Kate Hoffmann - The Mighty Quinns - Dermot-Dex

Dermot gasped, the news a complete shock. His mind scrambled to take it all in. Could she come to Seattle and live with him? Did she even want to live with him?

“What does this mean?”

“It means that I’m here. For as long as you want me. I was hanging on to the farm because of the promise I made to my father. But now that my sister is there, it’s all in good hands. Since you left, I’ve been really lonely.”

He smiled down at her. “Me, too. I don’t like being so far away from you.” Dermot took her hands in his. “Rachel, I’m in love with you. There is no other woman for me. And I really can’t imagine living my life without you. And now that you’re here, I’m not going to let you go.”

“I don’t want to go,” she said. “Well, I do have to go back to Wisconsin. Jane still hasn’t gone through a season of kidding, so I have to be there in the late winter to early spring. But I was thinking we could go back together. Kind of like a vacation?”

“You have this all worked out,” he said.

“I do.”

“I think it’s a good plan. I think it’s exactly what I’ve been hoping for.”

She threw her arms around his neck and gave him a fierce hug. Dermot laughed, then picked her up and carried her inside the house. He’d dreamed about having her in his arms again, but he never thought it would be this simple.

“I love you, Rachel.”

“And I love you, Dermot Quinn.”

“Are you going to miss your goats?” he asked.

She stared up at him with sparkling eyes. “They’re in the best hands. They have a wonderful family to look after them. And they’re going to live happily ever after.”

“And what about us?”

“I think we’re going to have a wonderful life together. And I want it to begin now.”

“What do you want?” He expected her to demand that he take her directly to bed and make love to her. But he was surprised by her request.

“I want to find a quiet place to watch the sunset,” she said. “I want to hold your hand and take a deep breath and let this all sink in for a moment.”

“I know the perfect place,” he said. “You’ve never been sailing, have you?”

She shook her head. “Is your favorite place on the water?” she asked.

“My favorite place is wherever you are, Rachel. That’s the way it will always be.”

He took her hand and led her out the front door. And as they walked down the dock, Dermot said a silent thanks to his grandfather for knowing exactly what he needed—a chance to see his life through different eyes. A chance to go out and find his dreams. And a chance to find the love of his life.

He’d never believed it before, but Dermot was certain of it now. He had the luck of the Irish.

Praise for Kate Hoffmann from RT Book Reviews

The Charmer“Hoffmann’s deeply felt, emotional story is riveting. It’s impossible to put down.”

Your Bed or Mine?“Fully developed characters and perfect pacing make this story feel completely right.”

Doing Ireland!“Sexy and wildly romantic”

The Mighty Quinns: Ian“A very hot story mixes with great characters to make every page a delight.”

Who Needs Mistletoe?“Romantic, sexy and heartwarming”

The Mighty Quinns: Teague“Sexy, heartwarming and romantic … a story to settle down with and enjoy—and then re-read.”

Dear Reader,

I believe this book represents a milestone of sorts! The Mighty Quinns: Kieran is the twentieth book in my MIGHTY QUINNS series. Eleven years ago, my first Quinn book, The Mighty Quinns: Connor , hit the bookstores. It’s still hard to believe I’ve been living with this extended Irish family for such a long time!

Since this is the second in a four-book series—and I’ve got four more planned for next year—I’m going to be living with them a little bit longer. Thank goodness they don’t leave wet towels in the bathroom and dirty socks on my bedroom floor. But then, since I made them the people they are, I guess I could also suggest that they cook dinner and do the laundry whenever I wanted, too. But that’s just wishful thinking …

I hope you enjoy this next installment in the Quinn saga!

All my best,

Kate Hoffmann

KATE HOFFMANNbegan writing for Mills & Boon in 1993. Since then she’s published sixty-five books. 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.

“SOMETIMES I WONDER what really happened to them.”

Kieran Quinn stared down at the section of weathered bright wood that he’d just sanded. He and his three brothers had had this same conversation over and over again during the past two years. And try as they might, they never came up with any answers to their questions.

The facts were simple. Their parents, Jamie and Suzanne Quinn, had been lost at sea, their boat disappearing somewhere between Seattle and the South Pacific. No one knew what happened, only that they were gone forever. Two years was a long time, but to Kieran, it felt like yesterday.

“Someday, I’m going to take this boat and try to find them,” Dermot announced.

Though his twin brother had always been a dreamer and an optimist, Kieran had been given the practical genes in the pair. Dermot spent his allowance like he had a bottomless piggy bank. Kieran saved every penny. Dermot was the first one to jump, Kieran always looked very carefully before leaping. Dermot saw the possibilities in every situation while Kieran saw the pitfalls.

Kieran glanced over at the section of teak that Dermot had been sanding. It was rough and uneven. Even at work, Dermot favored speed over quality. But then, the four brothers were all different. It was hard to believe they came from the same parents.

Cameron, the eldest, was quiet and creative, so clever that he immediately knew exactly how to get a job done. Their baby brother, Ronan, was sensitive and compassionate, the kind of kid who stuck up for the underdog. Yet their brotherly bonds were unbreakable. They always stood together.

He and his brothers were in the process of restoring an old 22-foot sloop that had been abandoned at their grandfather’s boatyard. Though their grandfather insisted that they were too young to take it out on their own, that didn’t stop them. They’d been working on it for nearly a year, after school and on weekends, and had hoped to put it in the water to celebrate Cameron’s fourteenth birthday.

“I used to think about it all the time,” Cameron murmured. “Now, it just makes me sad. We’re never going to figure it out.”

“It makes me mad,” Dermot said. “Why didn’t they wait for us? Maybe if we’d been along, things might have been different.”

“You really think so?” Ronan asked. Since the accident, any mention of sailing made the youngest Quinn uneasy. He had stubbornly refused to set foot on a boat, making family sailing trips with their grandfather impossible.

Kieran felt a mixture of both—anger and sadness. Their lives would have been so much different had their parents lived. Instead of just surviving their grief, they’d be laughing and loving and enjoying every day. He’d seen each of his brothers change in significant ways, but he’d felt the change in himself the most.

He’d become cautious and careful. He wasn’t willing to take any chances. He preferred his life to be perfectly ordered, so he knew exactly what to expect from day to day. He did his homework early, he completed his chores without complaint and he avoided conflict at every cost. It was hard to know what turns life would take, but Kieran did all he could to anticipate the future.