An Outrageous Proposal by Maureen Child Read Free Book Online

found that’s kept you so busy.”
    “I’ve got a business to run, don’t I?” he argued in a lame
defense, for Maeve knew as well as he did that his presence wasn’t required
daily at the offices of Irish Air. There was plenty of time for him to stop in
at Ronan’s house as he always had. But before, he hadn’t been trying to cover up
an affair with his…what was Georgia to him? A cousin-in-law? He shook his head.
Didn’t matter. “I’ll go to the house, Maeve.”
    “See that you do. Ronan’s wanting to show off his baby girl to
you, so mind you go to there soon.”
    “I will and all,” he assured her, then snatched at his ringing
cell phone as he would a lifeline tossed into a churning sea. Lifting one finger
to Maeve as if to tell her one moment, he turned and answered, “Sean
Connolly.”
    A cool, dispassionate voice started speaking and he actually felt a ball of ice drop into the pit of his
stomach.
    “Repeat that if you please,” he ordered, though he didn’t want
to hear the news again. He had to have the information.
    His gaze moved to Georgia, who had turned to look at him, a
question in her eyes. His tone of voice must have alerted her to a problem.
    “I understand,” he said into the phone. “I’m on my way.”
    He snapped the phone closed.
    Georgia walked up to him. “What is it?”
    Sean could hardly say the words, but he forced them out. “It’s
my mother. She’s in hospital.” It didn’t sound real. Didn’t feel real. But
according to the nurse who’d just hung up on him, it was. “She’s had a heart
attack.”
    “Ah, Sean,” Maeve said, sympathy rich in her voice.
    He didn’t want pity. More than that though, he didn’t want to
be in a position to need it. “She’s in Westport. I have to go.”
    He headed for the door, mind already racing two or three steps
ahead. He’d get to the hospital, talk to the doctors, then figure out what to do
next. His mother was hale and hearty—usually—so he wouldn’t worry until he knew
more. An instant later, he told himself Bollocks to
that, as he realized the worry and fear had already started.
    Georgia was right behind him. “Let me come with you.”
    “No.” He stopped, looked down into her eyes and saw her concern
for him and knew that if she were with him, her fears would only multiply his
own. Sounded foolish even to him, but he had to do this alone. “I have to
go—”
    Then he hit the door at a dead run and kept running until he’d
reached his car.
    * * *
    Ailish Connolly was not the kind of woman to be
still.
    So seeing his mother lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to
machinery that beeped and whistled an ungodly tune was nearly enough to bring
Sean to his knees. Disjointed but heartfelt prayers raced through his mind as he
reached for the faith of his childhood in this time of panic.
    It had been too long since he’d been to Mass. Hadn’t graced a
church with his presence in too many years to count. But now, at this moment, he
wanted to fling himself at the foot of an altar and beg God for help.
    Sean shoved one hand through his hair and bit back the
impatience clawing inside him. He felt so bloody helpless, and that, he thought,
was the worst of it. Nothing he could do but sit and wait, and as he wasn’t a
patient man by nature…the waiting came hard.
    The private room he had arranged for his mother smelled like
her garden, since he’d bought every single flower in the gift shop. That was
what he’d been reduced to. Shopping for flowers while his mother lay still and
quiet. He wasn’t accustomed to being unable to affect change around him.
    Sean Connolly was a man who got things done. Always. Yet here,
in the Westport hospital, he could do not a bloody thing to get action. To even
get a damned doctor to answer his questions. So far, all he’d managed to do was
irritate the nurses and that, he knew, was no way to gain cooperation. Irish
nurses were a tough bunch and took no trouble from anyone.
    Sitting