Praise for Kate Hoffmann
fromRT Book Reviews â¦
âHoffmannâs deeply felt, emotional story is riveting.
Itâs impossible to put down.â â on The Charmer
âFully developed characters and perfect pacing make
this story feel completely right.â â on Your Bed or Mine?
âSexy and wildly romantic.â
â on Doing Ireland!
âA very hot story mixes with great characters to
make every page a delight.â â on The Mighty Quinns: Ian
âRomantic, sexy and heartwarming.â
â on Who Needs Mistletoe?
âSexy, heartwarming and romantic ⦠a story to settle
down with and enjoyâand then re-read.â â on The Mighty Quinns: Teague
Dear Reader,
With this book we begin another MIGHTY QUINNS trilogy. Ten years ago, the first Quinn book hit the shelves and to be honest, I never thought Iâd still be writing them after all this time. But obviously, thereâs something about a sexy Irish hero that people find irresistible. Iâll admit, Iâve got a bit of a weakness for them.
I guess you do, too!
Iâve set Mighty Quinn stories in Boston, New York and even in Australia. But, fittingly, I think, Iâve put the books that mark a decade of hot Quinn heroes back on the Emerald Isle again.
Although I have only a few drops of Irish blood running through me, thereâs something about that beautiful country that I find really compelling. Itâs my hope that youâll feel the same sense of wonder I did, in the pages of this book.
Once youâve been charmed by Riley, watch for his equally irresistible brothers, Danny and Kellan, to show up in the Blaze lineup in November and December 2012.
Happy reading,
Kate Hoffmann
THE LIGHTS IN THE SMALL bedroom had been put out a half hour before, but the three brothers were too occupied with the raging storm outside than with falling asleep. Riley Quinn sat at the window, watching as the rain slashed against the glass. The rosebushes in the garden were bent so low by the wind coming off the sea that they touched the ground.
âJaysus, itâs bucketing out there,â Riley said. âNoah and his ark will be floating by any second now.â
âDo you think this is like the storm that made Ma fall in love with Da?â Danny asked.
Daniel, the youngest of the three Quinn brothers, sat in the center of his bed, the covers pulled up to his chin. The eight-year-old had an imagination that never seemed to stop. He could see dragons and sea serpents wherever he looked and though he was a bit of a baby, Riley was beginning to like him more as he got older. Danny could fashion all sorts of wild things, using his little pocketknife to carve monsters and ogres and bloodthirsty insects. His rucksack was always filled with blocks of wood and bars of soap, just in case he imagined something to make.
âI suppose it was,â Riley said, plopping down on the bed next to him. âDa said it was blowing so hard he couldnât stand up straight.â
âDo you think our ma was selkie, like da says she was?â
âNo,â Riley said. His father had always been fond of telling fanciful tales of the night heâd met their mother. âAnd she wasnât a mermaid or a faerie, either. She was just our ma, only younger.â
Riley missed those bedtime stories, filled with characters from Irish myths and legends. There had been time for them back when life was much different around the Quinn house. Before his father had been sacked from his job, before heâd decided to buy in to the Speckled Hound, an old pub in Ballykirk.
Long hours serving the local crowd and occasional tourists meant that Eamon and Maggie Quinn were never home to put their boys to bed. Rileyâs older sisters, Shanna and Claire, did all the cooking and cleaning around the small white-washed cottage. The boys took care of the garden and milked the cow and tended the chickens they kept.
âWe should go out there,â Riley said. âLetâs see if the wind will knock us down like it did to Da.â
âWill you two just lay off and go to sleep?â Kellan looked over from the book he was reading. âBlathering about the weather isnât going to change it. And if you go out there Da will whip your arse until you canât sit down.â
Kellan was the eldest, and the most clever of the three. At age twelve, Kellan was almost a teenager and Riley and Danny usually deferred to him. But Kell had been a real puss-face lately. All he seemed to care about was school and exams and making his grades.
âPiss off,â Riley muttered. âThis is our room, too, and we can talk as long as we want.â
Riley had never been much concerned about his schoolwork. Except when the music teacher, the beautiful Miss Delaney, came round to their room. He loved to sing and the days she brought instruments along, he was always the first to try them, able to play by ear in a matter of minutes.