Page 59 of Lady Be Good (Wynette, Texas 2)

The sight of his angry face defeated her. How could he look like that after what they’d just been through?

He grabbed her elbow and began dragging her toward the car, their beautiful kiss lying in ruins around them. “Don’t you ever do anything like that again!”

She had to launch a counterattack, but she was too depleted to muster the right words. He pushed her inside the car and was still steaming as he got in himself.

“We almost did it! Right there in the middle of the busiest street in Wynette, Texas!” The Caddy shot out of its parking space. “Another few seconds, your skirt would have been up around your waist and my pants would have been unzipped, and don’t you try to deny it. Damn it, Emma! I told you yesterday that I wasn’t going to let anything keep me from getting back on the tour, but apparently you weren’t listening. Or maybe you forgot that this happens to be the commissioner’s home-town and everybody knows him.”

She said nothing.

He shot out onto the highway. “By tomorrow morning he’ll have heard every detail—how I was groping his wife’s dear, virginal friend right in the middle of Main Street. In case you’re missing the point here, this wasn’t the best way for me to establish my reputation as an athlete with a solid moral character!”

“Please stop yelling at me.” Perhaps the fact that she’d spoken softly instead of yelling in return made him glance over at her.

He frowned, sighed. “All right. I know this isn’t all your fault. I could have pushed myself away. I should have. But, damn it, Emma, I’m a man, and that mouth of yours—”

“I’ve heard more than enough about how bossy I am. If my leadership skills threaten your masculinity, then you’ll simply have to deal with it.”

He looked startled. “I wasn’t talking about your leadership skills; I was talking about your—Never mind. The thing is, if I’d known I was this irresistible to you, we could have taken care of it in private.”

He was irresistible to her, but in all the wrong ways. “This didn’t have anything to do with you being irresistible. It had to do with your being handy. The man Beddington hired was watching me, and I had to do something scandalous.”

“Someone really is following you?”

“I told you it would happen. Last night he showed up at the Roustabout.”

“What does he look like?”

“A large man with a very round head and thinning hair that’s sort of straw-colored. He might drive a dark green Taurus. Do you know him?”

He stared at her for a very long time. “I might.”

“Kenny, I only have ten days left before I have to go back to England.”

“I’m well aware of that fact.” The headlights from an approaching car slashed his face. “So I was being used back there?”

“It was necessary,” she said stiffly. And then, to reclaim her pride, “You were the only man around.”

He gave her a long look, then slid his hand lower on the steering wheel. “Don’t even think about trying something like that with Dexter or Ted Beaudine, do you hear me? I mean it, Emma. Those men are off-limits. All men are off-limits.”

“The story of my life,” she muttered.

“What does that mean?”

“Not a thing.” She could have bitten her tongue, and she quickly changed the subject. “I enjoyed watching Peter tonight. He didn’t want to be with anyone but you all evening.”

“Except his mother when chow time came around.” He slowed as the road that led to his ranch came into view. “I want you to know that I appreciate what you said to Shelby tonight, not to mention the way you put up with everybody. I’ve decided to forgive you for what happened this afternoon.”

“Hooray,” she said dryly.

He turned down the drive, then glanced over at her. “You’re gonna play hardball?”

“I believe so.”

“I guess I overreacted a little. I should have taken your do-gooder impulses into account when you slapped me. You hurt my feelings, is all.”

“Well, I certainly know how that feels,” she said pointedly.

He swung the car into the garage, which opened off the side of the house. “If you’re trying to suggest that I hurt your feelings, forget it. Both of us know that’s impossible because you don’t care one bit about my good opinion.”

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