‘Lorcan! Darling! There you are. And this must be the gorgeous Madeleine everyone is talking about.’

‘They are?’ I glanced up worriedly at Lorcan but he merely shrugged and gave one of those enigmatic half-smiles he was so good at, which at this point was entirely unhelpful. ‘I mean… umm, yes.’ Calum was barrelling towards us in black trousers and a beautifully embroidered, fuchsia-pink waistcoat over a white shirt. ‘Hello. Pleased to meet you. Madeleine Hart,’ I said, holding out my hand to shake his. My actual feet might be on the ground, but my mental ones were sliding all over place as I tried to get a grip and regain my composure following Calum’s disclosure I was the talk of the village.

‘Calum O’Shea. So good to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.’

‘You have?’

‘Oh, yes. Peyton and Patrick were raving about you the last time we spoke and, of course, Lorcan here.’

‘I see. Well, feel free to believe my clients but please take whatever Lorcan says with a pinch of salt. We don’t always see eye to eye.’

‘Is that so?’ Calum raised an eyebrow so groomed I had serious brow envy, and cast a glance at Lorcan and me. ‘And what’s happened here?’ he said, looking down at my leg.

‘I tripped yesterday and I’m supposed to take care of it for a couple of days but I’m too busy, so this is the compromise.’

‘Oh, no! Here, let me get you a chair. Lorcan, why didn’t you say? Honestly.’

‘No, really. This is good. I’m happy to get on with things.’

‘Are you sure?’ Calum asked, laying his hand on my free arm.

‘Perfectly. But thank you.’

‘No problem. Any time you need to stop or sit down, you just say so, love.’

‘I will. I promise.’

‘Right. So, what’s Lorcan told you already about the place?’

‘Umm.’ I glanced up at him. ‘Nothing.’

‘Oh.’ Calum threw him a questioning look. ‘Right, so this is obviously the main entrance hall. We have photographs of previous weddings that I can show you to illustrate how we’ve set them up, but we can pretty much do whatever you like. Especially as it’s for Patrick’s wedding. Lorcan’s already told us we have to bend over backwards for this one. Not that we wouldn’t have anyway, but you know.’

I felt Lorcan’s body tense beside me. ‘As Calum said, Paddy’s from the village so we’re all just doing what we can to make the day what they want, especially as the original plans fell through.’