“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.
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 ha
d 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
When 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.
An Outrageous Proposal Page 6