The Matchmaker by Marita Conlon-Mckenna Read Free Book Online Page B

knows what they had done in their previous apartment!
    The two guys were polite and easygoing and were very taken with the place, remarking on the stonework and lovely decor but after chatting to them for a few minutes Maggie realized she could rule out any possibility of them being potential husband material, as these two were most definitely not in the market for eligible females. They were nice guys but would only commit to a six-month lease as they were just killing time till their own new apartment in Stepaside was ready. The serious young single female lawyer with impeccable references who was entranced with the place seemed a very good prospect. The last applicant hadn’t appeared and she was fast coming to the conclusion that the young woman was her best bet as a suitable tenant. She was just about to phone her when the Scotsman finally made an appearance.
    ‘My flight was delayed,’ he apologized, ‘and then I got stuck in that awful traffic from the airport. I hope I’m not too late to see the place, it sounds exactly what I’m looking for.’
    He was so enthusiastic that despite his being nearly two hours late she decided to show him round. She could see he was taken with the mews and asked her all about the restoration. He was small and thin and rather intense-looking with spiky black hair; he was wearing black jeans, a leather jacket and a T-shirt with the Red Hot Chili Peppers on it. Sarah had a poster of them in her bedroom. He looked more like a musician than a businessman but was definitely the arty type that appealed to her youngest daughter.
    ‘You should see the concrete box I’m staying in for the minute!’ he laughed. ‘I don’t know why anyone would build them like that. Give me a lovely old building like this any day of the week.’
    ‘I’m glad that you like it.’ Maggie smiled. ‘It was a labour of love restoring and modernizing it.’
    ‘I know I’ll be back and forwards to the office in Edinburgh regularly, but what I really would like is somewhere a little different to live during my time here in Dublin.’
    ‘The sockets in the kitchen will be replaced before anyone moves in,’ she promised.
    ‘Don’t bother on my behalf,’ Angus Hamilton said, his thin face serious. ‘I can do it myself. I’d probably like to connect up to broadband or wireless if that’s OK, and hook myself up to digital TV.’
    She must have looked slightly baffled because he reassured her, saying that he had studied engineering before specializing in computers and designing software.
    ‘What do you do?’ she asked, curious.
    ‘I design programmes for computer games,’ he told her. ‘It’s a huge business. We work with animators and designers and come up with concepts and games that people want to play. We’re working on a game with leprechauns!’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘No, I’m joking, but it’s not a bad idea. Our company has offices here and in Edinburgh and I’ll be going back and forth between them.’
    ‘So it would be just you living in the mews.’
    ‘Yes.’ He grinned. ‘I’m on my own.’
    That night as she sat watching the television Maggie weighed up the candidates. The thirty-year-old female lawyer Celine Heaney worked in one of the city’s smaller law firms and was busy studying at night for the Law Society exams in Blackhall Place; she certainly didn’t look the type to give wild parties. The charming young Scotsman seemed open and friendly and determined to enjoy his time in Dublin. Without a qualm Maggie decided on Angus Hamilton. The house was already far too full of single females. Having a man around the place again would make a very pleasant change and the fact that he was an eligible bachelor was a definite bonus . . .

Chapter Ten
    Grace had endured a hell of a day. She’d discovered during a pitching session with a possible new client that projection figures prepared by a new junior colleague were almost two hundred thousand euros out. She was snowed under with