Taming the Pirate by Ruth Owen

Author:Ruth Owen [Owen, Ruth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-82215-4
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2013-12-09T00:00:00+00:00

Of all the reporters who could have covered the festival, it had to be Carson.

“… couldn’t believe it when they told me you were the translator,” Carson said, smiling the boy-next-door grin that had made him one of the most popular newscasters in the city. “Imagine, Miami’s legendary police detective living in a run-down barrio.”

“This barrio,” Gabe stated coldly, “is my home. It’s where my people live and I’m proud of it.”

“Oh, right. You should be,” the reporter said, quickly changing gears. “So, have you been in this neighborhood since you left the force?”

Few people would have been astute enough to catch the flash of malicious calculation in the reporter’s guileless green eyes. Gabe was one of them. “I agreed to translate for you, Carson, not to give you an interview.”

“Sure. But you can’t blame me for trying. After the trial you just dropped off the face of the earth. Not that I blame you after what that bimbo did to you.”

“She wasn’t a bimbo,” Gabe snapped without thinking. Then he silently cursed, knowing Carson had found the one chink in his armor. Even after knowing what Diana was, and what she’d done to him, he still could not bring himself to hate her.

“That’s right, you were engaged to her. I remember the headlines—Drug queenpin sets police detective fiancé up to take fall. She set you up like a pro.” Carson licked his lips, like a hound scenting fresh blood. “You were set up, weren’t you?”

If they’d been anywhere but an open park, surrounded by people he knew, kids who looked up to him …

“I don’t want to talk about this,” Gabe said, giving the reporter a quelling stare. “Not now. Not ever. Understand?”

Apparently Carson did. Basically a coward, he retreated a step, backing down from Gabe’s implied threat. “I’ll check if any of the other reporters need you to translate for them.…”

Good riddance, Gabe thought as he watched Carson slink away like the dog he was. Unfortunately, the buried feelings the reporter had stirred up weren’t so quick to leave. Carson’s smarmy innuendos had been irritating, but accurate. Diana had made a fool of him in public, in blazing 22-point headlines. He wasn’t surprised that the reporter recalled every sordid detail. The fireworks had gone on for weeks.

Pride, once stripped away, was damned hard to recover. Gabe closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against an iron bar of the jungle gym, feeling the heat of the day still radiating from the metal. His memories of Diana were like that—calm on the surface, but seething underneath like a festering wound. Time had dulled the pain, but not eliminated it.

Diana’s duplicity had all but destroyed his faith in others, and in himself. He’d avoided caring relationships, doubting his heart could survive another fiasco. He’d substituted passion for love—fool’s gold for the genuine article—and tried to trick himself into believing they were one and the same. No wonder I never got over Diana, he thought with a grim smile. I’ve been living her lie for years.

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