Mother, Please! Read Online Free PDF Page A

best behavior, in a setting that just might rekindle what they felt when they became engaged thirty-four years ago.
    It was a long shot, but since her parents were both going to be in Cabo anyway, it was the best plan April could come up with. Getting her parents back together was all she wanted for Christmas. Besides, her mother’s association with Rod had suggested a way Gunner could help her—if he would.
    “April, do you mind if I paint the living room?” her mother asked loudly. “White’s so drab. I was thinking a light pink would brighten things up. And maybe I could put up a few of my paintings. I’ve done six now, you know.”
    Pink in the living room? Together with her mother’s artwork? Claire had started taking watercolor classes two months ago and had yet to create anything April wanted hanging in her closet, let alone anyplace more public. Why couldn’t Claire concentrate on decorating the tree?
    That was it. April called Gunner.
    “Hello?”
    He’d answered his own telephone. “Mr. Stevens?”
    “Don’t tell me, it’s April Ashton.”
    She gave a little laugh, suddenly grateful she’d fought the impulse to hang up as soon as she’d recognized his voice. “Caller ID?”
    “Yes. What can I do for you?”
    “I have a business proposal you might be interested in hearing,” she said, deciding to be as forthright as possible.
    A startled silence followed this announcement.
    “Mr. Stevens?”
    “It’s Gunner, remember?”
    “Right, Gunner.”
    “What kind of business proposal?” he asked, and she pictured him narrowing his eyes.
    “At the Christmas party, you told my father you have commitments back East this January, but if you could possibly arrange it, I’d like you to come to Cabo with Ashton Automotive.”
    “Why?”
    “I’ve changed my mind. I think it probably is time for my father to sell the business.”
    Her words met with a weighty pause. “To what do I owe this reversal?”
    “My father’s getting older and—well, anything could happen to a man his age, right?” She purposely didn’t mention Walt’s heart trouble for fear Gunner would think this had suddenly become a fire sale.
    “I’m not sure what you’re offering, Miss Ashton.”
    “April. I’m saying my mother and I will support your efforts to purchase the business, if you want.”
    “If I want,” he echoed.
    “That’s what I said.”
    “And what do you get out of it?”
    This was where her plan became a bit questionable. “I’m looking for a temporary—” she swallowed tightly and squeezed out the last word “—escort.”
    “A what? ”
    “An escort, um, of sorts.”
    “Where would we be going?” He sounded justifiably leery.
    “Just to Cabo.”
    “You want me to be your escort the whole week we’re in Mexico?”
    “A week’s not that long, Mr. Ste—Gunner.”Gathering her nerve, she rushed on. “And don’t worry, you won’t have to do anything special. When you see or speak to my father, just go along with the story that we started communicating on the telephone and e-mailing each other after the Christmas party and that our relationship has evolved into a friendship with some…romantic hope.”
    “You mean it?”
    A pause.
    “Yes.”
    Nothing.
    “Are you still there?” she asked.
    “Explain romantic hope,” he said.
    April tried to forget the pleasant feeling of his muscular arms around her while they danced so she could make “romantic hope” sound as clinical as possible. She might not agree with Gunner Stevens’s mentality, but she sure couldn’t complain about any of his physical characteristics. “I need you to act as though you’re interested in me, just for a few days. You should probably hold my hand occasionally, or put your arm around me. But we’ll never even have to kiss. We’ll become disenchanted with each other toward the end of the trip. Then you’ll be off the hook—but before that, my mother and I will be your biggest advocates and we won’t do