‘Absolutely,’ Lorcan hastened to reassure him. ‘You have my blessing, my son.’
‘Are you sure? I mean, I wouldn’t go ahead if you didn’t think?—’
‘Go for it, mate. Anyone who took Kate away from the tosser she’s with would be doing her – and the family – a huge favour.’
‘Well, if you say so.’
‘He was with someone else, you know, at the wedding.’
‘At the wedding? But Kate was there!’
‘It was after she left, when you were dropping her home.’
‘Christ!’
‘Yeah, the minute her back was turned. So?—’
‘Right, yeah. I see,’ Will said.
Shit!he thought, hanging up.There goes my out-clause!
* * *
In the outer office, Louise was listening to the recording Will had given her earlier.‘Chase Ian for the contracts,’he was saying.
Done,Louise thought. They were already sitting on her desk.
‘And get Clare to contact the people from MTV.’Louise sighed. Sometimes she missed the old days when it had been just her and Will, and she’d never known what she might be called on to do from one day to the next. She had been press officer, tour manager, PA and publicist all rolled into one. On occasion, she’d even been pressed into service as a driver and roadie. Now she delegated. Still, it was a mark of how successful the band had become, and she felt proud to have been part of that.
She missed the immediacy of those days, though, and the closeness with the band. She missed Rory – she didn’t see nearly enough of him now. Still, maybe it was just as well: she couldn’t bear him being with Tessa. She wouldn’t have minded so much if she’d thought Tessa really loved Rory – but she didn’t believe itfor a minute. She was convinced that if Rory hadn’t been in the band Tessa would never have given him the time of day.
Will’s last instruction was followed by a clunk. The phone had obviously been thrown onto the desk, and Louise heard Grace and Rachel coming in. Will hadn’t switched off the recording, and she knew she shouldn’t eavesdrop, but she couldn’t help herself.
As she listened, Louise could hardly believe what she was hearing. Grace O’Neill was reputed to be a formidable woman, but this was unbelievable – asking Will to seduce her own daughter away from her fiancé! She couldn’t wait to hear Will telling her where to get off.
‘You want me to seduce Kate?’Will said, but as she waited expectantly for more, the recording became muffled and then was switched off.
5
The following Friday Kate and Brian caught the bus to Cork city, where Will was to pick them up to drive the rest of the way to the O’Neills’ house in West Cork. Kate sank back in her seat and made a conscious effort to relax. She was exhausted already, and it was only mid-morning. She had been up till the small hours the previous night catering a charity dinner and had made the mistake of partying till dawn with some of the kitchen staff – old friends whom she hadn’t seen since getting back from Africa. She was paying for it now with a hangover of epic proportions. When she had finally got to bed she had hardly slept a wink, tossing and turning in nervous anticipation of the weekend. She kept telling herself she was being ridiculous, but she couldn’t escape the feeling that that this weekend was crucial and she was filled with anxiety about Brian’s performance. She so wanted the family to like him, and vice versa, but she was afraid that they would bring out the worst in each other.
To add to her anxiety, Grace had insisted they would have to drive down with Will: everyone else would be leaving at dawn to avoid the traffic, she had claimed, whereas Will couldn’t get awayuntil the afternoon, and Kate could have a nice lie-in if she went with him. When Kate had protested she wasn’t bothered about a lie-in, Grace had told her there wouldn’t be room in any of the other cars.
‘Conor and Helen’s will be packed with the kids’ paraphernalia,’ she had said, ‘and, of course, they’ll have Josie. You know how much room she takes up.’
Josie was their nanny, a cheerful, strapping girl from the wilds of Galway.
‘And your father and I will be bringing the food and booze,’ Grace had continued.
‘Just how much food and booze are you bringing?’ Kate had asked, envisaging giant kegs taking up the entire back seat.
‘Oh, loads,’ Grace had said airily. ‘And we have to bring a bit of furniture down too – some chairs,’ she improvised vaguely.
‘But what about Tom and Rachel?’ Kate had asked, desperate to avoid having to start the weekend in a state of nervous tension on a four-hour car journey with Will. It was too much of a strain trying to act cool around him, especially in front of Brian.
‘Tom and Rachel are newly-weds,’ her mother had argued with typical irrationality. ‘You don’t want to be a gooseberry, do you?’
Kate hadn’t bothered to say that, with Tom driving, he and Rachel wouldn’t be able to perform the entireKama Sutra.Her mother had decided that she and Brian should drive down with Will, and once Grace got an idea into her head it was futile to argue.
