“No. You’re not going to get me tangled up in an argument.” She was too good at winning those, and he’d be damned if he was going to lose this time. “I’ve thought this through. You’ve got your priorities, and that’s fine.” He grabbed her hands, hard. Rachel decided she’d check for broken fingers later. Right now, she couldn’t feel anything but amazement. “All you have to do is add one to the list. Me. I didn’t plan on falling in love with you, but that’s the way it is, so deal with it.”

“Me either,” she murmured, but he plowed on.

“Maybe you think you don’t have room…” His grip tightened, and he ignored her quick yelp. “What did you say?”

“I said, ‘Me either.’”

“‘Me either’ what?”

“You said, ‘I didn’t plan on falling in love with you,’ and I said, ‘Me either.’” She let out a long, shaky sigh when his hands slid limply from hers. “But that’s the way it is, so deal with it.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Perched on the bar, she linked her arms around his neck, lowered her brow to his. Amazing, she thought. He was as scared as she was. “You beat me to it, Muldoon. I was going to turn you down because I love you too much, and I wasn’t going to settle for anything less with you than everything. It’s had me going in circles for days.”

“Weeks.” He brought his mouth to hers. “I was going to try to ease you into it, but I couldn’t wait. I even talked to your father about my intentions tonight.”

Unsure whether to laugh or groan, she drew back. “You did not.”

“I plied him with vodka first, just in case. He told me he wanted more grandchildren.”

She felt her heart swell. “I’d like to accommodate him.”

Something caught in his chest, then broke beautifully free. “No kidding?”

And here it was, she thought, looking down into his eyes. A whole new set of rules. A whole new life for the taking. “No kidding. I want a family with you. I want it all with you. That’s my choice.”

He cupped her face in his hands. “You’re everything I’ve wanted and never thought I’d have.”

“You’re everything I wanted,” she repeated. “And pretended not to.” When she lowered her lips to his, she felt the sting of tears in her throat. “We’re not going to get sloppy, are we, Muldoon?”

“Who, us?” He grinned as she slid off the bar and into his arms. “Not a chance.”

Passionate, proud and hopelessly romantic, the Stanislaskis are a family you won’t soon forget!

Look for the rest of Nora Roberts’s captivating six-book family saga, available now wherever ebooks are sold:

The Stanislaskis

Taming Natasha

Luring a Lady

Falling for Rachel

Convincing Alex

Waiting for Nick

Considering Kate