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Randall, still looking skeptical, turned to the crowd. “Is this true? Did anybody else see it?”
“If Shelby says it’s true, then it is,” one of the men called out.
“You’re damned right it is,” Torie said. “And you’d better tell the whole story.”
Randall gave her a long look, and once again turned to the crowd. “Did anybody who’s not part of the Traveler family see what happened?”
There was silence.
“Dex did!” Torie exclaimed. “Dexter O’Conner. He just drove the lizard to the hotel. You can talk to him.”
“O’Conner? Isn’t he the man you’re going to marry? Not exactly an unbiased source.”
“Who said I was marrying him?”
Sturgis passed his microphone over to a crew member and closed the notebook he was holding. “The bartender and about six other people.”
The self-satisfied look on his face told it all, and Warren shook his head. “You don’t want to know the truth. But then, you’ve got a long history of ignoring the facts. You’re the reason Kenny got suspended, and now you want to string him up all over again.”
Randall regarded him pompously. “I don’t make the news. I just report it.”
“Don’t you mean distort?” Shelby said.
But Sturgis Randall had his story exactly the way he liked, and he wasn’t interested in hearing any more.“Pack up, boys. Let’s get out of here.”
Emma’s stomach sank. She’d desperately wanted to get rid of Hugh, but she’d never intended to destroy Kenny in the process.
Emma waited up for Kenny until nearly four in the morning, then fell asleep in the chair she’d pulled to her bedroom window. When she awakened at six, he still hadn’t come home.
Still wearing her clothes from the night before, she stumbled into the bathroom. The mirror showed dark circles under her eyes and the faint shadow of a bruise on her cheek where Hugh had hit her. She brushed her knuckles against it, but it didn’t hurt nearly as much as her heart.
Today was the day she was flying home. She thought of the way Kenny had rushed to her defense, an act of pure chivalry that had not only ruined his chance to get back on the tour for a very long time, but would permanently scar his reputation with the public. If only he’d let her handle it. But gallantry was as much a part of his makeup as his offbeat sense of humor. She’d known their affair had to end, but she’d never dreamed it would end like this, with her having so clearly wronged him.
She was going to need transport to Dallas today so she could get to the airport. She also needed a shower and fresh clothes, but there was something she had to do first.
Ten minutes later she was behind the wheel of Patrick’s car and creeping down a blessedly empty highway toward town. As she concentrated on staying on the proper side of the road, she told herself that her days as a nondriver were over. She might never be comfortable at it, but she wouldn’t give in to her phobia any longer. As soon as she returned to England, she was going to get a license.
The morning desk clerk at the hotel turned out to be the attractive redhead Ted had been flirting with at the Roustabout. She recognized Emma, and it didn’t take long for her to turn over Hugh’s room number.
After knocking at his door, Emma stepped far enough to the side so she wouldn’t be visible through the peephole. Then she approximated a Texas drawl. “Room service.”
Seconds ticked by. She heard the sound of movement, then the click of locks. The door opened. “I didn’t order—” Hugh froze as he saw her.
He’d thrown a silk robe over his pudgy body, and the legs of his royal purple pajamas stuck out beneath. His feet were bare and ugly, with a gnarled big toe. She was gratified to notice that the bruise on the side of his jaw was a lot nastier than hers.
“Get out of here!” His small eyes darted past her into the hall, and she realized he was afraid Kenny had come along.
She pushed past him into the room. “I’m alone.”
He slammed the door behind her, as if he still expected Kenny to wedge himself inside at any moment. “He’s a madman! If I’d known he was insane when I spoke wi
th him that first time, I’d never have—” He broke off and his fleshy lips curled. “Do you have any idea the extent of the humiliation you’ve made me suffer?”
As he took a threatening step toward her, common sense told her to retreat, but she stood her ground. “If you touch me, I shall scream so loudly everyone in the hotel will hear. Is that what you want?”
He glared down his nose at her but didn’t come any closer. “You’re wasting your time. You don’t really believe I’ll still marry you now that I know about your perversion, do you?”
His lip curled as if he’d just spit out poison. If she were a lesbian, she would find his attitude highly offensive. He thrust his hand through his oily auburn hair, but instead of straightening it, he forced it into a pair of spikes that reminded her of devil horns.
