Hours later, when the deal was well and truly sealed, and Maggie’s warm body was curved against his, he sighed with a feeling of pure contentment.
“Now all that’s left is finding the rest of my family, and then we can plan our wedding,” he murmured against her hair.
She shot up and stared at him, looking as if he’d announced a delay in the arrival of Christmas or any other cherished holiday. “You want to find them first?”
“Well, of course. Don’t you want that, too?”
“Absolutely not,” she said fiercely. “Don’t get me wrong. I want you to locate each and every one of them for your sake, but that could take a long time, and I’m not waiting.”
Ryan’s heart sank. “You won’t wait for me?”
“I won’t wait to get married,” she corrected. “Then we’ll find the rest of your family together.”
He stared at her. “You’re asking me to marry you now?”
“Actually, I’m insisting on it. The sooner the better.”
He grinned, but she noticed he wasn’t arguing.
“Pushy woman, aren’t you?” he teased.
“When I have to be,” she confirmed with evident pride.
He pulled her back into his arms. “You’re really sure you’re willing to take me on without knowing everything there is to know about me?”
“I already know all the important stuff,” she insisted. “For instance, you’re a great kisser.”
He regarded her with amusement. “Am I really?”
“Really great,” she confirmed. “And a fantastic lover.”
“You think so?”
She hesitated. “Come to think of it, I do have a couple of nagging little doubts. They could probably be wiped right out if you were to take me downstairs and make love to me there.”
He laughed. “You’re really not going to be happy till I make love to you on top of the bar, are you?”
“Try it and let’s see,” she dared him. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be ecstatic.”
He called downstairs to make absolutely certain that everyone had cleared out, then carried Maggie downstairs and did his absolute best to see that she was every bit as ecstatic as she’d been anticipating all these months.
When he held her afterward, he promised to keep right on making her happy for the rest of their lives.
“If you don’t, my brothers will beat you up,” she warned.
Ryan thought of the way Sean had taken an instant liking to Maggie. “If I don’t, my brother will beat me up.”
“Then I guess you’re highly motivated,” she teased, deliberately wiggling her hips beneath him.
“Highly motivated,” he agreed, right before he set out to show her just how motivated it was possible for a man to be.
Epilogue
Despite Maggie’s initial insistence on marrying before Ryan found the rest of his family, she was finally persuaded by her mother to at least wait until fall to give them time to plan a proper, lavish ceremony befitting the oldest O’Brien daughter.
“In fact,” Nell had said with a sly gleam in her eye, “if you want to teach Ryan a bit more about romance, a wedding on the anniversary of your first meeting would certainly be a good way to start.”
Maggie had been convinced, especially since it meant that the Thanks giving season would mean something special to Ryan and possibly even chip away at his general hatred of holidays.
Besides, a fall color palette for the bridesmaids’ dresses had made her sisters happy. With the trademark O’Brien auburn hair, they all looked fabulous in shades of bronze and gold velvet.
Maggie’s dress, a heavy white satin sheath with simple pearl trim at the low neckline and a dip in back, was far more elegant and sophisticated than she’d originally envisioned, but she’d fallen in love with it the instant she’d seen it. She made a slow turn in front of the dressing room mirror, still not quite believing that her wedding day was finally here after a wait that had seemed to last an eternity. In less than an hour she would be Mrs. Ryan Devaney.
When she made one last turn, she met her mother’s gaze and saw that Nell O’Brien was trying valiantly to smile through her tears.
“Mom, are you okay?”
“You’re just so beautiful. They say every bride is radiant, but I swear I don’t think I’ve ever seen one who glowed with happiness as you do right this minute.”
“That’s because Ryan makes me very happy.”
Her mother smoothed an errant curl back into Maggie’s upswept hairstyle. “He’s a complicated man, your Ryan. That won’t change just because he’s been convinced to make a commitment to you.”
“I know that. I don’t think he’ll ever truly be at peace until he finds the rest of his family.”
“How’s that search going? Anything new?”
Maggie shook her head, sharing in Ryan’s frustration. Jack was concentrating on finding Michael at the moment, and he’d run into one brick wall after another.
“Ryan and Sean are ready to give up looking for their brother, Michael, but I’ve been pushing them to continue. I keep imagining that little boy they’ve described sobbing his heart out as they were separated. I know he’d be happy to see them again, that he’s been waiting for them all these years.”
Her mother smiled. “You just want happy endings these days,” she teased.
“Well, of course I do,” Maggie said. “I’ve found mine.”
“And Ryan’s found his.”
“I’m part of it,” Maggie agreed. “But he needs his family.”
“You know, it wouldn’t be so awful if he didn’t locate them,” her mother said. “He has all of us now and Sean and the Mon-roes. And Rory and Father Francis. I’d say his life is full.”
“He says that, too,” Maggie said. “But I want more for him.”
“You want it, but does he?”
Maggie thought about it. “Yes, I think he does deep down. Finding Sean was a turning point. Before that, it might not have mattered as much to him, but he’s been a changed man since he located Sean.” Maggie smiled. “Of course, some
