Lady Be Good (Wynette, Texas #2)(86)

She was going to need transport to Dallas today so she could get to the airport. She also needed a shower and fresh clothes, but there was something she had to do first.

Ten minutes later she was behind the wheel of Patrick’s car and creeping down a blessedly empty highway toward town. As she concentrated on staying on the proper side of the road, she told herself that her days as a nondriver were over. She might never be comfortable at it, but she wouldn’t give in to her phobia any longer. As soon as she returned to England, she was going to get a license.

The morning desk clerk at the hotel turned out to be the attractive redhead Ted had been flirting with at the Roustabout. She recognized Emma, and it didn’t take long for her to turn over Hugh’s room number.

After knocking at his door, Emma stepped far enough to the side so she wouldn’t be visible through the peephole. Then she approximated a Texas drawl. “Room service.”

Seconds ticked by. She heard the sound of movement, then the click of locks. The door opened. “I didn’t order—” Hugh froze as he saw her.

He’d thrown a silk robe over his pudgy body, and the legs of his royal purple pajamas stuck out beneath. His feet were bare and ugly, with a gnarled big toe. She was gratified to notice that the bruise on the side of his jaw was a lot nastier than hers.

“Get out of here!” His small eyes darted past her into the hall, and she realized he was afraid Kenny had come along.

She pushed past him into the room. “I’m alone.”

He slammed the door behind her, as if he still expected Kenny to wedge himself inside at any moment. “He’s a madman! If I’d known he was insane when I spoke with him that first time, I’d never have—” He broke off and his fleshy lips curled. “Do you have any idea the extent of the humiliation you’ve made me suffer?”

As he took a threatening step toward her, common sense told her to retreat, but she stood her ground. “If you touch me, I shall scream so loudly everyone in the hotel will hear. Is that what you want?”

He glared down his nose at her but didn’t come any closer. “You’re wasting your time. You don’t really believe I’ll still marry you now that I know about your perversion, do you?”

His lip curled as if he’d just spit out poison. If she were a lesbian, she would find his attitude highly offensive. He thrust his hand through his oily auburn hair, but instead of straightening it, he forced it into a pair of spikes that reminded her of devil horns.

“Don’t plan on ever returning to St. Gert’s because I’m dismissing you. If you set foot on the property again, I’ll have you arrested for trespassing.”

“Of course I intend to go back. Everything I own is there.”

“It’ll be packed up and sent to you.”

She wouldn’t even get a chance to say good bye, but she knew she had to pick her battles, and she couldn’t afford to think about that. Instead, she had to concentrate on all the girls who depended on her.

“Very well, Hugh. But if you don’t want chaos reigning at St. Gert’s, I suggest you replace me with Penelope Briggs. She’s highly competent, and she’ll do an excellent job.”

“That ruddy-faced woman? The one with the awful braying laugh?”

Penelope might be loud, but she was also wonderfully cheerful and extremely intelligent. Hearing her dismissed that way made Emma bristle, but she did her best to hide it. “She gets on well with the staff and the girls. She’s also extremely well-organized. You couldn’t find anyone better.” Except me, she wanted to say. I was the best headmistress St. Gert’s ever had.

He shrugged. “Since she won’t have the job long, I suppose it won’t make any difference.”

“What do you mean?”

He regarded her with a self-satisfied smirk. “I’m going to sell the school to a developer, Emma. I believe I mentioned that possibility.”

Her breath came out in a slow hiss. He wanted his revenge, and he knew exactly how to take it. “You miserable worm.”

“I don’t think you have room to call anyone names, you pathetic excuse for a woman. And I’m warning you right now that you’d better keep quiet about your perversion. I won’t have anyone knowing that a lesbian ever served as the headmistress of St. Gert’s.”

She couldn’t do this any longer. She’d lost everything that counted, and at least she would accept defeat as herself and not someone else. “I’m not a lesbian,” she said quietly. “I kissed Torie because I was desperate to get rid of you.”

“You’re lying.”

She took a deep, steadying breath. “If I were a lesbian, I wouldn’t be ashamed of it, but I’m not. I told you from the beginning that I didn’t want to marry you. Not only did you refuse to listen, you blackmailed me.”

“I did no such thing.”

“I don’t know what else you’d call it. You threatened to sell St. Gert’s if I didn’t comply with your wishes. I love that school. You didn’t leave me any other option.”

He drew himself up, and his chest expanded pompously. “You’re deluded! As if I would have to force any woman to marry me. My name is one of the oldest in England.”

Once again she was reminded of how useless it was to argue with him. When it came to his own self-importance, Hugh Holroyd had no match. She fired her final salvo, knowing how flimsy it was even as she spoke. “I’m warning you right now that, if you close St. Gert’s, I’ll do my best to destroy you.”