique during the – what was it called? Bicep curl?