An Outrageous Proposal

by Maureen Child

  Sean had come into Galway to see Ronan because his cousin’s office was the one place Sean could think of where they could have a conversation without interruptions from the seeming multitude of women in their lives. Ronan was, naturally, wrapped up in Laura and baby Fiona. For Sean, there was his mother, nearly recovered now, and there was Georgia. Beautiful Georgia who haunted his sleep and infiltrated his every waking thought.

  His woman, he’d thought that night in Ohio, and that notion had stayed with him. There was something there between them. He knew it. Felt it. And he’d finally found a plan to solve his troubles, so he’d needed this time with Ronan to talk it all out. But for all the help he was finding, he might have stayed home.

  “How is it crazy to go after what I want?” he argued now. “You did it.”

  Ronan sat back in the chair behind his uncluttered desk. Tapping the fingers of one hand against that glossy surface, he stared at Sean with a disbelieving gleam in his eyes.

  “Aye, I did it, just as you’re thinking to, so I’m the man to tell you that you’re wrong. You can’t ask Georgia to marry you as a sort of business arrangement.”

  “Why not?” Sean countered, glancing over his shoulder at his cousin before turning his gaze back to the window and the outside world beyond. “For all your calm reason now, you did the same with Laura and look how well that turned out for you.”

  Ronan scraped one hand across his face. “You idiot. I almost lost Laura through my own foolishness. She wouldn’t have me, do you not remember that? How I was forced to chase her down to the airport as she was leaving me?”

  Sean waved that off. The point was, it had worked out. A bump or two in the road, he was expecting. Nothing worthwhile came easy, after all, but in the end, Georgia would agree with him. He’d done a lot of thinking about this, and he knew he was right. Georgia was much more sensible, more reasonable than her sister and he was sure she’d see the common sense in their getting married.

  He’d worked it out in his mind so neatly, she had to see it. A businesslike offer of marriage was eminently sensible. With his mother on the mend, the time for ending their faux engagement was fast approaching. And Sean had discovered he didn’t want his time with Georgia to be over. He wanted her even more now than he had when this had all begun.

  He turned around, leaned one hip against the window jamb and looked at his cousin.

  “Georgia’s buying a house here,” Sean pointed out. “She’s opening her business. She won’t be running off to California to escape me.”

  “Doesn’t mean she’ll greet you with open arms, either,” Ronan snapped, then huffed out a breath filled with frustration. “She’s already been married to a man who didn’t treasure her. Why would she choose another who offers her the same?”

  Sean came away from the window in a fast lunge and stood glaring down at Ronan. Damned if he’d be put in the same boat as the miserable bastard who’d caused Georgia nothing but pain. “Don’t be comparing me to that appalling excuse of a man who hurt her. I’d not cheat on my wife.”

  “No, but you won’t love her, either,” Ronan said, jumping up from his chair to match his cousin glare for glare. “And as she’s my sister now, I’ll stand for her and tell you myself she deserves to be loved, and if you’re not the man to do it then bloody well step aside and let her find the one who will.”

  Those words slapped at Sean’s mind and heart, and he didn’t much care for it. Love wasn’t a word Sean was entirely comfortable with. He’d tried to be in love with Noreen and he’d failed. What if he tried with Georgia and failed there, as well? No, he wouldn’t risk it. What they had now was good. Strong. Warmth beneath the heat. Caring to go with the passion. Affection that wasn’t muddled by trying to label it. Wasn’t that enough? Wasn’t that more than a lot of people built a life around?

  And he’d be damned before he stepped aside for some other man to snatch Georgia in front of his eyes. Which was one of the reasons he’d come up with this plan in the first place. If they ended their engagement—and since Ailish was recovering nicely, that time was coming fast—then he’d be forced to let Georgia go. Watch her find a new man. He’d have to imagine that lucky bastard touching her, kissing her, claiming her in the dark of night—and damned if he’d do that, either.

  He alone would be the man touching Georgia Page, Sean assured himself, because he could accept no other option. If he did, he’d be over the edge and into insanity in no time at all.

  “She had a man who promised her love, as you’ve just said yourself,” Sean argued, jamming both hands into his pockets to hide the fists they’d curled into. Thinking about that man, Georgia’s ex, made him want to punch something. That a man such as he had had Georgia and let her go was something Sean would never understand.

  “What good did the promise of love do her then?” he asked, more quietly now. “I’m not talking of love but of building a life together.”

  “Without the first, the second’s not much good,” Ronan told him with a slow shake of his head.

  “Without the first, the second is far less complicated,” Sean argued. He knew Ronan loved his Laura, and good for him. But love wasn’t the only answer. Love was too damn ephemeral. Hard to pin down. If he offered her love, why would she believe him? Why would she trust it when that bastard who had offered the same had crushed her spirit with the word?

  No. He could offer Georgia what she wanted. A home. Family. A man to stand at her side and never hurt her as she’d been hurt before. Wasn’t that worth something?

  “You’re a jackass if you really believe that bilge you’re shoveling.”

  “Thanks very much,” Sean muttered, then said, “You’re missing the point of this, Ronan. If there’s no love between us, there’s no way for her to be hurt. She’ll be safe. I’ll see to it.”

  Ronan skewered him with a look. “You’re set on this, aren’t you?”

  “I am. I’ve thought this through.” In fact, he’d thought of little else since going on that trip to the States with Georgia. He wanted this and so, Sean knew, he could make it happen. He’d never before lost when something mattered as this did. Now wouldn’t be the first time. “I know I’m right about this, Ronan.”

  “Ah, well then.” Clapping one hand to Sean’s shoulder, Ronan said, “I wish you luck with it, because you’re going to need it. And when Georgia coshes you over the head with something heavy, don’t be coming to me looking for sympathy.”

  A tiny speck of doubt floated through the river of Sean’s surety, but he paid it no attention at all. Instead, he focused only on his plan, and how to present it to Georgia.

  * * *

  It stormed for a week.

  Heavy, black clouds rolled in from the sea, riding an icy wind that battered the village like a bad-tempered child. The weather kept everyone closed up in their own houses, and Georgia was no different. She’d spent her time hanging pictures and paintings, and putting out the other small things she’d brought with her from California until the cottage was cozy and felt more hers every day.

  She missed Sean, though. She hadn’t seen him in days. Had spoken to him only briefly on the phone. Laura had told her that Sean and Ronan had spent days and nights all over the countryside, helping the villagers and farmers who were having a hard time through the storm. They’d done everything from mending leaking roofs to ferrying a sick child to the hospital just in time for an emergency appendectomy.

  Georgia admired their connection to the village and their determination to see everyone safely through the first big storm of the season. But, God, she’d missed him. And though it pained her, she had finally convinced herself that not seeing him, not having him with her, was probably for the best. Soon, she’d have to get accustomed to his absence, so she might as well start getting used to it.

  But it was so much harder than she’d thought it would be. She hadn’t planned on that, damn it. She’d wanted the affair with the gorgeous Irishman, and who wouldn’t have?

  But
she hadn’t wanted the risk of loving him, and the fact that she did was entirely his fault. If he hadn’t been so blasted charming and sweet and sexy. If he hadn’t been such an amazing lover and so much fun to be around, she never would have fallen. So really, Georgia told herself, none of this was her fault at all.

  She’d been hit over the head by the Irish fates and the only way out was pain and suffering. He’d become such a part of her life that cutting him out of it was going to be like losing a limb. Which just irritated her immensely. That she could fall in love when she knew she shouldn’t, because of the misery that was now headed her way, was both frustrating and infuriating.

  The worst of it now was there was nothing she could do about it. The love was there and she was just going to have to hope that, eventually, it would fade away. In hindsight, she probably shouldn’t have accepted Sean’s bargain in the first place. But if she hadn’t…she would have missed so much.

  So she couldn’t bring herself to wish away what she’d found with him, even though ending it was going to kill her.

  When the sun finally came out, people streamed from their homes and businesses as if they were prisoners suddenly set loose from jail. And Georgia was one of them. She was so eager to get out of her own thoughts, and away from her own company, she raced into town to open her shop and start living the life she was ready to build.

  The sidewalks were crowded with mothers who had spent a week trapped with bored children. The tea shop did a booming business as friends and neighbors gathered to tell war stories of storm survival. Shop owners were manning brooms, cleaning up the wreckage left behind and talking to friends as they worked.

  Georgia was one of them now. Outside her new design shop, she wielded a broom with the rest of them, and once her place was set to rights, she walked back inside to brew some coffee. She might be in Ireland, but she hadn’t yet switched her allegiance from coffee to tea.

  The bell over the front door rang in a cheery rattle, and she hurried into the main room only to stop dead when she saw Sean. Everything in her kindled into life. Heat, excitement, want and tenderness tangled together making her nearly breathless. It felt like years since she’d seen him though it had only been a few days. Yes. Irritating.

  He looked ragged, tired, and a curl of worry opened up in the center of her chest. The shadow of whiskers on his jaws and the way his hair jutted up, no doubt from him stabbing his fingers through it repeatedly, told her just what a hard few days he’d had. He wore faded jeans, a dark, thickly knit sweater and heavy work boots. And, she thought, he’d never looked more gorgeous.

  “How are you?” she asked.

  He rubbed one hand across his face, blinked a couple of times, then a half smile curved one corner of his mouth. “Tired. But otherwise, I’ll do.”

  “Laura told me what you and Ronan have been up to. Was it bad?”

  “The first big storm of the year is always bad,” he said. “But we’ve got most of the problems in the area taken care of.”

  “I’m glad. It was scary around here for a day or two,” she said, remembering how the wind had howled like the shrieks of the dying. At one point the rain had come down so fiercely, it had spattered into the fire in her hearth.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to be with you during your first real storm in Dunley,” he said, as sunlight outlined him in gold against the window.

  “I was fine, Sean. Though I am thinking about getting a dog,” she added with a smile. “For the company. Besides, it sounds like you and Ronan had your hands full.”

  “We did at that.” He blew out a breath and tucked his hands into the back pockets of his jeans.

  How could a man look that sexy in old jeans and beat-up work boots?

  “Maeve Carrol’s roof finally gave up the ghost and caved in on her.”

  Georgia started. “Oh, my God. Is she okay?”

  “She’s well,” Sean said, walking farther into the shop, letting his gaze move over the room and all the changes she’d made to it. “Madder than the devil with a drop of holy water in his whiskey, but fine.”

  She smiled at the image and imagined just how furious Maeve was. The older woman was spectacularly self-sufficient. “So, I’m guessing you and Ronan finally talked her into letting you replace her roof.”

  “The woman finally had no choice as she’s a hole in her roof and lots of water damage.” He shook his head. “She nearly floated away on a tide of her own stubbornness. She’ll be staying with Ronan and Laura until her cottage is livable again.”

  Georgia folded her arms across her chest to help her fight the urge to go and wrap her arms around him. “I’m guessing she’s not happy about leaving her home.”

  “You’d think we’d threatened to drag her through the village tied to a rampaging horse.” He snorted. “The old woman scared us both half to death. Ronan’s been after her for years to let us replace that roof.”

  “I know. It’s nice of you to look out for her.”

  He glanced at her. “Maeve is family.”

  “I know that, too,” she said and felt that flutter of love inside her again. Honestly, who wouldn’t be swooning at the feet of a man like this? Even as that thought circled her brain, Georgia steeled herself. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to do something stupid that would alert him to just how much she cared about him.

  And that couldn’t happen. No way would she live in Dunley knowing that Sean was off at the manor feeling sorry for poor Georgia, who’d been foolish enough to fall in love with him.

  “Anyway,” she said with forced cheer, “my cottage is sound, thanks to the previous owner. So I was fine.”

  “Aye,” he said softly, brown eyes locked on her face. “You are.”

  A ripple of sensation slid along her spine at the music in his voice, the heat in his eyes. He was temptation itself, she told herself, and she wondered how she was going to manage living in this town over the years, seeing him and not having him. Hearing the gossip in the village about the women he would be squiring around. And again, she wanted to kick herself for ever agreeing to his crazy proposal.

  “You’ve been working here. Your shop looks good,” he said, shifting a quick look around the space. “As do you.”

  Heat flared inside her, but she refused to acknowledge it. Instead, Georgia looked around her shop, letting her gaze slide over the soft gold walls, the paintings of Laura’s that Georgia had hung only that morning.

  “Thanks,” she said. “The furniture I ordered from the shop in Galway should arrive by end of the week.”

  She could almost see it, a sleek, feminine desk with matching chair. More chairs for clients, and shelves for what would be her collection of design books. She’d have brightly colored rugs strewn across the polished wood floor and a sense of style that customers would feel the moment they stepped inside.

  Georgia was excited about the future even as she felt a pang of regret that Sean wouldn’t be a part of it. She took a steadying breath before looking into his soft brown eyes again. And still it wasn’t enough. Probably never would be, she thought. He would always hold a piece of her heart, whether he wanted it or not.

  Still, she forced a smile. “I think it’s really coming along. I’m looking forward to opening the shop for business.”

  “You’ll be brilliant,” he said, his gaze level on hers.

  “Thanks for that, too.” She knew his words weren’t empty flattery, and his confidence in her was a blossom of warmth inside her. “And as long as I’m thanking you…we’ll add on that I appreciate all your help with the business license.”

  “We had a deal, didn’t we?”

  “Yeah,” she said, biting at her bottom lip. “We did.”

  “I spoke to Tim Shannon this morning. He told me that your business license should be arriving by end of the week.”

  A swirl of nerves fluttered in the pit of her stomach, and she slapped both hands to her abdomen as if to still them.

  “Never say you’re nervous,�
� he said, smiling.

  “Okay, I won’t tell you. But I am. A little.” She turned her gaze on the front window and stared out at the sunlit street beyond. “This is important to me. I just want to do it right.”

  “And so you will,” Sean said, “and to prove it, I want to hire you.”

  “What?” That she hadn’t expected.

  “Do you remember how you reeled off dozens of brilliant ideas on how to improve the interior of my planes?”

  “Yes…”

  He walked closer, tugged his hands from his pockets and laid them on her shoulders. “I want you to redesign the interiors of all the Irish Air jets.”

  “You…” She blinked at him.

  “Not just the fleet we’ve got at the moment, either,” he told her, giving her shoulders a squeeze. “I want you in on my talks with the plane builders. We can get your input from the beginning that way.”

  “Redesign your…” It was a wild, exciting idea. And Georgia’s mind kicked into high gear despite the shock still numbing parts of her brain.

  This was huge. Irish Air as her client would give her an instant name and credibility. It would be an enormous job, she warned herself, expecting nerves or fear to trickle in under the excitement, but they didn’t come. All she felt was a rush of expectancy and a thrill that he trusted her enough to turn her loose on the business that meant so much to him.

  “I can see the wheels in your mind turning,” he said, his mouth curving slightly. “So add this to the mix. You’ll have a free hand to make whatever changes you think best. We’ll work together, Georgia, and together we’ll make Irish Air legendary.”

  Together. Her heart stirred. Oh, she liked the sound of that, even though more time with Sean would only make the eventual parting that much more painful. How could she not love him? He was offering her carte blanche to remake Irish Air because he trusted her.

  Shaking her head, she admitted, “I don’t even know what to say.”