Frisky Business (35 page)

Danny shrugged, a hurt look clouding his face. ‘He said there wasn’t anyone else, but I’m pretty sure there was.’

‘Just a general feeling, or do you suspect someone in particular?’

‘Someone in particular. What really kills me is they’d never have met if it hadn’t been for me. I’d dragged Paul to this gig—’

‘What was the gig?’ Kit interrupted. He knew that wasn’t the right question, but he couldn’t help being interested.

‘The Rocket Monkeys.’

‘Oh my God! I can’t believe you even know who they are! You must be one of a handful of people in the world who know them.’

‘Well, it’s thanks to you that I do,’ Danny admitted, blushing. ‘I used to listen to those mixed tapes you were always making for Romy.’

‘Well, I’m glad
someone
appreciated them. So anyway, you were at this gig …’

‘Yeah
. Paul wasn’t into them at all and only came under protest.’

‘Philistine!’

‘I know. Anyway, we met this guy there – James. I knew him slightly. He was a friend of a friend of a friend. But Paul had never met him before. I just knew there was something as soon as they met. Paul started acting weird, making out like he was a major Rocket Monkeys fan, like he was trying to impress this guy. And he kept disappearing to the loo and coming back looking all flustered and smelling of booze. Anyway after that night he started acting shifty – working late, cancelling plans at the last minute … the usual.’

‘Well, you’re better off without him,’ Kit said airily. ‘Anyone who doesn’t like The Rocket Monkeys … so what did you think of their latest album?’

‘Best thing they’ve ever done.’

‘Is the right answer!’ Kit slapped the table enthusiastically. ‘Wasn’t it fantastic?’

‘Yep. Though nothing can beat their gigs. I suppose you’ve seen them live lots of times?’

‘A few, yeah. I caught them in New York last year on the American leg of this tour. So who else do you like?’

‘Well, I don’t know if you remember a band called Dirt Bikes for the Elderly?’

‘That’s funny, Romy and I were just talking about them the other day.’

‘Really? Well, they’ve re-formed and they’re coming here in January. I have a spare ticket, if you’re interested. I was going to bring Paul, but—’

‘I’d love to see them!’

‘Do you want another drink?’ Danny asked, jumping up abruptly.

‘Oh, I think it’s my turn, isn’t it?’

‘Well
, it’s just if you want one, we’d better get it now. It’s last orders.’

‘Is it?’ Kit looked around the pub, which was almost empty, and glanced at his watch. It was almost eleven thirty. ‘How on earth did that happen?’

Later, after he had waved Danny off in a taxi and was winding his way homewards somewhat unsteadily, Kit felt a warm glow that wasn’t entirely alcohol induced. He was so glad he’d had the initiative to escape from Tank’s stag weekend. Otherwise, he would have missed the best night he’d had since moving back to Dublin and he wouldn’t have missed tonight for the world, let alone for another night on a godforsaken mountainside with Wedgie offering to start a campfire by lighting his farts.

The next day Ethan dropped by Romy’s flat to return Kit’s rucksack.

‘He’s not in downstairs,’ he said to Romy, ‘so I thought he might be here.’

Ethan had two days’ worth of stubble on his face and big bags under his eyes. He looked weary and utterly delicious.

‘No, but you can leave it with me. I’ll give it to him. The rucksack’s mine anyway, and I doubt he’ll ever have use for this stuff again.’ She took the bag from him and dropped it inside the door. ‘I can’t believe he took off like that without telling anyone. You must have been going crazy.’

‘Nah, I wasn’t really worried,’ Ethan said, leaning against the door jamb. ‘I knew he’d be okay. Kit always lands on his feet.’

Kit was lucky his brother was so laid back, Romy thought. If he’d pulled a stunt like that on her, she’d have been frantic.

‘Do
you want to come in?’

He hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. ‘Better not. I still have to drop one of the other guys off. And Mom will be worrying. She wasn’t happy about this adventure weekend at all. She won’t relax until we’re all home.’

‘God, yeah, I can imagine! I know how I’d feel if it was Luke out there fending for himself on some mountain.’ She shuddered. It didn’t bear thinking about!

‘Well, you don’t have to worry about that for a few years yet,’ Ethan said, smiling.

‘No, thank goodness. So was it fun?’

He shrugged. ‘Well, Kit ran off, another guy went into anaphylactic shock after eating a berry, Wedgie ended up in hospital and another guy is suffering from hypothermia. But apart from that – yeah, it was great!’ he said, widening his eyes enthusiastically.

Romy laughed. ‘What happened to Wedgie? Did he break something? Was it Tank?’

‘No, nothing like that. He had to go to the burns unit after he tried to start a campfire in an, er, unusual way.’

‘Oh! Well, I hope he’s okay for the wedding.’

‘I’m sure he’ll be fine. Though he might not be able to sit down. Don’t ask.’

‘I don’t think I want to know.’

‘Well, I’ll see you next Saturday, if not before.’ ‘Okay, see you Saturday.’

‘I
hope you don’t mind sharing a room,’ Kit said for the umpteenth time as they drove down the long tree-lined avenue to the hotel where Hannah’s wedding was being held.

‘No, not at all,’ Romy said with a reassuring smile.

If only he knew! She had no problem with that whatsoever. In fact, it was crucial for her to put her and Lesley’s plan into action. The pinwheel was nestling in her suitcase along with the spreader bar, but she was increasingly confident that Kit wouldn’t have a clue what they were. Once that test was out of the way, she would move on to phase two of the honey-trap – the vanilla seduction. She had packed her best underwear specially. And who knew where that would lead?
No, I have
absolutely
no problem with sharing a room.
She looked across at Kit, resisting the urge to do an evil laugh.

‘It’s a gorgeous setting for a wedding,’ she said as she stepped out onto the gravel in front of the hotel and surveyed her surroundings. There were acres of sweeping grounds, dotted with mature trees and benches. The lawn sloped gently downwards from the hotel to a small stream, a little wooden bridge across the water leading to the tiny chapel where Hannah and Tank would be married later that day. The wedding wasn’t for another four hours, but they had driven down early to give themselves plenty of time to check in and get changed.

There was a queue at reception, mostly of guests for the wedding, and there were so many burly rugby types that Romy felt like she was in the middle of a scrum. Kit introduced her to the man behind them while they waited, a stocky ruddy-faced man called Peter.

‘It’s a terrible pity you ran off like that,’ Peter said to Kit in an almost impenetrable Limerick accent, his bellowing voice echoing around the entrance hall. ‘You missed the best stag do ever. ’Twas mental altogether! You should have stuck around – things really kicked off after you left.’

‘I’d already had enough excitement to last me a lifetime.’

‘But you missed all the fun. Poor Jack nearly died of anorexic shock from a poison berry, and Ethan had to give him an adrenaline shot. He could have literally died!’ From his thrilled tone, this was clearly the highlight of the weekend for him. ‘Thank God we had Ethan with us. He’s a handy fella, isn’t he? I believe he’s been away in the jungle.’

‘Yeah,’ Kit said. ‘He’s basically Tarzan with a stethoscope.’

‘And then Wedgie set his arse on fire. It was brilliant!’ Peter’s face got even redder as he laughed at the memory of Wedgie’s pyrotechnic display. ‘Fair play to Wedgie for organising it all.’

‘I
don’t know why he doesn’t go into party planning full time,’ Kit mumbled to Romy, who suppressed a giggle. ‘At least you made it out alive,’ he said to Peter.

‘Aye, we all did, thank God. Though we had a good few casualties, in fairness.’

‘Is Wedgie okay now?’ Romy asked him. ‘Was he able to come today?’

‘Oh yes. He’s not the Mae West, but he’s here all right.’ He craned his neck, looking out to the gardens. ‘That’s him there,’ he said, pointing to a man walking slowly across the grass with a pained expression and a gait like an arthritic John Wayne.

‘Ha, so it is!’ Kit said, chuckling.

‘Hey, that’s not nice,’ Romy said to him under her breath. ‘You shouldn’t laugh at his misfortune.’

‘It’s not misfortune, it’s his own bloody stupid fault. Maybe that’ll teach him a lesson.’

‘Poor Wedgie,’ Peter said. ‘I think he feels bad about Mick. He’s still above in the hospital, the craythur.’

‘What happened to
him?
’ Romy asked.

‘Unfortunately, Wedgie burned down his shelter with one of his farts. Sorry, now,’ he said, raising an apologetic hand to Romy, ‘but that’s the way ’twas. And sure, it was fierce cold out there at night and he’d a lot of drink taken. Anyway, in the heel of the hunt he suffered from exposure and they had to take him to hospital to warm him up.’

‘Oh, poor him!’ Romy said. Mick must be the hypothermia victim Ethan had mentioned. ‘Will he be all right?’

‘Arra, he’ll be grand. ’Tis an awful pity he had to miss today, but, sure, what can you do?’ he said, shaking his head philosophically.

‘Not much in the face of Wedgie,’ Kit murmured to Romy.

‘’Twasn’t entirely Wedgie’s fault. Ethan had warned us that
it wouldn’t be a good idea to drink too much, but he went ahead and got locked anyway. Oh, it’s your turn,’ he said, pointing to the reception desk which was now free. ‘I’ll see ye later,’ he said as they stepped forward to take their turn to check in.

‘Wow, good call escaping from that stag,’ Romy said as they took their seats in front of the desk.

When they had checked in, Kit carried their bags up to the room, dropping them just inside the door. ‘I’m just going to check out where everyone else is.’ He pulled his mobile from his pocket. ‘I’ll be back in a sec,’ he said, dialling as he went out the door.

Romy did a little internal happy dance as she surveyed the room. She wandered around, exploring the bathroom and checking out the TV, room service menu and mini-bar, then threw herself on the big double bed, spreading her limbs out in a starfish shape and grinning to herself. She loved hotel rooms, and this one was lovely. And much as she missed Luke, she was going to make the most of having some time to herself – and some time alone with Kit. Maybe she would even get to have sex tonight in this bed. After all, as Lesley had pointed out, it would be mean to get him all worked up and then not follow through. She hugged herself, her stomach tingling with a mixture of nervousness and excitement at the thought. It had been way too long.

She got up and moved to the deep window seat overlooking the lawn. People who she assumed were wedding guests, judging by their attire, were already starting to mill around outside. A winter wedding was always difficult to dress for, but most of them seemed to have pulled it off admirably, achieving
the difficult combination of warmth and glamour. There were just a handful of girls who had refused to make any concession to the weather and sported pale, goose-pimpled limbs, visibly shivering in their thin dresses as they huddled into inadequate wraps and tried to look comfortable.