Part 10 (1/2)
”Or give up the charge card that's been paying off my feed bill, not to mention a few other minor necessities like decent clothes and gas money. My daddy and Dexter's father have me trapped. They can't come up with any other way to arrange a merger than for Dexter and me to ... merge.”
”Merger?”
Kenny came out of his closet, still bare-chested, zipping up a pair of chinos. ”Our father owns TCS, Traveler Computer Systems. It's located in Wynette. Dexter's father owns Com National, his fiercest compet.i.tor. Their main plant's in Austin, but he built a smaller research and development facility in Wynette just to get under my father's skin. The two companies have been duking it out since the seventies, pretty much using whatever slimeball trick either man could come up with to stay on top of the other. Unfortunately, they got so preoccupied hating each other's guts that they stopped paying attention to all the young companies nipping at their heels. Now both TCS and Com National are in trouble, and the only way they can survive is to merge. If that happens, they'll be pretty much invincible.”
Emma shook her head. ”I still don't understand what this has to do with Torie. Companies merge all the time without people getting married to accomplish it, especially when their fathers hate each other.”
”Not these two companies,” he said, bringing a light blue denim s.h.i.+rt from the closet. ”The men have pulled too many shady deals on each other-not just business stuff, personal as well. Now neither of them trusts the other, but they both want the merger.”
”So they're making me the sacrificial lamb to hold the whole thing together.” Torie extracted a pack of cigarettes from her purse, only to have Kenny s.n.a.t.c.h them away and pitch them in the wastebasket.
Emma felt disoriented. Was there an epidemic of marriage-by-blackmail going on in the Western world? How had it happened that she'd managed to meet another woman in a similar situation? It seemed too bizarre to be coincidental, and the image of Francesca Serritella Day Beaudine came into her mind. But that made no sense. Francesca might know about Torie's dilemma, but she didn't know about Emma's own.
She needed to be alone so she could think, and she rose from the side of the bed. ”If you'll excuse me, I'm going to shower, and then I need to get back to the hotel.”
Half an hour later she emerged from the bedroom and headed downstairs dressed in the short dress she'd worn last night, with Kenny's T-s.h.i.+rt pulled on top to hide the awful tattoo. The thought of living the rest of her life with a Lone Star flag on her arm was bad enough, but having the word Kenny Kenny permanently etched into her skin was unbearable. permanently etched into her skin was unbearable.
Kenny and Torie sat at the kitchen counter sipping coffee and eating donuts. Torie pointed a blue-green fingernail toward the open carton. ”You want a donut, Emma? There's a cream-filled here that your lover boy hasn't gotten his mitts on yet.”
”He's not my lover boy, and I think coffee is all I can handle at the moment.”
”If he's not your lover boy, why were you naked in his bedroom?”
”That was an accident. We're not sleeping together. He's my driver.”
”Your driver? Kenny, what's goin' on?”
He explained, although, in Emma's opinion, he placed unnecessarily negative emphasis on her leaders.h.i.+p skills.
When he was done, Torie said, ”So you're really a lady?”
”Yes, but I don't use my t.i.tle.”
”I sure as h.e.l.l'd use my my t.i.tle if I had one.” t.i.tle if I had one.”
”That's what I I said.” Kenny shot Emma an I-told-you-so look. said.” Kenny shot Emma an I-told-you-so look.
Emma gave up.
”Wynette's not that far from Austin, Lady Emma.” Torie uncoiled from the stool as gracefully as a lynx and headed to the sink to rinse off her sticky fingers. ”And it's a real nice town. As long as you're in Texas, why not see how the natives live instead of just hitting the tourist spots? Kenny can take you back and forth to the UT library whenever you want, and San Antonio's not that far either. What do you say? As a gesture of feminist solidarity, will you help me get him back to his home-town?”
”She doesn't have any say in this,” Kenny responded, clearly irritated.
Emma thought about it. Despite what she was telling everyone, her primary purpose in coming to Texas wasn't to do research. As long as she had access to the libraries she needed, she could finish that up in a few days. Far more important was the task of casting a shadow over her character, and she could do that just as easily in Wynette as anywhere else. Besides, being in the presence of a woman as outrageous as Torie Traveler was bound to upset Hugh. And it might be easier for Beddington's detective force to keep track of her in a small town. She had to admit the idea of having her base in Wynette was more appealing than moving from one impersonal big city hotel to another. ”All right. Yes, I suppose that would work.”
”No,” Kenny said. ”Absolutely not.”
”Just think about our stepmama,” Torie said to him. ”She'll wet her pants having a real, live member of the British aristocracy in town.”
”The best reason of all to stay away,” he retorted.
Torie's expression grew cagey. ”Do I have to remind you about a certain Christmas morning during our childhood when our mother showered you with a couple thousand dollars' worth of presents, but never got around to buying me anything?”
Emma straightened. What was this?
Kenny shot his sister an exasperated look. ”I've spent the last seventeen years trying to make up for our dysfunctional childhood, and you're not putting me through any more guilt trips.”
”Or maybe I should bring up the time I bought that great big Minnie Mouse cookie with my allowance money. It had those cute little sticky-up ears and a bow across the top. Remember the fit you kicked up because you wanted it, and how she slapped me across the face when I refused to give it to you? You stood right in front of me and ate the whole thing while I watched.”
He winced. ”Torie, everybody in the world knows that she was crazy and I was a spoiled brat!”
”I remember there were a couple bites of that hair bow left over-”
”Torie ...” His voice sounded a warning note.
”But instead of giving them to me, you threw them in the-”
”All right! You win, d.a.m.n it! But this is against my better judgment.”
For a moment Torie appeared almost fragile. Then she curled one arm around his neck and pressed her lips to his cheek. ”Thanks, bubba. I owe you one.”
”You owe me more than one,” he sighed. ”But I'll still never catch up.”
Chapter 7
”Surely your sister exaggerated,” Emma said. ”Your mother couldn't really have permitted such a thing.” mother couldn't really have permitted such a thing.”
Kenny pointed toward the pa.s.sing landscape through the Cadillac's window. ”Look at those bluebonnets over there. And that red's Indian paintbrush. Isn't this just about the prettiest view you've ever seen?”
He obviously didn't want to talk about his childhood, and, once again, Emma let herself be distracted by the beauty of the Texas Hill Country. They were west of Austin now, not far from Wynette, on a two-lane highway that offered breathtaking vistas of rugged hills slashed with limestone and expansive valleys carpeted with fields of wildflowers, some stretching nearly as far as the eye could see. Since they'd left, she'd spotted her first Texas longhorn cattle, glimpsed several deer, and watched a bird Kenny identified as a red-tailed hawk circle a ribbon of crystal-clear river that sparkled in the sun. Now, however, she forced her attention away from the view to once again concentrate on piecing together the story behind what she'd heard this morning. Even though it was none of her business, she couldn't seem to help herself. She simply had to know more about him.
”Tell me about your childhood, Kenny. I'm only inquiring as an educator, you understand. I'm fascinated by the effect upbringing has on adult behavior.”
”Believe me, if I'd let my upbringing affect me, I'd be locked up in a penitentiary somewhere.”
”Was it really that bad?”
”Unfortunately, yes. You know those old teen movies where there's always this nasty rich kid who tortures the poor but valiant hero?”
”Yes.”
”Well, I was that nasty rich kid.”
”I don't believe it. You're immature and annoying, but you're not cruel.”
He raised one eyebrow at her.