Kate Hoffmann - Liam

“Well, I’m not,” Liam countered. “Ellie, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”

She stared at him for a long moment and Liam was sure she was about to turn and run. But then she swallowed hard and attempted to smile. “And I haven’t stopped thinking about you, either,” Ellie said. “I made a mistake and-”

“No, I’m the one who made the mistake.” Liam couldn’t contain his excitement. She still cared! “I never should have let you go.”

“I never should have gone.”

Liam glanced around the pub, then grabbed Ellie’s hand and pulled her toward the door. They stepped outside into the late-afternoon sun. A warm breeze blew from the south and summer was in the air. He pulled Ellie along the sidewalk until he was sure they were completely alone. “What does this mean?”

“I don’t know,” she said, her voice trembling. “I just feel like we left things unfinished.”

“Me, too,” Liam said. “Like there’s more to us than what we had. That if we just had a little more time, we would realize how great it really was.”

“So what does this mean?” Ellie asked.

Liam’s gaze skimmed over her pretty face. “It means that I want to be with you, Ellie. I want to see where this could go.” He reached up and cupped her face in his palms, then kissed her, lingering over her lips for a long time. “I love you. I don’t think I really knew that for sure until this very moment. But I can’t even think of a future without you in it.”

“That’s a good thing,” Ellie said, her mouth curving into a warm smile. “Because I just accepted a new job at the Boston branch of Intertel. I thought I might come here and get a new start.” She reached up and brushed his hair back from his eyes. “And just so you know, I love you, too.”

Liam tipped his head back and laughed. Then he grabbed her again and pulled her into his embrace, this time kissing her like a man in love. He’d spent so long avoiding a real relationship and now he understood why-he’d been waiting for Ellie Thorpe to come into his life.

“You know, I’m going to ask you to marry me,” Liam said. “And we’re going to have a family and we’re going to live happily ever after. Are you all right with that?”

“You’re not proposing to me now, are you?” Ellie asked, looking slightly alarmed.

“No. I’m just warning you that I will. And it will be great. And you won’t be able to say no.”

“You’re pretty confident, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I am. I’ve been doing a little reading. Ten Steps to True Love. Have you read it?”

Ellie blushed, then wriggled in his arms. “I think I have. But you know, I’ve decided to give up the self-help books. Instead I’m just going to listen to my heart.”

“And what does your heart say?”

“That I’m glad you came to my rescue that night. And that I’m glad I decided to come to Boston today.”

Liam chuckled, thinking back to all the tales of the Mighty Quinns he’d been told as a child, to the Quinn “curse” that had befallen his three oldest brothers. He smoothed his hands over Ellie’s shoulders and kissed her forehead. Now he knew why Conor and Dylan and Brendan had laughed when their father brought up the curse. It wasn’t a curse at all. It was a gift.

And Liam was going to spend the rest of his life thankful for the gift, for the fateful events that brought Ellie Thorpe into his life…and for the love that would keep her there.

“ARE YOU READY YET?”

Ellie stared at her reflection in the mirror, then touched her fingers to the string of pearls that circled her throat. Liam had given them to her as an anniversary gift, in honor of one month together. She smiled. One month and so much had changed. They’d settled into a life together. Liam’s career had begun to flourish and Ellie had a brand-new job at Intertel Boston. They’d begun a search for the perfect apartment, living at Liam’s place while they looked. And she’d fallen more deeply in love with the man of her dreams.

“Perfect,” she murmured, pleased with how the necklace looked with her gown.

Liam knocked impatiently on the bathroom door. “We’re going to be late, Ellie.”

“I’m coming,” she said. “Just give me a few more minutes.”

“Amy told me that I have to be there at exactly six p.m.”

“It’s five-thirty,” Ellie called. “The wedding doesn’t start until seven. We have plenty of time. The church is only fifteen minutes away.”

Ellie smoothed her hands over her gown. The pale blue silk had a strapless bodice that fit her perfectly. The beading gave it an elegant look and the narrow waist flared into a full skirt that rustled when she walked.

“Are you dressed?” Ellie asked, picking up her earrings.

“All but the tie. I can’t get it straight. And these studs are too small to work. Why don’t they just put buttons on the shirt?”

“Because studs are so sexy.” She grabbed her lipstick and touched up, then dropped it in her purse. “All right, I’m ready.”

Ellie pulled the bathroom door open and walked out. Liam stood at the end of the hallway, his tux jacket on, his pleated shirt unbuttoned to the waist and his bow tie draped around his neck.

He was fussing with his cuff links, then glanced up at her. His jaw dropped and he stared. “Wow!”

Ellie smiled, warmed by his compliment. Even though they’d been living together for a month, Liam still found a way to charm her every single day, to make her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. “Thank you.”

“You look-wow.”

“You look pretty nice yourself. Do you think they’d let you keep that tux for a few days? You could wear it around the apartment.”

“I look like a waiter,” Liam said, tugging on the front of his jacket. Then he grinned. “But I feel like James Bond.”

“You’re much more handsome than James,” Ellie teased. She took the studs from his palm and began to work at the front of his shirt. Her fingers brushed against his naked chest and Ellie felt a tiny tremor run through her. They’d made love countless times since she returned to Boston, yet a simple touch was enough to pique her desire. Would she ever have enough of him? Ellie couldn’t imagine a time when she wouldn’t crave his touch or the taste of his mouth or the feel of his hands on her body.

“There,” she said, smoothing her hand down the front of his shirt. “That looks nice.”

“So you think studs are sexy, huh?” Liam asked. “Why is that?”

“Well, a girl can just yank open the shirt and the studs go flying,” Ellie explained. “I saw it in a movie once. Very provocative.”

“You mean, like this?” Liam grabbed the front of his shirt and tugged, and just as Ellie had described, the studs went flying, skittering across the hardwood floor of the bedroom.

“What are you doing?” she cried, trying to restore order to his shirt.

Liam grabbed her around the waist and pulled her toward the bed. “You said we had time. We don’t have to be to the church for a half hour.”

“Twenty-five minutes,” she corrected, pushing against his chest.

“An hour and twenty-five minutes,” Liam countered.

“If we’re late, Brendan will have your head. And Amy won’t speak to me.”

“They’re in love. They’ll understand.” Liam reached around for the zipper of her dress, then slowly slid it down. When he reached the small of her back, he stepped back, then brushed the dress from her shoulders. It fell to the floor in a heap around her feet. Ellie groaned in protest, but stepped out of it.

“I thought the dress was nice,” he murmured, his gaze raking her body, “but that underwear should be outlawed.”

Ellie giggled, then turned him around. She helped him out of his jacket and carefully folded it on a nearby chair. “Fifteen minutes,” she said. “Then we have to go.” She slipped his suspenders over his shoulders and tugged his shirt out of his trousers. They undressed each other, playing at a mutual striptease, anticipating what they were about to share. And when they’d removed the last item of clothing, Liam growled playfully and dragged her down on the bed.

“You’re beautiful in that dress,” he murmured, kissing her neck. “But you’re even more beautiful out of it.”

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Ellie said.

He rolled on top of her, nestling into her hips, his desire hot against her belly. Then he reached down and fingered her pearls. “They look nice,” he said. “Better without the dress. But don’t you think they’re a little plain?”

“No!” Ellie said, running the pearls between her fingers. “I think they’re beautiful.”

“There’re probably a lot of different things that you would have liked better-a new sofa, a blender, maybe a new vacuum cleaner.”

“Never. I love these pearls. They’re all I could ever want.”

Liam shoved his hand under the pillow and pulled out a small velvet box. “Then I probably shouldn’t give you this.”

Ellie stared at the box for a long time, stunned by the sudden turn of events. She reached out to take the box from his palm, but before she could, he closed his hand. “I should really do this properly,” Liam said. He rolled off the bed, and knelt beside it, completely naked. He braced his arms on the mattress and set the box in front of him.

Ellie lay on her stomach, facing him. Her gaze took in his handsome face, his rumpled hair and his gorgeous eyes. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to ask you to marry me, Ellie. I was going to save this for later, but when we walk into that church today, I want you to know that it’s going to be our turn soon. I know it’s fast, but I love you, and that’s never going to change.” He opened up the box and removed the ring. “Will you, Ellie? Will you marry me?”

He took her hand and held the ring at the end of her finger, waiting for her answer. She stared at the diamond and it twinkled back at her, as if urging her to say yes.

She’d known they were headed in this direction, but after all that had happened in her past, she wouldn’t let herself believe that it really could happen, that she’d find a man who wanted to spend his life with her.

And now she had and he was the most wonderful man in the world, the answer to all her dreams and the hero who’d stolen her heart. Ellie bit her bottom lip, a tear trickling down her cheek. “I will marry you, Liam,” she murmured.

He slipped the ring on her finger, then jumped up on the bed, pulling her into his embrace and giving her a long and very passionate kiss. “I guess the Quinn curse is still alive and well,” Liam said, nuzzling her neck.

“The Quinn curse?”

“It’s a long story,” he said. “And we have years for you to hear all the Mighty Quinn tales. I’ll tell them all to you, I promise. But right now, all I really want to do is kiss you.”

Ellie wrapped her arms around his neck and touched her lips to his. And as she lost herself in the taste of him, in the warmth of his body lying across hers, and in the sound of his voice, Ellie knew that there was nothing more that she needed in life. She had her hero. She had her white knight.

She had her Mighty Quinn.

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