Lady Be Good (Wynette, Texas #2)(113)

“Sweetheart?” His tentative tone made him sound like a wimp, but he was no fool, and he knew she needed to be approached cautiously.

She blinked her eyes, drew back her shoulders, and shot up her chin. “Ah, Kenny.” Then she barreled forward, all full of dangerous business, and even though she wasn’t carrying her umbrella, he could feel the tip plunging straight into his groin. “I’m delighted you showed up. It saves me having to write a note.”

A note? She’d planned to leave him a note? He started to fume all over again.

“Patrick’s bringing over my things, and I’ve spoken with Ted. He agreed to drive me to San Antonio.”

That little prick.

“Of course, since you seem to own this town and everybody in it, neither of them will do what I asked, so I’ve also called a car service. Once I get packed and arrive in San Antonio, I’m catching a short flight to Dallas, and I’ll be out of your hair in no time.” She brushed her hands together . . . brushing him right out of her life. “That should do it. Sorry things didn’t work out. As soon as I get settled, I’ll send you my address so we can straighten out any annoying legal business.”

And then she stuck out her hand, actually stuck out her hand for him to shake.

“Uh-oh.”

Emma heard Torie’s muttered warning, saw fireworks go off in Kenny’s eyes, and realized she’d pushed him too far with the handshake. But she’d been determined to go out with her dignity waving like a Union Jack in the wind.

He thrust Peter into Torie’s arms, then his fingers manacled her wrist. “If y’all don’t mind excusing us, my wife and I have some business to conduct in private.”

He spoke in a menacing drawl, with an extra bite on the word wife. She started to dig in her heels, but he was already dragging her toward a gate in the middle of the back wall. Her former friend, the traitorous Dexter O’Conner, rushed ahead of him to open it.

Kenny pulled her into a small, shady garden with a wedge of lawn to one side and a swimming pool just beyond. Then he backed her right against a tree.

“You’re not doing this, Emma. I swear to God, I’m not letting you throw away a good solid marriage just because you’ve got yourself in a snit over the way I’ve screwed up.”

A good, solid marriage? His audacity nearly took her breath away.

“You should know me well enough by now to know I always screw up when it comes to you. And exactly what kind of marriage are we going to have if you decide to run home to England every time that happens? You’d be gone most of the month.”

The whirlpool that made up Kenny Traveler was once again trying to suck her into its hazardous depths. But this time she wouldn’t go, and instead of attempting to reason with him, she gazed at him stonily. “This discussion is over. We have nothing more to say to each other.”

“I know I didn’t pick a good time to tell you I loved you,” he went on, just as if she hadn’t spoken, “but it didn’t hit me until today.”

That hurt so much she couldn’t let it pass. “How bloody convenient! Especially since this sudden revelation managed to get you back on the tour again, didn’t it?”

His eyes narrowed, as if he were the wronged party. “Is that what you think? You think I somehow figured out that, if I told you I loved you in front of Dallie, it was going to magically get me back on the tour?”

She regarded him steadily. “That’s what happened, isn’t it?”

For a moment he simply stared at her, then he erupted. “That’s not what happened! I can’t read his mind! I didn’t know that was all he was waiting to hear from me.”

“All!”

“I didn’t mean it like that! I only mean—”

With a violent shove, she pushed herself away from him and rushed blindly forward, not thinking about where she was going, just knowing that she’d lost the dignity she’d been trying so hard to maintain, and hating him for it.

“Emma!”

Tears were clouding her vision, tears she couldn’t let him see. When had she turned into such a crier? Her weakness made her furious all over, especially when she heard him coming up behind her. “Don’t you dare touch me! Don’t you ever touch me again!”

He pulled her to a stop and swept her into his arms, up against his sweaty golf shirt. “Listen to me! I love you, Emma! I don’t know how to say it any plainer.”

She drew strength from her fury and looked him straight in the eye. “Save your breath because I don’t love you! I never did! It was all sex.”

Something devastating came over his features, something that made her feel ashamed. But she wasn’t the guilty party, and her anger, combined with a strong sense of self-preservation, rescued her. She spun away from him.

As she began to march toward the house, she saw that they were all gathering by the gate to watch, these nosy, impossible Texans. And not just Kenny’s family. The Beaudines had shown up, too! All of them were—

She was suddenly flying through the air as Kenny picked her up and grabbed her beneath the knees. He began to run. Run! With a full-grown woman in his arms!

The soles of his shoes struck concrete. She felt the muscles in his arms bunch, and then she was flying. Flying through the air as he threw her into the deep end of the Traveler family swimming pool.