Kate Hoffmann: Riley

“I’ll give you three hundred,” she said.

“Hop in,” the driver said.

She felt a tap on her shoulder. “Excuse me, do you have a light?”

Nan froze, the sound of his voice sending a thrill through her body. She slowly turned to find Riley standing behind her. This time, when the tears filled her eyes, she didn’t try to stop them. “You’re still here,” she said.

“I decided to wait until your plane left. Just in case you changed your mind.”

“Lass, are you getting in?”

“She has a ride,” Riley said.

“With me,” the driver said. “She agreed to pay me three hundred.”

“Listen, fella, she’s my girl. I think I’ll be taking her wherever she wants to go.”

The cabbie held up his hands. “No problem. I didn’t want to drive to Ballykirk anyway.”

Nan threw her arms around Riley’s neck and hugged him tight. “How did you know I’d come back?”

“I didn’t,” he said. “I just hoped.”

“I was stupid,” she said. “I don’t want to leave. I don’t need to leave. I want to stay with you for the rest of the summer.”

“And what about after that?”

“We’ll figure that out later,” she said.

“No,” he said. “If you love me, I want to be with you forever. Not just a few more weeks.”

She drew a deep breath. “Then I’ll stay forever,” Nan said. “This is where I belong.”

“Well, then, I think we should go home,” he said.

Nan looked up at him and smiled through her tears. “Yes, let’s go home.”

“The car is in the car park. And don’t think I’m going to be carrying your luggage this time around.” He grinned, then stepped off the curb to cross the street.

“Maybe I will take that cab,” she said.

“All right,” he said, grabbing her suitcase and dragging it along behind him. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist.”

“My knickers are none of your business,” Nan said.

“I beg to disagree, Miss Galvin. I happen to be very well acquainted with your knickers. Especially that lovely little thong you like to wear.”

“If you’re not nicer to me, you’re not going to be seeing my knickers for a very long time.” He stopped and held out his arm and Nan slipped beneath it. “That’s much better.”

“Are you hungry, then, or can we just drive home and go right to bed?”

“I could eat,” Nan said.

Riley kissed her on the top of her head, pulling her close. “God, I do love you, Nan.”

“I know,” she said. “And it’s a feckin’ miracle.”

Kate Hoffmann began writing for Harlequin Books in 1993. Since then she’s published sixty-five books, primarily in the Harlequin Temptation and Harlequin Blaze lines. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys music, theater and musical theater. She is active working with high school students in the performing arts. She lives in southeastern Wisconsin with her cat, Chloe.