Page 34 of The Cottage in the Highlands

I let out a guffaw. Well, as much as I could with a constricted face. “Are you joking?! I look grotesque – like my whole face has melted.” I twisted round in my seat, sending my purple plastic cape rippling. “And it feels like it’s sucked all the moisture out of my skin!”

Tilly Crabtree transformed from gushing and giggly to a fire-breathing dragon within a split second. It was unnerving. “Who the hell do you think you are? You’ve only been working for Goddess for five minutes!”

She thrust a couple of cleansing wipes at me. “I shall be speaking to Athena about this. Where’s a proper beauty journalist when you want one?”

I reached for my phone in my bag and took a couple of snaps of my hideous visage. Then with a surge of relief, I attacked my face with the wipes, swiping off every last trace of the hideous foundation.

I angled my face to the right. Where I’d felt the tingling had now erupted into an ugly cluster of pinprick red spots.

A couple of Saskia’s department store colleagues watched me gather up my bag, swig down the remainder of my champagne and then march off. Thank goodness I didn’t have to be seen in public looking like a gargoyle.

No sooner had I got back to my desk than Athena swooped out of her office like an avenging angel. “Leonie. A word. Now!”

I followed her. She was trussed up in a dogtooth-check suit.

She slammed the glass door behind me, making it shake indignantly. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You’ve been here for all of five minutes and yet you’ve managed to offend one of my dearest and closest friends!”

“Athena, she plastered my face in that new foundation of hers and it looked and felt awful.”

I swivelled my face to the side. “I didn’t have this rash this morning.”

Athena narrowed her gaze at the cluster of hot red spots.

Then I held up my mobile and brandished the two photographs of my face at her.

She recoiled. “Good God! What on earth is that?”

“That’s me, wearing the Glorious Sun Glow shade from her new range.”

She swallowed and eyed me. “You can’t have taken those photographs properly.”

Oh, give me strength. Never did I want to be back at The Silver Ness News more than right now.

Athena folded her spindly arms, sending her dozen bangles clattering up and down. “You need to find a positive. How was the texture? Smooth? Silky? Or what about the price? Competitive in this market?”

“It felt like concrete and the price is extortionate for a 50ml bottle. For what those cost, you could feed a family of four for a week.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “I’m not impressed, Leonie. Not at all.”

My stomach rolled but I stood my ground. How could I lie and write up a glowing review of a product like this?

I glanced again at my phone screen and the pictures of me on it. I looked like a bank robber with a pair of American Tan tights pulled over my head.

Athena began ranting about loyalty to her and to Goddess and I felt my conscience stand to attention. Surely, she didn’t expect me to write lies?

I could still feel the irritated patch of skin close to my ear. I angled my face to the right, pushing a hunk of my curls away so she could see it again. “Athena, please take another look at this.”

She peered at the pinprick red spots.

“I didn’t have these when I went to the launch. That foundation caused it.”

Athena’s mouth gave a small wobble. “You must have done. You just didn’t notice it.”

“I can assure you that I didn’t.”

Athena’s jaw ground with fury and she seemed on the precipice of exploding when Orion appeared at the office door. “Athena…”

“Can’t you see Leonie and I are in the middle of something here?”