“Is it not possible that some things don’t concern you?” he inquired.
“Of course it’s possible,” she retorted impatiently. “But something tells me that’s not the case right now.”
He beckoned her closer. “If you were to put aside all those doubts and questions, I could close up now and we could go upstairs.”
“You shouldn’t use sex as a distraction,” she chided, but her mood was definitely shifting. Maybe she didn’t have to have answers to all those burning questions just yet. Tomorrow might be soon enough. “Though if it were a promise of outrageously wicked sex you were making, I could be persuaded to go along with it.”
He leaned down and whispered in her ear. His husky voice and the promise of something absolutely sinful shot the last of her resolve to smithereens. When he was in this kind of dangerous mood, he was practically irresistible.
“Lock the door,” she said, her voice breathless.
His expression turned smug. “You’re a surprisingly predictable woman at times, Maggie O’Brien.”
Maggie glowered at him. “Not a compliment,” she warned.
He didn’t seem disturbed. “There are other times, though—and far more of them, I might add—when you’re so unpredictable you make a man’s head spin.”
Pleased by that assessment, she kissed him. “Much better. Which am I tonight?”
He gave her a considering look. “Now that remains to be seen, doesn’t it?”
Heat shot through her at the speculative gleam in his eyes. She headed for the stairs. “If you dawdle over closing up, I’ll have to come down here and have my way with you on the bar.”
He laughed. “You’ve been begging to do that since the first night we made love. One of these nights I’ll have to accommodate you, though it seems to me that a bed is a more practical, comfortable choice.”
“Sometimes the thrill of accepting a dare offsets whatever discomfort is involved,” she teased. “But tonight the bed will do.”
In fact, just about any place where she could feel Ryan’s arms around her and his body joined with hers was a magical place indeed. And with each and every day that passed, Maggie was growing more and more confident that Ryan felt the same.
If only there weren’t this faint shadow threatening her happiness.
Two days later Maggie looked up from behind the bar and spotted her entire family coming through the door. Her mother shot her a rueful look as they made their way to the biggest table in the room. Maggie sighed. She might not be able to kick them right back out, but she could certainly avoid them, at least for a while. She turned to Maureen.
“That crowd that just came in,” she said, nodding in her family’s direction. “They belong to me, but I think I’ll give you the pleasure of waiting on them. I have the feeling they’re here on a mission.”
“What sort of mission?” Maureen inquired curiously.
“I haven’t been home for a few days now.”
Maureen’s gaze shot to Ryan, who was just emerging from the kitchen. “I see. How lovely!”
“I imagine that depends on your point of view,” Maggie said, eyeing her family warily. “Go and keep them occupied, while I warn Ryan.”
Maureen laughed. “Judging from that panicked look in his eyes, he doesn’t need warning,” she said, but she took her order pad and made her way to the table.
Ryan joined Maggie behind the bar. “Exactly how dire is this situation?” he asked, his gaze locked worriedly on the O’Brien entourage.
“I imagine that depends,” she said. “If you can cope with a few questions about your intentions, and assuming they’re honorable enough, I imagine the weapons will remain sheathed.”
Ryan swallowed hard. “Well now, there’s an incentive to race over to St. Mary’s and pray. Where’s Father Francis when I need him? They’d never attack with a priest beside me.”
“Don’t count on it,” Maggie said. “There is one other choice. I could go over there, announce that I’m the happiest I’ve been in years, and tell them if they do one single thing to mess that up, I’ll never forgive them.”
Ryan nodded. “I like that choice.”
“Of course you do,” she said. “It keeps you out of harm’s way.”
“True enough,” he admitted. “But before you go, mind telling me something? Is it true what you just said?”
“What?”
“That you’re happy?”
She regarded him with shock. “How could you possibly question that?”
He shrugged. “It’s a habit, I guess.” Avoiding her gaze, he added, “Whenever something seems too good to be true, I’m always waiting for it to be snatched away.”
His tone was so bleak and there was such sadness behind the words that Maggie made a decision. She latched on to his hand with a firm grip. “You’re coming with me,” she said, as she dragged him toward the table.
When she reached her family, she pinned her gaze on her mother. “I imagine you came tonight to hear the band,” she said. “It’s a wonderful group just over from Dublin.”
“The music be damned,” John said, scowling at Ryan. “We came because you’ve all but vanished from the house. We wanted to see if you were all right.”
“And why wouldn’t I be?” Maggie inquired. “I’m with Ryan, aren’t I?”
“That’s what we’ve been worrying about,” Matt said. “Do you really know what you’re doing? Has he made any promises?” His gaze was locked on Ryan, even though he’d addressed the questions to her.
Maggie rolled her eyes at the growling note of protectiveness in his voice. “I haven’t asked for any,” she said. “And what goes on between Ryan and me is our business. He makes me happy. That’s all that should concern any of you.”
Ryan met John’s gaze, then Matt’s. “I can understand your concern,” he said. “If I had a sister like Maggie, I’d want to do everything in my power to keep her from getting hurt, too.”
“So?” John pushed.
“I’m not going to hurt her,” Ryan said. “Not intentionally, anyway.”
When her brothers seemed about to leap on the opening he’d left
