Diamond (8 page)

Her presence was resulting in exactly what Tommy had hoped for. If Jesse saw for himself what trouble she could cause, he’d dump her himself and save Tommy the trouble of having to do it for him.

Diamond never knew what prompted her to do what she did next. Maybe it was frustration at being an unwelcome outsider, or the exhaustion she saw weighing heavily on Jesse’s face. But when the band started to play, she walked over to the table where Jesse had tossed his hat, slapped it on her head, and took the words of the song right out of Jesse’s mouth.

Her voice filled the studio, blending perfectly with his deep, husky sound until it seemed as if it were no longer a song. Every stanza Jesse sang, Diamond echoed right after him, in her soft, crystal-clear voice. Every plea he made in the song she repeated with heartbreaking pathos.

Al slid his bow across his fiddle and blinked back tears. He didn’t know who to believe was telling lies, the man or the woman. And then he caught himself and almost laughed aloud as he realized he’d been pulled right into the emotion of the moment. It wasn’t really happening, they were just singing a song. But hot damn, he thought, what a song. This was what had been missing.

Tommy wanted to kill. She
was
good…and he wanted no part of her. Her presence in their lives was the first wedge between him and total control over Jesse Eagle, and that was something he wouldn’t allow.

And then Diamond’s voice ended the song on a whisper as she sang, “…
can’t get you out of my mind.
”

Jesse stared. He couldn’t speak past the lump in his throat. Instead, he took his hat off her head, tossed it into the air, and yanked her off her feet and into his arms.

Laughter bubbled out of him, overflowing into Diamond’s ears as he swung her around and around. The shocked silence of the men in the room began to lessen as, one by one, the members of the band joined in. Jesse’s excitement was impossible to ignore.

“My sweet Lord,” Jesse said as he finally stopped spinning and set Diamond’s feet back on firm ground. He did not, however, turn her loose. “That was fantastic, lady.” He wrapped his hand in the tangle he’d made of her hair and tugged gently as he growled in her ear, “But what the hell kept you? If you knew you could do that earlier in the day, why did you let us suffer through six hours of rearranging that damned song?”

Diamond flushed but had nothing to say. She only shrugged. What she’d done had been on impulse. She’d had no intention of trying to make herself part of the song.

Jesse grabbed her by an arm as he turned to his manager. “Do you believe me now? I told you she could sing.”

Tommy shrugged and grinned. There was nothing else he could do, but inside he was furious.

“I want this on the album,” Jesse said. “I want her singing with me, just like she did a minute ago. She’ll have equal billing on the song and her credits listed on the album cover. Now…Tommy, don’t get that look on your face now. I’m right, and you know it.”

Diamond was in shock. “But Jesse, I didn’t intend for you to think—”

“I don’t care what was intended. I know what’s good, and so does the band. Right, boys?”

Smiles and a scattering of “You bet, boss” came and went. But the men were in shock. Granted the woman could sing. But equal billing for a complete unknown on one of Jesse Eagle’s albums? That was a bit much, even for a good song. To a man, they began to eye her differently. This Diamond Houston must be heaven in bed for Jesse to be so eager to share billing with her.

“Let’s call it a day,” Jesse said. “But tomorrow when we come in, it’s going to be down to serious business, ‘Lies’ was the last song on the album that hadn’t been arranged.” He grinned and tugged at Diamond’s hair again. “But thanks to her, that’s over. Tomorrow we start recording. Our schedule says this album has to be out before Christmas. Tommy, set it up.”

Tommy shoved his hand in his shirt pocket for a cigarette and then cursed as he remembered he’d given that habit up nearly a year earlier. He stifled the urge to break something and managed to nod in agreement to Jesse’s order.

Diamond was lost somewhere between elation and embarrassment. Her intention had been to lighten the moment. Instead she’d made the tension worse. Even she could feel the men’s disapproval, but she had no way of undoing what had already been done. And, truth be told, she had little desire to do so. After all, wasn’t this why she’d left Cradle Creek? Wasn’t this why she’d trusted a stranger?

She smiled back at Jesse and then went to retrieve his hat. Standing in front of Jesse’s band and his manager made her feel a bit like standing before a firing squad while she waited for someone to yell
fire!

5

Jesse’s elation lasted until
they walked through the door and Henley handed Diamond an envelope postmarked from Cradle Creek, Tennessee.

“My money!” she said, tearing it open and waving the cashier’s check in the air. She unfolded the accompanying letter and leaned against the wall, avidly scanning the page for news of her sisters.

Jesse watched the expression changing on her face and knew that he should leave her alone to read in private, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so.

“Should I postpone serving supper, sir?” Henley asked.

Jesse nodded. It was obvious that for once, food was the farthest thing from Diamond’s mind.

“Lucky left.” The words came out in a whisper. “Queen’s leaving in a couple of days.” Diamond looked at the date on the postmark and then back at the letter, trying not to cry. “I suppose by now she’s gone, too.” She looked up at Jesse, her chin quivering.

“Honey, don’t cry,” Jesse said, and then winced at himself as he realized he’d called her “honey” again. But this time she didn’t notice, or if she did must not have cared.

“I’m not.” Unaware of the tears running down her cheeks, she continued. “I knew they were going. I don’t know why I’m making such a fuss. After all, I was the one who left first. I didn’t expect them to sit there in that hellhole and wait for me to come straggling back.”

But in her heart that’s exactly what she’d expected, and now her last link with her family was gone. Johnny was dead. Lucky was on a bus heading west, and Queen was right behind her. Diamond had never felt so alone in all her life. The breath she took turned into a sob.

Jesse frowned and gathered her into his arms. He needed to take away her pain.

“It will be okay. They know where you are, remember? You may have lost momentary track of them, but they know where you are. They know you’re with me.”

She nodded, for the moment relishing the comfort of being held, but she wouldn’t allow herself the pleasure of prolonging it.

“At least my money came.” Embarrassed by her behavior, she shrugged out of his arms. “Now I can get a place of my own in Nashville, and whenever it fits into your schedule I could meet you at—”

“No!”

It was hard to tell who was more startled at the vehemence with which he grabbed and shook her. He stared at his hands on her arms and turned her loose as if he’d just burned himself.

“I’m sorry,” he said, unable to look at her face. “But it wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“Why?”

“Because,” he began, fishing for a reason that wouldn’t make him look any more foolish than he already did. “Because…we’ve just made plans for the album. Helping you find a place and moving you right now when we need to be recording would mess up the schedule.”

Diamond stared at the flush across his cheeks. His eyes darkened, almost daring her to argue. Wisely, she did not. In a way, what he had said made sense. In another way, he’d given her what she’d wanted, a reason to stay. She didn’t want to leave Jesse any more than he wanted her to.

“Well…okay,” she said. “But just for now, until you have time to help me find something else.”

“Right,” he said, feeling relieved. “Just for now.” He cupped her face with his hands and swept his thumbs across the tear tracks on her cheeks. “Go wash your face and then come right back,” he said quietly. “Henley will skin us both if we let supper ruin.”

She clasped her letter and money to her breast and walked away. There would be time enough later to decipher how she’d felt when he’d touched her mouth with his fingers. Time enough later to remember that she’d distinctly felt his body harden as he’d held her against him. But there would never be enough time to face how she’d feel when it came time to leave his home. Leaving Jesse Eagle was going to be nearly as painful as leaving her sisters had been. But it was inevitable, because Jesse didn’t belong to her. He belonged to his music and his fans.

Three days had come and gone since the day of the letter. That was how Diamond had categorized the second phase of her life with Jesse. There was
the day after the funeral
. That was when he’d taken her away from Cradle Creek. And then had come
the day of the letter
. The previous day had been
the day of the song
.

She still had a difficult time convincing herself that she’d really sung a song with Jesse Eagle that was going to be on his new album.

She wished everyone else wasn’t so uptight about it. She walked past the stores in the shopping center without noticing the displays, remembering instead Tommy’s air of practiced martyrdom concerning her part in the new album. Even the band members seemed to have reservations about the way Jesse had thrust her upon them.

She knew they’d been with Jesse a long time, and she’d come out of nowhere and was getting special treatment right away. It was as if she hadn’t quite earned the rights that had been given to her.

But earned or not, she was there, by the grace of God and the voice he’d given her. Try as she might, Diamond could think of no place else she’d rather be.

She glanced down at her watch, noticed the time, and then shifted the packages she was holding to a firmer position. Her shopping spree had taken longer than she’d expected.

The outfit on the mannequin in the store window was enticing, but the weight of her purchases convinced her that she would be wise to leave more shopping for another day.

The tall, elegant woman she saw reflected in the store window did not resemble the Diamond Houston from Cradle Creek. This one wore soft gray slacks and a pink cotton sweater, not hand-me-down plaid and worn-out denim. The slim gray slippers on her feet were nothing like her old scuffed Ropers. But the face was still the same, and the look in her eyes was still wary. It was going to take more than a few regular meals and some money in her pocket to convince her that her luck had changed. In fact, Diamond didn’t trust anything to luck. It had been the elusive love of Johnny’s life, and it had gotten him nowhere.

However, the knowledge that she had a substantial bank account and the possibility of adding to it soon made her feel a little better.

Tommy kept promising her that they’d cut her demo tape just as soon as Jesse’s album was finished. When he had her demo in hand, he said, then it would be time to start pitching her to the major recording studios.

The fact that Tommy repeated that promise without looking her in the face did not convince her of his undying sincerity. But Jesse was insistent, and she knew that in the end Tommy would capitulate.

Diamond hailed a cab and crawled into the back seat, sighing with relief as the driver headed for the studio. She’d walked as far as she could go today, especially in new shoes. Jesse and the band should be about ready to call it a day. She was ready to go home and sort out her new purchases. It would be a treat to have something to hang in her closet other than someone else’s throwaways.

Jesse paced the floor in front of the sound booth, alternately frowning at Tommy and staring at the door. The recording session had gone better than expected, and they’d called it quits for the day nearly half an hour ago.

The engineer had given him a thumbs-up sign as they’d begun the mix, combining the prerecorded tracks into one digital copy that would be the finished product. It should have reassured him. But the only thing that was going to help Jesse relax was if that door opened and Diamond came walking through it.

“She’s not lost,” Tommy said. “You couldn’t run her off if you tried, so quit worrying. Hell, she’s right where she wants to be, Jesse my man, and you know it. She’s in the lap of luxury.”

Jesse glared. He was getting sick of Tommy’s attitude. “You just can’t face it, can you?” he said. “You heard us yesterday when we cut the first song for the album. Singing with her is pure magic, and the song was perfect. Even though we sang it three times, we could have used the first damned take, and you know it. She’s good, Tommy. And either you’re stupid as hell or you’re less of a man than I thought. I never took you for the kind who holds a grudge.”

“Thank you for your vote of confidence,” Tommy said sarcastically. “And just for the record, I’m not holding a grudge against anyone.”

Anger swept through Tommy and he had to restrain himself from screaming. He resented like hell the fact that Jesse was becoming so attached to a woman who had put him on his butt.

It was the principle of the thing. He wouldn’t deny that women had their place in a man’s life, all right. He liked a good fuck as well as the next man. But Jesse didn’t realize that he could ruin his reputation and lose his star status in a heartbeat by becoming attached to some two-bit singer.

If Jesse up and moved some blonde into his life, Tommy knew what the millions of women who dreamed of wedding and bedding Jesse Eagle would do. They’d move on to the next male hunk with tight buns and a pretty face, and that would leave Tommy Thomas representing a has-been. That wasn’t in Tommy’s plan. And neither was Diamond Houston.

Jesse didn’t like the look on his manager’s face, but there was nothing he could do to change Tommy’s opinion. He could, however, fulfill the promise he’d made to Diamond’s sister. Diamond was going to have her chance at stardom, or he’d know the reason why. A promise was a promise, and Jesse was a man of his word.

“Don’t forget what I said about giving her billing on the album,” Jesse said.