Lady Be Good Part 13

"People have long memories, and they're still holding a few grudges from his misbegotten childhood. n.o.body yet has broken his record for the most suspensions from high school. And the retired police chief can tell you stories that'd make your hair stand on end. Seems everybody has a grudge. Judy Weber won't let him forget that he copied off her arithmetic quiz in fourth grade, then convinced the subst.i.tute that she was the one cheating. He stole a Hank Aaron baseball card from Bob Frazier in sixth grade, then tore it up. He took kids' lunch money, broke their toys, dumped girlfriends right and left, and pretty much cut a wide path of destruction wherever he went until Dallie Beaudine finally took him in hand after Mother died."

So Dallie Beaudine was the mysterious person Kenny had referred to earlier that day. Obviously Kenny's relations.h.i.+p with Francesca's husband was far more complex than she'd guessed. "Still, he's apparently been a model citizen since his late teens. It seems that people should let bygones be bygones."

"Kenny doesn't mind getting teased. And he might be a model citizen, but he sure has some big character flaws. In case you haven't noticed, he's lazy."

"I did notice," Emma said dryly. "Still, laziness isn't a major crime."

"Sometimes it is with him. He just-I don't know. It's hard to explain. He just doesn't care about anything but golf. That's how his bloodsucker business manager siphoned off so much of his money. Kenny never bothered to check up on him."

Emma remembered the matter-of-fact way he'd described the child he'd been, without displaying a morsel of sympathy for the circ.u.mstances that had led to his misbehavior. While she didn't believe that adults should use a dysfunctional childhood as an excuse for not getting on with their lives, she'd also seen a great deal of parental incompetence in her career and she didn't think anyone should continue to do penance for it. Yet that seemed to be what Kenny was doing.

"He distances himself from everything but golf," Torie went on. "Especially women. He's treated every girl-friend he's had like a queen-buys her expensive presents, sends her flowers-but the minute she starts getting her hopes up that the relations.h.i.+p's permanent, he vanishes."

Emma realized Torie was issuing a subtle warning, but she said nothing.

Torie continued, "Everybody in the world wants to be Kenny's best friend, but I'm the only one he lets get halfway close. I never knew a man so determined to hold himself apart from other people. I guess he's afraid if he starts caring too much about anybody, they'll manipulate him like our mother did. Manhood didn't come easy to Kenny, and he's sure not going to let anything threaten it."

"It's ironic that someone with so much natural charm is fundamentally a loner."

"He's the friendliest man in the world, until somebody either p.i.s.ses him off or tries to get inside his head. Then he uses that charm to isolate himself. Or he acts dumb. About drives me crazy when he does that, since he's the smartest man I know. My brother goes through books like most people go through potato chips.

Torie fell silent. Emma considered simply telling Kenny's sister that she had no intention of getting personally involved with her brother, but she didn't want to make herself look foolish.

"It's strange," Torie said. "Unlike Kenny, my second ex-husband had a picture-perfect childhood, but he turned into an immoral slimeball. You just never know with people."

"How long have you been divorced?"

"A year, but we were separated for a while before that. Tommy was a womanizer. Daddy warned me not to marry him, but I wouldn't listen." A deeply unhappy expression crossed her face. "Maybe if I'd been able to have a baby, Tommy would have settled down, but it didn't happen."

"I doubt that a baby would have kept him faithful."

"I know you're right. Still, it's hard being a two-time loser." She pushed a hand through her hair. "My first husband was a college romance gone bad. He drank, and when he drank, he'd go on these crying jags, then he'd bust up our apartment. It didn't last a year." She reached for the radio. "Daddy says I can't be trusted when it comes to men, which is why he wants me to marry Dexter. But I don't-" She looked into the rearview mirror, and her hand stalled on the radio b.u.t.tons as she frowned. "That sonovab.i.t.c.h has been tailing me ever since we left Kenny's ranch. I swear he was parked there waiting for me."

"Really!" Emma twisted around to look and saw a dark green Taurus. "Do you think he's following us?"

"Could be."

Emma's mouth went dry. Beddington's watchdog was on the job.

Wynette, Texas, was a charming old town with a shady square at its center and a prosperous, downtown shopping area that hadn't been forced out of business by a mall. Since Kenny had bypa.s.sed Wynette when he'd driven to his ranch, this was Emma's first chance to see the town, and Torie took her on a tour that ended up at a honky-tonk called the Roustabout. A green Taurus stayed with them all the way.

As they went inside, Emma kept trying to look over her shoulder to see who might follow them.

"This is where everybody in town hangs out," Torie said. "It's been here for years."

Unlike the cozy pubs in Lower Tilbey, the Roustabout was a vast, open room, with a square wooden bar in the middle. Emma saw two pool tables, a row of video games, and a small dance floor with a jukebox blaring out country music. Although it was a weeknight, most of the tables were occupied, as were the booths that ran along one wall.

Once again, Emma glanced over her shoulder, and this time she saw a beefy man in a floral sport s.h.i.+rt coming through the door. The skin on the back of her neck p.r.i.c.kled as he began to stare at her, and her heart beat faster. Was he Hugh's spy? Was he the man who'd been driving the green Taurus?

Torie moved ahead of her toward the bar, lifted one hand to her mouth, then let out a shrill whistle. "Listen up, y'all."

Although the jukebox continued to play, the conversation died as everyone regarded her with interest.

"This is Lady Emma," Torie announced. "Kenny's showing her around for a few days. She's from England. She also happens to be a real, live aristocrat, despite that tattoo on her arm. Lady Emma, say a few words to these rednecks, so they'll know you're for real."

"I'm delighted to meet all of you," Emma said self-consciously. She tried to hunch her shoulders just enough for her sleeve to drop lower, but it didn't move, and several people's eyes lingered on her tattoo. Even so, her British accent seemed to impress them.

Torie took Emma's arm and turned her to the bar. "Joey, give me a gla.s.s of Chardonnay, will you? What would you like, Lady Emma?"

"Gin and tonic, please." Emma didn't like gin and tonic-not like she liked margaritas-but she wanted everyone to see her drinking. At the same time, she had a permanent reminder emblazoned on her upper arm of her need to stay sober, so she made up her mind to dump the drink and subst.i.tute water as soon as she got the chance. No one would be the wiser.

The bartender served their drinks, and a number of the bar's patrons came up for personal introductions, which Torie provided. One man suggested she lock away her valuables before Kenny stole them, and a woman said not ever to let him turn a jump rope for her because he'd trip her sure as anything. Both comments were greeted with knowing chuckles from the crowd.

Eventually, Torie led her toward a table in one corner where a young male who looked to be in his early twenties sat by himself sipping a beer. As they approached, Emma wondered if there was something in the Wynette water supply that produced such good-looking people. First Kenny, then Torie, and now this young man. He had crisp auburn hair and strong features that included high cheekbones and a square, solid jaw. His shoulders were broad, his body slim but hard-muscled.

"Hey, Ted. How you doin'?" Torie took a seat at the table without waiting for an invitation, then gestured toward the empty chair on the other side for Emma.

"Can't complain. How about you?"

"Same old. Same old. This is Lady Emma."

As Emma nodded, the man named Ted glanced at her tattoo, then gave her a lazy, meandering smile that made her wish she were ten years younger. "Ma'am."

"He's only twenty-two," Torie said, as if she were reading Emma's mind. "Isn't that a major crime for us older women?"

Ted smiled and ducked his head to study his beer bottle.

"You seen Kenny?" Torie asked.

"He was here a minute ago."

The fact that Kenny had gone out on the town without inviting her was annoying. Apparently she was going to have to drop Francesca's name again to remind him who was in charge.

As if she'd conjured him, Kenny came ambling across the room. He had a beer bottle in one hand and a golf club swinging loosely from the other. He tossed it to the bartender, who tucked it away.

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he saw Emma, then he looked at Ted. "The next lesson in the alley's on you. Randy Ames keeps wanting me to fix his slice, but he won't do a thing I tell him. Maybe you'll have more luck."

"Are you a golfer, too?" Emma asked Ted, deliberately ignoring Kenny as he took the chair next to her.

"I've been known to play a little." Although Ted phrased his sentences like a Texan, he didn't have any drawl. Curious.

Kenny snorted. "Ted here was the top amateur in the state three years running. Second best golfer UT's ever had play for them."

"There's some debate about that." Torie shot her brother a sly look. "Ted did manage to win three NCAA individual t.i.tles, instead of somebody I could mention who only won two. Plus, Ted also managed to graduate, something else a certain person I could mention seems to have neglected."

"College is hard." Kenny scratched his chest. "And the debate over who's the best is resolved as far as I'm concerned." He regarded Ted smugly. "Only one of us had the guts to turn pro."

Ted smiled his shy smile.

Torie turned to Emma. "See, Ted's this egghead genius, so all his life he's been torn between golf and nerd stuff. Around here people consider him sort of a genetic freak. Even his own parents."

Instead of taking offense, Ted nodded. "That's so."

"He's just finished his bachelor's and master's degrees at the same time." Kenny's pride was visible, and Emma could see there was something special about the relations.h.i.+p between these two men. "Playing varsity golf slowed down his academic career or he'd have finished up a lot earlier."

"Didn't see any need to hurry."

"Exactly what I told you," Kenny said with satisfaction.

Emma pretended to sip from her drink as the three of them chatted with the ease of people who'd known each other for a long time. It was Torie who introduced the subject of Kenny's suspension. "It's so unfair," she said. "Anybody who knows Kenny knows he wouldn't hit a woman on purpose. He'll drive 'em crazy and screw around on 'em, but he won't hit them."

Kenny looked aggravated. "That's not why I was originally suspended, and I never screwed around on a woman I cared about in my life, at least not since I was sixteen." He glanced over at Ted. "I swear, somebody needs to swat her."

"Don't look at me. I'm scared of her."

Torie leaned over and kissed Ted's cheek. "If you were just a couple years older, sonny boy, I'd show you the time of your life."

"I doubt I'd survive it."

"You ask me," Kenny said, "the Antichrist is going through some kind of midlife crisis. Sonovab.i.t.c.h turns fifty this year. I think it's twisted his mind."

Ted tilted his chair back and stretched out his legs. "He's just p.i.s.sed off at you is all."

"Abuse of power," Kenny grumbled. "Thinks he's the d.a.m.ned President of the United States."

Ted smiled.

"I'm serious," Kenny went on. "Everybody who belongs to the PGA expects the commissioner to be fair. Even though he only has the job temporarily, he should at least pretend to be impartial."

At that moment, Emma spotted the man in the floral s.h.i.+rt who'd followed them into the bar and realized he was watching her quite closely from across the room. A rush of excitement went through her. He really was Beddington's watchdog!

She knew she had to make the most of the moment, but all she could think to do was grab her gin and tonic and take a healthy slug. As a scandalous act, it was fairly pathetic, but she couldn't think of anything else. And then another idea occurred to her, although she didn't want to do it. Still, she wanted to be married to Hugh even less.

Steeling herself, she rose out of her chair, looped her arm around Kenny's neck, and planted herself in his lap.

He lifted an eyebrow. "Have I missed something?"

She curled her mouth into what she hoped was a seductive smile and tried to speak without moving her lips. "Kiss me at once."

"No," he said indignantly.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't like your att.i.tude."

She had been a bit bossy, but that was only because she was nervous. "I apologize."

His eyes settled on her mouth. "Okay, I'll kiss you."

The burly man turned away, and she immediately ejected from Kenny's lap.

He frowned at her as she grabbed for her gin and tonic. "Are you drunk again?"

"Certainly not."

"Good. Because Wynette doesn't have even a halfway decent tattoo parlor."

The burly man had moved over near the jukebox, but he was still watching her. He was balding, with straw-colored hair and prominent jowls. Thinking hard, she looked over at Ted. "Would you mind very much dancing with me?" Beddington definitely wouldn't like her dancing with anyone, let alone an obviously younger man.

"I wouldn't mind at all," Ted replied.

"He's a terrible dancer," Torie said. "You want somebody good, you get out on the floor with Kenny."

Ted looked injured. "She asked me me to dance, not John Travolta here." to dance, not John Travolta here."

Torie shrugged. "It's your feet, Lady Emma."

Although Emma didn't look at Kenny, she sensed his eyes on her as she got up from the table. Ted took her hand and led her toward the floor, where a ballad was playing. As they began to dance, she experienced the unusual sensation of being led around a dance floor by a s.e.xy young man. Very Very young, she reminded herself. young, she reminded herself.

And very s.e.xy.

He smiled down at her and asked how she liked Texas.

She smiled back and said she loved it. He wanted to know if she'd enjoyed the ride in from Dallas and what she thought of the United States. They chatted easily.

The song ended, and a fast tune began to play. The crowd reshuffled and started performing a line dance. "Maybe I'd better sit this one out."

"I'll show you the steps," Ted said. "Torie's right. I'm not much of a dancer, but this one's pretty easy." He led her to the side, and she caught on quickly as he demonstrated.

As soon as they were back on the dance floor, she spotted Kenny and Torie dancing together. With their gleaming dark hair and easy grace, they moved like mirror images of each other. Kenny laughed at something one of the women pa.s.sing by said to him. Torie flirted with an older man wearing a cowboy hat. They looked beautiful, rich, and a little jaded. Emma thought of Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan transplanted to a Texas honky-tonk.

The music slowed. Emma turned to go back to the table only to have Ted tug on her hand. "One more, Lady Emma. I like dancing with you. I always appreciate it when the lady leads."

She laughed and slid back into his arms. It was nice being with someone who enjoyed her company. But they'd barely begun to dance before Kenny tapped Ted on the shoulder. "I'm taking over, little boy, so you go on back to the table and let Torie fight with you."

"I don't want to fight with Torie," Ted said mildly. "I'm enjoying myself with Lady Emma."

"And I'm real sure she's enjoying herself with you, but right now, I'm suggesting you move aside."

Emma felt a p.r.i.c.kle of alarm as Ted gave Kenny a long hard a.s.sessment that suddenly made him look much older than his twenty-two years. "You and I are overdue for a reckoning."

"Just name the time."

"Seven o'clock tomorrow morning."

"You're on."

Emma held up her hands. "Stop this at once!"