Free An Outrageous Proposal by Maureen Child

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