Reluctant Smuggler by Jill Elizabeth Nelson

Author:Jill Elizabeth Nelson [Nelson, Jill Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Suspense
Publisher: Multnomah Books
Published: 2010-12-16T06:00:00+00:00

“Good heavens! I can’t leave you two alone for a minute.”

Gina’s voice drew Desi from a warm, welcoming place. She stirred, and a groan sounded from the chest beneath her ear. Tony! With a gasp, she sat up straight, staring into his startled face only inches from hers.

He hissed in a breath. “Gently, sweetheart.”

“Oh, Tony, I’m so sorry.” She slipped off his lap. “What was I thinking?”

“I don’t think thinking was involved.” He grinned up at her, then shifted into a different position and grimaced.

Gina laughed, and heat crawled up Desi’s neck. She rubbed her eyes and found her cheeks crusty from tears. “I’m a menace as a nursemaid. I should be fired.”

“Sorry, babe.” Tony chuckled. “I’m afraid you’re stuck with the job. I won’t allow anyone else to do my close personal therapy.”

Gina set her purse and Bible on the coffee table. “I should certainly hope not, giovanotto. Have you two managed to set a date yet? I bought my mother-of-the-bride-and-groom dress a month ago, and every day it begs to be worn.”

Desi stared at her feet. How did she explain to this adorable mom-in-law-to-be that some mysterious emotional malady was plaguing the woman who wanted to marry her son?

“You’d better hang that dress in the back of the closet for a while,” Tony said. “I’ve got a ways to go before I’m husband material. Weeks, probably months, of physical training to regain my fitness levels, and then—”

“Idiota!” Ginz flash-fried her son with a glare, then wagged a finger in his face. “Of all the ridiculous statements I’ve heard from your mouth. The standards of the FBI do not dictate your family life. Many women are happily married to men who couldn’t pass a single bureau training test.”

“But—”

“There is no ‘but,’ except in your head.”

Desi clapped her hands. “Brava, mia madre. But the problem isn’t so much with Tony as with me.”

Gina’s eyes widened. “You! All of a sudden you do not wish to marry—”

“Of course I wish. The sooner the better, if I could get past some stupid hang-up I can’t even figure out myself.”

“Hmm.” The woman leveled an assessing gaze. “Come.” She motioned toward the upstairs. “You and I will have il discorso franco—the heart-to-heart talk.” She swept toward the foyer, sucking Desi in her wake.

“But Tony—”

“Is a big boy who knows how to use the remote control.”

The bell rang as they passed the front door. Desi peeked out the diamond of beveled glass. Steve Crane stood there, cheeks bitten red with the cold. Someone to sit with Tony, anyway. She opened the door, and Crane entered with a rush of frigid air.

“Brrrr!” A shiver shook his big body. “Here.” He thrust a box toward Desi. “Lana made cookies and insisted I bring some over for our prize patient. Never mind it’s twenty below with the windchill.”

Desi pointed to the living room. “Take them in to him. There’s hot coffee in the pot. Pig out, you two. Gina—er, Mom and I are going to have a discorso franco.

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