37. Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Cillian spread his hands over the newspaper laid on the coffee table and groaned loudly.
‘I’m sorry, Cillian, you only have yourself to blame for this.
’ Kitty paced the living room, furious. ‘What were you thinking, kissing May Tyler? It was only a few days ago you were introducing me to your fiancée, for goodness’ sake!
I never thought you’d be the kind of man who treated women like this. ’
Cillian couldn’t bear to look Kitty in the eye, but in his peripheral vision he could see her face was a shade of red that matched her hair, her curls flying wildly. ‘Are they still out there?’ he asked.
Kitty peeled back a corner of the curtain, blinking and stumbling back as a flash went off.
‘Yes.’ She folded her arms and stared hard at Cillian, who was forced to meet her angry eyes.
‘There are hundreds of photographers currently destroying Solly’s front garden.
And that doesn’t count all the scantily clad teenage girls blocking the road.
’ She threw out her hands. ‘Thanks to you, I’m a prisoner in my own home. ’
‘I really am so sorry, Kitty.’ Cillian leaned back on the sofa, putting his head in his hands.
Kitty’s hands went to her hips. ‘You still haven’t answered my first question. What were you thinking of, kissing May?’
‘That question requires quite a complicated answer.’ He offered a tentative smile. ‘Shall I put the kettle on?’
Kitty whooshed out a very long breath, and with it, Cillian hoped, much of her anger. ‘Might as well,’ she said. ‘It’s not as if we can go anywhere.’
When Cillian came back a few minutes later with two mugs of tea, Kitty was seated in an armchair with a folder balanced on the arm and a laptop on her lap. ‘Thanks,’ she said, accepting the mug and closing her computer.
‘If you need to work, we can talk later.’ Could he put off the talking, for a while anyway?
‘Don’t think you’re getting out of this that easily.’ Kitty smiled for the first time that morning.
Cillian sank onto the sofa and took a sip of his tea. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘I should probably start with the bombshell that last night wasn’t the first time May and I have kissed.’
‘You’ve been having an affair all this time?’ Kitty’s outrage was back.
‘No! Nothing like that. We slept together. Once. Before I came to Saffron Bay.’
‘But … but …’ spluttered Kitty. ‘When I introduced you to May, you acted as if she were a complete stranger.’
‘Another piece of evidence I’m a total arsehole,’ said Cillian, dropping his gaze to the floor.
‘I was embarrassed.’ He dared to look up.
‘You have to understand, Kitty, it’s not unusual to have girls throwing themselves at me, and if I give them too much encouragement things can turn ugly quickly. ’
‘Oh, poor you,’ said Kitty, her tone indicating she felt zero sympathy for her brother. ‘And to think I believed May when she said she didn’t know who you were.’
‘That part was true,’ said Cillian. ‘She had no idea I was famous.’
‘Yeah, right.’
‘I believe her,’ he said. ‘May’s unlike any other girl I’ve ever met.’
‘So how did you end up sleeping together then?’
‘I was hiding out in a pub trying to avoid Brian, and she came in at the end of a night out.’
‘Right. You were with Kia at the time?’
Cillian screwed up his face. ‘This is where things get really complicated. I’ve never been with Kia, not properly.’
‘What?’ Kitty looked utterly confused. ‘You’re engaged to a woman you haven’t slept with?’
‘Not just not slept with. We haven’t even kissed. In fact, I don’t think we actually like each other much. We’ve never had a proper conversation, at least not without someone else there too.’
Kitty leaned forward in her chair, her fingers clenched around her mug. ‘Please tell me there’s a very good reason why you’re marrying a woman you don’t even like.’
Cillian grimaced. ‘Brian thought it would be good for our careers. And in some ways, he’s right. It raises my profile significantly to be linked to a woman like Kia.’
‘It’s marriage, Cillian. Marriage is for life.’ Kitty’s disbelief bled through her words. ‘Think of all the conversations we used to have about finding true love. This situation is about as far from what the old Cillian would have wanted as it’s possible to get.’
‘Maybe I’ve changed.’ Cillian jumped to the defensive.
‘Maybe.’ Kitty arched an eyebrow. ‘I’m guessing not that much.’
‘The unofficial agreement is we’ll be a couple on paper, while free to live our own lives. Our schedules mean we’re unlikely to be in the same country for more than a few weeks a year anyway, so it shouldn’t be that hard.’
Kitty huffed. ‘What about love? Companionship?’
‘I guess these days there are things I value more.’ Cillian was working hard to believe his own words.
‘Such as?’
‘Such as my career.’ As he’d agreed with Brian and Kia only yesterday in the stuffy hotel room.
‘Money, fame, luxury? Am I on the right track?’ Kitty set her tea on the coffee table with a loud thump. She leaned back, folding her arms. ‘I have no clue who you are anymore, Cillian.’
‘You know music has always been my dream.’ He was on safe ground here.
‘Music, yes. Not those other things.’
‘Those things come as a package.’ He understood this. There were sacrifices to be made. ‘The only way I can have a career in this industry is if I play the game.’ As Brian told him constantly.
‘Really?’ Kitty shook her head. ‘There are plenty of examples of musicians who don’t live their lives in the spotlight.’ She squinted at him. ‘Do you even like the music you’re making? I must admit I was surprised when I heard the direction you’ve been going in.’
Cillian got to his feet. ‘Well, it’s obvious you don’t like it. Thanks very much,’ he sniped. His head turned at the sound of banging on the back door, and he went through to the kitchen to find a dishevelled Brian trying to break in through the bifold.
‘Let me in,’ yelled Brian. ‘I’ve had to climb over three garden fences, crawl through a bloody bush, and placate an angry dog to get to you.’
Cillian unlocked the door, and Brian fell into the room.
He pulled twigs and leaves from his carefully coiffed hair and glared at Cillian.
‘Right, son. You’d better tell me what the hell you think you’ve been doing, because from where I’m standing, I’m about to lose an awful lot of money and you’re about to lose your career. ’