Lady Be Good (Wynette, Texas #2)(70)

As Kenny drew her away, all she could do was moan.

“You made me look like a fool!”

Kenny followed her as she rushed from the Roustabout. “Excuse me for pointing this out, but you did that all by yourself.”

“You should have told me who he was.”

“How did I know you were going to charge over there and light into him like Xena Warrior Goddess? Besides, nobody can tell you anything. You know it all.”

“I do not!” She realized some very nosy people had followed them outside to witness their argument, but she was beyond being embarrassed.

He shot ahead of her. “You’re bossy and pigheaded. And you get strange ideas. This whole plan of yours, for instance. It’s strange.”

“I’m sick of listening to you criticize me. Especially after what I saw today! You might think about looking at your own lunatic behavior instead of being so concerned with mine.”

Behind her, the door swung open and more of the Roustabout’s patrons began to emerge.

“My lunatic behavior doesn’t have anything to do with you!”

He annoyed her so much that she forgot about the crowd. “It does when you run away and leave me stranded next to a petting zoo!”

“I didn’t run away.”

“Ha!”

More patrons were gathering to watch. Kenny finally noticed and shot his finger toward the Cadillac. “Get in the car.”

“Stop ordering me! Just because I let you get away with it in the bedroom doesn’t mean I’ll put up with it now.”

“You tell him!” One of the women called out.

Kenny tensed as he realized they’d turned into a sideshow. “Get in that car!” he said under his breath.

“Go to bloody hell!” She snatched the keys from him and dashed around the front of the car. She expected him to yank her to a stop at any second, but what she heard instead was the sound of boots sliding, then a curse and a thud. Some of the men in the crowd groaned as Kenny slipped on the asphalt. She took advantage of his tumble and jumped in the car.

By some miracle, the key she shoved in the ignition was the proper one. In the mirror, she saw him spring back to his feet. She turned the key and stepped on the accelerator. The engine roared, but the car didn’t move. She maneuvered the gearshift and the car lurched forward, but not before she heard his angry bellow.

“You can’t drive!”

She barely avoided hitting a black pickup truck on her way across the parking lot. Her skin was damp, her mouth dry. What was she doing?

A glance in the rearview mirror showed Ted Beaudine standing in the center of the crowd, a huge grin plastered over his face. She remembered him telling her that his parents had once fought in this same parking lot. Then she glimpsed Kenny running, actually running, toward her, and she forgot about everything else.

Taking a hurried glance up and down the highway, she saw that it was blessedly free of traffic. Right side. Right side. Right side. With a jerk on the wheel, she turned out onto the road.

Her palms were so sweaty they slipped on the steering wheel. Never had she imagined she had such a terrible temper. And look where it had landed her—behind the wheel of a car she didn’t know how to drive, being chased down a Texas highway by a multimillionaire golf pro.

As she concentrated on keeping the big Cadillac between the lane markers, she kept darting glances in the side mirror and saw that he was gaining on her. Biting the inside of her lip, she pressed a bit harder on the accelerator.

The needle edged to twelve miles an hour.

Cars began to stack up behind her.

She hated driving! Why had she done this?

The door on the passenger side flew open. Kenny ducked his head inside and shouted, “Pull over!”

She yearned to slam her foot on the accelerator, but as much as she wanted to murder him, she didn’t actually want to kill him, so she hesitated, which proved to be a mistake because he jumped in the car. “Pull off the road!”

She kept going, eyes straight ahead, fingers rigormortized around the wheel.

He yanked his door shut. “If you’re not going to pull off, then for God’s sake speed up before you get rear-ended.”

“I know what I’m doing! Torie taught me to drive.”

“Then drive!”

She bit her bottom lip and pressed the accelerator. “There! I’m going thirty. I hope you’re satisfied.”

“The speed limit’s sixty.”

“You think I’m afraid to go sixty? I’m not!” She died a thousand deaths, but she got the speedometer to fortyfive. The cars continued to stack up behind her.

She heard teeth grinding. His words had a tight sound to them. “Pull off up there on the right. Put on your turn signal.”

Because she wanted to pull off, she did what he said.

“By that crooked tree. Turn there.”

Horns blared behind her as she took the corner too fast and ended up in the sandy soil next to the narrow dirt road.

“You were supposed to slow down first!” he yelled.

“You didn’t tell me that. You told me to go faster.”

“Not when you’re turning!” Once again she heard that awful tooth-grinding, then a deeply inhaled breath. “Never mind. Just keep going till you’re behind those trees.”