Bound by Song (Cauld Ane Series, #4) Read online

  “I’m sorry about—” Max started.

  “Thank you for—” Grace said at the same time.

  “Sorry, lass. You go,” Max said.

  Grace dragged a corner of her cardigan across her lap. “I was just going to say thank you for bringing the food. That was very thoughtful.”

  Max smiled. “I couldn’t let it go to waste.”

  Grace wrinkled her nose. “No, I suppose you couldn’t.”

  Max replayed what he’d said and sighed. “Sorry, Grace. That came out a wee bit snarky sounding.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not.” He slid forward on the sofa and took one of her hands. “Can we start again?”

  She studied him for several seconds. “To what end?”

  “God, baby, you ask the hardest questions,” he said. She tugged her hand, but he shook his head. “Don’t let go. You need to ‘hear’ me, not just hear me.”

  “You scare me,” she said.

  “I know I do. You scare me too.”

  “I do?”

  Max smiled. “Yes, love. To my core.”

  Grace bit her lip again. “I don’t know what to think, Max. This is a lot.”

  “I know.” He squeezed her hand. “I have a proposition for you.”

  Grace wrinkled her nose. “That sounds both inappropriate and ominous.”

  “I’m not that clever or devious,” he said, and smiled. “I would like you to come and work for me.”

  She let out a quiet gasp. “What?”

  “You need a job, and Kenna desperately needs an assistant. She’s fired six in the last two years.”

  “Who’s Kenna?”

  “Our tour manager. She also handles most of the administrative duties on a day-to-day basis.”

  “If she’s fired so many people, what makes you think she won’t fire me?”

  Because I will ruin her if she does. “I think you’ll get along with her quite well,” he said out loud. “And if it doesn’t work out, then we can readjust. But honestly, everything on your resume looks perfectly suited to the job requirements.”

  “How did you get my resume?”

  “Like I said, we’ve been trying to find someone for several months, we just hadn’t expanded our search outside of the UK,” he said. “I had our hiring manager look for your CV on a few of the local job search sites.”

  “I don’t know the first thing about working for a band, Max. I don’t think this is a good idea.”

  “Kenna will train you, Grace. Don’t worry.”

  Max heard footsteps down the hall and released Grace’s hand. Lila appeared with a tray laden with coffee mugs and Maggie followed with a plate full of cookies. Max rose to assist, as did Grace.

  “Thank you,” Lila said as Max took the tray from her and set it on the coffee table.

  Max hid his grin when Maggie took the chair Grace had just vacated and Lila took the other, leaving Grace the only option of sitting next to him on the loveseat. Even if it wasn’t pre-planned, it was still perfectly executed by her family.

  Max waited for Grace to sit down before settling beside her. He itched to touch her, but resisted the temptation.

  “I understand you met my children while they were at your show in Scotland,” Lila said.

  “Yes ma’am, I did.”

  “And you followed Grace all the way here.”

  Max nodded. “I did.”

  “Mom,” Grace snapped.

  Lila raised her hand. “Your father’s not here at the present time, Grace, so this falls to me.”

  “No. It. Does. Not,” Grace ground out.

  “What are your intentions with my daughter, Max?” Lila continued, ignoring Grace’s irritation.

  “You don’t have to answer that, Max,” Grace said.

  Max smiled. Yes, he did have to answer. “I’m happy to answer any questions your parents might have, Grace. I’m not trying to hide anything.” He focused back on Lila. “Currently, my intentions are to hire Grace as assistant tour manager. Kenna McFadden is the woman who keeps everything on track, but she really needs help, and I believe Grace would be perfect.”

  “So, you followed her here because you want to hire her?” Lila asked, her eyebrow raised in suspicion.

  “He had a concert,” Grace snapped. “No following of the sort.”

  Max ignored her. “No. I followed her because I find her beautiful, talented, and sweet, and I’d like to get to know her. However, she is not reacting quite the way I had expected, and I’m now realizing that I’m going to have to change my approach.”

  Grace gasped, her mouth dropping open in shock. “Are you seriously saying that right now? To my mother?”

  “How do I know you’re not going to hurt her?” Lila asked.

  “I have no intention of hurting your daughter, and I’ll do whatever you and your husband require to help you feel comfortable with her traveling with me and the band,” Max assured her.

  “I’m sitting right here!” Grace complained.

  Lila nodded. “We intend to do a background check into you personally, your band, and your company.”

  “How do you have access to background check companies?” Grace asked.

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Max said. “Whatever you need from me, I will provide. I’ll give you Kenna’s contact information as well, as Grace will work directly for her.”

  Grace stood, irritation covering her face. “If you’d like to speak about me as though I’m not in the room, I’ll go ahead and leave so you can do just that.”

  Max grasped her hand, but continued to focus on her mother. “Is there anything else I can provide for you, Mrs. Wilson?”

  Grace tried to pull her hand away, but Max held firm.

  “No, I think I’ve said all I need to at present.” Lila rose to her feet. “I’ll leave you two to talk. Come on Maggie.”

  Maggie frowned. “But what about our coff—”

  “You and I can have our coffee in the kitchen,” Lila said.

  Maggie rose with a huff, grabbing her coffee mug and following her mother from the room.

  Max grinned up at Grace. “Can we continue our conversation now?”

  “Oh, were we having a conversation? It sounded like you and my mother were making plans without my input.”

  Max stood and took Grace’s other hand. “Your mother wants to make sure you’re safe, love. I personally find that a relief. Whatever your parents need from me to make them feel comfortable with us working... and playing... together, I will provide.”

  “Do I have any say in this?” she asked. “What if I don’t want to work or play with you?”

  Unacceptable. Max took internal stock of his unease. She was reacting out of fear and confusion. He needed to remember that and respond accordingly.

  “Let’s start with the working together,” he said, and squeezed her hands gently. “There’s no pressure, love. I really do think you’ll enjoy working for Kenna. I’m the most difficult part of the job, apparently, and you have total control over me, so you’ll probably find your responsibilities a breeze.”

  “What do you mean, total control over you?”

  He took a deep breath. “If I told you, you might use it against me.” Grace bit her lip, and Max tried to focus on anywhere else but her mouth. His need to kiss her became overwhelming, so he released her hands and slipped his into his pockets.

  “What does Kenna say about you wanting to hire me?” she asked.

  “I haven’t discussed it with her yet.”

  “Max!” Grace admonished. “No. I’m not doing this. You can’t abuse your authority like this.”

  “I’m not abusing anything, and being head of a corporation, band, or whatever, gives me every right to hire whomever I choose.”

  “That’s true, but it doesn’t make it right.”

  “That’s also my prerogative.”

  Grace dropped her face into her hands with a groan, flopping onto the sofa. “You are the mos
t impossible man.”

  “So I’ve been told,” Max said, and sat beside her.

  “Am I going to at least have an interview with Kenna?”

  “If you want one.”

  Grace groaned again. “You’re putting me in a really weird spot, Max.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because you’re usurping Kenna’s authority. She will hate me if you hire me without her okay.”

  “No she won’t.”

  “You really don’t understand women, do you?” Grace accused.

  “Grace.” Max was trying to be patient. He really was. “Kenna will treat you with kindness and respect, because if she doesn’t, she will deal with me, and no one really wants to deal with me, so you’ll not have any issues with her.”

  “But Max, she has the right to not like me.”

  “No she doesn’t.”

  Grace groaned. “Yes, she does. She knows her job, right?”

  “Aye.”

  “So, if she doesn’t feel I’m a right fit, then she should have the right to say that.”

  “She’ll think you’re a right fit, Grace.”

  Grace rolled her eyes. “Well, I want to speak with her first.”

  “We can meet with her anytime you like,” Max said.

  Grace shook her head. “Uh-uh. Alone. I don’t want you involved in our conversation. If we, ‘we’ meaning Kenna and I, feel that it’s a right fit, then we’ll move forward. But I want her and I to decide that, since we are the ones who will be working closest together.”

  Max studied her for a few seconds before nodding. “I’ll send a car for you tomorrow. You can meet with her, and then you and I can have lunch.”

  “We can? Really?” Grace sighed heavily, laying her hands against her chest, and then drawled in her best Scarlet O’Hara, “I do declare, Mr. MacMillan, I don’t know if I can handle such generosity. A job and free lunch. Be still my heart.”

  He chuckled. “You, lass, are bloody adorable.” He reached out, slipping his hand to cup the back of her neck and pulling her close. He lowered his mouth to hers, because he just had to kiss her, and realized that even if she didn’t like the job, he would never be able to let her go.

  GRACE WAS SO surprised by the kiss, she didn’t react immediately. Not that she could have. The man could kiss, and that fact kept her from pushing him away. Good sense won out in the end, however, and she forced her lips away from his. His quiet groan of irritation made her smile.

  “Wait, Max. I need a minute to think.”

  “Thinking’s overrated.”

  He leaned in again, but she laid her fingers over his lips. “Really. It’s too much. You’re too much.”

  Max smiled against her hand and kissed her fingertips. “You make me want to carry you away and hide you from the world.”

  Grace rolled her eyes. “I don’t think my parents would approve.”

  Max chuckled, slipping a lock of her hair behind her ear. “No, I don’t suppose they would.”

  “I’ll meet with Kenna tomorrow,” she said. “If that works for her, okay?”

  He nodded. “It will.”

  “You won’t force her, will you?”

  “Sweetheart, I know you haven’t met her yet, but I promise you’ll laugh when you do. She’s not one who’s easily bullied.”

  Her heart leapt at the endearment. She didn’t know how much longer she could resist him. She pressed her lips into a thin line. “How long has she worked for you?”

  Max settled his hand on the back of the sofa. “Since the beginning.”

  “Did you really form in the eighties?”

  Max studied her again, his eyes boring into her soul. She couldn’t stop a shudder.

  “I’d rather not answer that question right now, lass,” he said.

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s not a short answer.”

  “I don’t understand,” she said. “It’s a yes or no question.”

  “It’s not really.”

  “Did you or did you not form in 1986?” she pressed.

  “No.”

  “So, you’re not in your forties, then?”

  Max grimaced. “No, lass, not even close.”

  She relaxed. “I knew there was no way you could be that old. You don’t really look much older than me, to be honest.”

  “I should go,” he said.

  “Oh, okay.” Grace didn’t want to admit that she didn’t want him to leave.

  “I’ll ring you when I have a time for you to meet with Kenna. Bruce will pick you up.”

  “That works,” she said, and rose to her feet. “I’ll write down the number for you.”

  Max handed her his phone. “Just enter it in here.”

  As Grace was punching in her number, Maggie knocked on the open door. “Grace? Nate has your phone.”

  “Shit! Really?”

  “Yep. You left it in his car. You really should have it surgically attached to your body.”

  “You’re hilarious.” Grace sighed and focused on Max. “As you can see, I don’t have my phone, so you’ll have to call the home line tomorrow.” She added her home phone number to Max’s contacts and handed him the phone. “Sorry.”

  “She has lost seventy-two phones since her seventeenth birthday,” Maggie said. “It’s a disease with her.”

  “Okay, dramakazi,” Grace admonished. “I haven’t lost quite as many as that.”

  Maggie shrugged. “Close, though.”

  “Good-bye, sissy,” Grace said, waving her hand as though to flick Maggie from the room.

  Maggie laughed, but did leave them alone.

  Max slipped his phone into his pocket and smiled. “I’ll have Bruce pick up your phone from your friend.”

  “He doesn’t need to go to all that trouble. I can grab it tomorrow when I’m in the city.”

  He stroked her cheek. “It’s no trouble, lass.”

  Grace licked her lips. Lord, this man was charming...and gorgeous...and ridiculously sexy.

  “So, will you have lunch with me after you meet with Kenna?” he asked.

  She nodded before she even really registered his words. “Yes. I’ll have lunch with you.”

  Max grinned and Grace forced herself to step away from him. Distance helped her think. Although, she wished it helped a little more than it did.

  “I’ll leave you now, then,” Max said. “Although, I don’t really want to. But it’s late.”

  “Yes, it’s late,” she agreed, her heart dropping at the thought of him leaving.

  He smiled and closed the distance between them again, wrapping an arm around her waist and leaning down to kiss her.

  As he deepened the kiss, she slipped her hands into his hair...his very soft hair that she couldn’t seem to stop touching. His hand stroked her back as the other tilted her chin for even deeper contact, and Grace felt like she was falling into an abyss of emotion.

  With a strength she didn’t really feel, she broke the kiss, dropping her forehead onto his chest and taking several deep breaths in an effort not to hyperventilate. “You can’t keep kissing me like that.”

  “Why not?” Max asked, his arm still wrapped around her like a steel bar.

  “Because if you do, I may let you carry me away and hide me from the world.”

  He chuckled. “I don’t have a problem with that.”

  “I’m sure you say that to all the girls.”

  “I’ve never said that to anyone before,” Max said, his expression hardening, and she felt bereft when he stepped away from her.

  “No one? Really?”

  “No one, Grace,” he stressed, his voice filled with irritation.

  “Okay, dude. Keep your underwear on. It’s not like it wasn’t a logical conclusion. You kind of have a bad reputation, you know.” He grimaced and she instantly felt like a shrew. “I’m sorry, Max. I don’t mean to snap.”

  “I get it,” he said quietly. “I do have a reputation. However, I’m trying to change t
hat.”

  “You are? Why?”

  “Because I have no interest in anyone other than you, Grace. Perhaps I haven’t been as clear as I should have been on that fact.”

  Grace dropped her head and stared at her feet. “Oh.”

  Max lifted her chin. “I don’t want that to freak you out.”

  She couldn’t help but smile. “Everything about you freaks me out, Max. None of this makes sense to me, but for some strange reason, I can’t seem to resist you.”

  He leaned down, nose to nose with her, and smiled. “Good,” he said, and then kissed her again. Softer this time, and far too short in her opinion. “I can feel your exhaustion. You need to rest, lass.”

  “Yes, I probably do.”

  “Walk me out?”

  She nodded. “Of course.”

  “Will I get to meet your father soon?”

  “I’m not sure,” she said. “He’s away on business this week, which is probably a good thing.”

  “Why?” Max asked.

  “Because he’s a little overprotective, and you’re already concerning him.” Grace cocked her head. “So, I think we’ll wait on introductions for a bit.”

  “So, he’s aware of me then.”

  “Oh, don’t go getting all big-headed,” Grace said. “Maggie has a big mouth and tends to over-exaggerate.”

  “I happen to find your sister delightful,” Max argued.

  “That’s because she worships you. And the fact that she adores you is why my father is concerned.” She grimaced. “She’s not the greatest judge of people.”

  Max chuckled, lifting her palm to his lips. “Well, I plan to do everything to gain his trust.”

  Grace laughed. “Good luck with that.”

  “Thank you,” he said, and Grace led him out of the front room and back to the kitchen.

  After saying good-bye to her mother and sister, Max kissed Grace’s cheek and headed to the awaiting car. Grace watched him drive off and then closed the door. She managed to gather the dishes and load them into the dishwasher without too much of a grilling from her mother, and then escaped to her bedroom.

  * * *

  Once Bruce took off toward Portland, Max raised the privacy glass and took out his phone. He wasn’t looking forward to his conversation with Kenna, but then again, he never did.

  “Hi, Max,” Kenna said, her voice surprisingly pleasant.