From London With Love

05 | alice in blunderland

Ophelia had lost an earring.

Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but considering that Andrew was arriving in — she consulted her watch — exactly three minutes to pick her up for the polo tournament, it was far from ideal. It was disastrous.

She scrambled around on her knees under her desk, grumbling as she looked for a telltale flash of silver. Stupid earring. Stupid polo.

Why had she agreed to this again?

Oh, right. Digby. The love of her life.

She was startled by a shrill noise, and she yelped, cracking her head on her desk. Pain radiated through her skull, and she rubbed at it reproachfully. Great. Brilliant. Just what she needed. She thrust a hand out, fishing blindly for her phone.

"Hello?"

"Ophelia." Sophia's voice. "I got your letter."

"Can it wait?" Ophelia jammed the phone between her ear and her shoulder, continuing her frantic search. "I'm sort of busy."

"Doing what?"

"Polo."

"Polo?" Sophia sounded incredulous. "You don't play polo."

"I'm going to watch."

There was a long, terrible pause. "Tell me that you're not going to a polo tournament with Andrew Hazelton-Scott."

Ophelia pulled a face. "Can you believe that's actually his last name? God, what a mouthful."

"Fi!"

"Aha!" She snatched up the earring, triumphant. "Found it!"

"What? Your common sense?"

"Oh, come on." Ophelia switched Sophia to speaker phone, leaning close to her mirror as she popped the earring in. "He's not that bad."

"He's exactly that bad."

"Why?"

"He's... Well, he's..." Sophia seemed to be struggling for words. "He's a womanizer, Ophelia! And he's always rude to Finn."

"He's rude to everyone," Ophelia said mildly.

"Exactly!"

"Calm down, Soph," Ophelia sighed. "It's not like I'm dating him." She put on a hat, twisting in front of the mirror. "We're business partners. Of a sort. We're tied up in something."

"Andrew probably just wants to tie you up."

"Soph!"

"What? It's true."

Ophelia scowled, tugging at her sleeves. She had borrowed her outfit — wedges, a cream jumpsuit, and a straw hat — from Louise, who could still comfortably shop at most children's clothing stores. As a result, the jumpsuit hugged her curves like a second skin.

But, hey, Andrew had emphasized a jumpsuit.

So here she was.

Ophelia glanced out the window, cursing as a shiny black car pulled up in front of her building. It looked hideously expensive, which meant that it undoubtedly belonged to Andrew. She snatched up her keys.

"Look, Soph, I have to go."

"Don't you dare hang up on me." Sophia's voice was a warning. "Finn!" She raised her voice. "Finn Hoag, get your ass down here. Ophelia's about to go off with Andrew Hazelton-Scott, and someone needs to tell her that—"

"Bye! Love you!"

Ophelia hung up, shoving the phone into a purse. Then she raced down the steps, practically tripping over her heels. The black car honked, and Ophelia — breathless and flustered — yanked open the right door, throwing herself in.