Call Me Irresistible (Wynette, Texas #5)(55)

"You've got a weird way of showing it."

Shit. Not Spence at all. She spun around to see Ted standing just inside the French doors, his tall, absolutely perfect body silhouetted against the night. A rocket exploded in the sky forming a golden starburst behind his head. It was so infuriatingly predictable she could have screamed. "Leave me alone."

"Passion sure does make you crabby." As he moved away from the door, the golden sparks tumbled to oblivion in an aerial waterfall. "Just checking to see if you're okay. You looked a little peaked." 

"The stench of too much cologne, and that's bull. You want to get away from Sunny."

"I don't know why you'd say that. She's a real smart girl. Hot, too."

"And she'd be perfect for you, except you don't really like her, not that you'd admit to disliking anybody except me. Still, if you can manage to fall in love with her, you'll have that awful golf resort built before you know it. Spence told me himself that a match between you and Sunny would seal the deal. That's why he came back to Wynette." She shot him a dark look. "As I'm sure you've already figured out."

He didn't bother to deny it. "Wynette needs the resort, and I'm not apologizing for doing everything I can to make it happen. There's hardly a person in this town who won't benefit."

"You're going to have to marry her, then. What does one man's happiness mean against the well-being of the multitudes?"

"We barely know each other."

"Not to worry. Sunny's a woman who goes after what she wants."

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "She's just having fun."

" Au contraire. You are the one and only Ted Beaudine, and the mere sight of you makes women-"

"Shut up." Harsh words, gently delivered. "Just shut up, will you?"

He looked as tired as she felt. She slumped down on the damask upholstered couch, propped her elbows on her knees, and rested her chin in her hands. "I hate this town."

"Maybe. But you also like the challenge it's giving you."

Her head shot up. "Challenge? I'm sleeping in a hot, unfurnished church and selling Bud Light to pampered golfers who can't be bothered to recycle their beer cans. Oh, yeah, I love the challenge all right."

His eyes seemed to see right through her. "That only makes it more interesting, doesn't it? You're finally getting a chance to test yourself."

"Finally?" She jumped up off the couch. "I've kayaked the Mekong River and gone diving with great whites off Cape Town. Don't talk to me about tests."

"Those weren't tests. That's your idea of fun. But what's happening here in Wynette is different. You finally get to see what you're made of without Mom and Dad's money. Can you survive in a place where Spence Skipjack is the only person impressed by your last name and where, let's face it, nobody likes you?"

"Torie sort of likes me. And Haley Kittle." The way he was studying her made her uncomfortable, so she went over to the bookcase and pretended to inspect the titles.

He came up behind her. "It's interesting watching you. Can Meg Koranda survive on nothing but her wits? That's the real challenge for you, isn't it?"

He wasn't exactly right, but he wasn't entirely wrong, either. "What do you know? You're the all-American success story in reverse. Raised by rich parents and brought up with all the advantages. You should have ended up as spoiled as me, but you didn't."

"You're not spoiled, Meg. Stop saying that about yourself."

Once again he'd unbalanced her. She stared at a row of reference books. "What do you know? You've never screwed up in your life."

"You're wrong there. When I was a kid, I vandalized the Statue of Liberty."

"You and a Magic Marker. Big deal." She ran her thumb down the spine of a dictionary.




       
         
       
        
"Oh, it was worse than that. I climbed into the crown, broke a window, and tossed out a No Nukes banner."

That shocked her so much she finally turned to face him. "Lucy never told me about that."

"Didn't she?" He tilted his head so she couldn't quite see into his eyes. "I guess we never got around to talking about it."

"How could you not have talked about something so important?"

He shrugged. "Other things on our minds."

"The experience must have been at least a little traumatic."

His expression relaxed, and he smiled. "It was the worst moment of my childhood. And the best."

"How could it have been the best? Surely you got caught?"