Chapter 1

Posted on Sunday, 16 September 2001

This is such a bad idea.", Liam Darcy announced as his "friend" dragged her bags into his apartment.

"Jeez, no need for the great welcome." Eilís snapped in response. "You could help me you know? It might be nice."

"The last time I held a door for you, you pushed it into my face because it didn't agree with your feminist sensibilities. I don't know whether you're out of that phase yet and judging by the size of those bags I don't really want to find out.", he said pointedly before retreating to his study.

She chased after him, her curly ringlets, soaking from the New York rain, bouncing wildly as she walked.

"Well where am I supposed to sleep?"

He shrugged, "The couch is pretty comfortable. Just don't destroy it. It's top of the range leather. There's a sleeping bag in the linen press."

"What? You paid 3.5 million for a penthouse apartment and it doesn't even have a guest room?"

"You're not a guest.", he replied flatly. "If you know how much this place cost you must be reading the society columns again. Scour them all for a mention of me Eilís? Knew ya loved me."

"Bite me Darcy."

"I tried that remember? You threatened me with a restraining order."

She smiled in fake sympathy, "I would have thought you'd forgot that by now. It must have been important to you. Of course, I was the only one the illustrious Liam Darcy couldn't have. That must have stung huh?"

He grinned, "Not at all. I would be in prison right now, doing life for murder."

She rolled her eyes before returning to their original subject, "You don't even have a pull-out bed?"

"Nope."

"You wanna buy me one?", she batted her eyes prettily.

"Nope."

"What? Your 100 million dollars a year plus bonuses and stock options not up to it?"

"Don't exaggerate Eilís. If you've got a problem with the accommodation just leave."

"That's nice Liam. Put me out on the streets, you know I have nowhere else to go. Though for all this, the cardboard box in a doorway option is looking brighter."

"It's not my fault you were screwed over. I warned you about Jeremy Wicks but you didn't want to listen."

"Hmm that might have had something to do with the fact you practically tried to assault me in the pantry of your mother's house a week before."

"I didn't try and assault you. You were a willing participant."

"I was drunk!"

"So was I!" He added the "On you" at the end silently.

From the moment he had got the phone call from a hysterical Eilís Bradley currently holed up on a New York hospital he knew this was a bad idea. They had known each other since Harvard. She was studying law, he business, in preparation to enter into his father's company. They had made quite the item so to speak. They were never together as such, though most of the student and teacher faculty might have sworn quite the opposite, but they never left each other's side, turning heads as they strolled down corridors side by side. He was the charming, handsome Derby heir, she the tall, brazen redhead that modelled for Gap and Calvin Klein in her spare time. They were interesting to put it mildly. Best friends though they never had a kind word for each other or anyone else for that matter. You couldn't expect anything kinder than a spiteful insult from either if them. If you got away with been ignored you were blessed. Both the stereotypical rebellious rich-kid, they frowned on anyone with less breeding or less intelligence than they had. Both Southern old-money (though Liam's family had increased their wealth massively in the past fifty years of so), they had blueblood and together they made sure everyone knew it. Things had gone downhill rapidly after graduation.

Eilís Bradley made good use of her superior attitude and her database of insults she had stored up over the years in the courtroom. She rose quickly, practising Business Law, representing individuals against multi-million corporations. There was more money in that because she always won. Within three years of setting up she had wheeled $20 million from McDonalds in one single compensatory payment and made executive of Starbucks cry in the dock.

Inevitably with such a reputation a cause against the Derby Group would eventually land on her desk. She accepted it without hesitation, in the business world people who took friendships seriously usually had knives in their back. She won too and publicly. Eilís Bradley had never settled a case in her life. Derby's vice-chairman was not impressed. All semblance of a relationship between them was promptly dumped in the gutter and Eilís couldn't have cared less. She was on top of the world. Liam Darcy was slightly more sentimental of days gone by, but not much.

Meeting again a year or so later reigned old sparks. Instead of friendship, Liam felt the sparks of attraction appear in it's place. They flirted with each other for months, getting only so close and then pulling away entirely. They kept of the charade of not being able to stand each other, it was easier that way. Things eventually came to a head on his twenty-seventh birthday. His parents had held a gathering in his honour, more of a cocktails and supper evening than a party so to speak. Both of them had got a little bit too inebriated, ending up with a passionate make-out session in Mrs. Darcy's pantry. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately depending on whether you agreed with Eilís or Liam's point of you, just when things were about heavy someone entered the kitchen and they were forced to pull away from each other in an effort not to be discovered. By the time they had left Eilís was snoring and drooling sloppily on his shoulder.

And now she was staying in his apartment. Indefinitely. Ba-ad Idea. He was going to kill her. She was barely been there ten minutes and he knew he was going to slaughter her and feed her to his cat. Okay so he didn't have a cat, he amended, but they were available.

She narrowed her eyes slightly, "What Darcy? Cat got your tongue?"

He jerked his head, "How did you?.. I didn't say ....."

"You didn't say what? Christ what would Daddy say if he realised all the money he had spent on your education had left you with a speech ability of a three year old?"

"Probably some along the lines of what he'll say when he opens the papers tomorrow and sees where all your education went."

She took a sharp intake of breath and he realised that he had just crossed the line between friendly bickering and downright spitefulness.

"That was low Fitzwilliam." Uh-oh full name. That was never a good sign.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean... Eilís...."

"Shut-up." She held up a hand and he knew it was fruitless to argue with her. It would only make things worse, there was no point in digging himself in further. "For that Liam, you just lost your bed. I'm going into your room now where I'm going to unpack my stuff and call my sister. Then I'm going to soak in the bath for about an hour before going to bed, where I will undoubtedly sleep like a baby. You can find out exactly how comfortable your beloved leather couch is."

And with that she turned and walked from the study, directly into his bedroom.