Free An Outrageous Proposal by Maureen Child Page B

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