Lady Be Good (Wynette, Texas #2)(85)

Torie released Emma, and he walked toward her to touch the mark on her cheek. “Are you all right?”

She gave a brisk nod, but he could feel how shaken she was, and it made him want to take Hugh Holroyd apart all over again.

In his peripheral vision, he saw the camera crew circling like vampires. They’d caught everything on tape—everything except the moment Hugh had slapped Emma. Right then, he knew exactly how it would be. The camera would show bad boy Kenny Traveler throwing himself at a defenseless man.

Never apologize. Never explain.

Sturgis Randall rushed forward and thrust a microphone in Kenny’s face. “Tell us what happened. Why did you start the fight?”

“Get out of here,” he growled.

“No!” Emma clutched his arm. “Tell him exactly what happened.”

But Kenny’d swallowed his pride once today by talking to Sturgis, and he wasn’t going to do it again. Besides, there was no point. Sturgis had film, and he wasn’t interested in the truth.

Acid boiled in his stomach. Without another word, he pulled away from Emma and walked to his car. Randall shouted out a question, but he ignored it. He’d just thrown his life away, and he had to be alone.

Dismay washed over Emma as she watched him go. What had she done? As the Cadillac sped away, she faced the terrible knowledge that the events she had set in motion could destroy what was left of Kenny’s career.

Warren shot forward. She was accustomed to seeing his neediness as he gazed at his son, but now she saw a hardheaded businessman. “Dex, get Hugh to the hotel. The more I think about it, the more I realize he’ll do just fine there. Cockroaches need to stick together.”

Dex grabbed Hugh and led him toward his Audi, but at the last minute, Hugh wrenched free and turned on Emma. “Don’t think I’ll ever let you near that school again! Or any school, for that matter. Twisted, perverted women like you shouldn’t be allowed near innocent children.”

Emma felt a cool, moist wind blow across the parking lot, and in her mind it smelled of neat English lawns, sun-splashed flower beds, and old brick buildings that sheltered lonely little girls. The only home she’d ever known.

Sturgis rushed toward Hugh. “Tell us what happened. Why did Kenny Traveler subject you to that brutal assault?”

Dex put the car into gear and raced out of the parking lot before Hugh could denounce Kenny. Furious, Sturgis turned back to his cameraman. “Let’s get this film to the airport.”

“No!” Emma rushed toward the camera. “Interview me. I’ll tell you everything. I was attacked by Hugh Holroyd. Kenny was only acting in my defense.”

Her heart sank as she saw the skeptical look on Randall’s face “Anybody else see this?” he asked the onlookers.

“We all did,” Warren said.

Shelby hurried forward, and the parking lot lights showed two damp milk-circles on the front of her sweater. “That English lizard slapped Lady Emma, and Kenny defended her.”

Randall, still looking skeptical, turned to the crowd. “Is this true? Did anybody else see it?”

“If Shelby says it’s true, then it is,” one of the men called out.

“You’re damned right it is,” Torie said. “And you’d better tell the whole story.”

Randall gave her a long look, and once again turned to the crowd. “Did anybody who’s not part of the Traveler family see what happened?”

There was silence.

“Dex did!” Torie exclaimed. “Dexter O’Conner. He just drove the lizard to the hotel. You can talk to him.”

“O’Conner? Isn’t he the man you’re going to marry? Not exactly an unbiased source.”

“Who said I was marrying him?”

Sturgis passed his microphone over to a crew member and closed the notebook he was holding. “The bartender and about six other people.”

The self-satisfied look on his face told it all, and Warren shook his head. “You don’t want to know the truth. But then, you’ve got a long history of ignoring the facts. You’re the reason Kenny got suspended, and now you want to string him up all over again.”

Randall regarded him pompously. “I don’t make the news. I just report it.”

“Don’t you mean distort?” Shelby said.

But Sturgis Randall had his story exactly the way he liked, and he wasn’t interested in hearing any more.“Pack up, boys. Let’s get out of here.”

Emma’s stomach sank. She’d desperately wanted to get rid of Hugh, but she’d never intended to destroy Kenny in the process.

Emma waited up for Kenny until nearly four in the morning, then fell asleep in the chair she’d pulled to her bedroom window. When she awakened at six, he still hadn’t come home.

Still wearing her clothes from the night before, she stumbled into the bathroom. The mirror showed dark circles under her eyes and the faint shadow of a bruise on her cheek where Hugh had hit her. She brushed her knuckles against it, but it didn’t hurt nearly as much as her heart.

Today was the day she was flying home. She thought of the way Kenny had rushed to her defense, an act of pure chivalry that had not only ruined his chance to get back on the tour for a very long time, but would permanently scar his reputation with the public. If only he’d let her handle it. But gallantry was as much a part of his makeup as his offbeat sense of humor. She’d known their affair had to end, but she’d never dreamed it would end like this, with her having so clearly wronged him.