An Outrageous Proposal (4 page)

“I will and all,” he assured her, then snatched at his ringing
cell phone as he would a lifeline tossed into a churning sea. Lifting one finger
to Maeve as if to tell her one moment, he turned and answered, “Sean
Connolly.”

A cool, dispassionate voice started speaking and he actually
felt
a ball of ice drop into the pit of his
stomach.

“Repeat that if you please,” he ordered, though he didn’t want
to hear the news again. He had to have the information.

His gaze moved to Georgia, who had turned to look at him, a
question in her eyes. His tone of voice must have alerted her to a problem.

“I understand,” he said into the phone. “I’m on my way.”

He snapped the phone closed.

Georgia walked up to him. “What is it?”

Sean could hardly say the words, but he forced them out. “It’s
my mother. She’s in hospital.” It didn’t sound real. Didn’t feel real. But
according to the nurse who’d just hung up on him, it was. “She’s had a heart
attack.”

“Ah, Sean,” Maeve said, sympathy rich in her voice.

He didn’t want pity. More than that though, he didn’t want to
be in a position to need it. “She’s in Westport. I have to go.”

He headed for the door, mind already racing two or three steps
ahead. He’d get to the hospital, talk to the doctors, then figure out what to do
next. His mother was hale and hearty—usually—so he wouldn’t worry until he knew
more. An instant later, he told himself
Bollocks to
that,
as he realized the worry and fear had already started.

Georgia was right behind him. “Let me come with you.”

“No.” He stopped, looked down into her eyes and saw her concern
for him and knew that if she were with him, her fears would only multiply his
own. Sounded foolish even to him, but he had to do this alone. “I have to
go—”

Then he hit the door at a dead run and kept running until he’d
reached his car.

* * *

Ailish Connolly was not the kind of woman to be
still.

So seeing his mother lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to
machinery that beeped and whistled an ungodly tune was nearly enough to bring
Sean to his knees. Disjointed but heartfelt prayers raced through his mind as he
reached for the faith of his childhood in this time of panic.

It had been too long since he’d been to Mass. Hadn’t graced a
church with his presence in too many years to count. But now, at this moment, he
wanted to fling himself at the foot of an altar and beg God for help.

Sean shoved one hand through his hair and bit back the
impatience clawing inside him. He felt so bloody helpless, and that, he thought,
was the worst of it. Nothing he could do but sit and wait, and as he wasn’t a
patient man by nature…the waiting came hard.

The private room he had arranged for his mother smelled like
her garden, since he’d bought every single flower in the gift shop. That was
what he’d been reduced to. Shopping for flowers while his mother lay still and
quiet. He wasn’t accustomed to being unable to affect change around him.

Sean Connolly was a man who got things done. Always. Yet here,
in the Westport hospital, he could do not a bloody thing to get action. To even
get a damned doctor to answer his questions. So far, all he’d managed to do was
irritate the nurses and that, he knew, was no way to gain cooperation. Irish
nurses were a tough bunch and took no trouble from anyone.

Sitting beside his mother’s bed in a torture chair designed to
make visiting an ordeal, Sean braced his elbows on his knees and cupped his face
in his palms. It had been only his mother and he for so long, he couldn’t
remember his life any other way. His father had died when Sean was just a boy,
and Ailish had done the heroic task of two parents.

Then when Ronan’s parents had died in that accident, Ailish had
stepped in for him, as well. She was strong, remarkably self-possessed and until
today, Sean would have thought, invulnerable. He lifted his gaze to the small
woman with short, dark red hair. There was gray mixed with the red, he noticed
for the first time. Not a lot, but enough to shake him.

When had his mother gotten old? Why was she here? She’d been to
lunch with her friends and had felt a pain that had worried her enough she had
come to the hospital to have it checked. And once the bloody doctors got their
hands on you, you were good and fixed, Sean thought grimly, firing a glare at
the closed door and the busy corridor beyond.

They’d slapped Ailish in to be examined and now, several hours
later, he was still waiting to hear what the dozens of tests they’d done would
tell them. The waiting, as he had told Georgia not so very long ago, was the
hardest.

Georgia.

He wished he had brought her with him. She was a calm, cool
head, and at the moment he needed that. Because what he was tempted to do was
have his mother transferred to a bigger hospital in Dublin. To fly in
specialists. “To
buy
the damned hospital so
someone
would come in and talk to me.”

“Sean,” his mother whispered, opening her eyes and turning her
face toward him, “don’t swear.”

“Mother.” He stood up, curled one hand around the bar of her
bed and reached down with the other to take hers in his. “How are you?”

“I’m fine,” she insisted. “Or I was, having a lovely nap until
my son’s cursing woke me.”

“Sorry.” She still had the ability to make him feel like a
guilty boy. He supposed all mothers had that power, though at the moment, only
his
mother concerned him. “But no one will talk
to me. No one will tell me a bloody—” He cut himself off. “I can’t get answers
from anyone in this place.”

“Perhaps they don’t have any to give yet,” she pointed out.

That didn’t ease his mind any.

Her face was pale, her sharp green eyes were a little watery,
and the pale wash of freckles on her cheeks stood out like gold paint flicked
atop a saucer of milk.

His heart actually ached to see her here. Like this. Fear
wasn’t something he normally even considered, but the thought of his mother
perhaps being at death’s bleeding door with not a doctor in sight cut him right
down to the bone.

“Do you know what I was thinking,” she said softly, giving her
son’s hand a gentle squeeze, “when they were sticking their wires and such to
me?”

He could imagine. She must have been terrified. “No,” he said.
“Tell me.”

“All I could think was, I was going to die and leave you
alone,” she murmured, and a single tear fell from the corner of her eye to roll
down her temple and into her hair.

“There’ll be no talk of dying,” he told her, instinctively
fighting against the fear that crouched inside him. “And I’m not alone. I’ve
friends, and Ronan and Laura, and now the baby…”

“And no family of your own,” she pointed out.

“And what’re you then?” Sean teased.

She shook her head and fixed her gaze with his. “You should
have a wife. A family, Sean. A man shouldn’t live his life alone.”

It was an old argument. Ailish was forever trying to marry off
her only child. But now, for the first time, Sean felt guilty. She should have
been concerned for herself; instead she was worried for him. Worried
about
him. He hated that she was lying there so still
and pale, and that there was nothing he could do for her. Bloody hell, he
couldn’t even get the damn doctor to step into the room.

“Ronan’s settled and happy now,” Ailish said softly. “And so
should you be.”

Her fingers felt small and fragile in his grip, and the fear
and worry bottled up inside Sean seemed to spill over. “I am,” he blurted before
he was even aware of speaking.

Her gaze sharpened. “You are what?”

“Settled,” he lied valiantly. He hadn’t planned to. But seeing
her worry needlessly had torn something inside Sean and had him telling himself
that this at least, he could do for her. A small lie couldn’t be that bad, could
it, if it brought peace? And what if she
was
dying,
God forbid, but how was he to know since no one would tell him anything.
Wouldn’t it be better for her to go believing that Sean was happy?

“I’m engaged,” he continued, and gave his mother a smile. “I
was going to tell you next week,” he added, as the lie built up steam and began
to travel on its own.

Her eyes shone and a smile curved her mouth even as twin spots
of color flushed her pale cheeks. “That’s wonderful,” she said. “Who is
she?”

Who indeed?

Brain racing, Sean could think of only one woman who would fit
this particular bill, but even he couldn’t drag Georgia into this lie without
some warning. “I’ll tell you as soon as you’re fit and out of here.”

Now those sharp green eyes narrowed on him. “If this is a
trick…”

He slapped one hand to his chest and hoped not to be struck
down as he said, “Would I lie about something this important?”

“No,” she said after a long moment, “no, you wouldn’t.”

Guilt took another nibble of his soul.

“There you are then,” he pronounced. “Now try to get some
sleep.”

She nodded, closed her eyes and still with a smile on her face,
was asleep in minutes. Which left Sean alone with his thoughts—

A few hours later the doctor finally deigned to make an
appearance, and though Sean was furious, he bit his tongue and was glad he had.
A minor heart attack. No damage to her heart, really, just a warning of sorts
for Ailish to slow down a bit and take better care of herself.

The doctor also wanted a few more tests to be sure of his
results, which left Sean both relieved and worried. A minor heart attack was
still serious enough. Was she well enough to find out he’d…
exaggerated
his engagement?

She would be in hospital for a week, resting under doctor’s
orders, so Sean wouldn’t have to decide about telling her the truth right away.
But he
did
have to have a chat with Georgia. Just in
case.

Four

H
e left his mother sleeping and made his
way out of the hospital, grateful to leave behind its smell of antiseptic and
fear. Stepping into a soft, evening mist, Sean stopped dead when a familiar
voice spoke up.

“Sean?”

He turned and felt a well of pleasure open up inside as Georgia
walked toward him. “What’re you doing here?” he asked, wrapping both arms around
her and holding on.

She hugged him, then pulled her head back to look up at him.
“When we didn’t hear anything, I got worried. So I came here to wait for you.
How’s your mom?”

Pleasure tangled with gratitude as he realized just how much
he’d needed to see her. He’d been a man alone for most of his adult life, never
asking for anything, never expecting anyone to go an extra meter for him. Yet
here she was, stepping out of the mist and cold, and Sean had never been happier
to see anyone.

“She’s well, though the doctor’s holding on to her for a week
or so. More tests, he says, and he wants her to rest. Never could get my mother
to slow down long enough to
rest,
so God help the
nurses trying to hold her down in that bed,” he said, dropping a quick kiss on
her forehead. “Scared me, Georgia. I don’t even remember the last time anything
has.”

“Family does that to you,” she told him. “But she’s okay?”

“Will be,” he said firmly. “It was a ‘minor’ heart attack, they
say. No permanent damage, though, so that’s good. She’s to take it easy for a
few weeks, no upsets. But yes, she’ll be fine.”

“Good news.” Georgia’s gaze narrowed on him. “So why do you
look more worried than relieved?”

“I’ll tell you all. But first, I’ve a need to get away from
this place. Feels like I’ve been here for years instead of hours.” Frowning, he
looked out at the car park. “How did you get here?”

“Called a cab.” She shrugged. “Laura was going to drive me, but
I told her and Ronan that I’d be fine and you’d bring me home.”

“As I will,” he said, taking her arm and steering her toward
his car. “But first, we’ll go to my house. We need to talk.”

“You’ll tell me on the way?”

“I think not,” he hedged. “I’m a man in desperate need of a
beer, and I’m thinking you’ll be needing wine to hear this.”

* * *

There wasn’t enough wine in the world.

“Are you insane?” Georgia jumped off the comfortable sofa in
Sean’s front room and stared down at him in stunned shock. “I mean, seriously.
Maybe we should have had
you
examined at the
hospital while we were there.”

Sean huffed out a breath and took a long drink of the beer he’d
poured for himself as soon as they reached his home. Watching him, Georgia took
a sip of her Chardonnay, to ease the tightness in her own throat.

Then he leaned forward and set the glass of beer onto the table
in front of him. “I’m not insane, no. Crazy perhaps, but not insane.”

“Fine line, if you ask me.”

He pushed one hand through his hair and muttered, “I’m not
explaining this well a’tall.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Georgia sipped at her wine, then set her
own glass down beside his. Still standing, she crossed both arms over her chest
and said, “You were pretty clear. You want me to
pretend
to be engaged to you so you can lie to your mother. That
about cover it?”

He scowled and stood up, Georgia thought, just so he could loom
over her from his much greater height.

“Well, when you put it like that,” he muttered, “it
sounds—”

“Terrible? Is that the word you’re looking for?”

He winced as he scrubbed one hand across his face. Georgia felt
a pang of sympathy for him even though a part of her wanted to kick him.

“I thought she was dying.”

“So you lied to her to give her a good send-off?”

He glared at her, and for the first time since she’d known him,
she wasn’t seeing the teasing, laughing, charming Sean…but instead the
hard-lined owner of Irish Air. This was the man who’d bought out a struggling
airline and built it into the premier luxury line in the world. The man who had
become a billionaire through sheer strength of will. His eyes flashed with heat,
with temper, and his mouth, the one she knew so well, was now flattened into a
grim line.

Georgia, who had a temper of her own and just as hard a head,
was unimpressed.

“If you think I enjoy lying to her, you’re wrong.”

“Well, good, because I
like
your
mother.”

“As do I,” he argued.

“Then tell her the truth.”

“I will,” he countered, “as soon as the doctor says she’s well
again. Until then, would it really be so bad to let her believe a small
lie?”

“Small.” She shook her head and walked toward the wide stone
hearth, where a fire burned against the cold night. On the mantel above the fire
were framed family photos. Sean and Ronan. Sean and his mother. Laura and
Georgia captured forever the day Ronan and Sean had taken them to the Burren—a
lonely, desolate spot just a few miles outside Galway. Family was important to
him, she knew that. Seeing these photos only brought that truth back to her.

She turned her back to the flames and looked at him, across the
room from her. Sean’s and Ronan’s houses were both huge, sprawling manors, but
Sean’s was more…casual, she supposed was the right word. He’d lived alone here,
but for his housekeeper and any number of people who worked on the estate, so
he’d done as he pleased with the furniture.

Oversize sofas covered in soft fabric in muted shades of gray
and blue crowded the room. Heavy, carved wooden tables dotted the interior,
brass-based reading lamps tossed golden circles of light across gleaming wood
floors and midnight-blue rugs. The walls were stone as well, interspersed with
heavy wooden beams, and the wide front windows provided a view of a lawn that
looked as if the gardener had gone over it on his knees with a pair of scissors,
it was so elegantly tended.

“Is it really such a chore to pretend to be mad about me?” he
asked, a half smile curving his mouth.

She looked at him and thought, no, pretending to be crazy about
him wasn’t a problem. Which should probably
be
a
problem, she told herself, but that was a worry for another day.

“You want me to lie to Ailish.”

“For only a while,” he said smoothly. “To give me time to see
her settled.” He frowned a bit and added quietly, “She’s…important to me,
Georgia. I don’t want her hurt.”

God, was there anything sexier than a man unafraid to show his
love for someone? Knowing how much Ailish meant to Sean touched Georgia deeply,
but she was still unconvinced that his plan was a good one. Still, she
remembered clearly how devastated she had been when she’d discovered all of her
ex-husband’s lies to her. Wouldn’t Ailish feel the same sort of betrayal?

She shook her head slowly. “And you don’t think she’ll be hurt
when she discovers she’s been tricked?”

“Ah, but she won’t find that out, will she?” Sean said, and he
was smiling again, his temper having blown away as fast as it had come. “When
the time is right, you’ll throw me over, as well you should, and I’ll bravely go
on with my heart shattered to jagged pieces.”

She snorted a laugh before she could stop it.

“So I get to be the bad guy, too?” She walked back, picked up
her wine and took another sip. “Wow, I’m a lucky woman, all right. You remember
I’m moving to Dunley, don’t you? I’ll see Ailish all the time, Sean, and she’s
going to think I’m a hideous person for dumping her son.”

“She won’t blame you,” he assured her, “I’ll see to it.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Georgia love,” he said with a sigh, “you’re my only chance at
pulling this off.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Of course you don’t, being an honest woman.” He plucked the
wineglass from her fingers and set it aside. Then, stroking his hands up and
down her arms, he added, “But being a warm-hearted, generous one as well, you
can see this is the best way, can’t you?”

“You think you can smooth me into this with a caress and a
kiss?”

He bent down until his eyes were fixed on hers. “Aye, I do.”
Before she could respond to that arrogant admission, he added, “But I don’t
think I’ll have to, will I? You’ve a kind heart, Georgia, and I know you can see
why I’ve to do this.”

Okay, yes, she could. Irritating to admit that even to herself.
She understood the fear that must have choked him when he thought his mother was
going to die. But damn it. Memories fluttered in her mind like a swarm of
butterflies. “Lies never go well, Sean.”

“But we’re not lying to each other now, are we? So between the
two of us, everything is on the up and up, and my mother will get over the
disappointment—when she’s well.”

“It’s not
just
your mother,
though,” she said. “The whole village will know. They’ll all think I’m a jerk
for dumping you.”

“Hah!” Sean grinned widely. “Most of those in Dunley will think
you a fool for agreeing to marry me in the first place and will swear you’ve
come to your senses when we end it. And if that doesn’t do the job, I’ll take
the blame entirely.”

She laughed, because he looked so pleased with that statement.
“You’re completely shameless, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely,” he agreed, with that grin that always managed to
make her stomach take a slow bump and roll. “So will you do it then, Georgia?
Will you pretend to be engaged to me?”

She was tempted, she could admit that much to herself. It was a
small thing, after all. Just to help her lover out of a tight spot. And oh, he
was a wonderful lover, she thought, her heart beginning to trip wildly in her
chest. The time spent with him in the past couple of weeks had been…fabulous.
But this was something else again.

“I can help you get your business license,” he offered. “You’re
bogged down in the mire of bureaucratic speak, and I don’t know as you’d noticed
or not, but things in Ireland move at their own pace. You could be a woman with
a walker by the time you got that license pushed through on your own.”

She gave him a hard look. “But you’re a magician?”

“I’ve a way about me, that’s true. But also, I know some of
those that are in charge of these things and frankly, as the owner of Irish Air,
I carry a bit more weight to my words than you would.”

He could. Darn it. She’d already seen for herself that working
her way through the reams of paperwork was going to be mind-boggling.

“I could see you settled and ready for business much faster
than you could do it on your own.”

“Are you trying to bribe me?”

He grinned, unashamed. “I am and doing a damn fine job of it if
you ask me.”

Staring up into his brown eyes, shining now with the excitement
for his plan, Georgia knew she was pretty much done. And let’s face it, she told
herself, he’d had her from the jump. Not only was it a great excuse to keep
their affair going—but she knew how worried he was about Ailish and she felt for
him. He had probably never doubted for a moment that he’d be able to talk her
into joining him in his insanity. Even
before
the
really superior bribe.

He was unlike anyone she’d ever known, Georgia thought.
Everything about him was outrageous. Why wouldn’t a proposal from Sean Connolly
be the same?

“And, did you know there’s a cottage for sale at the edge of
the village?”

“Is that the one I hear you were talking to someone named Brian
about?”

“Ah, the Dunley express,” he said with a grin. “Talk about it
in the pub and it’s as good as published in the paper. No, this isn’t Brian’s
mum’s place. He’s rented it just last week to Sinead and Michael when they come
home.”

“Oh.” Well, there went a perfectly good cottage. “I spoke to
Mary this afternoon, and she didn’t say a thing about a cottage for sale.”

“She doesn’t know all,” Sean said, bending to plant one quick,
hard kiss on her lips. “For example, I own two of the cottages near the close at
the end of main. Not far from your new shop…”

That last bit he let hang there long enough for Georgia to
consider it. Then he continued.

“They’re small, but well kept. Close to the village center and
with a faery wood in the back.”

She shook her head and laughed. “A what?”

He smiled, that delicious, slow curve of his mouth that
promised wickedness done to perfection. “A faery wood, where if you stand and
make a wish on the full of the moon, you might get just what your heart yearns
for.” He paused. “Or, the faeries might snatch you away to live forever in their
raft beneath the trees.”

With the song of Ireland in his voice, even the crazy sounded
perfectly reasonable. “Faeries.”

“You’d live in Ireland and dismiss them?” he challenged, his
eyes practically twinkling now with good humor and banked laughter.

“Sean…”

“I could be convinced to make you a very good deal on either of
the cottages, if…”

“You’re evil,” she said softly. “My mother used to warn me
about men like you.”

“An intelligent woman to be sure. I liked her very much when we
met at Ronan’s wedding.”

Her mother had liked him, too. But then, her mom liked
everybody. Georgia could remember being like that once upon a time. Before her
ex-husband had left her for her cheerleader cousin and cleaned out their joint
accounts on his way out of town. Just remembering the betrayal, the hurt,
stiffened her spine even while her mind raced. Too many thoughts piling together
were jumbled up in possibilities and possible disasters.

She was torn, seriously. She really did like Sean’s mother and
she hated the thought of lying to her. But Sean would be the
real
liar, right? Oh, man, even she couldn’t buy that
one. She would be in this right up to her neck if she said yes. But how could
she not? Sean was offering to help her get her new life started, and all she had
to do was pretend to be in love with him.