The Mighty Quinns: Kieran. Kate Hoffmann

huge tulle skirt.

      The girls approached. “Are you—”

      “You’re going to say Maddie West, aren’t you,” Maddie quickly replied. “I get that all the time. Do you really think I look like her?”

      “She gets that all the time,” Kieran confirmed, nodding his head.

      Maddie put the pink dress in the cart, then quickly grabbed a slinky black number from the end of the rack. “All the time,” she said, pushing the cart away.

      They hurried though the shoe department, the girls following them at a safe distance, their curiosity piqued. When they reached the checkout, Maddie tugged her hood down over her forehead.

      “Would you mind paying for all this while I wait out in the cab,” she murmured. At his nod, she walked out of the store.

      When Maddie reached the safety of the taxi, she jumped into the backseat. The cabbie was reading a magazine. He glanced up at her in the rearview mirror, then twisted in his seat. “Are we waiting for your friend?” he asked.

      “Yes,” Maddie said. “Of course.”

      He nodded. “No problem.”

      Maddie thought he’d turn around again, but instead, he stretched his arm across the back of the front seat. “If you don’t mind me asking, what’s a famous singing star like you doing running around a big box store in Topeka, Kansas?”

      Maddie moaned and covered her face. “You, too?”

      He nodded. “I saw you on the CMAs last year. You were just great. You’re the most famous person I’ve ever had in my cab. I mean, you blow Willie Nelson away.”

      “What’s your name?” Maddie asked.

      “Ron. Ronald. Ronald J. Widmer.”

      “Listen, Ronald. Do you think you can keep my secret? There’ll be a really big tip in it for you. And if you’ll give me your address, I’ll send you a complete collection of my CDs when I get home. And I’ll sign them all. Do you think you could do that for me?”

      He gasped. “I’m sure I could. I always thought being a star has to be a hard life. I just want you to know, you have a friend in me. Ronald J. Widmer.”

      Maddie smiled. “Thanks. I really appreciate it. And—and don’t believe any of the stuff you read in the tabloids. None of it is true.”

      “Oh, I know that.” He held up the tabloid he’d been reading. “I just like them for the Bigfoot stories.”

      Maddie smiled to herself. If things didn’t work out with Kieran, she always had Ronald. “Thanks, Ronald,” she said. “I really appreciate your discretion. Sometimes, it’s nice to just be anonymous.”

      “But sometimes, it sure must be nice to be famous,” he said with a chuckle. “I wouldn’t mind tryin’ that out for a day or two.”

      MADDIE SAT IN the center of the bed in a nest of pink tulle. She’d found a small bottle of champagne in the minibar and was sipping bubbly out of a coffee mug from the room-service tray.

      Kieran watched her from the sofa. They’d both grabbed a quick shower while they were waiting for their room-service dinner to arrive.

      Her long hair, still damp from her shower, curled around her face in pretty tendrils. Even from across the room, the scent of her was intoxicating. With any other woman, he wouldn’t have thought twice about seduction. And he had to admit, thoughts of seducing Maddie had been running through his mind from the moment he’d met her.

      But there was something that had stopped him—or at least slowed his pace toward the inevitable. Though she seemed tough and resilient on the outside, he sensed that it was all for show. She was a scared and vulnerable woman, trying to find her true path in the world. And he wasn’t about to take advantage of that. Not until they were both ready.

      She dribbled champagne on the front of her frock and brushed it off with her fingers.

      “Why are you wearing that dress?” Kieran asked.

      Maddie shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. I just wanted to celebrate. I feel like I’ve been let out of prison.” She paused. “You know, sometimes I wish I could go back and live the last ten years all over again.”