Reading Online Novel

Call Me Irresistible (Wynette, Texas #5)(108)



Dexter O'Connor gestured toward the landfill. "You're a lucky man, Spence. So many possibilities."

Instead of looking at him, Spence kept his angry gaze on Meg, and the relief she'd felt at the appearance of all these people began to fade. She tried to tell herself she was wrong. Surely he'd let this go. Surely he wouldn't press this in front of so many people. But she'd known from the beginning that he couldn't tolerate having anyone get the best of him.

"The contracts aren't signed yet," he said ominously.

A collective expression of panic fell over the faces of the onlookers. "Dad . . ." Sunny put her hand on her father's arm.

Torie took charge. Tightening the knot on her sarong, she marched toward Spence. "Me and Dex are planning to throw a couple of steaks on the grill tonight. Why don't you and Sunny join us, that is if you don't mind kids, or maybe we'll ship them over to Dad's house? Sunny, have you ever seen emus close up? Dex and me have a whole flock of them. Basically, I married him so I could pay my feed bill. He isn't as crazy about them as I am, but they're the sweetest creatures you ever met." Torie went on to deliver a breathless and very lengthy monologue describing the care and feeding of emus and their benefit to humankind. She was stalling for time, and since everybody kept glancing down the lane, Meg didn't have any trouble figuring out why. They were waiting for a knight in a powder blue pickup to appear and save the town from disaster.

More vehicles streamed into the lane. Torie was running out of emu material, and she cast an imploring eye at the others. Her brother reacted first, slipping one arm across Spence's shoulders and gestured toward the landfill with the other. "I've been giving a lot of thought to the routing."

But Spence turned away from him and studied the growing crowd. His gaze returned to Meg, and the way his eyes narrowed told her it was payback time. "Turns out, that might be a little premature, Kenny. I have a reputation to consider, and Meg here was just telling my daughter something pretty shocking." 

Dread kicked her in the stomach. He wanted revenge, and he knew exactly how to get it. If she stood her ground, she'd hurt so many people, but the thought of backing down made her ill. How could doing the right thing feel so wrong? She dug her fingers into her palms. "Forget it."

But Spence wanted his pound of flesh for every wound she'd inflicted on his ego, and he pressed. "Oh, I can't do that," he said. "Some things are too serious to forget. Meg says I- What was that word you used?"

"Let it go," she said, even as she knew he wouldn't.

He snapped his fingers. "I remember. You said I assaulted you. Do I have that right, Meg?"

A murmur went up from the crowd. Kayla's glossed lips grew slack. Zoey pressed her hand to her throat. More cells snapped open, and Meg fought down her nausea. "No, Spence, you don't have it right," she said woodenly.

"But that's what I heard you say. What my daughter heard you say." He jutted out his chin. "I remember going swimming with you yesterday, but I sure don't remember any assault."

Her jaw didn't want to move. "You're right," she murmured. "I got it wrong."

He shook his head. "How could you get something so serious wrong?"

He was going to hammer her into the ground. The only way she could win was by letting him win, and she struggled to hold herself together. "Easy. I was upset."

"Hey there, everybody."

The crowd turned in unison as their savior ambled forward. He'd arrived unnoticed because he'd been driving the dark gray Benz they all tended to forget he owned. He looked tired. "What's going on here?" he said. "A party I forgot about?"

"I'm afraid not." Even as Spence frowned, she could see he was reveling in the power he held over all of them. "I sure am glad you showed up, Ted. It seems we have an unanticipated problem."

"Oh? And what's that?"

Spence rubbed his jaw where the day's stubble cast a blue-black shadow. "It's going to be hard for me to do business in a town where a person can go around throwing out false accusations and getting away with it."

He wasn't going to cancel the deal. Meg didn't believe it. Not with Sunny giving him those pleading glances. Not with an entire town lined up to fawn over him. He was playing a cat-and-mouse game, flexing his muscle by humiliating her and letting them all see who was in charge.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Spence," Ted said. "I guess misunderstandings can happen anywhere. The good thing about Wynette is that we try to fix our troubles before they get too big to cause problems. Let me see if I can't help straighten this out."

"I don't know, Ted." Spence gazed toward the empty landfill. "Something like this is going to be hard to get past. Everybody's counting on me to sign those contracts tomorrow, but I can't imagine that happening with this false accusation hanging over me."