As soon as she got back from Aidan and Sorcha’s, she opened up her laptop and, leaning back in the comfortable sofa, she typed Conor’s name into the search engine, expecting to find a succinct Wikipedia biography which would give her a some background on what he’d done to make him such a local celebrity.
Oh my God to the power five thousand and ten. Dozens and dozens of photos of Conor immediately appeared and her jaw dropped. Conor was very much the man about town. Man about the world.
She winced as she scrolled through the images, glad she’d not done it before. Big cheese didn’t begin to describe it. He was pictured on red carpets in Manhattan, London, Cannes, Sydney, and Paris, in smart Michelin-starred restaurants all over the globe, at gallery openings, fundraisers, charity golf days, and always with a different red-carpet-ready woman on his arm.
Now she wished she hadn’t succumbed to her curiosity. Talk about feeling foolish. Conor, it appeared, belonged in the A-list category of celebrities. The real deal. Actresses, models, newscasters decorated his arm at numerous events, all suitably gorgeous, making her ask why he had gone out with her that night in Dublin? His standards were usually much higher. Hannah didn’t lack self-confidence but on a practical level she knew who she was and there was no way she compared, or even wanted to, with these glamazons. They reminded her a lot of Sadie Burns-Coutts. He might have slept with her once and kissed her since, but Conor Byrne was used to the Sadies of this world, brimming with style and sophistication. It felt like he’d been slumming it with her.
What would Mina say if she told her what had happened? She’d be shocked Hannah had done anything so wild, let alone with someone like Conor. Her sister constantly teased her about always playing safe. It would appear there were good reasons for doing so and if she had, she wouldn’t have ended up being quite so mortified. Thankfully it should be easy enough to stay out of his way.
Almost as if she’d challenged providence, an unexpected knock at the door made her slam the laptop shut like a guilty schoolgirl caught out stalking a crush. When she opened the door, her heart sank. It was almost as if she’d conjured him up but at least his mother was with him, her face not quite obscured by an enormous arrangement of flowers, while he glowered behind her with a dark scowl on his face.
‘Adrienne. Conor.’
‘Hello, lovely. These are for you.’ Adrienne thrust the flowers into Hannah’s hands and somehow managed to sweep Hannah along into the kitchen as if she were the hostess, which, to be fair, she was. As much as Hannah loved this cottage, it wasn’t hers. Conor walked in behind her and didn’t even so much as look at her as he put a bottle of wine on the table.
‘Conor, do the honours, darling.’ She turned to Hannah, her eyes scanning the room with bright satisfaction. ‘I think this is my favourite cottage. My son did an excellent job on this one.’
Hannah dredged up a smile. The last thing she felt like was loading Conor’s ego with any more praise.
‘I’m so sorry to barge in on you but Conor told me about the trouble you’ve had and… please let me tell you how horrified I am. Not to mention mortified. Are you all right?’
Hannah nodded. ‘Yes I’m—’
‘I’ve spoken to everyone who works on the farm.’ Adrienne paced up and down the kitchen, rubbing at the worry lines on her forehead. ‘I don’t understand it. No one has been anywhere near here. They’ve no reason and Porker the pig was found in the herb garden, so he’s not the culprit. Not for the squished flowers at any rate. I’ve been racking my brains as to who you might have seen.’ Her mouth crumpled and Hannah thought she might cry.
‘It’s OK,’ said Hannah, wanting to soothe her. ‘It’s not your fault.’
‘But it is,’ Adrienne wailed.
Hannah glanced over at a tight-lipped Conor, who was busy with a corkscrew, completely focused on his task. She guessed he’d heard a lot of this already.
‘I take full responsibility for the health and wellbeing of all my guests and after the incident with Moss Murphy’s nephew and his shotgun and now this… It would be terrible for the reputation of the cookery school if anything happened.’ Her eyes glistened with tears as she fidgeted from foot to foot with agitation, and Hannah found herself wanting to give Adrienne a hug, it was discomforting to see her in distress.
Conor had opened the wine and poured three glasses, handing one to Adrienne and one to Hannah. ‘Here you go, Mam, and don’t be fretting yourself.’ He turned to Hannah. ‘I’ve been telling her that it’s probably nothing. You probably overreacted.’ He narrowed his eyes as if willing her to agree with him.
‘Darling, that’s not the point. Someone was out there. We’ve discussed this.’ She gave him a steely look, before chinking her glass against Hannah’s. ‘Do you mind if we take a seat?’ She gestured towards the pine kitchen table.
Once they were seated, Adrienne took a breath and tasted the wine. ‘Ah. Sorry, I need to calm down.’ She took a couple more deep breaths. ‘This wine. This makes me happy. It’s a great one but even better for knowing that it comes from an ex-student of mine. He and his wife bought the vineyard in France. They come back every year to do food and wine pairings for us. It’s things like that which make me remember everything we’ve achieved here.’ She glanced at Conor with an encouraging smile before turning back to Hannah. ‘I’ve been worrying about you all day, ever since Conor phoned me this morning but,’ she emphasised the final consonant with a note of triumph, ‘I’ve come up with the ideal solution. At first I thought about asking Izzy or Meredith to move in with you but I don’t want them in danger either. I ummed and ahhed about it and then I came up with the perfect solution.’
Hannah’s eyes widened as behind Adrienne, still on his feet, Conor raised his eyes Heavenward and then knocked his glass back and drained it in one go.
She stared at him. That was drastic.
‘Conor is going to move in.’
No wonder he drained his glass. His eyes met hers.
‘C-Conor.’ Hannah’s mind went blank, she put her wine down with a clumsy thud. ‘H-here?’
‘Yes.’ Adrienne beamed as if she’d just solved the all the mysteries of the universe in one go. ‘It’s the perfect solution, isn’t it?’
‘B-but… but… er…’ Hannah took a quick slug of wine herself, trying to fortify herself but all words seemed to have deserted her. Conor living here. In this house. With her. Oh Lord, how would she cope? It was a terrible idea. At least, judging by the expression on his face, he agreed.
‘Don’t worry, lovely. Honest to God, it makes no difference to Conor. He’s away at work all day. He only needs to be here to keep an eye on things in the evenings. I can see you’re worried but I promise you he’s quite well house trained. He might even cook for you, if you’re lucky.’ Although she flashed a quick grin, it didn’t hide her incipient worry.
‘I am here, just in case you’d forgotten,’ he said frostily.
‘You are indeed, and isn’t it lucky for us all.’ Adrienne was crisp now, back in charge. ‘She’ll probably be glad of the company. You’re not a complete neanderthal.’ She turned back to Hannah. ‘And you were expecting to share with someone.’
