Diamond in the Rough by Marie Ferrarella

Author:Marie Ferrarella [Ferrarella, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2008-12-22T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Miranda wasn’t accustomed to fitting in easily anymore, certainly not without any effort on her part. Having learned early to treat overtures of friendship with caution, she was used to being on the outside looking in. And when people were overly friendly toward her, she had the uncomfortable feeling that they weren’t interested in friendship, but in getting an inside track to her father.

To his credit, when she was young and asked her father for the autographs, photos or tickets, he would always come through. But even then, there’d be this enigmatic expression on his face. She realized later that it masked pity, for her having to trade on his name to get friends. Until she grew older she was in the dark about the way people operated. Oh, she had her suspicions, but she never actually acted on them. And so things continued the way they were. Even Ariel’s death didn’t really change things that much.

But then the scandal happened.

From then on, she became highly suspicious of anyone who even asked her about her family. It became ingrained in her. So ingrained she couldn’t change her ways, couldn’t just shed her wariness like some burdensome cocoon. After the scandal, instead of fans, she was periodically beset by reporters and by writers who wanted to do a biography on her father, or, occasionally, by baseball historians who wanted to ask SOS face-to-face, “What were you thinking?”

So, in a nutshell, Miranda was forever on her guard against exactly what Mike Marlowe represented—the prying media.

However, the Marlowes and their handful of friends didn’t seem to care that much about baseball or her father’s place in its history. After a while, she began to think that perhaps no one knew who her father was. They were being friendly to her because she was with Mike.

With Mike.

Miranda slanted a covert glance in his direction. He stood by the barbecue grill, talking rather animatedly to his father. He caught her looking and grinned before continuing his conversation.

With Mike.

God, that almost sounded as if they were a couple, and they weren’t. Not even dating, she thought, ignoring the tinge of regret that accompanied that acknowledgment.

She’d come to the party to see him interact with his family and he’d brought her here to what…? Get her to let down her guard and trust him? She already did on some level because, if she didn’t, no way would she have allowed him to meet her father.

Maybe Mike had seen the uneasiness reflected in her eyes, the uneasiness she felt because she thought maybe she’d made a mistake after all and that was why he’d decided to ask her to come with him to this family gathering. It didn’t take an Einstein to see that she was very big on families.

But, whatever his reason for bringing her—and hers for coming—she couldn’t deny one thing. His family made her feel as if she’d always been coming here. They’d absorbed her as if she was a part of them. No one regarded her as the “new kid on the block” or “odd woman out.

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