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 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