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 himself, Maggie’s mother interceded. “That’s good enough for me,” she said cheerfully. “Shouldn’t you back off now, Matthew? John?” It was quite clearly not a request but an order.
“I haven’t heard a word about marriage,” John said, defying her.
Ryan looked him in the eye. “And you’re not the one I’d be proposing to, either.”
Katie and Colleen smothered laughter at John’s look of indignation.
“I’d say he has you there,” Matt said, relenting a little. He looked back at Ryan. “Just know that we’re keeping an eye on things.”
“That’s as it should be,” Ryan agreed, accepting the warning.
Maggie’s father had kept silent through the entire exchange, but he gave a nod of satisfaction now. “That’s that, then. I’ll have a glass of your finest ale. Can you join us, lad?”
“I’m needed at the bar just now, but I’ll be back,” Ryan promised. “Maggie, why don’t you join your family for dinner? It’s on the house.”
“You cannot be giving away dinner to a crowd like this,” she retorted, thinking of the dent it would make in his bottom line for the night. “What kind of business practice is that? Next thing you know, all your regulars will be coming in with their families and asking for the same deal you gave the O’Briens.”
Her brothers hooted. “Now isn’t that what every man needs, a woman with a head for business standing beside him?” John said.
“But at the moment, it is my business,” Ryan said, his gaze clashing with hers in a test of wills with which she was increasingly familiar. “And I’m of a mind to buy dinner for your family.”
“Then we’ll be grateful for it,” her mother said, giving Maggie a pointed look. “Won’t we,