Lady Be Good Part 35

"He what?"

Emma immediately stepped between the two men and rested her hand on Kenny's chest. "Your sister is deliberately baiting you. Torie, stop it at once."

Torie tried to look cowed. "Yes, ma'am."

Kenny turned to Dex, his expression threatening. "Maybe you'd better tell me exactly what you did."

Dexter filled the mug Emma had given him with coffee. "Torie's a much bigger threat to herself than I am."

But Torie wasn't done having her fun. She hooked one heel of her sandal over the rung of the stool and looked injured. "He spanked me, Kenny. He overpowered me, threw me right over his knees, and spanked me. Bare b.u.t.t. Or closest thing to."

Kenny went completely still. He stared at Dexter. "Is that true?"

Dex stirred a teaspoon of sugar into his coffee and gave an absentminded nod.

To Emma's astonishment, all the tension seemed to trickle out of Kenny, and, for the first time, he regarded Dexter with interest instead of suspicion. "No kidding. Even I wouldn't have the nerve to do something like that."

His reaction upset Torie. "You should beat him up, Kenny! Although maybe I'd better warn you that he's stronger than he looks. Still, he's not exactly Hercules, and you'll be able to take him without too much trouble."

Dexter sipped from his mug and nodded at Emma. "Excellent coffee."

Emma suppressed a smile. "I'll pa.s.s on your compliments to Patrick."

Kenny looked from his sister to Dexter, then walked over to pour a mug for himself. He leaned back against the counter and studied the other man. "So, Dex, how's come you're still alive to tell the tale?"

Dexter wiped up a small coffee spill, then sat on the stool next to Torie. "All I'm prepared to say is that your sister and I slept together, and, since I compromised her, I intend to marry her."

Torie dropped her forehead and banged it three times against the countertop. "You are such a geek."

"Doesn't sound like she's too enthusiastic about it," Kenny said.

"She's enthusiastic." He reached over and stroked her shoulder. "But she has her pride. She's also frightened, which is understandable, although it doesn't make any difference. She and I made a deal, and we're getting married."

"What kind of deal?"

"That's private," Dex said as Torie opened her mouth to respond. He regarded her with amus.e.m.e.nt. "Victoria, has it occurred to you that you really don't need to reveal our private life to everyone?"

"Kenny's not everyone."

Dex lifted an eyebrow and caressed the corner of her mouth with his thumb.

"Oh, all right," she grumbled. Then, trying to regain lost ground, she turned the conversation. "I couldn't help but notice last night that the two of you weren't exactly acting like a couple of lovebirds. What happened, Lady E? Has Kenny started beating you, too?"

Emma grabbed the sponge from the sink and dabbed at the clean counter. "It's complicated, that's all."

"Not that complicated," Kenny said. "Some people just want to make it seem that way."

Torie looked back and forth between Emma and her brother. "I don't know why, but I'm siding with Lady E on this one."

Kenny slammed down his mug, slos.h.i.+ng coffee all over the counter. "You don't even know what's happening."

"I know that Emma's levelheaded, and you're notoriously screwed up when it comes to women."

"Levelheaded? She let the whole world believe that you're her lesbian lover!"

Torie grinned at Emma. "That was sooo cool."

Kenny grabbed his mug and headed for the door. "I'm taking a shower." Then he stopped to regard Emma with chilly eyes. "Maybe you'd better make your big announcement before I leave. I don't want to deprive Torie of the chance to blame me for this, too."

He was giving her the opening she needed to tell them that she wasn't staying at the ranch but moving to a hotel.

Kenny Traveler screwed up again. I always knew it wouldn't work. The only thing he's ever been good at is swinging a golf club.

She realized she couldn't do it. Her plan to stay at the hotel had seemed sound yesterday on the plane, but now she was in Wynette, where news carried quickly, and she simply couldn't tolerate having Kenny once again held up to public ridicule, especially when she knew he wouldn't defend himself. "Well, the truth is that I've decided to get serious about learning to drive." She turned to Torie. "And since Kenny yelled the only time he rode with me, I'm wondering if you'll give me another lesson."

He leaned against the doorframe and watched her, a wary expression in his eyes as if he were waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"I don't know why you think I'd blame you because Lady E wants to learn to drive, Kenny. Sometimes I believe you have a persecution complex." Torie smiled back at Emma. "How about driving me over to see Father Joseph this afternoon?"

Kenny's attention s.h.i.+fted from Emma to his sister. "Why do you want to see Father Joseph?"

"I don't want want to see Father Joseph," she replied, clearly exasperated. "I to see Father Joseph," she replied, clearly exasperated. "I have have to see him. Haven't you been listening?" to see him. Haven't you been listening?"

"Apparently not well enough."

"This thing with Dex, is all." She fidgeted.

"The spanking?"

"No, not that! Weren't you paying any attention? Or didn't you hear what he said?" Her chest expanded as she drew a deep breath. "The sonovab.i.t.c.h is making me marry him."

Dex regarded Kenny steadily. "I believe I did mention that."

Torie gazed at her brother, an expression of entreaty on her face that made Emma want to hug her. Torie couldn't quite swallow her pride enough to admit that she'd made a mistake about Dexter. She simply wanted Kenny to understand.

Long seconds ticked by. Torie's hand crept toward Dexter's. He covered it with his palm.

Kenny finally spoke. "Well, I guess you'll have to go along with it, then."

Emma smiled. Kenny wasn't nearly as obtuse about other people's hang-ups as he was about his own.

Torie snuggled a bit closer to Dex, whose serious eyes held a decidedly dreamy expression. She, on the other hand, gave a long-suffering sigh. "I don't know why Dex had to fall in love with me. And I don't know how I'll ever hold up my head in this town again. He's got something like a thirty-two handicap."

"I've already apologized for that, Victoria. If you're willing to work with me, I'm sure we can shave off a few strokes."

"I s'pose. But even then, you'll prob'ly never be much more than a hacker."

"That's true." His lips curved. "And I'm sure I'll spend the rest of my days listening to you complain about sacrificing your reputation to marry me."

"d.a.m.n right I will." She gave him a melty, un-Torielike smile. Then she seemed to remember her brother was watching and reddened in embarra.s.sment.

Kenny was too much the older brother to let her off scot-free. "So what brought about this change of heart? Other than the spanking."

"Nothing. Nothing, really. It's just-Never mind."

"You might as well tell me," he said. "You know I'll worm it out of you sooner or later."

"Oh, all right. Dex is-he-well, he wants a kid of his own and everything, but he's still ... he's still willing to take a chance on me." Her voice began to soften. "And if things don't work out-which I already warned him they wouldn't-he said we could adopt."

"I see." Kenny wasn't done needling her. "That's why you're marrying him, then? Because you'll finally get to be a mother?"

Emma watched Torie struggle between her pride and the truth. "Can you blame me? You know how much I want a baby. And he's-I mean, for all his faults, any fool can see that he'll be a good father. Except when it comes to sports, but I figure between you and me, we can make up for his shortcomings in that department. And then there's ... there's just something about him." She gave an uncomfortable shrug, clearly wanting to put an end to the conversation. "Something sweet and ... Oh, I don't know."

"Your sister's fallen in love with me," Dex said, in case Kenny had missed the point.

Torie looked up at her brother and scrunched her face in embarra.s.sment. "He's just so d.a.m.n good. And understanding. And he's funny. Not funny like you and me, but funny in his own strange way. And he likes my emus. I don't know how it happened-G.o.d knows I'm embarra.s.sed about it-but I guess there's no figuring the human heart."

Kenny looked thoughtful. "Tell you what, Dex. Why don't just the two of us work on your game by ourselves. Torie's a terrible golf coach. She cusses too much."

Emma knew Dex had been prepared to fight Kenny to the bitter end, but it was obvious by his slow smile that he was glad he didn't have to.

"I'd appreciate that."

As the front door closed behind the two lovebirds, Emma turned to Kenny. He hadn't shaved, and his hair stood up in short tufts on one side where it was beginning to dry. Even so, he was the most beautiful man she'd ever seen, and she had to struggle to conceal the weakness that came over her.

"That was very nice," she said briskly. "You could have made it much more difficult for Torie, but you didn't."

"What did you expect me to do? Lock her in the attic?" He regarded her searchingly. "Changed your mind about moving to a hotel, did you?"

"I simply decided to keep our private business private."

"Good. I'll help you carry your stuff into my room." He turned to the stairs.

"No, thank you," she told his back. "I'm staying where I am while we sort this out."

He stopped on the second step, looked down at her, and sneered a spoiled brat sneer. "Like h.e.l.l."

It didn't surprise her that he was being difficult about this, since he was difficult about everything that had to do with her. "It's for the best. I don't have any illusion that you'll understand, but I've discovered that I don't seem to possess the proper temperament for uncommitted s.e.x."

"We're married married."

She fiddled with her wedding band. "Yes, well, that's only a bit of paper. We're not married in our hearts, are we?"

He descended one step and studied her. "I see where this is going. You want to tie me up, don't you, in some needy little s...o...b..ring package you can take out and play with when it suits you, then tuck away when it doesn't."

Looking into those bleak, hard features, it was hard to believe this was the same lazy fool she'd met two weeks earlier. She spoke quietly, "You've just described your own motivations, not mine."

"Yeah, right," he scoffed.

"Oh, Kenny ..." She sighed, threw up a hand, then let it fall to her side. "I can't do this all by myself. You have to help a little."

"I'm not the one locking the bedroom door."

"But s.e.x is all you want from me. Don't you see how that hurts?"

"Even if that were true-which it's not-I don't see what would be so terrible about it. Since we didn't go about this marriage in the regular way, we have to build on our strengths."

"That kind of havey-cavey thinking might work with your old girlfriends, but not with me. Our s.e.xual activities allow us to pretend everything is fine, but we both know it's not."

"Now, see, that's where you're wrong. Everything is is fine if you just stop and let it be fine. You spend so much time worrying about what's wrong with us that you never stop to consider what's right." fine if you just stop and let it be fine. You spend so much time worrying about what's wrong with us that you never stop to consider what's right."

"s.e.x."

"Is s.e.x all you can think about? How about the fact that we enjoy each other's company, that we like history, and Texas, and riding horses. We enjoy good wine, we both see right through Torie, Petie likes you, and you seem to be able to tolerate my father and Shelby. Neither of us is a sn.o.b, and we don't have much patience with hypocrites. I happen to think there's a lot that's right between us."

She'd always focused on their differences instead of their similarities, and she was so taken aback that she didn't realize he'd been edging closer until he touched her elbow with his fingertips. Just like that, her insides turned to pudding.

His fingers skimmed her arm and brushed the outer slope of her breast. Her skin p.r.i.c.kled, her limbs felt heavy, and her body urged her to give in to him. Would it be so bad to do it his way? Would it be so bad to go through the outward motions of having a real marriage, even though there was no lasting connection between them? What difference would it make? She reminded herself that she was accustomed to spending her life with emotional leftovers, but she didn't want that from Kenny. More important, she didn't deserve it, and she stepped back.

His arm dropped to his side, and his eyes darkened. She watched his lips thin and knew he was furious, just as she knew he would walk away without saying a word.

Not long after, he left for the practice range, and she forced herself to go to work on the laptop computer she found in his office-an office that, as far as she could tell, only Patrick used. For the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon, she alternated between working on her article about Lady Sarah Thornton and making notes for Penelope Briggs detailing the information she would need to get the spring term off to a smooth start. She stopped when Torie arrived for her driving lesson.

Emma made it into town and back to the ranch without hitting anything. As she carried the laptop out onto the sunporch to resume work, she decided that Torie's happiness was the single bright spot in an otherwise depressing day. Patrick emerged from the kitchen with two gla.s.ses of iced tea topped with orange slices.

"The word's out. The International Sports Channel just broadcast your wedding announcement."

She could see that he was worried as he set her gla.s.s on the table, then carried his own over to the couch. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, exactly. I'm probably just being paranoid." He took a sip of tea, then straightened the lamp on the table next to the couch. "The announcement was short, no comment on the fight at the Roustabout, just a brief statement that Kenneth had married a member of the British aristocracy, Lady Emma Wells-Finch, daughter of the fifth Earl of Woodbourne."

"The press was bound to find out sooner or later."

"That's not what worries me." Patrick slid his finger around the rim of his gla.s.s. "There wasn't any mention of your occupation, no sense of the type of person you are. The announcement made it sound as though he'd married a flighty piece of Eurotrash."

Emma finally understood why he was upset. "And so the legend of the spoiled playboy golf pro only grows bigger."

"Exactly." Ice tea sloshed over the rim of his gla.s.s as he set it down with a thud. "His image has already taken a beating, and this doesn't help. By not making the announcement on his own, it's almost as if he's deliberately shooting himself in the foot. I can just imagine what that b.i.t.c.hy Sturgis Randall is going to say during his show this evening. I'm not even watching."

But neither he nor Emma could resist, and after a dinner at which Kenny remained notably absent, Emma carried their coffee mugs over to the couch while Patrick turned on the television.

Sturgis Randall waited until the end of his program to pounce. "The fact that his career is on the skids doesn't seem to be bothering golfer Kenny Traveler. Instead, the troubled champion has taken a bride. And no ordinary American girl for our Kenny. Instead, the Texas millionaire, who also happens to be the heir to giant Traveler Computer Systems ..." "The fact that his career is on the skids doesn't seem to be bothering golfer Kenny Traveler. Instead, the troubled champion has taken a bride. And no ordinary American girl for our Kenny. Instead, the Texas millionaire, who also happens to be the heir to giant Traveler Computer Systems ..."

"That's not true!" Patrick exclaimed. "He made Warren disinherit him years ago."

"... has chosen a British blueblood, Lady Emma Wells-Finch. That's Wells-Finch, with a hyphen. It seems the beautiful n.o.blewoman is the daughter of the fifth Earl of Woodbourne."

"Beautiful!" Emma was outraged. "I most certainly am not beautiful!"