Lady Be Good (Wynette, Texas #2)(89)

The attendant stepped closer. “Ma’am, do you want me to call security?”

“No, no.” Emma shook her head. “Everything’s fine.” Once again, she grabbed his arm. “Of course I have to talk to Dallie. I’m the one who’s responsible. I have to explain how this is all my fault.”

“You’re damn right it is, and you’ve got a lot of making up to do, starting right now. Don’t get on that plane.”

“I have to. I have to go back.”

“And leave me to face the mess you created? Not hardly.”

“I won’t. I already told you I’d explain to Dallie, and—”

“And I already told you to mind your own business.”

“But . . .”

“Ma’am, are you getting on this plane or not?”

“Yes!”

“No, you’re not!”

Without any warning, Emma’s eyes filled with tears. Why did she have to tear his heart out by crying? “You stop that right now!” he exclaimed. “You’re not getting your way just by turning into a damn crybaby!”

“I’m not trying to get my way. I’m trying to straighten this out.”

“Fine! That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.” He glanced over at the gate attendant. “Don’t wait for her any longer. She’s not going with you.”

“Kenny! Stop it this instant! I’ve already apologized, and I told you I’d call Dallie and explain, but you don’t want that. I can’t think of anything else to say. What am I missing? Tell me exactly what it is you do want from me.”

She had him there.

“That’s what I thought.” Her schoolmarm’s look told him he didn’t have a chance of changing her mind. “Good-bye, Kenny.”

She pulled away from him and turned into the jetway.

“You get back here right this minute!” he called out. “We’re—” Something was burning a hole right through the middle of his brain. “We’re going straight to Vegas.”

That stopped her—stopped him, too. She glanced back at him, and her expression was completely baffled, which made him even more irritable. “Vegas? What do you mean?”

The hole in his brain was getting bigger by the second. “Las Vegas. It’s in Nevada.”

“I know where it is. Why do you want to go there?”

“To elope.” The words came out like a croak. “It’s where people go to elope.”

“Elope?” She was walking back toward him now, not as though she wanted to do it, but more like a zombie. “Do you mean get married?”

No! No, that’s not what he meant at all—he didn’t want to get married!—but he couldn’t back down now, not with that damned gate attendant staring at him as if he were a nutcase, and Emma looking like the walking dead, and Tiger wearing the green jacket again.

His eavesdropping sister started shrieking in the background and jumping up and down just like the sorority girl she’d been in her not-so-distant past. “You’re getting married!”

He thrust out his jaw at Emma. “You’ve got a problem with that?”

Those amber brown eyes looked as if they were going to swim right out of her face, and her throat muscles contracted as she swallowed. “This is—is foolish. You don’t want to marry me.”

She’d never spoken truer words, but he wasn’t going to admit it now. “Don’t you try to tell me what I want and what I don’t want. Just because we’re getting married doesn’t mean I’m going to put up with you bossing me around.”

“Ma’am, I’m afraid you’ll have to get this sorted out on your own time. Good luck.”

As the gate attendant shut the door, Kenny went light-headed with relief. He didn’t try to examine his reaction. He only knew that he’d just survived a sudden-death playoff.

Behind him, Torie continued to squeal. “Married! Oh, Kenny, this is perfect! You and Lady E! Shelby’s gonna die. Oh, my God! Does this mean you get a title, too? Does it, Lady E? Is he going to be Lord Kenny now?”

Kenny shot Dex an imploring look. “If you’ve got an ounce of compassion, get her out of here.”

Dexter slipped his hand around Torie’s waist. “I don’t think we’re needed.”

“I have to call Shelby. And Ted! Wait till I tell Teddy Beaudine about this.” As she fumbled in her purse for her cell phone, she grinned at her brother. “I can see why you like her so much, Kenny. She’s a real good kisser.”

Every person still standing in the gate area turned to stare at Emma.

Torie regarded them haughtily. “Well, she is.”





Chapter 20

It didn’t take Kenny long to collar one of the airline employees, establish who he was, and get VIP treatment. Ignoring Emma’s protests, he made arrangements for their flight to Las Vegas.

She should have simply dug in her heels and refused to move, but instead, she trotted along at his side, barely keeping up with Mr. Speedy, as she tried to talk to him. He refused to listen, refused to wait for her luggage to be retrieved, and before she knew it, she was headed to Las Vegas for an elopement.

She wouldn’t marry him, of course. She couldn’t. It was unthinkable.