The Player by Rhonda Nelson Read Free Book Online Page A

then why had he arranged for Jamie to be in place here? It didn’t make any sense. Exactly what did the Colonel have in mind—
    “Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Garrett finally snapped. “You’re bait.”
    If Jamie hadn’t had a death grip on the phone he would have dropped it. He felt his eyes widen and his jaw drop. “I’m what? ”
    “Bait,” Garrett repeated calmly. “Your reputation with the ladies makes you the perfect man for this mission, Flanagan. Oh, I suppose McCann or Payne would have done okay as well, but in order to make absolutely sure that Audrey doesn’t permanently attach herself to that pompousmoron, I thought I’d err on the side of caution and send you in.”
    Silence stretched across the line while Jamie tried to process what the Colonel had just told him.
    “You see,” Garrett continued, “if my granddaughter is even remotely attracted to you, she wouldn’t dream of saying ‘I do’ to that gelled-up windbag. She has too much class. And it’s no secret that you have a certain talent with women…So here are your orders and you’d better heed them to the letter,” Garrett warned. “Otherwise, I assure you that you’ll be very, very sorry.” He paused, letting the threat sink in. “For the next five days I want you to shadow my granddaughter. Spend time with her, flirt with her, compliment her. Do whatever it is that you do to get women to fall all over you. But that is all. I’m not pimping you out to my granddaughter, Flanagan,” he said gruffly, some of that legendary piss and gravel in his voice. “Baseball’s an all-American game, so I’ll put it into terms I’m sure you’ll understand. You are ondeck, but you will never get to bat, do you understand?”
    Still in a state of shock, Jamie cleared his throat. “Yes, sir.”
    “First base is forbidden. Second base is forbidden. Third base is forbidden. If you get anywhere near home plate, you’ll need that book on erectile dysfunction. You’ll also need a surgeon to remove my foot from your ass. Is there any part of this that’s unclear?”
    “No, sir.”
    “This is a pseudo-seduction, for lack of a better description. I don’t want her to want you, per se. I just want her to want anyone but Derrick. You’re there to instill doubt and I know you can make that happen.”
    He could, Jamie knew. He just didn’t want to do it. Not to her. It was wrong and underhanded, a personal interference he knew that she wouldn’t appreciate. “Sir, I realize that I don’t know your granddaughter, but if she ever finds out that you’ve done something like this, she’ll—”
    “That’s why she’ll never find out,” Garrett said in his typical omnipotent voice. “She’s special,” he told Jamie. “She deserves someone who will see that. That blowhard Derrick sees nothing beyond himself.”
    Jamie passed a hand over his face. “Yeah,” he admitted. “I noticed.”
    “You met him?” he asked, surprised.
    “He interrupted my check-in. He came in and demanded to see Audrey.”
    “Then certainly you can see why I’ve resorted to these somewhat…unorthodox measures.”
    Actually, though Jamie didn’t appreciate being the means to which Garrett reached his end, he did see why the Colonel would take such a drastic approach to derailing the relationship. He couldn’t imagine any woman being permanently interested in Derrick, much less Audrey. Why? he wondered, intrigued beyond what was appropriate. What was she doing with someone who was so obviously wrong for her?
    Jamie’s head began to hurt. “If I’m going to do this, then I need a little back story.”
    “There’s no if, Flanagan,” Garrett told him gruffly. “You owe me and you agreed to my terms.”
    And there it was, Jamie thought with a mental sigh. “Fine. Bring me up to speed. How long have they been dating?”
    “Too long.”
    Anything beyond a minute would be too long, but that wasn’t the answer he’d been looking for. “Naturally. Could you