Renegade Read Online Free PDF

precisely so that the photographer would not misconstrue his intent.
    The man’s face lost all of its natural color. Gabriel Cole towered over him by a full head. “If … if you hit me I’ll sue you.”
    Gabriel shook him like a rottweiler would an annoying Chihuahua, while searching through his pockets for some form of identification. He found the man’s press badge in his jacket.
    “Not if I don’t sue you first, Mr. Stockwell. I don’t think I have to remind you that I have the resources to hire the best law firm in the country. I’ll ruin you
and
that rag you sniff around for.”
    “You can’t threaten me.” His bravado had returned.
    Gabriel curbed an urge to slap the annoying man. “Ijust did.” He shoved the I.D. back in his pocket. “Get the hell out of here before I call school security.”
    “Is there a problem, Gabriel?”
    Summer and Gabriel turned when they recognized the assistant principal’s voice. “Yes,” she said. “This man tried to take Mr. Cole’s photograph without his permission.”
    Dumas Gellis removed a small walkie-talkie from his jacket pocket, calling for school security. A minute later, two men appeared and escorted the hapless photographer into the school building for questioning.
    “Are you all right, Summer?” Dumas asked, staring intently at her.
    She smiled. “I’m fine.” She gave him the roll of overexposed film. “You can give this back to him.”
    Dumas took the film, then bent down to pick up the camera. “I’m sorry, Gabriel. I thought after two weeks the media would forget about you.”
    “There’s no need to apologize. There are some things that are beyond our control.”
    “
This
I can control. It will not happen again.”
    Gabriel nodded. “Thanks.” Curving an arm around Summer’s waist, he led her into the building. He did not drop his arm as they walked the length of the hallway to their office, closing the door behind them.
    Turning to face Gabriel, Summer stared up at him. “You shouldn’t have threatened him with physical harm.”
    “What did you expect me to do? Let him hit you?”
    She shook her head. “He wouldn’t have hit me.”
    “And why not?”
    “Because he wouldn’t.” She wanted to tell Gabriel that she had been trained to take a three hundred poundman off his feet in less than three seconds. Take him down and render him unconscious.
    “You’re what—five-six and weigh about a buck twenty?”
    “Five-eight and a buck thirty.”
    “Big deal,” he spat out. “So, I’m off by two inches and ten pounds.”
    Shrugging out of her raincoat, Summer walked over to a coat tree and hung it up. “I don’t intend to argue with you, Gabriel.”
    “Nor I with you,” he shot back. “I grew up with two sisters, and there were a few times when I was forced to protect them from other boys. That’s who I am. That’s how I was raised. If that guy had touched you, I would have taken him apart. And do you really believe I give a damn about him suing me?”
    She didn’t reply or turn around. He stared at her back, then turned on his heels and walked out of the office, slamming the door violently behind him. The itch was back. An annoying itch he couldn’t scratch.
    There was something about Summer he found so intriguing, yet so very irritating. He’d give himself the weekend to find the answer. And if he didn’t, then he was mentally prepared to dismiss her.

Three
    After her last class, Summer retrieved her handbag and raincoat, then went in search of Gabriel, hoping she would find him in the music room. Peering through the glass on the door, she spied him sitting on a chair, one leg crossed over the opposite knee, arms folded over his chest. Opening the door, she walked in. A student sat in the back of the room playing scales on an alto saxophone.
    Gabriel’s gaze widened as he smiled at Summer. He patted a chair beside him. Moving quietly across the room, she sat down next to him. She jumped slightly, then relaxed as his