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Niall scraped a hand over his face. To think Cordelia had unknowingly brought Deirdre back into his orbit.

Deirdre cleared her throat delicately. “Is she your girlfriend?”

“I’m not talking to you about her,” Niall said.

She swallowed hard. “That’s perfectly fair. Of course. Right. Look, here’s all the information, your salary and the shares you’d own, the contract, some sketches of the place, a potential wine list …” She reached into her bag and took out a huge folder. “Think it over. But Ritchie needs to know soon, if we’re to greenlight this.”

“How soon?” Niall asked.

“Within the next two days. If you agree, we’ll need you in London immediately.”

“Fucking Christ,” Niall said, snatching the folder. “No pressure, eh? No rush. You couldn’t have fucking called?”

“Would you have answered?”

“No,” he admitted.

“You deserve this, Niall,” Deirdre said. “I’ll never forgive myself for what I did to you. I’m only trying to make amends—trying to make things right. Or at least do what I can.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I really am sorry.”

“I don’t want your apologies, Deirdre.”

She ducked her head. “Fair enough. I’ll leave now. You can reach me at Kilmurvey House. I tried to keep well clear of Kilronan—if Róisín finds out I’m here she’ll probably throw me off a cliff.” She chuckled weakly, but Niall’s mouth was set in a hard line.

“You aren’t being fair,” he said. “You do realize that, don’t you? Coming back with no warning, offering me …” He waved the folder. “All this. I’ve got a life, you know. One that you are now once again blowing up. You offered me my dream before, remember? And look how that turned out.”

She gave him a brittle smile. “Well, there’s no danger of me sleeping with Ritchie—he’s extremely gay.”

“I don’t fucking care who you sleep with. That’s not what I mean.”

She blinked. “Right.”

Niall rubbed his temple with the heel of his hand. “I need time to think about this.”

“Of course.” She turned and opened the door, and Niall’s heart rammed itself into his throat as he saw Cordelia standing on his doorstep.

Deirdre was the kind of woman who looked like she’d stepped right out of an advertisement in Vogue.

Maybe if the situation had been different, Cordelia might have felt embarrassed by her faded jeans and tank top with the words It’s Guac O’Clock printed across the chest. But this was the woman who had broken Niall’s heart. Cordelia pulled herself together and called on her inner New Yorker.

“Hi,” she said tartly, staring Deirdre directly in her dark brown eyes. “I’m Cordelia. Niall’s girlfriend.”

Deirdre’s perfectly threaded eyebrows flew up her forehead. “Oh, hi!” she gushed in a voice too bright. “I’m Deirdre. It’s nice to meet you.”

Is it, though? Cordelia thought as Niall said, “Deirdre was just leaving.”

“Right,” Deirdre said, looking back and forth between Cordelia and Niall like she could somehow size up the depth of their connection. Then she walked past Cordelia, leaving the scent of jasmine in her wake.

“Sorry,” Niall said, stepping back so Cordelia could stumble her way inside. “I didn’t know she was … she came to talk to me about …”

“I know,” Cordelia said. “I heard.”

Niall blinked. “You did?”

He had a thick folder in his hands, full of all the things Deirdre had mentioned. Cordelia thought about the words contract and salary and shares. She didn’t know much about the restaurant industry, but she could tell by Niall’s reaction that this was a huge deal.

“So she wants you to open another restaurant?” Cordelia asked.

“Yeah,” Niall said. “It would be the Fallen Star but in London.”