Mother, Please! Read Online Free PDF

anything to stand in your way afterward.”
    “You seem to have it all figured out, April.”
    Was that skepticism she heard? “I do,” she said.
    “Except you still haven’t told me your purpose in creating this charade.”
    “I’m hoping to convince my father that I can find a man on my own. Otherwise he’s going to try and force me into the arms of his balding, middle-aged, soft-spoken plant manager.”
    “I see. But why me?”
    “If you still want to buy Ashton Automotive, you have business in Cabo, which gives you good reason to be there. And from what I know about you, I can safely say there’s no danger either one of us will get hurt by this…well-intentioned deception.”
    “You’re sure of that.”
    She sat up taller. Maybe he didn’t seem excited by the idea, but she took heart from the fact that he hadn’t refused her yet. “Of course. Even my parents won’t be surprised when it blows up.”
    “Because…”
    She knew he was baiting her, but she wanted to voice her honest opinion. “Can I be frank?”
    “Please do.”
    “Because you and I both know I’ll just be one more in a long line of women who’ve passed through your life. Easy come, easy go. No problem.”
    “You’re saying I’m too shallow for a girl like you, an intellectual to take seriously.”
    She sensed a dangerous undertone to his words and changed tactics. “There’s no need to interpret it that way. You’re too busy with better candidates to spend much time with me. That’s all.”
    Surely Gunner would be happy with that response, April thought with a smug smile. It was exactly the kind of thing a man with a huge ego would relish.
    Silence stretched between them once again, and she supposed he was thinking it over. “This is a pretty crazy scheme for someone as logical as a physicist,” he said at last.
    April couldn’t restrain her desperation any longer. “It’s all about chaos, Gunner. Not logic. I haven’t been able to work. I haven’t been able to sleep. I have to get my mother out of my house.”
    “I suppose there’s a connection in your mind between me being your escort in Mexico and your mother moving out?”
    “Oh, there is. My mother’s coming to Cabo, too.”
    “And Rod and Regina?”
    “They’re staying behind.”
    “So this is a matchmaking ploy. You’re trying to get your parents back together.”
    “God, am I ever.”
    He surprised her by chuckling. “Okay. I’m in.”
    Relieved, April tossed his card back into her drawer. “Really?”
    “You bet. If I’m hearing you correctly, you’re going to foil your father’s matchmaking plans while advancing your own. Sounds like it should work.”
    “Exactly!” She smiled, trying to be positive. She’d convinced him; Gunner was coming to Mexico. But there was something about his attitude that made her nervous….
     
    G UNNER HAD RACED CARS since he was old enough to drive. He’d reached speeds in excess of two hundred miles an hour, facing mortality without a moment’s fear. But he hated flying. Probably because he had to trust someone else at the controls. In any case, his stomach tensed as he took off from JFK Airport and stayed that way during the entire miserable ten-hour trip, which included two layovers, one in Houston and one in Phoenix.
    Feeling rumpled and tired but relieved, he stepped off the plane into the dazzling Mexican sun and slipped on his sunglasses to survey, for the first time, Baja California. He had one week to spend in Cabo, one week of playing boyfriend for April Ashton, and after suffering through the holidays alone, he was actually looking forward to the distraction.
    There were a few exotic flowering plants hereand there at the airport, but the surrounding area was basically flat and desertlike. The customs officer mentioned, in heavily accented English, that Cabo San Lucas received only a few inches of rain each year, which explained the cactus and sand. But Gunner didn’t mind the dryness. It was