Renegade Read Free Page B

assignments she returned there to stay with her maternal grandmother. She saw her parents on average once a year. Both doctors with the World Health Organization, Robert and Mildred Montgomery had lived more than two-thirds of their lives practicing medicine in foreign countries.
    “Yours.” Summer thought she saw a satisfied light fire Gabriel’s golden gaze. “Where do you live?”
    “Cotuit.”
    “On Cape Cod?”
    He nodded. “I bought a little place there last year.”
    The fact that Gabriel had purchased property on the Cape was not in his report. She suspected this information had been excluded because he had been exempt from the DEA’s investigation.
    “You drive here from the Cape everyday?”
    “It’s only about sixty miles each way. And now that the tourists are gone I usually don’t encounter too many traffic delays.”
    Summer knew she had stepped into a trap of her own making. She had just committed to driving more than an hour to meet with Gabriel for their first planning session.
    She gave him a lingering look. “Okay. I’ll meet you at your place.”
    “May I make a suggestion?”
    “Sure,” she said.
    “Why don’t I pick you up at your place next Friday morning, drive you to school, then we can ride down together at the end of the day. It will save time and gas if we use one car.”
    The shock of his suggestion caused the words to wedge in her throat. “I need to understand something. You’re not going to drive me down to Cotuit just to turn around and bring me back later that night.”
    Gabriel stared at Summer, his expression one of faint amusement. He liked driving, but not enough to clock two hundred fifty miles in a single day. “Of course not. I expect you to spend the weekend.”
    Her delicate jaw dropped. “The weekend?”
    “I’m sure there’s no echo is this room,” he said glibly. “Yes, Summer, the weekend. If you want something as lavish as a musical production spanning several centuries, then it’s going to take weeks of planning. We have to select the music, identify the appropriate instruments, and decide on vocal arrangements. Then you’re going to have to work with Desiree on the set designs. And I don’t have to remind you of auditioning students for the various parts, and then the endless rehearsals. If on the other hand, you feel uncomfortable staying with me, then I can always spend the weekend with you.”
    “You can’t spend the weekend with me.”
    “Why? Your boyfriend would object?”
    “I don’t have a boyfriend,” she retorted quickly. “My place is too small. I have a one bedroom apartment.”
    He flashed his winning crooked smile. “I can always sleep on the couch.”
    “I don’t have a couch. I have two love seats. And I won’t be held responsible if you wake up with a misaligned spine.”
    “You could always give up your bed.”
    She gave a delicate snort. “I’d only give up my bed to a sick man.”
    Gabriel affected a deep cough that rattled in his throat and chest.
    “Stop,” she said, laughing. “Okay you win this time. I’ll spend next weekend with you.”
    Gabriel wanted to tell Summer that he would win the next time and the time after that. After all, he was a Cole. And Coles were used to winning. He had won three Grammy awards and an Oscar before he had celebrated his thirtieth birthday.
    The seven-twenty bell rang signaling the start of the first class of the day. The door opened and Desiree Leighton rushed into the office, cheeks flushed with excitement. The high color brought out the vividness of her bright blue eyes.
    “I can’t believe I’m late. I’m never late for anything.”
    Gabriel stood up, gathering his backpack. “Excuse me, ladies, but I have a class.”
    Desiree smiled at him, locked her handbag in the desk in the corner before she rushed out behind Gabriel’s departing figure. “I’ll see you later, Summer,” she said over her shoulder, closing the door behind her.
    Summer’s first class did not