‘Good, thanks, Maria. Manic but good. I think everything is pretty much in place now for tomorrow.’

‘Hi, Mammy, nice to see you too,’ Lorcan said, walking up to her and giving her a kiss on the cheek, which she accepted, laughing, before turning back to me. ‘Now take a seat. Aoife and her boyfriend are coming by for dinner too. It will be ready in a minute if you want to go and get ready.’

‘Thanks, I’ll just change quickly. My feet are killing me!’

‘Why didn’t you take them off earlier?’ Lorcan said, watching as I gently massaged my toes.

‘Because I was working. What am I supposed to do? Run around a castle’s stone floors in December in bare feet?’ Maria and I shared a ‘men’ look.

‘Oh, ha ha, and I saw that, by the way. No ganging up. I meant take other shoes. Obviously.’

‘It’s not really my look, though, is it?’

‘Whereas bunions are?’

‘I’d make yourself scarce while you still can, my lad,’ Maria said over her shoulder as she opened the oven, fogging the glasses she’d popped on to read the timer.

‘Which boyfriend is this, anyway?’ Lorcan said, once I’d returned to the room wearing a sweatshirt and jogging bottoms. I sat at the table next to him where he was pouring me a large glass of wine.

‘That’s enough, thanks. I need a super-clear head tomorrow.’

‘Mark, the plumber lad.’

Lorcan did a little movement of his head, tipping his chin.

‘Now, don’t look like that,’ his mum said, pointing at him with her wooden spoon. ‘He seems very nice and Aoife likes him. You behave now.’

‘I always behave.’

‘You scared the daylights out of one and she never saw him again.’

‘He was a little shit—’

‘Lorcan.’

‘Sorry, Mammy,’ he said and I grinned.

‘He spoke to her like she was stupid. She might be a bit flighty but she’s not stupid. I just asked him to treat her with respect.’

Now I knew where the habit had come from. Being the eldest, and having three younger sisters, Lorcan had taken it upon himself to make sure they were all treated as they should be. His conversation with Vance had been along a similar line. Perhaps it was right that Lorcan should own a castle; he certainly had a chivalrous streak and, although I could look after myself, I wasn’t objecting. Good manners and being made to feel special were never something to complain about, in my eyes.

Maria turned to me. ‘The poor lad didn’t say another word the rest of the meal. Every time he went to open his mouth, this one was watching him. It was like watching a guppy in a fish tank.’

‘I can’t imagine he’d have had anything intelligent to say. God knows what she saw in him anyway.’