She sat down and tried to focus on the messages. The limit on characters meant that many were so compressed she couldn’t understand them. But others were clear enough. Diners in London had seen Prince Richard (or was it?) kissing an unknown blonde/local barmaid/Australian ladies’ golf champion/any one of several soap and movie stars.
‘Golf champion?’ said Bella, seizing on the one thing that didn’t matter.
Richard raked one hand through his hair. ‘I danced with her at a Sports Personality bash. The photo’s on my file, that’s all. I barely know the woman.’ He sighed. ‘I’d better check in with my office.’
He pulled out his phone and Bella realised that he must have had it switched off all evening. As soon as he turned it on, it rang. He looked at the caller’s name and sighed; then answered, with his usual dutiful calm.
‘Hello Monty … Yes, I’ve heard … No, I don’t think that’s necessary. I will work on a statement with you tomorrow … Tomorrow, Monty. You can come and see me at eight. I’ll even give you breakfast.’
The moment he cut the call his phone rang again. He looked at the screen and groaned.
‘Hello, Mother … Yes, so I hear. I’m surprised you have, though. I didn’t know you were on Twitter … Oh, Lady Pansy told you, did she? Don’t see her as a typical Twitterer either.’
There was silence, while he listened to what was clearly a vehement maternal lecture.
‘I’m not being evasive, Mother. I just haven’t made my mind up yet. Be assured that when I do you’ll be the first to know … What? No, not tonight. I’m talking to my Press Secretary tomorrow about the options. And can I just point out that this is not life and death, or even a bad case of measles? Yes, we’ll clear any statement with Father. And you, of course.’
Another, shorter harangue.
Richard stiffened. Suddenly his voice turned icy. ‘Very well, Mother. Thank you. I will bear that in mind. Good night.’
He nearly shattered the phone when he pressed the Call End button. As soon as the thing started to ring again, he said, ‘Oh, shit,’ and switched it off entirely.
Bella went to him.
‘We’re in the soup, aren’t we?’
Lottie said hurriedly, ‘Don’t mind me. I’ll go and … and … And tidy something.’
But Bella said, ‘No, don’t go, Lotts. You’re good at this PR stuff. Richard, it’s OK if Lottie stays, isn’t it?’
He said with sudden bitterness, ‘You probably ought to have your own Press Team and a lawyer to boot. Of course Lottie must stay.’
Bella pulled herself together. ‘Then take your coat off and let’s talk. Lottie, can you think what you would advise us—’
‘You,’ said Richard swiftly. ‘This has to be your decision.’
Bella did not argue. ‘OK. What would you advise me to do, Lottie? Think about it. I’m going to make a pot of strong coffee and then we can sit down and talk. We need to agree a strategy.’
‘Cool,’ said Lottie, clearly relieved.
But Richard looked surprised.
‘Don’t worry about her,’ Lottie said kindly, leading him to the sofa. ‘That is one seriously together woman. You’re in safe hands. Trust me on this.’
Bella came back with a cafetière of maximum-strength medium roast, three mugs and two litres of semi-skimmed milk. Richard took his black. He swigged half a mug in one go. It was the only sign of agitation he betrayed.
‘I wish I smoked,’ said Lottie, who was less controlled than the Prince of Wales.
However, her summing up of the situation was masterly.
‘You have three options, Bella. First of all, you don’t have to say a thing. The photo is clearly Richard but it’s not so clear of you. You’ve done a good job of keeping below the radar so far. None of the Royal watchers have ever heard of you. You can keep your mouth shut and ride out the story.’
She paused, looking from one to the other of them.
‘Of course, that means you’ll have to stop seeing each other. The story’s out there now and the Press are going to keep after Richard until they find the answer to the secret of his mystery companion.’
Richard said swiftly, ‘An answer. I doubt if they’d ever be able to identify you for sure, Bella.’
‘But I don’t want to stop seeing you,’ she said. ‘That’s a no-brainer.’
He gave her such a blinding smile that for a moment she couldn’t think of anything else.
‘Right,’ said Lottie. ‘Then here are your other options. You