Lady Be Good (Wynette, Texas #2)(18)

Waddling slightly from the weight of her luggage, she hurried to the far side of the street. He closed the distance between them and manhandled both suitcases away from her.

“Give those back.”

Ignoring her, he grabbed her carry-all and purse, then took everything to the car. He opened the rear door and tossed it all into the back seat as if it weighed no more than a handful of beach pebbles.

“You owe me a thousand bucks for that.”

She bit her lip, blinked her eyes, and began walking.

He dropped his hands to his hips. “Tell me how far you think you’re going to get without your passport, your money, and your clothes. Not to mention those umbrellas.”

She had clearly been wronged, but instead of apologizing, he was making things worse. She tried to review her options, but they were so limited as to be nonexistent. Her steps slowed. “Drive me to a hotel at once,” she finally managed.

“Gladly.”

She hesitated, but she had little choice, and she forced herself to walk to the car. He opened the passenger door for her. Without looking at him, she slid inside, then tried to make herself invisible by staring out the window. Her lips felt swollen, and she remembered the feel of those deep, insincere kisses.

“Just go ahead and let me have it. I know you’re dying to get it off your chest.” Earlier he’d driven like a demon, but now the car crawled down the street.

She said nothing.

“All right, I was having a little fun with you, pretending I was in the flesh trade. But I didn’t expect you to take me seriously. And then, when you did . . . Well, I’m only human, and before you condemn me for being a man, I suggest you take a long, hard look at yourself in the mirror. Then imagine what you would have done if you were me, and you were faced with somebody who looked like you.”

How cruel of him to mock her because she wasn’t beautiful. She could no longer hold back her words. “I wouldn’t have lied! I would never have humiliated another human being as you did.”

“Humiliated?” He sounded genuinely insulted, but then she remembered what a good actor he was. He pulled out through a set of gates onto a busier street. “Humiliation played no part in it. What I was doing had to do with opportunity—I’ll admit that—but mainly it had to do with lust.”

“Please, Mr. Traveler. I wasn’t born yesterday. This had nothing to do with lust. You’re a rich, good-looking professional athlete. I’m certain you can have any woman you want. You don’t have to settle for an aging schoolteacher.”

“I guess I know lust when I feel it! And you’ve got to admit you made it easy for me. Although why you think you’d have to pay a man is beyond me.”

“Yes, I made it easy for you. Painfully easy.”

He stopped at a flashing red light and looked over at her. “Look, Emma, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. It’s true I got carried away. But you were hell bent on having a fling with a stranger, and I guess I couldn’t see the harm.”

“You lied to me about everything. You’re a famous professional golfer, not an escort. And according to that magazine cover, you’re a multimillionaire.” Realization struck her. “That wasn’t your friend’s house at all. It’s yours, isn’t it? Everything you told me was a lie.”

“You aggravated me.” He pulled away from the light.

“Me! I didn’t do anything.”

“That’s a bald-faced lie. You started bossing me around the minute you laid eyes on me, making out lists, giving orders, and poking me with that umbrella.”

“I never poked you with my umbrella.”

“It felt like it.”

“I apologize,” she said icily.

“Good. I apologize, too, so now we’re even.”

“Not even close.”

For the first time, she thought of Francesca’s part in this. But as she recalled their conversation, she couldn’t remember Francesca ever telling her that Kenny was a professional escort. Instead, she’d described him as a friend. Still, somehow Emma had gotten the idea that he did this professionally, and she distinctly remembered asking Francesca if seventy-five dollars a day would be enough to cover his fee.

Only now did she remember the way Francesca had laughed. “Tell him I said he’d work for fifty.” Her friend could have had no idea how her small joke would backfire.

She no longer had the energy to fight with him. “This isn’t going to work for either of us, Mr. Traveler. It’s obvious you don’t like me, and I certainly don’t like—”

“That’s not exactly true. When you aren’t pointing that umbrella and telling me what to do, you’re fairly enjoyable to be around.” He swung out onto a four-lane highway. “At least you’re not boring, which is more than I can say for most of the people I meet.”

“How flattering. The fact is we can never recover from the bad start we’ve had. First thing in the morning, I’ll call Francesca and ask her to recommend someone else to help me. We don’t need to see each other again.”

The car slowed. “Call Francesca?”

“I’ll tell her we have a personality conflict. She’ll understand.”

“I—uh . . . I’d just as soon we leave Francesca out of this.”