Read Online An Outrageous Proposal by Maureen Child - Free Book Online

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