Billionaire Boss: The Billion Dollar Deal
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 beside his mother’s bed in a torture chair designed to make visiting an ordeal, Sean braced his elbows on his knees and cupped his face in his palms. It had been only his mother and he for so long, he couldn’t remember his life any other way. His father had died when Sean was just a boy, and Ailish had done the heroic task of two parents.
Then when Ronan’s parents had died in that accident, Ailish had stepped in for him, as well. She was strong, remarkably self-possessed and until today, Sean would have thought, invulnerable. He lifted his gaze to the small woman with short, dark red hair. There was gray mixed with the red, he noticed for the first time. Not a lot, but enough to shake him.
When had his mother gotten old? Why was she here? She’d been to lunch with her friends and had felt a pain that had worried her enough she had come to the hospital to have it checked. And once the bloody doctors got their hands on you, you were good and fixed, Sean thought grimly, firing a glare at the closed door and the busy corridor beyond.
They’d slapped Ailish in to be examined and now, several hours later, he was still waiting to hear what the dozens of tests they’d done would tell them. The waiting, as he had told Georgia not so very long ago, was the hardest.
Georgia.
He wished he had brought her with him. She was a calm, cool head, and at the moment he needed that. Because what he was tempted to do was have his mother transferred to a bigger hospital in Dublin. To fly in specialists. “To buy the damned hospital so someone would come in and talk to me.”
“Sean,” his mother whispered, opening her eyes and turning her face toward him, “don’t swear.”
“Mother.” He stood up, curled one hand around the bar of her bed and reached down with the other to take hers in his. “How are you?”
“I’m fine,” she insisted. “Or I was, having a lovely nap until my son’s cursing woke me.”
“Sorry.” She still had the ability to make him feel like a guilty boy. He supposed all mothers had that power, though at the moment, only his mother concerned him. “But no one will talk to me. No one will tell me a bloody—” He cut himself off. “I can’t get answers from anyone in this place.”
“Perhaps they don’t have any to give yet,” she pointed out.
That didn’t ease his mind any.
Her face was pale, her sharp green eyes were a little watery, and the pale wash of freckles on her cheeks stood out like gold paint flicked atop a saucer of milk.
His heart actually ached to see her here. Like this. Fear wasn’t something he normally even considered, but the thought of his mother perhaps being at death’s bleeding door with not a doctor in sight cut him right down to the bone.
“Do you know what I was thinking,” she said softly, giving her son’s hand a gentle squeeze, “when they were sticking their wires and such to me?”
He could imagine. She must have been terrified. “No,” he said. “Tell me.”
“All I could think was, I was going to die and leave you alone,” she murmured, and a single tear fell from the corner of her eye to roll down her temple and into her hair.
“There’ll be no talk of dying,” he told her, instinctively fighting against the fear that crouched inside him. “And I’m not alone. I’ve friends, and Ronan and Laura, and now the baby …”
“And no family of your own,” she pointed out.
“And what’re you then?” Sean teased.
She shook her head and fixed her gaze with his. “You should have a wife. A family, Sean. A man shouldn’t live his life alone.”
It was an old argument. Ailish was forever trying to marry off her only child. But now, for the first time, Sean felt guilty. She should have been concerned for herself; instead she was worried for him. Worried about him. He hated that she was lying there so still and pale, and that there was nothing he could do for her. Bloody hell, he couldn’t even get the damn doctor to step into the room.
“Ronan’s settled and happy now,” Ailish said softly. “And so should you be.”
Her fingers felt small and fragile in his grip, and the fear and worry bottled up inside Sean seemed to spill over. “I am,” he blurted before he was even aware of speaking.
Her gaze sharpened. “You are what?”
“Settled,” he lied valiantly. He hadn’t planned to. But seeing her worry needlessly had torn something inside Sean and had him telling himself that this at least, he could do for her. A small lie couldn’t be that bad, could it, if it brought peace? And what if she was dying, God forbid, but how was he to know since no one would tell him anything. Wouldn’t it be better for her to go believing that Sean was happy?
“I’m engaged,” he continued, and gave his mother a smile. “I was going to tell you next week,” he added, as the lie built up steam and began to travel on its own.
Her eyes shone and a smile curved her mouth even as twin spots of color flushed her pale cheeks. “That’s wonderful,” she said. “Who is she?”
Who indeed?
Brain racing, Sean could think of only one woman who would fit this particular bill, but even he couldn’t drag Georgia into this lie without some warning. “I’ll tell you as soon as you’re fit and out of here.”
Now those sharp green eyes narrowed on him. “If this is a trick …”
He slapped one hand to his chest and hoped not to be struck down as he said, “Would I lie about something this important?”
“No,” she said after a long moment, “no, you wouldn’t.”
Guilt took another nibble of his soul.
“There you are then,” he pronounced. “Now try to get some sleep.”
She nodded, closed her eyes and still with a smile on her face, was asleep in minutes. Which left Sean alone with his thoughts—
A few hours later the doctor finally deigned to make an appearance, and though Sean was furious, he bit his tongue and was glad he had. A minor heart attack. No damage to her heart, really, just a warning of sorts for Ailish to slow down a bit and take better care of herself.
The doctor also wanted a few more tests to be sure of his results, which left Sean both relieved and worried. A minor heart attack was still serious enough. Was she well enough to find out he’d … exaggerated his engagement?
She would be in hospital for a week, resting under doctor’s orders, so Sean wouldn’t have to decide about telling her the truth right away. But he did have to have a chat with Georgia. Just in case.
Four
He left his mother sleeping and made his way out of the hospital, grateful to leave behind its smell of antiseptic and fear. Stepping into a soft, evening mist, Sean stopped dead when a familiar voice spoke up.
“Sean?”
He turned and felt a well of pleasure open up inside as Georgia walked toward him. “What’re you doing here?” he asked, wrapping both arms around her and holding on.
She hugged him, then pulled her head back to look up at him. “When we didn’t hear anything, I got worried. So I came here to wait for you. How’s your mom?”
Pleasure tangled with gratitude as he realized just how much he’d needed to see her. He’d been a man alone for most of his adult life, never asking for anything, never expecting anyone to go an extra meter for him. Yet here she was, stepping out of the mist and cold, and Sean had never been happier to see anyone.
“She’s well, though the doctor’s holding on to her for a week or so. More tests, he says, and he wants her to rest. Never could get my mother to slow down long enough to rest, so God help the nurses trying to hold her down in that bed,” he said, dropping a quick kiss on her forehead. “Scared me, Georgia. I don’t even remember the last time anything has.”
“Family does that to you,” she told him. “But she’s okay?”
“Will be,” he said firmly. “It was a ‘minor’ heart attack, they say. No permanent damage, though, so that’s good. She’s to take it easy for a few weeks, no upsets. But yes, she’ll be fine.”
“Good news.” Georgia’s gaze narrowed on him. “So why do you look more worried than relieved?”
“I’ll tell you all. But first, I’ve a need to get away from this place. Feels like I’ve been here for years instead of hours.” Frowning, he looked out at the car park. “How did you get here?”
“Called a cab.” She shrugged. “Laura was going to drive me, but I told her and Ronan that I’d be fine and you’d bring me home.”
“As I will,” he said, taking her arm and steering her toward his car. “But first, we’ll go to my house. We need to talk.”
“You’ll tell me on the way?”
“I think not,” he hedged. “I’m a man in desperate need of a beer, and I’m thinking you’ll be needing wine to hear this.”
There wasn’t enough wine in the world.
“Are you insane?” Georgia jumped off the comfortable sofa in Sean’s front room and stared down at him in stunned shock. “I mean, seriously. Maybe we should have had you examined at the hospital while we were there.”
Sean huffed out a breath and took a long drink of the beer he’d poured for himself as soon as they reached his home. Watching him, Georgia took a sip of her Chardonnay, to ease the tightness in her own throat.
Then he leaned forward and set the glass of beer onto the table in front of him. “I’m not insane, no. Crazy perhaps, but not insane.”
“Fine line, if you ask me.”
He pushed one hand through his hair and muttered, “I’m not explaining this well a’tall.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Georgia sipped at her wine, then set her own glass down beside his. Still standing, she crossed both arms over her chest and said, “You were pretty clear. You want me to pretend to be engaged to you so you can lie to your mother. That about cover it?”
He scowled and stood up, Georgia thought, just so he could loom over her from his much greater height.
“Well, when you put it like that,” he muttered, “it sounds—”
“Terrible? Is that the word you’re looking for?”
He winced as he scrubbed one hand across his face. Georgia felt a pang of sympathy for him even though a part of her wanted to kick him.
“I thought she was dying.”
“So you lied to her to give her a good send-off?”
He glared at her, and for the first time since she’d known him, she wasn’t seeing the teasing, laughing, charming Sean … but instead the hard-lined owner of Irish Air. This was the man who’d bought out a struggling airline and built it into the premier luxury line in the world. The man who had become a billionaire through sheer strength of will. His eyes flashed with heat, with temper, and his mouth, the one she knew so well, was now flattened into a grim line.
Georgia, who had a temper of her own and just as hard a head, was unimpressed.
“If you think I enjoy lying to her, you’re wrong.”
“Well, good, because I like your mother.”
“As do I,” he argued.
“Then tell her the truth.”
“I will,” he countered, “as soon as the doctor says she’s well again. Until then, would it really be so bad to let her believe a small lie?”
“Small.” She shook her head and walked toward the wide stone hearth, where a fire burned against the cold night. On the mantel above the fire were framed family photos. Sean and Ronan. Sean and his mother. Laura and Georgia captured forever the day Ronan and Sean had taken them to the Burren—a lonely, desolate spot just a few miles outside Galway. Family was important to him, she knew that. Seeing these photos only brought that truth back to her.
She turned her back to the flames and looked at him, across the room from her. Sean’s and Ronan’s houses were both huge, sprawling manors, but Sean’s was more … casual, she supposed was the right word. He’d lived alone here, but for his housekeeper and any number of people who worked on the estate, so he’d done as he pleased with the furniture.
Oversize sofas covered in soft fabric in muted shades of gray and blue crowded the room. Heavy, carved wooden tables dotted the interior, brass-based reading lamps tossed golden circles of light across gleaming wood floors and midnight-blue rugs. The walls were stone as well, interspersed with heavy wooden beams, and the wide front windows provided a view of a lawn that looked as if the gardener had gone over it on his knees with a pair of scissors, it was so elegantly tended.
“Is it really such a chore to pretend to be mad about me?” he asked, a half smile curving his mouth.
She looked at him and thought, no, pretending to be crazy about him wasn’t a problem. Which should probably be a problem, she told herself, but that was a worry for another day.
“You want me to lie to Ailish.”
“For only a while,” he said smoothly. “To give me time to see her settled.” He frowned a bit and added quietly, “She’s … important to me, Georgia. I don’t want her hurt.”
God, was there anything sexier than a man unafraid to show his love for someone? Knowing how much Ailish meant to Sean touched Georgia deeply, but she was still unconvinced that his plan was a good one. Still, she remembered clearly how devastated she had been when she’d discovered all of her ex-husband’s lies to her. Wouldn’t Ailish feel the same sort of betrayal?
She shook her head slowly. “And you don’t think she’ll be hurt when she discovers she’s been tricked?”
“Ah, but she won’t find that out, will she?” Sean said, and he was smiling again, his temper having blown away as fast as it had come. “When the time is right, you’ll throw me over, as well you should, and I’ll bravely go on with my heart shattered to jagged pieces.”
She snorted a laugh before she could stop it.
“So I get to be the bad guy, too?” She walked back, picked up her wine and took another sip. “Wow, I’m a lucky woman, all right. You remember I’m moving to Dunley, don’t you? I’ll see Ailish all the time, Sean, and she’s going to think I’m a hideous person for dumping her son.”
“She won’t blame you,” he assured her, “I’ll see to it.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Georgia love,” he said with a sigh, “you’re my only chance at pulling this off.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Of course you don’t, being an honest woman.” He plucked the wineglass from her fingers and set it aside. Then, stroking his hands up and down her arms, he added, “But being a warm-hearted, generous one as well, you can see this is the best way, can’t you?”
“You think you can smooth me into this with a caress and a kiss?”
He bent down until his eyes were fixed on hers. “Aye, I do.” Before she could respond to that arrogant admission, he added, “But I don’t think I’ll have to, will I? You’ve a kind heart, Georgia, and I know you can see why I’ve to do this.”
Okay, yes, she could. Irritating to admit that even to herself. She understood the fear that must have choked him when he thought his mother was going to die. But damn it. Memories fluttered in her mind like a swarm of butterflies. “Lies never go well, Sean.”
“But we’re not lying to each other now, are we? So between the two of us, everything is on the up and up, and my mother will get over the disappointment—when she’s well.”
“It’s not just your mother, though,” she said. “The whole village will know. They’ll all think I’m a jerk for dumping you.”
“Hah!” Sean grinned widely. “Most of those in Dunley will think you a fool for agreeing to marry me in the first place and will swear you’ve come to your senses when we end it. And if that doesn’t do the job, I’ll take the blame entirely.”
She laughed, because he looked so pleased with that statement. “You’re completely shameless, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely,” he agreed, with that grin that always managed to make her stomach take a slow bump and roll. “So will you do it then, Georgia? Will you pretend to be engaged to me?”
She was tempted, she could admit that much to herself. It was a small thing, after all. Just to help her lover out of a tight spot. And oh, he was a wonderful lover, she thought, her heart beginning to trip wildly in her chest. The time spent with him in the past couple of weeks had been … fabulous. But this was something else again.
“I can help you get your business license,” he offered. “You’re bogged down in the mire of bureaucratic speak, and I don’t know as you’d noticed or not, but things in Ireland move at their own pace. You could be a woman with a walker by the time you got that license pushed through on your own.”
She gave him a hard look. “But you’re a magician?”
“I’ve a way about me, that’s true. But also, I know some of those that are in charge of these things and frankly, as the owner of Irish Air, I carry a bit more weight to my words than you would.”
He could. Darn it. She’d already seen for herself that working her way through the reams of paperwork was going to be mind-boggling.
“I could see you settled and ready for business much faster than you could do it on your own.”
“Are you trying to bribe me?”
He grinned, unashamed. “I am and doing a damn fine job of it if you ask me.”
Staring up into his brown eyes, shining now with the excitement for his plan, Georgia knew she was pretty much done. And let’s face it, she told herself, he’d had her from the jump. Not only was it a great excuse to keep their affair going—but she knew how worried he was about Ailish and she felt for him. He had probably never doubted for a moment that he’d be able to talk her into joining him in his insanity. Even before the really superior bribe.
He was unlike anyone she’d ever known, Georgia thought. Everything about him was outrageous. Why wouldn’t a proposal from Sean Connolly be the same?
“And, did you know there’s a cottage for sale at the edge of the village?”
“Is that the one I hear you were talking to someone named Brian about?”
“Ah, the Dunley express,” he said with a grin. “Talk about it in the pub and it’s as good as published in the paper. No, this isn’t Brian’s mum’s place. He’s rented it just last week to Sinead and Michael when they come home.”
“Oh.” Well, there went a perfectly good cottage. “I spoke to Mary this afternoon, and she didn’t say a thing about a cottage for sale.”
“She doesn’t know all,” Sean said, bending to plant one quick, hard kiss on her lips. “For example, I own two of the cottages near the close at the end of main. Not far from your new shop …”
That last bit he let hang there long enough for Georgia to consider it. Then he continued.
“They’re small, but well kept. Close to the village center and with a faery wood in the back.”
She shook her head and laughed. “A what?”
He smiled, that delicious, slow curve of his mouth that promised wickedness done to perfection. “A faery wood, where if you stand and make a wish on the full of the moon, you might get just what your heart yearns for.” He paused. “Or, the faeries might snatch you away to live forever in their raft beneath the trees.”
With the song of Ireland in his voice, even the crazy sounded perfectly reasonable. “Faeries.”
“You’d live in Ireland and dismiss them?” he challenged, his eyes practically twinkling now with good humor and banked laughter.
“Sean …”
“I could be convinced to make you a very good deal on either of the cottages, if …”
“You’re evil,” she said softly. “My mother used to warn me about men like you.”
“An intelligent woman to be sure. I liked her very much when we met at Ronan’s wedding.”
Her mother had liked him, too. But then, her mom liked everybody. Georgia could remember being like that once upon a time. Before her ex-husband had left her for her cheerleader cousin and 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.