Heiress for Hire (Cuttersville #2)(11)
Author: Erin McCarthy

"Okay, we’re ready."

One big push from Danny and they were flying down the aisle, cool air rushing past Amanda’s face and sending her hair back off her shoulders. It was a straight shot past toothbrushes, and there was enough speed to make her feel an excited little rush of dizziness. "Turn left!"

They careened into the center aisle on two wheels, slapping the inch back to the ground with a metallic squeak. "Faster," Amanda demanded, catching a glimpse of pleasure on Piper’s sunburned face. She made a mental note to grab sunscreen. Sun damage caused premature aging. Piper was breeding a colony of future crow’s feet by burning her skin. Not to mention that whole cancer thing.

"Let me grab the shampoo." It was on the end of the aisle coming up at three o’clock, and Amanda stretched out her hand.

But Danny had followed her directive, and they were going NASCAR speed. Her knuckle rapped a shampoo bottle, but she couldn’t get a grip. The strawberry-scented shampoo bottle went flying in the direction of first-aid products and clipped a man in the back of the leg.

"Oops. Sorry."

Danny put on the brakes, using those massive farmer arms to drag the cart to a stop. Much faster than Amanda could have ever predicted. She went flying off the end, losing a stiletto and crashing into the display shelf, bottles tumbling down around her. She protected her nails and her hair, the most expensive things to replace, and looked up when the falling stopped. That had been kind of fun sailing through the air.

Which proved she’d been rusticating too long.

"Cool. I’ve got the bubble bath, Piper." She grabbed a bottle of Disney’s princess bubbles and hopped toward the cart. "Where’s my shoe?"

The man she’d nailed with the shampoo was holding it out toward her.

"Thanks." She took it and slipped it on her foot, bouncing up and down to adjust it as she tried not to grimace. She really wished he hadn’t actually touched it. While he looked like a perfectly normal middle-age man with male pattern baldness and a growing gut, she didn’t want his thick fingers in her shoes. She had a thing about feet. If a man was going to be touching hers, that wasn’t all he was going to be touching. She didn’t take feet lightly.

"You two need to calm down and use these carts correctly. This is a family store. We can’t have you running around crashing into things. Someone might get hurt."

Amanda focused on the little nametag pinned to his blue shirt. "Sorry, Jeffrey. It was just an accident."

Jeffrey didn’t look appeased. He gave her a stern finger shake. "Do it again, and we’ll have to ask you to leave."

Was he serious? "I can get kicked out of Wal-Mart for exceeding the cart speed limit?"

Danny cleared his throat. "Uh, Amanda, let’s just finish our shopping."

"Absolutely, we can escort you to the exit. We want our shoppers to feel safe here."

Her shirt had ridden up to her br**sts, and Amanda yanked it back down toward her belly button. "Alright, sorry. We’ll just be on our way."

"Is that a dog?" Jeffrey asked, looking outraged as he peered around her.

"No." Baby was so much more than a dog. She was friend, confidante, pure-bred poodle…

Amanda turned around and shot Danny a look. "Back up," she hissed.

Danny whipped the cart out of the aisle, and they walked off at a fast, though sedate, clip.

"Well, life lesson here."

"What’s that?" Danny didn’t look annoyed with her. In fact, he was struggling not to grin.

"Don’t ride the carts in Wal-Mart, of course." She tossed her hair back. "Though it would have been kind of fun to tell people that. ‘I got kicked out of Wal-Mart on my summer vacation.’ By Amanda Delmar."

"Are you in school still?" Piper looked horrified by the thought.

"No. I got a bachelor’s degree in Art Appreciation from the University of Chicago, with a focus on the Old Masters."

"Oh," said Piper.

"Wow," said Danny. "That sounds impressive."

"Impressive, but utterly useless." Though she had to admit it wasn’t really her degree that was useless. It was more like she had never actively pursued a usefulness for it.

"Couldn’t you work in a museum or something?"

Farmers just thought they knew everything. "But then I would be spending all those hours locked away with canvas and oils. It would really cut into my shopping time."

It was a typical Amanda answer. The type that made most people laugh. The answer that would have her father gnashing his teeth together.

But Danny tilted his head and stared at her, his eyes too know-ing, too probing. Like he could see the lie. Like he understood. They had reached the toy department, and she didn’t wait to hear what he might have to say. Whatever it was, she was sure she didn’t want to hear it, and she didn’t want him to look too closely at her. He might be shocked at what he found.

"How much does this shampoo cost anyway? The bottle is huge." She stuck it under the price scanner at the end of the aisle and watched the price pop up on the screen. "Whoa, is this thing accurate? It says the shampoo is only ninety-nine cents."

An eyedropper of Amanda’s shampoo cost more than that.

"That sounds about right to me."

"Are you serious?" Amanda stared at the bottle in her hand. "This thing’s huge! That’s like a penny a shampoo! Does the president know about this? No wonder the economy sucks; they’re giving stuff away for peanuts at Wal-Mart."

Danny cocked his head. "Well, how much does your shampoo cost?"

"I think about forty bucks. I’m not really sure." Drawn by the lure of hot pink, she headed down the Barbie aisle. "Look at this! It’s Barbie and Ken as Star Trek characters. That’s hilarious."

She tossed it in the cart, annoyed that Danny had flustered her without really saying a word. He just looked at her, with those steady, logical eyes, and she felt like he saw through the Amanda facade.

"I’m not buying that for Piper—it’s goofy-looking."

"It’s for me. Piper can pick out her own. Look, Barbie has fishnet stockings and one of those little communicator things."

"Get this one instead." Danny held up a Barbie with long straight blond hair, a red mini skirt, and a faux Burberry handbag with a little dog sticking out of it.

"Who is she supposed to be?" This one just looked like an everyday kind of doll to Amanda.

"I think this is Heiress Barbie. She looks just like you." Danny grinned as he lifted Piper down out of the cart.

The kid went down on the ground and started peering at the Equestrian dolls.