‘You can ask Ken!’ Freddie said, reading her expression.
‘Oh my God,’ Kate gasped, ‘you didn’t dothat, did you?’ She indicated Will’s bruised face.
‘No, of course not. That’s Lorcan’s handiwork.’
‘Lorcan? What on earth got into him?’
‘He was doing the protective brother bit, defending your honour – “Unhand my sister, you blackguard.” VeryAnna Karenina.’He sighed admiringly.
‘Oh God!’ Kate groaned. She found the thought of Lorcan and Will falling out deeply upsetting – especially if it was over her.
‘Oh, don’t worry, I gather they’ve made it up now,’ Freddie assured her.
‘Oh really?’ Kate said, needled. ‘What about my honour?’ She knew she was being irrational, but she couldn’t help it. ‘Will seems to have got around everyone,’ she said peevishly.
‘Even Didi and Gogo are devoted to him,’ Freddie said fondly, ‘and you know how standoffish they can be.’
‘But what’s he doing here – apart from schmoozing the cats?’ she asked petulantly.
‘What do you think?’
Kate hardly dared to believe what he was implying. ‘Really?’
‘Why do you think I let him stay? You know I love you, Kate, but you can be awfully dense sometimes.’
They jumped as Will stirred, his eyelids fluttering.
‘Oh, he’s waking up!’ Freddie hissed and hurriedly pushed Kate into the room while he ducked out, shutting the door after him as if to stop her escaping.
Will’s eyes fluttered open. ‘Hello,’ he said groggily, sitting up in bed and rubbing his eyes.
‘Hello,’ Kate said, feeling incredibly shy.
‘What time is it?’
‘Almost one.’
‘Christ! I can’t believe I slept so long.’ His voice was thick. As he sat up higher in the bed, Didi and Gogo meowed in protest at being disturbed and jumped off to stalk away moodily.
Will pushed a hand through his hair and blinked rapidly, then smiled up at her. Kate couldn’t help thinking how good he looked in her bed, stripped and ready for action – her favourite fantasy come to life. ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked.
‘Oh, Freddie said it would be okay – since you weren’t coming back last night.’
‘I meant here in Ireland.’
‘I came to get you.’
‘You did?’ Kate perched on the end of the bed. ‘But I thought you’d gone straight back to Tuscany.’
‘I had. But I thought you were still at the villa until I got back there and discovered you’d left.’
‘I’m sorry I ran off like that.’ She plucked nervously at the duvet, her eyes downcast.
‘Christ, I’m sorry about the whole thing, Kate. It should never have happened. If I’d known?—’
Kate leapt off the bed as if she’d been scalded and scuttled over to the window. She couldn’t bear it – he was going to give her the what-happened-between-us-was-a-mistake speech. ‘Don’t worry about it,’ she said, affecting all the nonchalance she could muster. ‘No permanent damage done.’
Will squinted at her. ‘But that night, it wasn’t?—’
