The Secret Agent's Surprises (Harlequin American Romance) by Tina Leonard Read Free Book Online

whether she sounded nervous about the babies or being with him.
    “I thought we might. I don’t even know why, except that I’m feeling unsuccessful right now, since Jack took off like a shot out of a cannon when he heard what was on my mind.” He scratched under his hat, then shook his head. “Jack had it harder than the rest of us. He never did anything right, as far as Pop was concerned.”
    Pete looked at Priscilla, seeing that she was listening with sympathy, so he took a deep breath and went on, “The thing about Jack was that he’d give any of us the shirt off his back. Of all of us, Jack was the one who’d come running if we needed a pat on the head, a little encouragement. It kills me to see him so gun-shy now. Pop did that to him.”
    “Oh, dear,” Priscilla said. “I’m so sorry.”
    Pete waved a hand, trying to appear casual. “I came home all ready to tell Pop what I thought about his letter. All the years of anger were ready to spillright out of me, so I understand Jack’s reaction today. I really do. I just hadn’t counted on Pop needing us, the jackass. It sort of turns the tables on any bitter words I’d thought about saying to him.”
    “I think living in the past is pretty hard sometimes,” Priscilla said, breaking eye contact. “A lot of regrets back there.”
    “Yeah. To be honest, I wasn’t too happy to find you there at the ranch with him. I’d built up a full head of steam. It’d been simmering inside me since I’d left the States. I was really going to ride the old man.” He shrugged. “There was Miss Manners, though, and I had to give Pop a pass in the interest of chivalry.”
    “Aren’t you glad you did?”
    He sighed. “Are you coming or not?”
    Standing, Priscilla took off her apron. “I happen to be free for the evening.”
    “Good.” He crossed his legs, leaned back in the chair. “That makes two of us.”
     
    P RISCILLA DID WANT to see the quadruplets, but she was a wee bit anxious. Pete was a tempting man, and who wouldn’t want to help four orphaned infants?
    All she could hope was that wonderful homes could be found for them. She could also hope that Pete would head on his merry way to whatever place next caught his fancy so that she could quit thinking about him. He was invading her daydreams on a disturbingly frequent level. Did she want to end up like Cricket, fancying someone she couldn’t have?
    It didn’t take great brain power to know that she and Pete had nothing in common except for their concern for the babies.
    “This is the Union Junction hospital, the babies’ home for the past few weeks,” Pete said, pulling into the parking lot. “I don’t know how much longer they’ll need to be here, but they don’t seem to mind, fortunately.”
    She quietly followed Pete inside, reassured by his warmth and strength and sense of duty. They rode the elevator to the second floor, then walked to the nursery window. “And there they are,” Pete said, “one, two, three and four.”
    “Oh,” Priscilla said faintly, “they’re cherubs.”
    No one could resist such sweet little babies. Their tiny fannies were covered by small diapers. A hospital-issued bracelet encircled each of four impossibly small arms. Adorable caps were on their heads, and each wore a small T-shirt, a blanket half covering them, though one of the girls had kicked her blanket off. All of them slept peacefully, unaware of the two adults staring at them through the nursery window.
    He nodded. “Can’t believe they’re all from one family.”
    Priscilla could feel tears pricking at her eyes. “They’re so helpless.” She looked up at Pete. “It’sone thing to hear about them, quite another to see them. No wonder your father is so stirred up.”
    “Yeah. If he was any younger, he’d be finding himself a bride and adopting them himself.”
    “Let’s go,” Priscilla said. Her sudden urge to escape was overwhelming. She couldn’t bear to think, hated to remember that once