The House (Armstrong House Series Book 1)

by A. O'Connor

  “Yes! Yes!” Kate agreed excitedly.

  “I want nothing to do with it – I’ll be too busy with the shopping centre. So don’t come to me if you have any problems with it. Okay?”

  “Deal!”

  Nico looked around the packed auction room at the Shelbourne Hotel.

  “There’s been a huge amount of interest,” Janet informed him. “I think we may get the asking price.”

  “Hopefully,” nodded Nico.

  “Or maybe even more! Look who’s just arrived in!” squealed Janet as Kate Fallon walked into the room, dressed immaculately in a cream suit, her hair beautifully styled, diamonds sparkling at her neck and wrist.

  “And she’s without him, that’s a good sign,” said Janet as Kate walked to the top of the room and sat down.

  “But he’s the one with the money,” said Nico.

  “Yes, but women are much better at auctions than men. She’ll always follow her heart when push comes to shove, but he’d get scared and follow his head. Anyway, I’d better get going. Wish me luck!”

  “Indeed!” said Nico as Janet walked to the auctioneer’s stand at the top of the room.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Shelbourne and today’s auction with Dolans Auctioneers. Today we are opening the auction with Armstrong House. This stunning period property in need of refurbishment is a unique sale to the discerning eye. I’m starting the bidding today for this property at a cool one million. Who bids me one million? Thank you, sir.”

  As the bidding got under way Nico could only watch as one hundred and seventy years of his family history were auctioned away. What amazed him was how quick it was and it seemed no time until a now overexcited Janet was practically screaming, “Sold! To Mrs Kate Fallon, ladies and gentlemen!”

  Kate was swamped with people wishing her congratulations in the Shelbourne after the auction. Nico looked on as a couple of journalists descended on her for an interview about her latest purchase. He watched her as she laughed with them and delivered witty lines to the journalists, like the seasoned actress she was. When the press photographer asked for a photo, Kate hopped up on the grand piano, crossed her legs, struck a pose and flashed a smile for him. Nico raised his eyes to heaven as he went to seek out Janet.

  Kate escaped to the restrooms and grinned at herself in the mirror, thrilled she had got what she wanted. She left the restrooms and walked towards the bar where she had organised to celebrate with a few friends. Suddenly she heard the unmistakable voice of Janet Dolan speaking to Nico on the other side of a pillar, and she stopped to listen in.

  “You must be delighted, Nico! One and a half million! It got even more than I expected.”

  “Yes, not that I’ll be seeing any of it. It’ll all be going to pay off those Armstrong debts that have been passed on through the generations, not to mention my ex-wife’s mortgage, not to mention her lawyer, not to mention my lawyer.”

  “Well, at least you can be free of it all now,” said Janet.

  “Yeah, but I’m the one who sold the family seat, aren’t I? No matter how hard things were in the past, they always hung on to it. I just sold out!”

  “You’d have been mad not to in this market. Besides, Nico, the house is falling down and you don’t have the cash to save it. At least the Fallons will do something with it now.”

  “Yes, I dread to think what though. They will turn it into a veritable Disneyland of tackiness. I can see it all now – they’ll turn the old ballroom into an indoor heated swimming pool complete with naked Grecian statutes. And there will be marble everywhere and Jacuzzis and . . . oh, I shudder to think!”

  Janet giggled. “You don’t know that.”

  “Oh, I do! Did you see those chunky diamonds she’s wearing today. It’s all about money and nothing about taste with them.”

  Kate fingered the diamond necklace around her neck before she continued to the bar.

  “Tony?” asked Kate as they ate out that night.

  “Yes, darling?”

  “I was just thinking. Nico Collins is an architect, isn’t he?”

  “So he claimed.”

  “Why don’t we employ him to renovate the house? He knows it more than anyone else?”

  “You can employ whoever you want. I made it clear that’s your baby, and I don’t want anything to do with rebuilding it.”

  “Yes – sorry – I forgot,” Kate nodded.

  90

  Nico’s architect’s firm, Collins & Darcy, was a small company he had set up with a college friend, Darrell, a number of years before. It was based in a small Georgian building in Baggot Street.

  Kate walked into the building for her appointment. She had made sure to wear extra diamonds for the meeting.

  “Good afternoon, Kate, good to see you,” said Nico as the secretary showed her into his office.

  She shook his hand and smiled broadly before sitting down.

  “I was surprised to hear from you again,” he said, looking a little concerned. “I thought all the contracts had been signed and the money paid and it was all done and dusted.”

  “Yes, it is. I wanted to speak to you about another matter.”

  “Oh really?” said Nico, sitting forward and looking interested.

  “Yes, I was going to enquire about engaging your services as an architect.”

  He smiled broadly. “Of course! I would be delighted.”

  “You know my husband is in the process of building a gigantic shopping mall?”

  Nico’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped. “Yes, I’m aware of it . . . and you would like to employ us to d-d-design it?” he stuttered in amazement at the magnitude of the contract.

  “Oh no, don’t be silly!” She waved her hand in a dismissive fashion. “A little practice like yours couldn’t possibly cope with a project of that size.” She gave a jingle-jangle laugh.

  Nico’s mouth closed firmly as he looked at her, annoyed.

  “No – I merely mention the mall because my husband is so busy that he has entrusted me with the house and I was going to suggest you handle the renovation.”

  “The house? You mean my house? I mean your house?” He shook his head, irritated with himself. “The house you bought from me?”

  “Yes – what other house would I mean?”

  “Well, thank you for thinking of me. I’d love to do the job.”

  “Good! Then if you could submit a quote to me? By Monday? I’m anxious to get on with it.” She stood up and put out her hand which was dripping in diamond rings and bracelets.

  He took her hand and shook it.

  “Ta ta!” she said as she turned and strode out.

  Nico sat looking after her, surprised, delighted and for some reason frightened by the offer of work.

  Kate had arranged to meet Nico at the house and as she neared Castlewest in her red Ferrari she was amazed how much it had changed since her family had emigrated in the eighties. As she passed housing estate after housing estate, and pharmaceutical plant after information-technology centre, she realised the town was buzzing with prosperity. As she drove through the main street all the memories of growing up there came flooding back, and she realised she had probably changed more than the town. The town’s proximity to the lake and beautiful countryside and nearby sea had also made it a tourist destination and there were many tourists wandering around.

  She put her foot down and headed out on the new motorway that led towards the house. She turned off it and drove through the local little picture-postcard village that she remembered was near the house. Most of the houses in the village were now bought as holiday homes for professionals living in Dublin. She sped through the village and continued around the lake towards her destination.

  Kate drove through the gateway and up the overgrown driveway, screeching to a halt in front of the house. Nico was already there waiting for her. Stepping out of the car, she walked across to him.

  “You decided to travel by more conventional means this time?” he said
.

  “It’s Tony tends to use the helicopter not me. Besides, I needed my car. I’m staying down for a few days while I organise things.”

  “You staying in Castlewest?”

  “No, Ashford Castle.”

  “Where else?” He didn’t hide the note of cynicism in his voice.

  She reached into her bag and took out the keys, then walked up the steps and unlocked the metal door.

  “I’ve been working on some sketches and designs for you to look at . . .” He went to unzip his folder as he followed her through the hall.

  She dismissed him with a wave of a hand. “Yes – later.”

  He looked at her, affronted at her rejection. “I thought if we kept to as much of the original design and lay-out of the house . . .” He trailed off as she darted into a nearby room.

  Before he could follow her in, she marched back out into the hall and looked at the staircase.

  “That stairs are going to take a lot of restoring, it’s in a dangerous state as Janet said,” advised Nico.

  “Well, I was planning on ripping the whole thing out!”

  “What?” He looked at her, amazed.

  “And instead of a staircase put in a glass elevator, what do you think of that?”

  “But –”

  She marched into what had been the dining room. “And I was thinking of turning this room into a gym.”

  “Into a gym?” he checked, in case he was hearing things.

  “This figure doesn’t keep itself, you know. Then the small sitting room –” she looked to be deep in thought, “into a sauna.”

  “A sauna!”

  She walked across the hall and into the large drawing room.

  “Hmmm, that fireplace has to go!” she declared.

  “But it’s the original fireplace from the 1840s! It’s the one thing that survived the fire in this room.”

  “That’s my point – so old-fashioned and damaged! In fact, I want all the fireplaces replaced. All those old-fashioned ones in the bedrooms, yuk! I want underground heating put in instead!”

  “Into a Victorian house?” He was incredulous.

  “With marble floors.”

  “Marble!”

  “Marble floors – everywhere!” She marched out and down the hall. He hurried after her. “Except here in the hall, of course. I want tiles here which light up and change colours as you walk on them. I saw it once in a shop in Rome, amazing!” They entered the ballroom. “And here! I want this turned into an indoor heated swimming pool.” She marched around the room.

  He raised his eyes to heaven, as his face turned red.

  “But not just any indoor swimming pool. I want statues – Grecian and Roman and every other type we can think of. And swings hanging from that ceiling! So we can swing – over the pool – while we sip Pina Coladas!” She had a satisfied dreamy look on her face.

  “I think – ahem – Kate, I think we have very different ideas of how this renovation should be done.”

  She looked at him, full of concern. “Oh dear – do you think my plans wouldn’t be in keeping with the house?”

  “Yes, I do!” he said angrily.

  “Oh my – do you think it’s all in bad taste?”

  “Yes, I do!”

  “A veritable Disneyland of tackiness even?” Her face changed and she looked knowingly at him.

  His mouth dropped as he realised she had overheard what he had said to Janet in the Shelbourne on the day of the auction.

  “You’ve been having me on?” he realised, his face going even redder, this time from embarrassment.

  She nodded.

  “You’re quite an actress!”

  “That was my profession.”

  “You shouldn’t have been listening in to other people’s conversations.”

  “Well, then, you shouldn’t have been speaking out loud in public.” She walked around the room, inspecting it. “Not a very nice way to speak about the people who had just handed you one and half million bucks, was it?”

  “I just had reservations about how you would develop the house.”

  “Based on what exactly? You don’t know us, you don’t know anything about us. If you had wanted to do the house up a certain way, why didn’t you do it yourself?”

  “Because I didn’t have the money to do it.”

  “Exactly! So why would you think you were superior to the people who have that money and made it themselves?” She walked past him. “Good day, Mr Armstrong! Close the door after you, will you?” She walked out of the room. A couple of minutes later he could hear her Ferrari speeding off down the drive.

  Nico was driving back to Dublin when the phone rang.

  “How did the meeting with Kate Fallon go?” It was his business partner Darell Darcy.

  “Not so good. I think I got fired.”

  “How?” Darell was aghast.

  “By being an ass. She’s a fairly ruthless businesswoman behind all that charm and diamonds.”

  “Pity you didn’t realise that before you pissed her off then,” said Darrell.

  “I know,” he sighed. “Talk to you later.”

  Nico continued to drive for a while, deep in thought. Then he suddenly turned and headed to Ashford Castle.

  It was late in the evening as Nico parked outside Ashford Castle and walked in through the front doors. He walked over to reception and asked the receptionist to ring up to Kate Fallon’s suite.

  “She’s having dinner in the dining room,” said the receptionist.

  Nico went there and hovered at the entrance, looking around at the full restaurant. He spotted Kate immediately, sitting at a table with four others. She was talking happily, causing her fellow diners to laugh.

  Suddenly she spotted him and her face creased in confusion as she saw him smile and wave over at her.

  “If you could excuse me a minute, please,” she excused herself with a smile, then put her napkin on the table and walked over to him.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, her eyes wide with puzzlement.

  “Look, I know we’ve got off to a bad start. And I shouldn’t have judged you the way I did. But . . . I really want this job! It means a lot to me. I would love to be involved in the renovation of this house. I feel I owe it to the house – and I will work round the clock to give you what you want.”

  “I see!” she said.

  “And to show you how committed I am, I will even reduce my fee by twenty per cent if you allow me to continue working for you.”

  “Right!” She studied him intently. “Well, I accept your twenty-per-cent discount, and now if you could allow me to get back to my dinner?”

  “Of course, and thank you, you won’t regret it.”

  She turned to go before stopping and looking back at him. “Incidentally, I never said anything about firing you from the job today – but your offer of a twenty-per-cent discount is accepted and much appreciated anyway.”

  His mouth dropped open as she walked back to her table.

  91

  Nico pulled into the gateway of the Fallons’ house in Dublin, looking up at the high electric gates and high wall around it. He opened his window and, reaching out, pressed the intercom on the pillars.

  “Hello?” It was Kate herself.

  “Nico Armstrong for our meeting.”

  The heavy iron electric gates suddenly started to part and he drove in and up the short drive. He looked up at the new white building with pillars at the front and long windows and it was as he had imagined it would be. He grabbed his folders and walked towards the door.

  The front door opened and there stood Kate, in a white flared satin trouser suit.

  “You found the place all right?” she asked, as she moved back to let him in, and closed the door after him.

  “Yes, your directions were easy to follow.”

  He followed her through a round hall which had a spiral staircase. They walked down some steps into an oversized sitting room. As he expected the hous
e was all cream sofas, glass tables, cream carpets, spacious, with double doors leading into other rooms.

  She fitted into her movie-star surroundings as she poured them both a drink and sat down opposite him. His ancestral home wasn’t going to know what hit it, he thought.

  He unzipped his folders and started handing her his drawings.

  “These are the plans we’re submitting to the Council for the rebuilding for planning permission. It’s everything you asked for, and we just need final approval from you before we submit them.”

  She quickly looked through the plans. “These all look in order. So where do we go from here?”

  “As soon as we get planning we can get the building work done straight away. I’ve already tendered the building firms. After that we will be renovating the interiors, which will need a big input from you on how exactly you want your house to be.” He looked around at the room, taking it all in. “You mentioned this was going to be a main residence for you and Tony?”