Razzmatazz-DDL (6 page)

Kennie stood poised by the railing, staring into the river. Her head lowered, she fumbled with Chris’s signet ring, wincing when -she tried to tug it off over her swollen knuckle.

Chris lunged past the ladies. “Stop her! Don’t let her do it! That ring’s priceless! It’s been in my family for seven generations!”

Kennie glanced over her shoulder and saw Maizie straighten to her full four feet eleven inches and glare at him. “You mercenary little snit!” Maizie spat out at Chris.

What had been a dull, throbbing ache in her hand now escalated to a sharp stabbing pain as Kennie jerked viciously on the ring. She gave it one last tug and it pulled free, along with a bit of her skin. She gasped.

“What’s wrong?” Alex demanded, grabbing her shoulders and spinning her toward him.

“She got it off!” Chris grabbed for the ring, but Alex batted his hand away.

Kennie clenched the signet ring at her side in her right hand, and drew her left fist to her lips, tasting blood. Somehow in all the confusion, she hadn’t felt the pain. But she felt it now. Mercy, did she feel it.

“Kennie, let me look at your hand!” Alex bent his dark head over her and tenderly opened her fist. “Why didn’t you say you were hurt?”

She blinked back tears she was too angry to acknowledge. “It’s nothing. Forget it.”

“For God’s sake, Alex, get my ring away from her before she throws it in the river!”

“Will you shut up? She’s my wife, dammit! Leave her alone!”

Maizie and Vera exchanged shocked glances. “If she’s his wife....” Vera stammered, jabbing a finger at Alex.

“Why is she wearing his ring?” Maizie finished.

“It’s just as well. She probably wouldn’t get a penny out of that one,” Vera sniffed her disapproval in Chris’s direction, “He’s more concerned with a pinky ring than with that sweet girl.”

“Come on. We’ve got to do something about this hand.” Alex eased his arm around Kennie’s shoulder, and she caught her breath. No amount of anger could blot out his effect on her. She should hate him. She should despise him. But even after twenty-four dizzying hours of chaos, after all the trouble he’d caused her, all she wanted to do was curl up in Alex Carruthers’s arms and cry.

“I don’t think any bones are broken,” he murmured consolingly, “but damn, that hand looks like it hurts.”

“It’s the story of my life,” Kennie sighed, wiping a tear with her bare arm. “In eighth grade I broke my toe kicking Billy John Dervis in the shin. I barely bruised him, but I couldn’t walk for a week.”

A low chuckle erupted from Alex’s chest. “Kennie Sue Ledbetter, you are a joy.”

Maizie dabbed at her cheeks with a wrinkled hankie. “Isn’t that the most beautiful thing you ever saw, Vera? I think we’ve just witnessed a reconciliation.”

Vera harrumphed. “It won’t last. They never do. Besides, she should have married the blond. He’s the one with the money.”

Maizie shrugged her ample shoulders, pointed a finger at Alex and added smugly, “But he’s the one with class.” Rolling her eyes, Vera steered Maizie toward the casino. “Well, at least now you’ll have a new story to tell about this damned bridge!”

Chris threw his hands up. “Will somebody please give me back my ring?”

Alex removed the ring from Kennie’s unresisting fingers and tossed it over his shoulder without a backward glance. Kennie watched Chris chase it as it rolled dangerously toward the Truckee River.

Chris snatched it from the pavement, then pressed it to his mouth. He slid it back onto his little finger. Then he shouted after them, “What I don’t understand is why are you taking everything out on me? I was only the best man!” Snuggled securely under Alex’s arm, Kennie knew that was one question she didn’t even want to consider.

At the next corner Alex led her to a bus bench. She sank down and watched gratefully as Alex bound her throbbing knuckles in his handkerchief, then placed her hand in her lap.

“Now, are you ready to listen to reason?”

She shook her head. “Nothing reasonable has happened to me in the past twenty-four hours.”

“Maybe not. But you’re not the only one in this predicament,” he reminded her.

“I know.” She swallowed hard. “But you aren’t upset. Surely this—this wedding came as a shock to you, too.”

“Most definitely.” His face stained with ruddy color. “As a matter of fact, I feel guilty as hell.”

“Guilty?”

“Guilty.” He propped his arm on the back of the bench and rested his cheek on his fist. “I want you to tell me the truth, Kennie. You aren’t used to drinking, are you?”

She averted her gaze. “You must think I’m the biggest fool.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Just answer my question.”

“No, I never drink liquor,” she admitted.

“Which you had plenty of last night.”

She nodded. “Ambrosia punch, and whatever those gosh-awful drinks are that Chris was drinking.”

“Wait a minute! You knew?” Alex asked.

“I knew. There’s no reason for you to feel guilty. I knew what I was doing—at least when it came to the drinking.”

“But why?” he asked.

“Because...because you and Chris and what you were offering me was like a fantasy come true. I came to Reno to escape my problems. But the trouble just followed me, thanks to Dub. And then I looked up, and there you were. You offered me a taste of what I’d hoped for, dreamed of. So I took it.” She looked at him defiantly. “For Pete’s sake, I’m twenty-four years old! I think I’m entitled to a few drinks on my vacation!” Her defiance melted. “So you see, it’s not your fault.”

“Nice try, but I still feel guilty.” Alex gave her a sheepish look. “I shouldn’t have let things go so far.”

“Alex, we can sit here forever fighting over who’s responsible, but it won’t change a thing.”

“You’re right. We’ve got to get an annulment.”

“An annulment?” she repeated incredulously.

“Of course. What did you think?”

“I thought...I was afraid we’d have to get a divorce.”

“Is it safe to assume that divorces aren’t looked on too kindly in Tahoka Springs, Texas?” he asked gently.

“You can say that again!”

“Well, at least you won’t have to return home from your vacation a divorced woman,” he teased her. “I promise you, we’ll get an annulment.”

“You mean, it’s that simple?”

Alex grinned. “My dear, it’s the only logical thing to do.”

“An annulment....” she murmured softly, remembering the bitter sadness of a hot summer long ago. “Oh, Alex. That’s the sweetest thing anybody’s ever offered to do for me.”

Alex frowned quizzically. “Something tells me there’s a story behind those words.”

“Yes.” Kennie brushed a tendril of hair out of her face. “But it’s too long and complicated. Besides, the story had a happy ending, and that’s what counts, isn’t it?”

“My sentiments exactly.” Alex stood and offered his arm. “How about finding the happy ending to the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into? I promise you, by the time you get home you’ll be laughing and telling your friends about this.”

“Never!” Kennie said, rising. “This is one story that Tahoka Springs is never going to hear if I have a thing to do with it.” She suppressed a shudder. Gracious, she had no intention of living down another scandal. Forcing herself back to the problem at hand, she faced him. “Now, where do we go? What do we do to fix this mess?”

Alex stared at her, surprised. “You mean, you don’t know?”

“How the heck am I supposed to know—” she started, but he stopped her by placing an index finger firmly against her lips.

“Kennie Sue Ledbetter, just where did you think you were going, marching down Virginia Street?”

Bristling at his amused attitude, she tossed her curls. “To the airport, I guess. To tell you the truth, I didn’t give it a lot of thought.” She shot him a belligerent stare. “I was mainly trying to get away from you.”

He threw back his head and laughed. And laughed. Until she wanted to kick him, even at the expense of another broken toe.

Alex’s laughter subsided, and he grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face the opposite direction. “Some might call it luck. I prefer to think of it as fate. But for a lady who doesn’t know where to go, you have an uncanny knack of landing right where you ought to be.” He rested his arm on her shoulder and pointed. “See that building over there?”

“Yes.” She glared at a gray, pillared structure across Virginia Street.

“Reno isn’t known as the divorce capital of the world for nothing. That building is one of the world’s most famous suppliers of wedding licenses, divorces and, of course, annulments. The Washoe County Courthouse.”

CHAPTER FOUR

TEN MINUTES LATER Kennie hurried out of the Washoe County Courthouse and dashed down the steps. Alex followed close on her heels, his tuxedo jacket flapping behind him. “Kennie, if you’d just slow down—”
 

“Not on your life, buster.”

“But if you’d just calm down and listen—”

“Listen to you? You’ve gotta be kidding. That’s how all my problems began!”

The signal light at the corner changed, and she limped into the crosswalk. Each step was punctuated by a sharp pain knifing up her calf to the back of her thigh. “Damnation.” She stopped and snatched her shoes off her feet.

“Let me help—”

“One step closer and I’ll scream for the cops.”

“All right, all right.” Alex backed off, his hands raised in surrender, the wilted bouquet and wedding album raised high like mocking trophies. The light changed; a horn blared.

“You’re going to get us killed, next,” she muttered, and hobbled to the opposite corner.

As Kennie squinted at the row of casino marquees, Alex let out a very ungentlemanly whistle and a cab appeared. He held the door open. “Get in.”

“I’d rather walk, thank you.”

His mouth set in a firm line, he grabbed her elbow. “Quit playing the martyr and get in.”

“Since you put it so nicely.” She slid into the car. “Besides, I’m not that much of a martyr.”

“Tell me something, Kennie Sue.”

“What?” She slumped against the upholstered seat as he slammed the door and the cab pulled away from the curb.

“When you get on your high horse back in Paducah Spri—”

“Tahoka!”

He saluted her. “Tahoka Springs. How do your beaus usually react?”

She concentrated on the passing swirl of lights and tourists. “That’s none of your business.”

“I think it is.”

“Why?”

“Because,” he said, chuckling, “I’m your husband.” Dimples. The man had a devilish set of dimples, a cleft in his chin, devastating laugh lines around his velvet-brown eyes—and she was in no mood to be taking such an inventory. Which was exactly why she’d better start thinking about his faults, while she could still call them to mind. “You’re disgraceful, Alex Carruthers.”

He seemed maddeningly undisturbed. “So I’ve been told.”

“And obnoxious.”

“Now, that’s a new one.”

“And I think I punched the wrong man.”

“I get the general drift.” He plucked a stray tendril of hair from her cheek and smoothed it behind her ear. “Now that you’ve got that out of your system, would you like to hear my plan?”

“Mr. Carruthers, your last plan was less than sterling.”

“Now, now,” he admonished her with a wave of his finger, “my plan can still be executed. You can’t blame me if they closed the court-filing counter at five.”

“This is some racket they’ve got going here. They’ll sell marriage licenses until midnight, but they won’t let you out of the darned marriage until eight in the mor—” She leaned forward suddenly and pounded her uninjured fist against the seat. “Oh, great gully-washers.”

“What’s wrong now?”

“Eight in the morning. The only flight I can get out of this place, and I’m going to miss it again.”

He massaged the back of her neck, and the throbbing, tender muscles relaxed in exquisite agony. When he started rubbing in a slow circle, her brain sent mad signals to pull away, but her body was too grateful to heed them.

“You’ve had about all you can take, haven’t you?” he murmured in her ear.

“A little lower, please...ahhh, yes. That’s it.” She arched her shoulders as the heel of his hand went unerringly to the pressure point at the base of her neck.

“I think we’ve had enough of this nonsense for one day.” He continued his gentle ministrations, and all she could do was shift a little closer, giving his magic fingers more room to do their stuff. “I’m taking you back to the Majestic to rest.”

She shot bolt upright. “Not the same hotel.”

“Of course the same hotel.”

“But—but—how humiliating!” She struggled to pull away from him. “They practically threw us out.”

“Ah, but there’s the significant detail. Practically, but not really. Chris handled everything.” Alex brushed absent-mindedly at a streak of dirt angling down his pant leg. “We live in an age where money still talks, and after all, we didn’t do any actual damage. I can assure you, that revered establishment has had far rowdier guests than the three of us.”

Three. Disdain curled her lip. “Where’s Chris?”

Alex aimed his gaze out the window. “Like all bad pennies....”

“He’ll turn up.” She reached down to massage her calf. “Christopher Quincy Abbott’s the result of too much in-breeding,” she announced. “That’s what happens when you don’t bring fresh blood into your stocklines.”

“I’m not certain the Abbots would enjoy hearing their heir apparent discussed like a prize steer, Kennie.” But whatever scold was intended was hopelessly overshadowed by the grin tugging at Alex’s well-formed lips.

“Then they should have been more careful in the breeding, shouldn’t they?” Kennie felt herself letting go, allowing the spate of giggles to wash away her tension and her frustration on a frothy wave of laughter.

“We’ve arrived.”

She opened her eyes in time to see the liveried doorman open the cab door. Alex slid out, not revealing any awareness of his bedraggled state as he offered her his hand. She accepted it gratefully, as she did the gentle pressure when his hand cupped her elbow to guide her through the wide, automatic doors. Not even the knowledge that her broken high-heeled sandals dangled ridiculously from her hands dampened her efforts at matching Alex’s casual aplomb stride for stride.