An Outrageous Proposal (5 page)

And that wasn’t going to be too difficult, she warned herself.
Just standing here beside him was dangerous. She knew all too well what it was
like to have his hands and his mouth on her. Having a lover like Sean—much less
a fiancé, pretend or not—was really a slippery slope toward something she had to
guard against.

She wasn’t interested in trusting another man. Giving her heart
over to him. Giving him the chance to crush her again. Sure, Sean was nothing
like her ex, but he was still
male
.

“What do you say, Georgia?” he asked, reaching down to take her
hands in his and give them a squeeze. “Will you pretend-marry me?”

She couldn’t think. Not with him holding on to her. Not with
his eyes staring into hers. Not with the heat of him reaching for her, promising
even
more
heat if she let him get any closer. And if
she did that, she would agree to anything, because she well knew the man could
have her half out of her mind in seconds.

Georgia pulled her hands free of his and took one long step
back. “This isn’t the kind of thing I can decide on in a minute, Sean. There’s a
lot to consider. So I’ll think about it and let you know tomorrow, okay?”

He opened his mouth as if to argue, then, a moment later,
changed his mind. Nodding, he closed the distance between them again and pulled
her into the circle of his arms. Georgia leaned into him, giving herself this
moment to feel the rush of something spectacular that happened every time he
touched her.

Kissing the top of her head, he whispered, “Fine then. That’ll
do. For now.”

With him holding on to her, the beat of his heart beneath her
ear, Georgia was tempted to do all sorts of things, so she looked away from him,
out the window to the rain-drenched evening. Lamps lining the drive shone like
diamonds in the gray. But the darkness and the incessant rain couldn’t disguise
the beauty that was Ireland.

Just like, she thought, looking up at Sean, a lie couldn’t hide
what was already between the two of them. She didn’t know where it was going,
but she had a feeling the ride was going to be much bumpier than she had
planned.

* * *

“I feel like I haven’t slept in years,” Laura groaned
over her coffee the following morning.

“At least you can have caffeine again,” Georgia said.

“Yes.”
Her sister paused. “Is it
wrong to be nearly grateful that Fiona had no interest in nursing just so I can
have coffee again?”

“If it is, I won’t tell.”

“You’re the best.” Laura slouched in a chair near the end of
the couch where Georgia sat, checking email on her computer tablet.

Though she’d never been much of a morning person, it was hard
to remain crabby when you got to sit in this beautiful parlor sipping coffee
every morning. Of course, the baby had jumbled life in the manor, but she had to
admit she loved being around her niece. Georgia glanced out the window at a
sun-washed vista of sloping yard and trees beginning to lose their leaves for
winter. For the first time in days, the sky was clear, but the cold Irish wind
was tossing leaves into the air and making the trees dance and sway.

“I’m so excited that you’re moving to Ireland,” Laura said. “I
really miss you when you’re not around.”

Georgia smiled at her sister. “I know, me, too. And it is
exciting to move,” she said, as she reached out for the silver pot on the
rolling tea table in front of them. Hefting it, she refilled both her own and
Laura’s cups. Tea might be the big thing over here, but thankfully Patsy Brennan
was willing to brew a pot of coffee for the Page sisters every morning. “Also,
moving is terrifying. Not only going to a new place and starting over, but it’s
all the logistics of the thing. Canceling mail and utilities, starting them up
somewhere else, and the packing.”

Georgia shuddered and took a sip of coffee to bolster her.

“I get that. I was worried when I first moved here with Ronan,
but everything went great.”

“You had Ronan.”

“And you have
me.
”

“Ever the optimist,” Georgia noted.

“No point in being a pessimist,” Laura countered. “If you go
around all grim, expecting the worst, when it happens, you’ve been suffering
longer than you had to.”

Georgia just blinked at her. “I’ll work on that one and let you
know when I figure it out.”

Laura grinned, then sobered up again. “I wish you’d reconsider
living here with us. There’s plenty of room.”

She knew her sister meant it, and having her offer was really
wonderful. Even though having a secret affair was hard to manage when you were
living with your sister. “I know, and I appreciate the offer. Just like I
appreciate you letting me stay here when I visit. But I want my own place,
Laura.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Morning light filtered into the room, and the winter sunshine
was pale and soft. The baby monitor receiver that Laura carried with her at all
times sat on the coffee table in front of them, and from it came the soft sounds
of Fiona’s breathing and the tiny sniffling sounds she made as she slept.

“Yesterday, Sean told me he owns a couple of cottages at the
edge of the village,” Georgia said. “He’s going to sell me one of them.”

“And that,” Laura said thoughtfully, “brings us to the main
question for the day. What’s going on with you and Sean?”

She went still and dropped her gaze to the black coffee in her
cup. “Nothing.”

“Right. What am I, blind? I gave birth in the hospital,
Georgia,” her sister pointed out, “I didn’t have a lobotomy.”

“Laura…” Georgia had known this was coming. Actually, it was
probably only because Laura was so wrapped up in Fiona that she hadn’t noticed
earlier. Laura wasn’t stupid and as she just mentioned, not blind, either.

“I can see how you guys are around each other,” Laura was
saying, tapping her fingernails lightly against the arm of the chair. “He
watches you.”

“Oooh, that’s suspicious.”

“I said he
watches
you. Like a man
dying of thirst and you’re a fountain of ice-cold water.”

Something inside her stirred and heat began to crawl through
Georgia’s veins, in spite of her effort to put a stop to it. After that proposal
Sean had made last night, he’d kissed her senseless, then dropped her off here
at the manor, leaving Georgia so stirred up she’d hardly slept. Now, just the
thought of Sean was enough to light up the ever-present kindling inside her.

Shaking her head, she said only, “Leave it alone, Laura.”

“Sure. I’ll do that. I’m sorry. Have we met?” Laura leaned
toward her. “Honey, don’t get me wrong. I’m glad you’re having fun finally. God
knows it took you long enough to put what’s-his-name in the past—”

At the mention of Georgia’s ex, she frowned. Okay, fine. It had
taken her some time to get past the fury of being used, betrayed and then
finally, publicly
dumped.
But she figured most women
would have come out of that situation filled with righteous fury.

“Gee, thanks.”

“—I just don’t want you to get crushed again.”

“What happened to that optimism?”

Laura frowned at her. “This is different. What if you guys
crash and burn? Then you’ll be living here, with Sean right around the corner
practically and seeing him all the time and you’ll be miserable. I don’t want
that for you.”

Georgia sighed and gave her sister’s hand a pat. “I know. But
you don’t get to decide that, Laura. And we’re not going to crash and burn.
We’re just…”

“…yeah?”

“I was going to say we’re just lovers.”

“There’s no ‘just’ about it for you, Georgia,” Laura sputtered.
“Not for either one of us. We’re not built that way. We don’t do ‘easy.’”

“I know that, too,” Georgia argued, “but I did the cautious
thing for years, and what did it get me? I thought Mike was the one, remember?
Did everything right. Dated for two years, was engaged for one of those two. Big
wedding, nice house, working together to build something, and what
happened?”

Laura winced.

Georgia saw it and nodded. “Exactly. Mike runs off with Misty,
who, if she had two thoughts running around in that tiny brain of hers, would
rattle like BBs in a jar.”

Laura smiled, but sadly. “That’s no reason to jump into
something with a man like Sean.”

Suddenly forced to defend the man she was currently sleeping
with, Georgia said, “What does that mean, ‘a man like Sean’? He’s charming and
treats me great. We have fun together, and that’s all either one of us is
looking for.”

“For now.”

Georgia shook her head and smiled. “All I’m interested in at
the moment is ‘for now,’ Laura. I did the whole cautious thing for way too long.
Maybe it’s time to cut loose a little. Stop thinking nonstop about the future
and just enjoy today.”

A long moment passed before Laura sighed and said, “Maybe
you’re right. Sean is a sweetie, but Georgia—”

“Don’t worry,” she said, holding up one hand to stave off any
more advice. “I’m not looking for marriage and family. I don’t know that I ever
will.”

“Of course you will,” Laura told her, sympathy and
understanding shining in her eyes. “That’s who you are. But if this is what you
need right now, I’m on your side.”

“Thanks. And,” Georgia added, “as long as we’re talking about
this, you should know that last night Sean asked me to help him out.”

In a few short sentences, she explained Sean’s plan and watched
Laura’s mouth drop open. “You can’t be serious.”

“I think I am.”

“Let me count the ways this could go bad.”

“Do me a favor and don’t, okay?” Georgia glanced down at her
email and idly deleted a couple of the latest letters from people offering to
send her the winnings to contests she’d never entered. “I’ve thought about it,
and I understand why he’s doing it.”

“So do I. That doesn’t make it a good idea.”

“What’s not a good idea?” Ronan asked, as he walked into the
room and paused long enough to kiss his wife good morning before reaching out to
grab a cup and pour himself some coffee.

“Your idiot cousin,” Laura started, firing a glare at her
husband as if this were all his fault, “wants my sister to pretend they’re
engaged.”

While Laura filled Ronan in, Georgia sat back and concentrated
on her coffee. She had a feeling she was going to need all the caffeine she
could get.

Five

W
hen Laura finally wound down and sat in
her chair, alternately glowering at Ronan and then her sister, Georgia finally
spoke up.

“Sean can sell me a cottage,” she said calmly. “He can help
push through my business license and speed things up along the bureaucratic
conga line.”

“Ronan can do that, too, you know.”

“I know he can,” Georgia said with a smile for her
brother-in-law. “Sean’s already volunteered.”

“And…” Laura said.

“And what?”

“And you’re already lovers, so this is going to complicate
things.”

“Oh,” Ronan muttered, “when did that happen? No. Never mind. I
don’t need to know this.”

“It’s not going to get complicated,” Georgia insisted.

“Everything gets complicated,” Laura argued. “Heck, look at me!
I broke up with Ronan last year, remember? Now here I sit, in Ireland, married,
with a baby daughter.”

Ronan asked wryly, “Are you complaining?”

Laura shot a look at the man studying her through warm brown
eyes. “No way. Wouldn’t change a thing. I’m just saying,” she continued,
shifting her gaze back to Georgia, “that even when you think you know what’s
going to happen, things suddenly turn upside down on you.”

A warbling cry erupted from the baby monitor on the table in
front of Laura. Picking it up, she turned off the volume and stood.

“I have to go get the baby, but we’re not done here,” she
warned, as she left the dining room.

“Laura’s just worried for you.” Ronan poured himself more
coffee, then sat back and crossed his legs, propping one foot on the opposite
knee.

“I know.” She looked at him and asked, “But you’ve known Sean
forever. What do you think?”

“I think I warned Sean to keep his distance from you already,
for all the good that’s done.” Then he thought about it for a moment or two, and
said, “It’s a good idea.”

Georgia smiled and eased back in her chair. “Glad to hear you
say that.”

“But,”
he added.

“There’s always a
but,
isn’t
there?”

“Right enough,” he said. “I can see why Sean wants to do this.
Keep his mother happy until she’s well. And you helping him is a grand thing as
long as you remember that Sean’s not the man to
actually
fall for.”

“I’m not an idiot,” Georgia reminded him.

“And who knows that better than I?” Ronan countered with a
smile. “You helped me out last year when Laura was making my life a misery—”

“You’re welcome.”

“—and I’ll do the same now. Sean is a brother to me, and so if
he hurts you and I’m forced to kill him, it would pain me.”

Georgia grinned. “Thanks. I never had a big brother threaten to
beat up a boy who was mean to me.”

He toasted her with his coffee cup. “Well, you do now.”

She laughed a little. “Good to know.”

“You’d already made up your mind to go along with Sean’s plan,
even before you told Laura, hadn’t you?”

“Just about,” she admitted. But until Ronan had thrown in on
her side, she had still had a few doubts. Being close with Sean was no hardship,
but getting much closer could be dangerous to her own peace of mind. Laura was
right. Georgia wasn’t the “take a lover, use him and lose him” kind of woman. So
her heart would be at risk unless she guarded it vigilantly.

“So you’ve signed your rental agreement on the shop?”

“I did, and I’m going into Galway this morning to look at
furnishings.” She glanced down at her computer tablet as a sound signaled an
incoming email. “I’m really excited about the store, too. Of course it needs
some fresh paint and—” She broke off as her gaze skimmed the e-vite she had just
received. “You have
got
to be kidding me.”

“What is it?” All serious now, Ronan demanded, “What’s
wrong?”

Georgia hardly heard him over the roaring in her ears. She read
the email again and then once more, just to be sure she was seeing it right. She
was.

“That miserable, rotten, cheating, lying…”

“Who’s that then?”

“My
ex
-husband and my
ex
-cousin,” Georgia grumbled. “Of all the— I can’t
believe this. I mean seriously, could this be any more tacky? Even for
them?
”

“Ah,” Ronan muttered. “This may be more in Laura’s line…”

Georgia tossed her computer tablet to the couch cushion beside
her, set her coffee cup down with a clatter and stood up, riding the wings of
pure rage. “I’ll see you later, Ronan.”

“What?” He stood too and watched as she headed for the back
door that led to the stone patio, the garden and the fields beyond. “Where are
you going? What am I to tell Laura?”

“Tell her I just got engaged.”

Then she was through the door and across the patio.

* * *

She could have taken a car and driven along the narrow,
curving road to Sean’s place. But as angry as she was, Georgia couldn’t have sat
still for that long. Instead, she took the shortcut. Straight across a sunlit
pasture so green it hurt her eyes to look at it. Stone fences rambled across the
fields, and she was forced to scramble over them to go on her way.

Normally, she loved this walk. On the right was the round tower
that stood near an ancient cemetery on Ronan’s land. To her left was Lough Mask,
a wide lake fringed by more trees swaying in the wind. In the distance, she
heard the whisper of the ocean and the low grumbling of a farmer’s tractor. The
sky above was a brilliant blue, and the wind that flew at her carried the chill
of the sea.

Georgia was too furious to feel the cold.

Her steps were quick, and she kept her gaze focused on her
target. The roof of Sean’s manor house was just visible above the tips of the
trees, and she headed there with a steely determination.

She crossed the field, walked into the wood and only then
remembered Sean saying something about the faeries and how they might snatch her
away.

“Well, I’d like to see them try it today,” she murmured.

Georgia came out of the thick stand of trees at the edge of
Sean’s driveway. A wide gravel drive swung in a graceful arch in front of the
stone-and-timber manor. Leaded windows glinted in the sunlight. As she neared
the house, Sean stepped out and walked to meet her. He was wearing black slacks,
a cream-colored sweater and a black jacket. His dark hair ruffled in the wind,
and his hands were tucked into his pockets.

“Georgia!” He grinned at her. “I was going to stop to see you
on my way to hospital to check in on my mother.”

She pushed her tangled hair back from her face and stomped the
dew and grass from her knee-high black boots. She wore her favorite, dark green
sweater dress, and the wind flipped the hem around her knees. She had one short
flash that for something this big, she should have worn something better than a
dress she’d had for five years. But then, she wasn’t really getting engaged, was
she? It was a joke. A pretense.

Just like her first marriage had been.

“Are you all right?” he asked, his smile fading as he really
looked at her. Walking closer, he pulled his hands from his pockets and reached
out to take hold of her shoulders.

“Really not.” Georgia took a deep breath of the cold Irish air
and
willed
it to settle some of the roaring heat she
still felt inside. It didn’t work.

“What’s wrong then?”

There was real concern on his face and for that, she was
grateful. Sean was exactly who he claimed to be. There was no hidden agenda with
him. There were no secrets. He wouldn’t cheat on a woman and sneak out of town
with every cent she owned. It wouldn’t even occur to him. She could admire that
about him since she had already survived the man who was the exact opposite of
Sean Connolly.

That thought brought her right back to the reason for her mad
rush across the open field.

“You offered me a deal yesterday,” she said.

“I did.”

“Now I’ve got one for you.”

Sean released her, but didn’t step back. His gaze was still
fixed on her and concern was still etched on his face. “All right then, let’s
hear it.”

“I don’t even know where to start,” she said suddenly, then
blurted out, “I just got an email from my cousin Misty. The woman my ex-husband
ran off with.”

“Ah.” He nodded as if he could understand now why she was so
upset.

“Actually, the email was an e-vite to their
wedding.
”

His jaw dropped, and she could have kissed him for that alone.
That he would
get
it, right away, no explanation
necessary, meant more to Georgia than she could have said.

“She sent you an e-vite?” He snorted a laugh, then noted her
scowl and sobered up fast. “Bloody rude.”

“You think?” Shaking her head, Georgia started pacing back and
forth on the gravel drive, hearing the grinding noise of the pebbles beneath her
boots. “First, that she’s tacky enough to use e-vites as wedding invitations!”
She shot him a look and threw both hands in the air. “Who does that?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Of course you wouldn’t, because
no
one
does that!” Back to pacing, the
crunch,
crunch
of the gravel sounding out in a rapid rhythm. “And really? You
send one of your stupid, tacky e-vites to the woman your fiancé cheated on? The
one he left for
you?
”

“The pronouns are starting to get confusing, in case you were
wondering,” Sean told her.

She ignored that. “And Mike. What the hell was
he
thinking?” Georgia demanded. “He thinks it’s okay
to invite me to his wedding? What’re we now? Old
friends?
I’m supposed to be civilized?”

“What fun is civilized?” Sean asked.

“Exactly!” She stabbed a finger at him. “Not that I care who
the creep marries and if you ask me, the two of them deserve each other, but why
does either one of them think I want to be there to watch the beginning of a
marriage that is absolutely doomed from the start?”

“Couldn’t say,” Sean said.

“No one could, because it doesn’t make sense,” Georgia
continued, letting the words rush from her on a torrent of indignation. Then
something occurred to her. “They probably don’t expect me to actually
go
to the wedding.”

“No?”

“No.” She stopped dead, faced Sean and said, “Misty just wants
me to
know
that she finally got Mike to marry her.
Thinks it’ll hurt me somehow.”

“And of course she’s wrong about that,” Sean mused.

She narrowed her eyes on him. “Do I look hurt to you?”

“Not a bit,” he said quickly. “You look furious and well you
should be.”

“Damn right.” She set both hands on her hips and tapped the toe
of one boot against the gravel, only absently noting the rapid
tappity, tappity, tap
sound. “But you know what? I’m
going
to that wedding. I’m going to be the chill
kiss of death for those two at the happy festivities.”

Sean laughed. “I do admire a woman with fire in her eyes.”

“Then stick around,” she snapped. “I’m going to show them just
how little they mean to me.”

“Good on you,” Sean said.

“And the kicker is, I’m going to be arriving at their wedding
in Brookhollow, Ohio, with my gorgeous, fabulously wealthy Irish fiancé.”

One corner of his mouth tipped up. “Are you now?”

“That’s the deal,” Georgia said calmly, now that the last of
her outrage had been allowed to spill free. “I’ll help you keep your mom happy
until she’s well if you go to this wedding with me and convince everyone there
that you’re nuts about me.”

“That’s a deal,” he said quickly and walked toward her.

She skipped back a step and held up one hand to keep him at
bay. “And you’ll help me get my license and sell me that cottage, too,
right?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay, then.” She huffed out a breath as if she’d been running
a marathon.

“We’ve a deal, Georgia Page, and I think we’ll both come out of
this for the better.”

“I hope you’re right,” she said and held out her right hand to
take his in a handshake.

He smirked and shook his head. “That’s no way to seal a deal
between lovers.”

Then he swooped in, grabbed her tightly and swung her into a
dip that had her head spinning even
before
he kissed
her blind.

* * *

The next few days flew past.

Georgia could even forget, occasionally, that what was between
she and Sean wasn’t actually
real.
He played his
part so well. The doting fiancé. The man in love. Seriously, if she hadn’t known
it was an act, she would have tumbled headfirst into love with him.

And wouldn’t that be awkward?

True to his word, Sean had pushed through the paperwork for her
business license, and in just a week or two she would have it in hand. He sold
her one of the cottages he owned and made her such a good deal on it she almost
felt guilty, then she reminded herself that it was all part of the agreement
they had struck. And with that reminder came the annoying tug of memory about
her ex and the wedding Sean would be attending with her.

Georgia squared her shoulders and steeled her spine. She’d made
her decision and wouldn’t back away now. Besides, her new life was coming
together. She had her lover. A shop. A new home.

And all of it built on a tower of lies, her mind whispered.

“The question is,” she asked herself aloud, “what part of it
will survive when the tower collapses?” Frowning at the pessimistic thoughts
that she was determined to avoid, she added, “Not helping.”

She had chosen her road and wouldn’t change directions now.
Whatever happened, she and Sean would deal with it. They were two adults after
all. They could have sex. Have…whatever it was they had, without destroying each
other. And then, there was the fact that even if she had been willing to
consider ending their deal, she was in too deep to find a way out anyway. So
instead, she would suck it up, follow the plan Sean had laid out and hope for
the best.