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Petie’s grunting grew louder and his face redder. Shelby was distracted by the maid coming into the room and didn’t notice, but Warren saw what was going on, and, to Kenny’s surprise, he didn’t say a word.
“Well, yes, but I’m quite busy, and it’s better for them to stay at their school. First-rate place. Not like St. Gertrude’s. Not that there’s anything wrong with St. Gert’s—Emma’s done an outstanding job there—but some of the girls aren’t quite the thing. We have an active scholarship program, if you understand my meaning.”
Oh, he understood plenty.
“Our scholarship students are our hardest workers,” Emma said firmly.
The room began to fill with the smell of a loaded diaper.
Way to go, bro. Kenny gave Petie a proud smile. The little boy was as regular as clockwork.
Hugh wrinkled his nose and tried to shift Peter farther away from him.
“Now, how many scholarship students do you have there?” Kenny inquired politely.
“I—uh—” Hugh moved Petie to the very end of his knee. The baby, Kenny noted, was beginning to squirm, but he still looked real pleased with himself.
“We take in fifteen each year,” Emma said.
“Well, now, isn’t that something. Tell me, Hugh, what’s it like being responsible for so many bright young people?”
Petie had dropped a good one, and the duke’s ruddy color began to pale. But he was too full of himself to mention what was, after all, a perfectly natural occurrence. “One must do one’s duty.”
“You sure are right about that.” Kenny began a long, cornpone monologue on the values of education and the joys of philanthropy. Everything was going just the way he wanted until Shelby finished talking to the maid and caught a whiff.
“Peter Traveler, what did you do, you little scamp?” Laughing, she swept up the baby. “We’ll be back in a few minutes. Kenny, Emma, there’s plenty of food, so the two of you stay for dinner, and afterward we’ll head over to the Roustabout and show His Grace just what Texas is all about.”
Hugh looked as if he’d rather eat worms.
Torie beamed at him. “What a great idea. I can’t hardly wait to teach you the two-step, Hugh. I’ll even let you wear my Stetson.”
Kenny promised himself right then that he’d buy his sister a whole truckload of emu feed whether she wanted it or not.
All through dinner, Kenny kept waiting for Emma to start cuddling up next to him and calling him lover, but, instead, she treated him as little more than a casual acquaintance. Unbelievable! When they hadn’t been having sex, she wanted everybody to think they were. But now that they were, she didn’t want anybody to know about it.
He tried to get annoyed, but what he felt instead was this crazy kind of warmth. There’d been a lot of women who’d exploited him over the years, but Emma sure wasn’t one of them.
He remembered what she’d said down by the river, about not wanting to tell Hugh that she and Kenny were lovers. I want this to be private. Just between us.
Still, she had to know that the only way she was ever going to get rid of the pompous bastard was to let him know she’d found herself a lover, and Kenny didn’t really mind. But in the meantime it was nice watching her try to stick to her principles. Nice to know that she thought she loved him, even though he knew she was just confused.
The Roustabout was busier than normal that night, and as they led the duke inside, he looked as if he’d just stepped into the contents of Petie’s diaper. Shelby chatted away with him as Torie led them all to a large table in the back. They’d no sooner gotten there than Emma excused herself and made a beeline for Ted Beaudine, who was sitting at the bar reading Plato’s The Last Days of Socrates and sipping a big mug of something that looked suspiciously liked Mountain Dew.
Kenny watched as she talked to him earnestly. Ted immediately accompanied her to the dance floor, then snuggled right up as she led them into the steps of a cozy little ballad. Kenny had a pretty good idea where this was headed, and he wasn’t surprised when Ted’s hand began to ease toward Emma’s bottom.
Ted shot him a slow grin over the top of her head. What am I supposed to do? She’s forcing me. Kenny glowered and made a silent vow to whip the kid’s ass good the next time he got him on the course.
Hugh was talking to Warren, so he wasn’t watching the dances, but Torie and Shelby were. They exchanged glances; then, in what was obviously a misguided attempt to protect Lady E’s reputation, Torie shot up and insisted Hugh trade seats with her right that minute, so he could have a better view of the bar, as if that were some big privilege. She managed to reposition him with his back to the dance floor so he couldn’t see Emma flirting with Ted. Poor Lady E. Try as she might, she couldn’t seem to ruin her reputation.
And it all went downhill for her from there. Hugh was so busy being condescending, he didn’t notice the way Emma held Ted’s hand as she brought him over to the table for introductions, nor did he seem to find anything wrong with her ordering tequila shooters. Kenny was the only one who noticed her turning green around the gills after the first two. She ordered the third, then the fourth. But before she could drink it, she made a quick exit to the ladies’ room.
When she returned ten minutes later, she was pale, but no longer green, so he knew where the shooters had ended up. He gave her hand a comforting squeeze under the table and wished he could help her out, but this was something she had to do for herself. He simply didn’t have it inside him to ruin her reputation.
The evening dragged on. After a few shots of the Roustabout’s best single-malt scotch, Hugh treated them to such a detailed description of his family lineage that even Shelby grew bored.
And then Sturgis and his film crew arrived.
Sturgis had mentioned he’d be hanging around until tomorrow so he could shoot some local color, and that obviously included getting footage of Kenny loafing around the Roustabout while Tiger rested up for the fi
