Sarah Morgan - Worth The Risk

‘It’s in the middle of nowhere and you’d hate it,’ Ally said flatly, giving Will a threatening look which he met with a smile. Ally almost snarled. He was doing it again! Matchmaking! Trying to pair her up with anything male under the age of ninety. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone?

‘It’s the perfect solution,’ Will said happily. ‘You need a lodger and Sean needs a place to stay.’

Ally opened her mouth to refuse for the final time and then caught the wistful look on Will’s face and closed it again. Oh, blow the man! How could he do this to her? He had been so good to her for so long. In fact, without him she didn’t know how she would have survived. She owed him so much and he made her feel churlish every time she avoided his attempts to liven up her life.

Maybe if she let Sean stay in her barn it would keep Will quiet. Stop his matchmaking. Prove to him once and for all that no matter how many men he paraded in front of her she wasn’t interested. It just wasn’t fair on Charlie. She needed constancy in her life, not a continual throughput of men who walked out when the going got tough. No, a lodger was all Sean would ever be, and even then it wasn’t as if they would really be sharing accommodation. The stable wing attached to her barn was quite self-contained. All she had to do was pass him on the driveway occasionally.

‘Do you mind sleeping in a stable?’ Her voice sounded unwelcoming but Sean just smiled.

‘Is the horse still in it?’

She gave him a withering look and the smile deepened.

Will stood up and deposited his mug and plate in the sink. ‘Ally’s stable is gorgeous—she’s spent a lot of money converting it.’

‘Has she now?’ Sean’s eyes meshed with hers and she forced herself to hold his gaze. ‘And doesn’t your husband mind having lodgers?’

‘Oh, Ally’s not married,’ Will said blithely. ‘Didn’t I mention it?’

Thanks, Will! Ally thought, feeling her colour rise. Thanks a lot. Now that he’d well and truly set the scene she didn’t know whether to laugh or kill him.

‘But she lives with someone,’ Sean murmured, giving her an odd look that she couldn’t interpret.

‘Lives with—? Well, yes, Charlie, but not…’ Will glanced at Ally with a frown, which deepened as he met her pleading look. His mouth tightened. ‘Oh, I see. Well, I’ve got calls to make so I’ll leave the two of you to sort out the details.’

With that he left the room, leaving Ally gaping after him, boiling with frustration, knowing she’d been totally outmanoeuvred.

Sean stood up and made himself another cup of coffee. ‘Subtle, isn’t he? More coffee?’

‘No, thanks.’ Ally felt swamped with embarrassment by Will’s obvious games. ‘I don’t know what’s come over him.’

Sean gave a wry smile. ‘Well, if that’s really the case then I go back to my first impression of dizzy blonde. He’s matchmaking, sweetheart, as you well know, and what I want to know is why he’s matchmaking when you’re already attached.’

Ally blushed furiously. ‘I don’t know.’

One dark eyebrow lifted. ‘No?’

‘No.’ She started to clear away the remains of the sandwiches to hide her awkwardness. ‘And, anyway, it’s totally irrelevant because I wouldn’t have a relationship with you if you were the last man on earth.’

Sean dropped into one of the chairs and stretched long legs out in front of him, his eyes amused. ‘Is that so?’

She warmed to her subject. ‘Yes, it is. You, Dr Nicholson, are the original male chauvinist pig who thinks that a woman’s place is in the home, keeping it warm for her man. I don’t suppose you’ve ever even heard of New Man, have you?’

Sean smiled politely. ‘New Man?’

‘Yes, you know—the sort of partner who respects women as equals, who doesn’t mind doing the ironing or the washing-up and who certainly wouldn’t stop me fell-walking if that’s what I chose to do.’

Sean looked interested. ‘You don’t think I qualify as New Man?’

‘You?’ Ally gave a snort of derision. ‘You’re a clone of the original Stone-Age version. The only difference is that you wear clothes instead of a loincloth.’

His eyes gleamed with unholy laughter. ‘Any time you want to see me in a loincloth, Dr McGuire, you only have to ask.’

Vivid images of Sean Nicholson with no clothes on flashed before her eyes and she coloured furiously. His smile deepened.

‘You’re the limit!’ Her tongue moistened dry lips and her breath caught as his eyes dropped to her mouth.

‘So why aren’t you married, Dr McGuire?’

Ally lifted her chin. ‘That’s none of your business.’

His eyes met hers. ‘Charlie obviously isn’t Mr Right, then.’

‘Let’s get one thing straight, shall we?’ Ally glared at him. ‘You can move into my barn if you so wish because it would please Will and, frankly, I haven’t the energy to argue, but don’t read any more into it. You’re my lodger. Nothing more.’

Sean raised an eyebrow. ‘Have I asked for more?’

Ally blushed. ‘Well, no, but—’

‘I never touch another man’s woman, and you’ve told me you’re already involved with someone.’ There was something benign about his expression that she didn’t trust an inch. ‘Aren’t you?’

‘Well, yes, but—’

‘So that’s that, then.’ He drained his mug and stood up, his powerful figure dominating the small room. ‘Of course, if you weren’t involved with someone then the situation would be entirely different.’

His eyes held hers for a long moment and she swallowed uncomfortably. Had he guessed? What was going to happen when he found out that the person she was involved with was her daughter? She gave herself a shake. Nothing was going to happen. Nothing. Because she would make sure it didn’t. She owed it to Charlie.

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