An Outrageous Proposal

“You’ve your heart set on this place, have you?” Maeve asked.

Georgia grinned at the older woman then shifted her gaze to the empty building in front of them. It was at the end of the village itself and had been standing empty for a couple of years. The last renter had given up on making a go of it and had left for America.

“I have,” Georgia said with a sharp nod for emphasis. “It’s a great space, Maeve—”

“Surely a lot of it,” the older woman agreed, peering through dirty windows to the interior. “Colin Ferris now, he never did have a head for business. Imagine trying to make a living selling interwebbing things in a village the size of Dunley.”

Apparently Colin hadn’t been able to convince the villagers that an internet café was a good idea. And there hadn’t been enough of the tourist trade to tide him over.

“’Twas no surprise to me he headed off to America.” She looked over at Georgia. “Seems only right that one goes and one comes, doesn’t it?”

“It does.” She hadn’t looked at it that way before, but there was a sort of synchronicity to the whole thing. Colin left for America, and Georgia left America for Dunley.

“So you’ve your path laid out then?”

“What? Oh. Yes, I guess I have,” Georgia said, smiling around the words. She had found the building she would rent for her business, and maybe in a couple of years, she’d be doing so well she would buy it. It was all happening, she thought with an inner grin. Her whole life was changing right before her eyes. Georgia would never again be the same woman she had been when Mike had walked out of her life, taking her self-confidence with him.

“Our Sean’s been busy as well, hasn’t he?” Maeve mused aloud. “Been a help to you right along?”

Cautious, Georgia slid a glance at the canny woman beside her. So far she and Sean had kept their … relationship under the radar. And in a village the size of Dunley, that had been a minor miracle. But if Maeve Carrol was paying attention, their little secret could be out.

And Maeve wasn’t the only one paying attention. Laura was starting to give Georgia contemplative looks that had to mean she was wondering about all the time Georgia and Sean were spending together.

Keeping her voice cool and her manner even cooler, Georgia said only, “Sean’s been great. He’s helped me get the paperwork going on getting my business license—” Which was turning out to be more complicated than she’d anticipated.

“He’s a sharp one, is Sean,” Maeve said. “No one better at wangling his way around to what he wants in the end.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Maggie Culhane told me yesterday that she and Colleen Leary were having tea at the pub and heard Sean talking to Brian Connor about his mum’s cottage, it standing empty this last year or more.”

Georgia sighed inwardly. The grapevine in Dunley was really incredible.

“Yes, Sean was asking about the cottage for me. I’d really like to live in the village if I can.”

“I see,” Maeve murmured, her gaze on Georgia as sharp as any cop’s, waiting for a confession.

“Oh, look,” Georgia blurted, “here comes Mary Donohue with the keys to the store.”

Thank God, she thought, grateful for the reprieve in the conversation. Maeve was a sweetie, but she had a laser like focus that Georgia would just as soon avoid. And she and Sean were keeping whatever it was between them quiet. There was no need for anyone else to know, anyway. Neither one of them was interested in feeding the local gossips—and Georgia really didn’t want to hear advice from her sister.

“Sorry I’m late,” Mary called out when she got closer. “I was showing a farm to a client, and wouldn’t you know he’d be late and then insist on walking over every bloody blade of grass in the fields?”

She shook her mass of thick red hair back from her face, produced a key from her suitcase-sized purse and opened the door to the shop. “Now then,” she announced, standing back to allow Georgia to pass in front of her. “If this isn’t perfect for what you’re wanting, I’ll be shocked.”

It was perfect, Georgia thought, wandering into the empty space. The floor was wood, scarred from generations of feet tracking across its surface. But with some polish, it would look great. The walls were in need of a coat of paint, but all in all, the place really worked for Georgia. In her mind, she set up a desk and chairs and shelves with samples stacked neatly. She walked through, the heels of her boots clacking against the floor. She gave a quick look to the small kitchen in the back, the closet-sized bath and the storeroom. She’d already been through the place once and knew it was the one for her. But today was to settle the last of her nerves before she signed the rental papers.

The main room was long and narrow, and the window let in a wide swath of daylight even in the gray afternoon. She had a great view of the main street, looking out directly across the road at a small bakery where she could go for her lunch every day and get tea and a sandwich. She’d be a part of Dunley, and she could grow the kind of business she’d always wanted to have.

Georgia breathed deep and realized that Mary was giving her spiel, and she grinned when she realized she would never have to do that herself, again. Maeve wandered the room, inspecting the space as if she’d never seen it before. Outside, two or three curious villagers began to gather, peering into the windows, hands cupped around their eyes.

Another quick smile from Georgia as she turned to Mary and said, “Yes. It’s perfect.”

Sean came rushing through the front door just in time to hear her announcement. He gave her a wide smile and walked across the room to her. Dropping both hands onto her shoulders, he gave her a fast, hard kiss, and said, “That’s for congratulations.”

Georgia’s lips buzzed in reaction to that spontaneous kiss even while she worried about Maeve and Mary being witnesses to it. Sean didn’t seem to mind, though. But then, he was such an outgoing guy, maybe no one would think anything of it.

“We used handshakes for that in my day,” Maeve murmured.

“Ah, Maeve my darlin’, did you want a kiss, too?” Sean swept the older woman up, planted a quick kiss on her mouth and had her back on her feet, swatting the air at him a second later.

“Go on, Sean Connolly, you always were free with your kisses.”

“He was indeed,” Mary said with a wink for Georgia. “Talk of the village he was. Why when my Kitty was young, I used to warn her about our Sean here.”

Sean slapped one hand to his chest in mock offense. “You’re a hard woman, Mary Donohue, when you know Kitty was the first to break my heart.”

Mary snorted. “Hard to break a thing that’s never been used.”

No one else seemed to notice, but Georgia saw a flash of something in Sean’s eyes that made her wonder if Mary’s words hadn’t cut a little deeper than she’d meant. But a moment later, Sean was speaking again in that teasing tone she knew so well.

“Pretty women were meant to be kissed. You can’t blame me for doing what’s expected, can you?”

“You always did have as much brass as a marching band,” Maeve told him, but she was smiling.

“So then, it’s settled.” Sean looked from Georgia to Mary. “You’ll be taking the shop.”

“I am,” she said, “if Mary’s brought the papers with her.”

“I have indeed,” that woman said and again dipped into her massive handbag.

Georgia followed her off a few steps to take care of business while Sean stood beside Maeve and watched her go.

“And just what kind of deviltry are you up to this time, Sean Connolly?” Maeve whispered.

Sean didn’t look at the older woman. Couldn’t seem to tear his gaze off of Georgia. Nothing new there. She had been uppermost in his mind for the past two weeks. Since the first time he’d touched her, Sean had thought about little else but touching her again. He hadn’t meant to kiss her like that in front of witnesses—especially Maeve—but damned if he’d been able to help himself.

“I don’t know what you mean, Maeve.”

“Oh, yes,” the older woman said with a knowing look, “it’s clear I’ve confused you …”

“Leave off, Maeve,” he murmured. “I’m here only to help if I can.”

“Being the generous sort,” she muttered right back.

He shot her a quick look and sighed. There was no putting anything over on Maeve Carrol. When they were boys, he and Ronan had tried too many times to count to get away with some trouble or other only to be stopped short by the tiny woman now beside him.

Frowning a bit, he turned to watch Georgia as she read over the real estate agent’s papers. She was small but, as he knew too well, curvy in all the right places. In her faded blue jeans and dark scarlet, thickly knit sweater, she looked too good. Standing here in this worn, empty store, she looked vivid. Alive. In a way that made everything else around her look as gray as the skies covering Dunley.