Gifted and Talented by Wendy Holden Page A

dresses, Isabel now noticed, was what looked like a small fridge. It had been dumped at a careless angle and had a glass door through which gold-foil-topped bottles could be seen. Only gold-foil-topped bottles. Her eyes widened. The champagne was on ice, after all.
    Coco, meanwhile, was whining and scrabbling still harder. Amber flung the dog an irritated glance.
    ‘She might be hungry,’ Isabel suggested. ‘Or thirsty.’
    ‘I had something for her somewhere,’ Amber muttered, peeling up a couple of dresses.
    Surely there wasn’t a plate of dog food beneath; Isabel winced.
    Whether there was or not, Amber now abandoned the search. She opened the champagne fridge, grabbed a bottle and twisted the cork with an obviously practised movement. It exploded, sending the dog cringing into the corner. A white surge of bubbles dripped on to some of the clothes on the floor. As Amber did not seem inclined, Isabel lunged to the rescue again, whipping some Chloe and Stella McCartney out of the way just in time.
    Amber had found an ashtray from somewhere, slopped some champagne into it and held it out to the dog. ‘Here, Cokes!’
    ‘She drinks champagne?’ Isabel blurted.
    Amber giggled. ‘She should. She’s Mummy’s pooch de luxe, aren’t you, Coco? Oh well, suit yourself,’ she added carelessly as Coco cautiously dipped the black tip of her nose into the frothing liquid before cringing backwards.
    ‘I’ve got some water in my room,’ Isabel said, grasping the opportunity to escape. She had reached the door when she saw, striding up the corridor in a manner that betokened no nonsense, the burly, T-shirted college porter from the front hall. Behind him, fairly hopping with agitation, came a vengeful-looking Kate, now fully dressed. ‘Which room did you say it was?’ the porter was growling.
    Isabel, remembering what Kate had said about pets not being allowed, shrank back inside. ‘The porter’s coming,’ she gasped. ‘He’s looking for Coco, I think.’
    A kind of panic was filling her. Isabel, who had never been in trouble the whole of her educational life, hated the thought of being caught with someone breaking college rules on her very first full day at university. Being caught by Kate in Amber’s room was hardly less of a disaster.
    Amber, however, just laughed. She picked up the still-trembling Coco and shoved her under the bed. A heavy fist now sounded on the door. Isabel felt sick with terror. But Amber’s eyes were shining with excitement.
    ‘Your bathrobe!’ gasped Isabel. ‘It’s nearly fallen off!’
    ‘Silly me!’ Amber exclaimed, waggling her tanned shoulders so the towelling slid finally to the floor. ‘Come in!’ she trilled, arranging herself invitingly on the bed as the door swung open.
    The porter now got an eyeful that turned his meaty face pale with horror. He then flushed a violent purple and made a choking sound before fumbling wildly for the handle and slamming the door shut.
    Amber’s lack of embarrassment was absolute, it seemed to Isabel. It was even possible that she was enjoying it. She raised a playful and perfectly plucked eyebrow at Isabel and called out, ‘Can I help you?’
    The porter on the other side of the door was clearly struggling to compose himself. ‘I’ve been told,’ he managed after some seconds, ‘that you may have a dog in there, Miss.’
    ‘ Definitely has a dog in there,’ Kate crisply corrected.
    Amber was shrugging on her bathrobe. But it still hung open slightly as she opened the door and beamed at her accusers. ‘Dog?’ she echoed, her eyes stretched wide and her eyelashes batting innocently in the face of Kate’s hostile glower and the porter’s embarrassment. Even the tips of his ears were hot with shame, Isabel saw from her vantage point within the room.
    ‘Yes, dog,’ Kate hissed, as the porter seemed once again incapable of speech.
    ‘There’s no dog in here,’ Amber sang, waving a white-towelled arm backwards into the room. ‘Is