Heartsong (Singing to the Heart Book 2) (17 page)

He swallowed down the need for her and forced his gaze to his assistant. “Good idea.”

Trish raised a coppery brow at the raspy response but didn’t say anything. As she tapped a finger on her iPad, he took Michaela’s hand and led her into the living room. They sat on the couch.

Without looking away from the tablet, Trish said, “Gabe, you are due in rehearsals at eight a.m. You’re scheduled as an opening act along with Seth Kendall, Nate O’Connell, and Logan Cartwright, and you all are to sing your collaboration. Seth said he and Nate talked to you at the wedding about the song.”

“Yeah, we talked about it. We’ve only sang the song twice live together so we decided to do something fun.” The song had been a number-one single earlier that year from Logan Cartwright’s second album. The rowdy anthem to pickup trucks, hot women, and beer had won the award for Best Musical Event in one of the early award presentations last week. The first award of many for him, he hoped. “We’ll work out the bugs during rehearsals.”

Micki looked up at him. “I’d love to meet Logan. He and I are second cousins, but I don’t know him. Momma moved away from Colton when she was eighteen, after her parents were killed in a car accident.”

Trish glanced up from her iPad. “It always amazes me how small the biggest state in the continental USA is. I swear everyone is related down there in Texas.”

“Not everyone is related, but I know what you mean.” With a chuckle, he wrapped his arm around Michaela’s shoulders. She sat rigid beside him and tapped her foot as if she were getting ready to run. He had no intentions of letting her escape. When she turned a confused gaze at him, he smiled and pulled her close to him. She didn’t relax much, but the fidgeting stopped. “I’ll make sure you meet him.” Then he turned his attention back to Trish. “Where’s my solo performance happening in the show, and when’s that rehearsal scheduled?”

Trish consulted her iPad again. “You’ll go on after the Male Vocalist is announced. Gary said that’s a great spot.” She looked up and smiled. “Especially if you win the category. Your rehearsal is at four p.m. tomorrow and again Thursday at one p.m. You, Seth, Nate, and Logan also rehearse again at eight a.m. that morning.”

“Damn, can’t you or Gary get the
CMA
s to schedule the rehearsals closer together?”

“Sorry, Gabe, but that’s what we got. Gary also wanted me to tell you that he set up an interview with Robin Roberts for her
CMA
special, which will be taped Wednesday at ten a.m.” Trish glanced at Michaela. “She’d like to get the two of you on camera, but Gary was noncommittal, since he didn’t know how you’d react.”

When Michaela shifted in his arms, he glanced into her worried face. He didn’t have to read her mind to imagine what she was thinking. “You don’t have to do that if you don’t want to.”

She took a deep breath and shrugged before looking at Trish. “Sure. I’ll do it. But I think it prudent to have the questions beforehand.” She met his gaze again. “We don’t need any surprises in the interview. Also, our family, including his brother--my nephew--are off limits. We’ll talk about us and about his career. Hell, I’ll even answer questions about my time as a barrel racer. But everything else is personal and off limits.”

He smiled because he never worried about interviews. Usually, he evaded any questions he didn’t want to answer, but her way of thinking was much better and could work very well to their advantage. “Great idea.”

She shrugged against his side. “Great business sense. But I was hoping to see a little of Nashville while here. Guess that will have to wait until the next time.”

Next time?
He stroked her cheek, not for the lie they were living, but because he wanted to feel her soft skin and watch her eyes dilate with desire. She didn’t disappoint him and even gave a little shiver in answer to his touch. “I’m sorry. I hoped to show you around town a bit before the show Sunday night.”

“You have to work. That’s okay.” She looked around the room but quickly turned her gaze to his again. “I’m sure I can find something to do around here.” The sensation of her warm breast pressed against the side of his chest had him sucking in a breath.

“Don’t worry about Mrs. McKenna.” Both he and Michaela turned to Trish as she sat on the chair across from them and smiled. “I think I can find something that will keep her busy.”

Michaela looked from Trish to him then back again. “Actually, I was wondering…”

“Yes?”

She moved out of his embrace and crossed her arms. “Where will I be sitting?”

Trish consulted her iPad again. “Gary has you seated beside Seth and his wife on your left in the second row. You and Gabe are sitting on the end by the center aisle.”

He glanced at Michaela. She was getting that panicky look in her eyes again. “You met Abby at our wedding. She’s a nurse from north Texas.”

She closed her eyes for a second. “I remember. I liked her. Her daughter is a singer, too, right?”

Nodding, Trish glanced at her iPad. “Yes. She’s next to her dad. I put you next to Abby. I figured you girls have something in common. If nothing else you’re both from Texas and not in the business.” She smiled and pushed her red hair from her eyes. “She and Seth haven’t been married all that long either.”

Micki groaned and the panicky roundness of her eyes worsened. “Wait. I liked Abby, and Seth, too, but their crazy relationship is in the tabloids almost as much as Gabe is. If I’m sitting beside them, wouldn’t that make me a better target for the cameras?”

Trish nodded and her smile widened as if the situation was perfect. Gabe had to agree with Michaela. The other couple’s relationship had been a tabloid favorite when Seth announced he was the father of Abby’s teenage daughter a little over a year ago. The whole show would be a media orgy of juicy gossip and rumors. Unlike Michaela, he saw this as an advantage, but he couldn’t explain how to use it in front of Trish.

“You’re bound to be a favorite of the TV cameras for sure,” Trish said.

Michaela’s mouth fell open. “Jesus, save me.” Putting some distance between them on the leather couch, she looked at him and narrowed her eyes. “What if I don’t go? Isn’t the interview enough? At least it can be controlled. I know they’ll swing those cameras on me at the most awkward moments. What if I yawn during your performance?”

Gabe chuckled and shrugged. Michaela had always hated this sort of stuff. Every year she’d won the NFR, she would sneak out of the arena before she could be interviewed by the ESPN reporter covering the barrel racing event. “Wouldn’t that make for some interesting speculation in the tabloids? But I think the more
glaring
news would be if you weren’t there to yawn at me shaking my ass around on stage.”

Closing her eyes, she took a breath deep enough to move her shoulders up and slowly down. She’d gotten his hidden point. The last thing they needed was bad press. As long as they played their parts, anything the media caught on camera could only help their case. She opened her eyes and turned to Trish. “I suppose I’ll need some fancy sparkly nightgown pretending to be a dress for this dog and pony show.”

“Yes. Of course.” Trish furrowed her brow as though perplexed by Michaela’s question. “You don’t have an evening gown?”

“Nope.” Michaela laughed and leaned back. “I honestly didn’t think about it. I guess I’d better go shopping.”

“Understandable. You just got married and crammed all of that planning into a few weeks’ time. Don’t worry. I know just the place to find what you’ll need to knock the socks off the red carpet commentators.” Trish tucked her iPad into her bag, getting ready to leave. “I’ll pick you up at nine tomorrow morning.”

When she stood, he and Michaela followed to their feet. Michaela nodded, but a shadow creased her forehead. “Okay.”

He saw Trish to the door while Michaela paced around the outside of the room like a caged bull. When he returned to the living room, she stopped her trek and wrung her hands together. “Dear God, how am I going to afford a fancy dress? I should have thought of it. I could have found
something
in Brownwood when Lizzy and I went shopping for her dress for the wedding.”

Gabe pulled his wallet from his pocket and removed a credit card. He held it out between two fingers. “Here.” When her face grew a stormy red, he shook his head and waved the card. “Don’t say it. I know what you’re thinking. Damn it, Michaela, you’re my wife.”

“Don’t remind me.” She spun away without taking the credit card. “I think all this pretending to be something we aren’t has really clouded your brain.” She turned back to him. Something fleeting sparked in her eyes, but before he could name the emotion, it was gone and replaced with anger. “We are only married for Jesse.”

He tossed the card onto the end table in front of her. “I know why we’re married. For that reason, I would like you showing up at one of the biggest nights of my career in something amazing.” As he took a step toward her, his own anger boiled to the surface. He’d been a fool to think they might actually have a chance. “I meant what I said. Every news outlet interested in country music--from the network to radio stations to tabloids and magazines--will be focused on us. We have to prove to the world that we can provide the perfect family for Jesse and that our marriage is full of love, even though we both know that will never be true.”

Gabe turned and headed up the stairs to the loft. At the landing above, he peered down at her blond ponytail. “You can sleep in the guestroom on the right. Just make sure you’re up and the bed made before Trish shows up in the morning. She said nine, but she’ll be here by eight, if I know my assistant.”

“Don’t worry about appearances. I know my role in this game.” She picked up his credit card and faced him, meeting his gaze with cold eyes. “I’ve already made a deal with the devil and I will follow through. I want Jesse as much as you do. I’ll show up at the show in something
amazing
, but I will pay you back every penny I spend if it takes me a lifetime to do so. I want nothing from you.”

He turned away, his heart aching with love he’d never be able to share with Michaela, and entered his room, closing the door behind him.

Micki pulled on the brass handle of the door of the boutique with sweaty hands. Despite the chill the cold rain pelting the sidewalk sent through her, she sweated under her denim jacket. The place looked like something out of a movie, with front windows filled with manikins displaying dresses she could only imagine celebrities wearing. Dear Lord, was she actually married to one? Taking a deep breath of air lightly scented with the sweet spiciness of pumpkin and cinnamon, she stepped into the store.

To her right stood a manikin dressed in a silvery sequined gown. A slit up the side of the shimmery, fitted skirt showed off the model’s leg up to only inches from the hip. The strapless bodice, if it could be justified with the name, showed more flesh than it covered.

“May I help you?”

She turned toward the sales woman frowning at her. Where was Trish? How long did it take to park a car? She fisted her clammy hands. “Ah… I’m looking for a dress.” Although she’d never be caught dead in the thing, she couldn’t help but ask, “How much is this one?”

“That is a one-of-a-kind by a new designer named Vincent D’Angelo. He’s designed for some of the hottest actresses in Hollywood.”

Impatient with the woman’s haughty tone, she pointed at the dress. “How much?”

“Ten thousand dollars.”

“Holy shit!” She gasped and stared at the woman. “You’ve got to be kidding. For
that
?”

The woman pointedly looked over Micki’s scuffed boots, faded jeans, and worn jacket, before narrowing her eyes on her makeup-free face. “That dress wouldn’t suit you anyway.”

“You’ve got that right.”

“Miss, this is an exclusive boutique. Maybe you are in the wrong type of shop.”

Micki easily translated the woman’s condescending glare and tone to mean she belonged in Walmart. She almost turned on her heels and walked out as the dress shop scene from the Julia Roberts’s movie
Pretty Woman
flashed into her mind. She considered pulling out Gabe’s black credit card to prove she had the money to pay for anything she wanted, but she had more pride than that.

The door opened behind her, and she let relief flood her as Trish stepped inside. “I’m sorry, Micki. I couldn’t find a parking space anywhere.” She shifted her bag onto her shoulder and closed her dripping umbrella, then smiled at the clerk. “Hello, I’m Trish Russell and this is Micki. Gabe McKenna’s wife. We need something glamorous for the
CMA
s.”

Micki didn’t hide her smile at the way the woman’s eyes widened with surprise.

She blinked and smiled with warmth that rang untrue. “I’m sorry for my reaction, Mrs. McKenna. We get a lot of tourists who wander in here hoping to see someone famous. Welcome to Tolberts. If we don’t have what you’re looking for, no one else will either.” Turning on her sky-high stilettos, she stalked toward a rack of sparkly dresses. “Please, follow me.”

“Micki?”

She turned at the sound of her name. The woman handed the clerk behind her a long pale yellow gown. Over the rack, a sign marked it as maternity
and listed several designer names. Micki smiled as she recognized the wife of country star Seth Kendall. “Abby, it’s nice to see you again. Trish said we’re sitting next to each other at the show.”

Abby pushed her long dark brown hair out of her face, then rested a hand on her rounded belly. The couple’s second child was due in less than two months, and if Micki believed the tabloid rumors, the baby was supposed to be a boy. “Yes. I’m so glad. Seth and I have been married for a year, but I don’t come to Nashville much and don’t know many people. It’s nice to meet someone who is as culture shocked as I am.”

Micki laughed and glanced around. “I couldn’t agree more. I’m not looking forward to finding a dress.”

Abby looked at the clerk holding the gown she’d chosen. “Please check if you have that one in my size and hold it with the other one I chose. I’ll try them on later.”

“Let me know when you’re ready, Mrs. Kendall.” The woman smiled and headed toward the back of the store.