Amazing Gracie by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online Page A

in your case. I’ll take you anyplace you want to go.”
    “So you say.”
    “I will.”
    She gave him a sly look. “Including that off-track betting parlor on the river?” she inquired a bit too eagerly.
    Kevin saw too late the trap he had set for himself and resigned himself to an afternoon of keno and horse racing. “Tomorrow,” he agreed.
    Aunt Delia seemed surprised by the easy capitulation. “Must mean you’re hoping to run across that woman again. What did you say her name was?”

    “I didn’t. It’s Gracie,” he said, rather liking the way it sounded. Old-fashioned. Prim and proper. Yep, that was Gracie, all right. Getting her to loosen up was going to improve his summer considerably.
    “She’s right pretty, if you like the type,” Aunt Delia said slyly.
    “I didn’t notice.”
    “Hogwash! The day you don’t notice a woman will be the day they put you in the ground, Kevin Patrick. It amazes me still that one of them hasn’t caught you by fair means or foul. Goodness knows, half the female population of the Northern Neck has tried hard enough.”
    Her expression turned thoughtful. “Of course, that’s the problem, isn’t it? They’re all trying too hard. What’s the challenge in that? You need a woman who won’t go all weak-kneed just looking at you. Struck me that this Gracie of yours has spunk.”
    “I just met the woman. She is not my Gracie.”
    “Whatever. She looks as if she could keep you on your toes. Probably too much woman for you, now that I think about it.”
    Kevin fought a surge of indignation and lost. “The woman hasn’t been born who’d be too much for me,” he grumbled.
    “So you say.”
    “Do you have a license for all this analysis you’re doing?”
    “I have something better. I have years of experience. You’d do well to listen to me once in a while.”
    “I listen to every word you say.”
    “And then pick and choose which half of them to ignore.”
    He couldn’t deny that at least half of it fell on deafears. “Okay, Aunt Delia, let’s leave me out of this for a minute,” he suggested on a more somber note. “Bottom line. Do you really want me to sell your house to Gracie MacDougal so she can turn it into a bed-and-breakfast?”
    For a second, she looked nonplussed by the direct question. Then she squared her shoulders and looked him in the eye, challenging him right back. “Might’s well,” she said. “You won’t let me near the place. It’s a shame to let it sit there, when it could be filled with laughter again.”
    His gaze narrowed. He was missing something here. She had fought tooth and nail every suggestion he’d made about putting the house on the market. She’d insisted, in fact, on putting it in his name, though as far as he was concerned it was still hers to do with as she liked.
    “Do you mean that?” he asked. “I thought you loved that old house.”
    “I do. I spent my entire life in that house. Not a minute goes by that I don’t miss it, but I’m not a fool, Kevin. I know it was getting to be too much for me. I’m better off here with you, though why you’d rather be out here in this mausoleum instead of in town is beyond me.”
    She surveyed him, then shrugged. “Besides, you need somebody around who can stand up to you. None of those pitiful Daniels relatives of yours has the gumption to put you in your place when you deserve it. And Molly’s been catering to your every whim since the day you were born. I’ve never seen a housekeeper who’s so taken in by a smile and an occasional kind word. That leaves me to see you don’t get too big for your britches.”
    Her eyes sparkled mischievously. “Something tells me that MacDougal girl could hold her own with you,though. I wouldn’t mind watching the negotiations for the house, just to see the sparks fly.”
    “Maybe,” he conceded cautiously. He knew what she was up to. She was laying the groundwork for throwing him into more frequent contact with Gracie. He had a