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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.
    “Ronan says you haven’t been by the house much,” Maeve
mentioned.
    “Ah, well, I’m giving them time to settle in with Fiona. Don’t
need people dropping in right and left.”
    “You’ve been dropping in since you
were a boy, Sean.” She clucked her tongue and mused, “Makes a body wonder what
you’ve