Undercover Passion Read Online Free PDF Page A

“I wonder just what the circumstances were.”
    â€œOh, no you don’t!” Phoebe cried. “You leave Ella alone.” She gave him a look of pure exasperation—a look he’d seen many times before. “She’s a peach. Look, she stopped by the travel bureau and picked up some brochures on cruises for me.” She waved the brightly colored leaflets at him. “I’ve already got my cruise picked out.”
    Daniel stopped, groaning internally. “Gram, I don’t think you’re going to be in any condition for cruising for some time,” he said carefully. “I hate to see you get your hopes up when—”
    â€œDon’t start with me, young man.”
    He bit his tongue. There was no way she was going on a cruise. It was impossible. The summer had begun with her being hospitalized with circulatory problems, and then there had been the fall she’d taken, an accident that had left her lying helpless in the street. He couldn’t bear to think of her risking another accident like that. And even if she were in physical shape to do it, the money wasn’t there.
    He’d just sunk every penny in a wonderful retirement community for her. Now all he had to do was convince her that she wanted to move in. But there would be plenty of time for that once she was back on her feet again.
    â€œYou just get over here and adjust these pillowsfor me,” she was saying. “Then you can turn on my television and go out and find a nice girl to date.”
    He obliged about the pillows right away. “That’s just my complaint, you know,” he said with a sad smile, meant to get her sympathy. “There are no nice girls left.”
    Phoebe looked up at him, her eyes narrowing speculatively. “That cute little redheaded nurse was asking about you again.”
    He threw out his hands in a mock gesture of irritation. “Now see, that’s what I mean. That’s just plain weird.”
    â€œWhy?”
    He shrugged, ready to pass her question by. But the way she was looking at him, he could tell she wasn’t going to be satisfied with that, so he tried to explain. “Women just don’t do things like that around me. I’m not that type of guy. Never have been.”
    â€œOh, Danny, don’t be so dense,” his grandmother said crossly. “Women would love you if you just give them half a chance. And the redhead is the proof.”
    â€œNo, Gram.” He shook his head. This was one thing in his life that he didn’t doubt. “There’ssomething wrong here. Women have never fallen all over me like this before. And in such strange ways. I don’t trust it.”
    â€œOh, Danny.”
    â€œIt’s the truth. Women just don’t act like that around me.”
    â€œWell, how do women usually act?”
    He grimaced. “Most of the women I deal with these days reach for their license first, and then for their cell phone.”
    She looked bewildered. “Their cell phone?”
    â€œTo call their lawyer.”
    â€œOh.” She laughed. “Of course. They’re afraid you’re going to arrest them.” She shook her head. “Well, very few here know you’re a cop so that isn’t the problem.”
    He slumped down into the chair beside her bed and squinted his eyes, thinking. “That’s just it. It’s driving me nuts. I’ve got to get to the bottom of it. I’ve got women making goo-goo eyes at me all over the place.”
    â€œWell, of course you do, darling.” She patted his arm. “I think you just never noticed it before. You’re quite a handsome man. I’m sure there arelots of women sizing you up as a very good catch. You just don’t pay enough attention.”
    He gave his grandmother a patient look. “That’s not it, Gram. I pay a lot of attention. It’s part of my job to pay attention. And I’ve never been a