Page 28 of The Irish Rogue

Sean nodded. “Fine. What’s your address?”

She whipped off a sticky note and wrote down her new address. “It’s just outside of town. Lots of land and a big yard, so that Declan will have plenty of space to play once he’s older.”

She handed him the note. “I’ll be finished here around 4:30ish but I’ll try to leave work early. I’ll call you when I’m leaving and you can meet me there.”

“Fine,” he snapped, stuffing the note into his pants pocket. It was the first time that Kennedi had noticed his clothing and she had to admit that the man looked deliciously nice in the charcoal slacks and the snowy, white dress shirt. It was open at the collar, so no tie. And she had to acknowledge that she was still tempted. His broad shoulders and lean hips were the stuff of fantasies.

Or many of her fantasies, she corrected. Yep, she accepted that she’d never truly gotten over Sean. He was…delicious.

But that part of her life was over, she reminded herself. She was a mother now. She didn’t have those urges any more. She was too tired for sexual urges.

Or so she hoped!

Sean nodded curtly to her, glanced down at Declan again, then left her office, leaving the door open this time.

Sighing, Kennedi bent down and smiled at her tiny son. He was so incredibly adorable…and the spitting image of his daddy. She hadn’t realized that until this moment, but even his three month old facial features were shaping into Sean’s image.

Chapter 10

“Beth, cancel all of my meetings for the next week. Maybe longer.” There was a pause on the other end of the line as his assistant processed his comment.

“But Sean, you have that meeting with Dorisay Corp on Wednesday. They’ve been nagging me for months to speak with you.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Doesn’t matter. Cancel it. An emergency has come up and I don’t know when I’ll be back. But I can be reached if anyone has questions.”

“You got it, boss,” Beth replied. They went over a few other issues and he provided guidance on fixing a couple of problems. But overall, his team was excellent at their jobs.

“Tell Adrienne to deal with Dorisay Corp, okay? She did a great job on the last acquisition. It’s time for her to take the lead role.”

Beth laughed and he pictured her nodding. “I will tell her and I already know she will be over the moon. She’ll consider this a vote of confidence on your part.”

“That’s exactly what it is. Adrienne has done a great job.” After a few more comments, he ended the call, then looked around. He was standing in the parking lot of the brewery. Now that he had business out of the way, he looked back at the offices. He wanted to know who had called Kennedi a whore. And he wanted to smash that person’s face in!

Kennedi wasn’t a whore. She was a gentle, beautiful, passionate woman.

Who had hidden the fact that he had a son.

No, that wasn’t accurate. She’d tried to tell him. He’d been the coward. Sean knew that now. He’d been a coward about the way she’d made him feel. And the anger, the rage, when she’d rushed out of the house. He’d stupidly thought that there was something special happening between them. He’d started to make plans, a future with her.

He hadn’t told her about those plans, of course. They’d only known each other for that weekend.

But damn, it had been an outstanding weekend! Even now, his body hardened at the memories of her touching him, of the soft, sexy sounds she made when he touched her. It didn’t matter where on her body he touched, she’d hissed, laughed, and gasped with pleasure.

“Damn it!” he muttered, then slipped into his rental car. The black sedan roared to life and he tossed the files from Tom’s conversation onto the passenger seat. He’d have to fast track the purchase. There was zero chance that he’d allow his father to get his hands on the brewery now. The Earl of Winton was too filthy, too corrupt, and evil to touch any part of something involving his son.

Even as he thought about the details of finalizing the purchase, he grinned with anticipation of the phone call he’d receive. After the last four brewery purchases, once his asshole father had finally realized what Sean was doing, the old man had called him, livid for interfering with his company’s expansion plans. He’d even threatened legal action, which had been ludicrous. In business, every good businessman knew that capitalism was brutal and the person with the most cash won. And Sean ensured that he always had the most cash.

It wasn’t his life’s goal to humiliate his father. It was just a happy happenstance that occurred whenever Sean fouled up the man’s plans.

Driving through the small, Georgia town, he noticed that not much had changed in the past year. Living in Philadelphia, there was always road construction, building renovations, new stores being built, and older stores changing owners. There were parts of the city that rarely changed, but the rest of the city thrived on the latest and greatest new idea.

Newnan was a beautiful town, steeped in history. The southern charm was apparent everywhere, even in the neat rows of the…?

His eyes narrowed as he saw a flash of something red. Again?

Once was odd, but he’d dismissed the flash of color. Seeing it again this morning at the airport, he’d thought there’d just been a kid hiding in the woods or that his mind was playing tricks on him, mocking his past. But a third flash of the same shade of red…that wasn’t a coincidence.

Something was happening. And it was the same color of red. His mind played back the other scenes and…yes, he suspected that all of the brief flashes had been female. Sean couldn’t explain why he thought that the flashes were feminine, but his gut was telling him that a woman was behind the red.

---