They live in Dublin with their 15-week-old baby daughter Piper and German shepherd Amber.

Nicola is from Rathfarnham. She studied fashion design at the Grafton Academy and set up the label N&C Kilkenny (www. nckilkenny. com) with her sister Caroline six years ago. Their boutique range has been hugely successful here and overseas and is worn by women such as President Mary McAleese.

Lorcan is from Clontarf. He studied journalism in Rathmines and is an award-winning journalist and playwright. His excellent and very original debut novel, The Companion, is out now.

Nicola on Lorcan

I first met Lorcan when I was 22 and a receptionist at the ad agency Wilson Hartnell. He started there two weeks before I left so I gatecrashed the Christmas party because I wanted to see him again, as I thought he was exciting and interesting and a bit different. We sat and chatted and that was it really.

I had moved on to sell ads in the Evening Press but I was a hopeless sales person. Lorcan was really encouraging when I decided to go back to college and study fashion because I had been talking about it for ages. We were so carefree back then and we had the same sense of humour and outlook, and tended to like the same things, such as bikes, dogs and galleries.

We got married 11 years ago in Avoca and it was a great day with loads of bikers at it and a stand-up comedian.

There has been constant drama in our relationship really, probably because we've changed jobs and moved house a lot. We've lived in Ballsbridge, Tallaght, Killester, Chapelizod, Kilkenny and Greystones . . . and now we're in Drimnagh.

We both love travelling and the good thing about our work is that we can save up blocks of time to go away. The guy who bought the film rights to The Companion has property in Australia and New Zealand and he said we could stay in them any time . . . we're dangerous people to say that to because we'll go, baby and all.

When it came to having children, our lives were always very busy and it wasn't high on the agenda for us for a while. Life has been fabulous since Piper came along though and Lorcan is a great dad . . . he's really hands-on and spends a lot of time looking after her.

She's 15 weeks old now and looking after her can be really hard work. I've just started back at work and one of my tricks when I'm going out is accidentally taking everything Lorcan needs with me, such as both of the mobiles, the buggy and the credit card.

Lorcan often ends up having to go to the phone box on the corner to call me . . .and it's usually vandalised.

Lorcan is very talented and I'm delighted there has been such a great reaction to the book because it's a fantastic read. It explores obsession, control and the boundaries of love and friendship between a college dropout who goes to work as a companion to a rich wheelchair-bound New Yorker.

Writing a book is such a long, hard road, so for him to get this positive reaction is just fantastic.

Lorcan on Nicola

When I went for the interview at Wilson Hartnell I remember thinking that I hoped I got the job because Nicola was a babe. She had a motorbike and I was really impressed because I was really into them . . . and still am.

We've always been great friends but there would have been a bit of a power struggle between us at the beginning, until I eventually just gave in! Trying to accept somebody completely and understand them properly can take a long time in a relationship and I think you only get to that point when you truly understand yourself. Nicola accepts the silly parts of my personality, such as the fact that I'm very macho about motorbikes and cars.

People said I'd have to give them up when the baby came along but Nicola understands that it just takes an hour in the mountains on my bike to make me happy so she'll just say, "Go on!"

I always thought the symbiosis between Nicola and her sister Caroline was very interesting and was often envious that she had someone to bounce ideas off and work creatively with. They've come together to produce wonderful ranges that are for real women, not size zeros.

Looking back, we're that little bit older as parents, and we may have been hormonally arrogant, but we were very lucky to have Piper without any problems. She's a little miracle. Nicola's a great mum and she and Piper bonded really quickly because of the whole birth and breastfeeding process. I had hoped for a little girl because I wouldn't want to be faced with a version of me when I was nearly 60.

I'm not sure I would have been as good a dad 10 years ago because I'm more copped on now. I think the father is kind of distanced from the process by the system though, and I find it difficult when the district nurse comes in and directs all of the questions to Nicola about Piper's feeding and weight because I would take a huge interest in her nutrition.

When you've got a baby you need to step up your game and Nicola is much better than me at multitasking. I'm the type that leaves the hoover out so that she will see it or the lawn mower in the middle of the garden because I need a lot of praise and rubbing on the head.

Nicola read the book as it was being written but I think you need to step outside your primary relationship and friends to get a truly independent, objective and unbiased view of your work. Or else you'd be wondering why you weren't up there accepting the Nobel prize for literature at only 25.

I dedicated the book to Nicola and Piper, which was taking a bit of a risk as the baby hadn't been born yet and I didn't know for sure that she'd be a girl.

I wrote a lovely flowery inscription at first but I changed it to a simpler one when my publisher said, "For f***'s sake Lorcan, you're not Italian!"