She’d been mistaken for her twin sister many times before, but never by Gavin. It had to be the dress. He would have expected to find Hallie in basic black or a pantsuit. Never a colorful strapless number. She reached up and tugged the bodice of the dress again, which drew his eyes to her chest. To his credit, he jerked his attention away immediately, clearing his throat before he spoke.
“I thought Hallie would be here. This is the perfect venue for her to meet new prospective clients.”
“I know, right?” Hallie nodded in agreement. “I am going to call her the second I leave and tell her to get her booty down here.”
Booty? She’d never used the word booty in her life. God, she felt like a grade-A moron whenever he was around. He was all smooth ease and charm, and she was... Well, she was good at spreadsheets. That had to count for something. Unfortunately, flirting was not near the top of the list of things she’d mastered.
How had she convinced herself she’d both show up in this daring dress and invite him to have a drink with her? Brené needed to manage her viewing audience’s expectations a bit better.
“Well, it’s probably for the best,” he said, looking over his shoulder at the crowd inside. “She doesn’t like me anyway.”
“What?” Hallie squawked.
“Don’t try to spare my feelings, Hannah. We both know your sister is not my biggest fan.”
Um. So not true. If there was an I-Heart-Gavin fan club, Hallie would be the president.
“She hardly speaks to me. Barely looks at me.” He sounded almost stung. How was that possible? Why would Gavin care what Hallie thought of him anyway? “I thought maybe she was in the zone at work functions, but even at your wedding—nothing. You’d think since we’re practically family she’d at least make eye contact.”
She didn’t know what to argue with first. At the wedding, he’d been infatuated with one of the bridesmaids and studiously ignoring Hallie. And Hallie and Gavin were in no way “family.” Hannah had married his brother, not Hallie. When would the world stop seeing them as the same person?
“Between you and me, it’s probably easier if she and I stay away from each other. Who needs the complication, am I right?” His casual smile had Hallie pursing her lips. He was not right. In fact he was all wrong.
“On second thought, she’s probably too busy managing my entire career to dabble in a little party like this,” Hallie found herself snapping. She attempted to smooth it over. “You know Hallie.”
“Right. Always working,” he assumed correctly. “No time for fun.”
She didn’t like the way that sounded, so she straightened her shoulders and corrected, “She could have a date tonight.”
“Hallie? Land a date?” His sharp laugh sent a flood of heat to her cheeks.
Hallie nearly dropped character. She was simmering in a stew of embarrassment and anger, every part of her wanting to point out he was a horse’s ass. Did he really believe she was incapable of scrounging up a date?
Her mouth set in a soft line, she pulled a calming breath through her nose. What would Hannah say in this situation? “Hallie is an astute professional who wouldn’t be caught dead with a date at a business event, let alone flirting at the bar.”
She hadn’t been positive he’d been flirting earlier, but his raised eyebrows were as good as an admission. Gavin Sutherland charmed every woman who crossed his path, except for the one who liked him most.
“Shit, Hannah, I’m sorry.” He palmed the back of his neck. The gesture made him look chagrined and endearing. Or would have if Hallie wasn’t so busy feeling insulted. “I didn’t mean any disrespect. It’s none of my business what Hallie does in her spare time.”
She pulled her shoulders back and resisted the urge to say, Damn straight!
“But between you and me and the fence post,” he went on, “it’d do her good to take a spin in your shoes. Break a few rules. Have some fun.”
“Have some fun,” she repeated flatly, one eyebrow winging upward.
Misunderstanding her meaning, he answered, “Oh, I will,” before palming her arm in a friendly manner. “Tell Will I said hey.”
He filtered into the crowd. Hallie chewed on her bottom lip. She’d stepped out tonight with the intention of talking to Gavin. Boy had she, but not in the way she’d expected. She’d hoped for a drink and conversation, not him being completely stumped as to how she could possibly “land” a date or enjoy herself at a party.
She set her unfinished champagne glass on a table and collected her coat. By the time she pushed the lobby button on the elevator, the doors were closing on a tableau of Gavin smiling fondly at a young brunette at the bar.
Hallie spared him her steeliest glare, deciding to amend her list the second she got home.
Maybe “avoid Gavin forever” should take the number one spot instead.
Two
“Friend of yours?” the brunette sitting on Gavin’s left asked as she followed his eye line across the bar. Hannah disappeared behind two closing elevator doors to go home to Gavin’s brother and gallivant off to...wherever it was they were going. He found it odd she hadn’t mentioned where.
“Sister-in-law,” he told the brunette. Alex Lockwood was her name, and she had recently signed with Elite Records. Gavin was acting as her attorney in sponsorship matters, which was good news for her. He knew a lot of wealthy business folk who wanted country music crooners to hock their wares. The young singer was bubbly and crazy talented. She was also young. Very young. She twirled her hair and grinned. Her teeth were so white he reminded himself to call the organic toothpaste company in his contact list about her.
“I thought maybe you’d dated her or something, the way she was looking at you.”
“You mean like she wanted to throttle me? I mentioned her twin sister and she took what I said the wrong way.” Or, more accurately, he’d said exactly the wrong thing. “You do know who Hannah Banks is, right? Superfamous wife of my brother Will, who owns the record company that signed you?”
Alex’s eyes widened. “That was Hannah Banks? Oh my God.” She sent a remorseful glance to the elevator. “I would love to meet her. I didn’t recognize her not wearing sequins and without her hair out to there. Celebrities really look different when they are out of their element, don’t they?”
“Yeah,” he said distractedly. Hannah had looked different tonight. After he’d said her name, he thought for a second he’d confused Hallie for her. But he’d never seen Hallie wear a brightly colored, strapless dress. Not to mention he’d felt a misplaced jolt of attraction to the blonde on the outdoor patio, which was super weird. He’d seen Hannah dozens of times dressed to the nines, and she hadn’t ever elicited that sort of response from him.
Though, he’d had that sort of response to Hallie once or twice. In passing. Not that he’d have acted on it. If he pursued the more serious of the Banks twins, she’d cut him down where he stood. Even if she didn’t, she wasn’t for him. Hallie was a good girl. He preferred to keep his relationships easy and short. He doubted Hallie, if she did agree to date him, would accept those terms. Plus, Hannah was his sister-in-law, which made any entanglement with Hallie a no go. If things ended badly, he’d never escape her.
He chuckled under his breath. How ridiculous was the idea he’d need to escape? Hallie barely talked to him, rarely stood next to him. He wasn’t joking when he’d told Hannah her twin sister avoided him.
Hannah was signed with Elite now, and with her came Hallie, her manager. Gavin had negotiated several contracts for the superstar, mostly via email with Hallie. On the rare occasion she was in the studio, she’d peer over the black-framed glasses she sometimes wore before rerouting her attention to her iPad. Then she would scuttle off and email him the details rather than talk to him.
He didn’t know what he’d done to make her hate him.
“I’ll introduce you to Hannah
when she’s not, ah, busy.” Or when she wasn’t pissed at him. He didn’t mean to laugh at the idea of Hallie having a date, like she couldn’t possibly convince someone to go out with her. He knew better. Hallie was gorgeous. If she let her guard down for two seconds, she could easily find several guys who wanted to take her to dinner.
And then he’d had to stick his other foot in his mouth to join the first, hadn’t he? He’d been sincere when he’d suggested Hallie needed to loosen up, but he could have kept that to himself. Of all the industry events she’d attended, he hadn’t once seen her with a date. She might well be the hardest-working person in this party town. After hearing how many years she’d been hustling for Hannah, hell, Hallie deserved downtime more than any of them.
He would have liked to see her here tonight, loose and lively. He could have bought her a drink and helped coax her from her rigid shell. The idea of seducing Hallie was surprisingly appealing—regardless of the danger of becoming involved. Too bad casual flings didn’t come with ironclad contracts protecting all parties when they ultimately failed.
“I’ll take you up on that.” Alex touched his arm with her index finger, bringing his attention back to the present.
Speaking of seduction. Apparently, his young client was working her wiles on him. He knew some a-holes in this business who would jump at the chance to bed the flirty, young brunette. He wasn’t one of them. He was flattered, but he knew where to draw the line with clients. Now to turn down Alex without hurting her feelings.
Tricky.
He removed her hand from his arm and met her eyes. “There are a lot of bastards in this business, Alex. The first rule of music, hell, maybe the only rule, is don’t offer yourself to any of them. If I had responded to you touching me with an offer of more, hopefully you would have slapped me in the face.”
She blinked three times in quick succession, processing his point-blank warning. “I wasn’t...”
“Oh, I know,” he said to save her from embarrassment. “I just wanted to warn you about the men in this industry. Most are a quick ticket to ‘Troubletown.’” She smiled at his clever use of the title of her most recent single. “As your attorney, it’s my job to protect you. The world can be predatory, especially to fresh talents who haven’t been in this business long.” He padded the remark by adding, “Which is why I’m going to be here every step of the way to make sure you are never taken advantage of by anyone. I’m in your corner—me, and my brothers—along with Elite Records. We’re your safe haven. You can count on us.”
She smiled, gratitude coloring her cheeks. He might very well be the last honest lawyer on the planet, but he saw no reason to lie, cheat or steal like some of those bastards. If you were good—and Gavin was the best—there was no need to swindle anyone into doing business with you. Usually clients came to him, climbing over each other to beg for representation.
He said good-night to Alex and walked away, typing a reminder into his electronic calendar to call Brite White Tooth Powder about Alex. They needed a good ambassador. His young client was a shoo-in.
He pocketed his phone, musing how he was ten years older than Alex, but felt like he’d lived a lifetime before this one. Being the youngest of four boys, he’d often felt like he’d been playing catch-up with his older brothers. Now, each of them was either married or well on his way and he had the unique experience of not wanting to catch up. He had nothing against Hannah, Presley or Cassandra—they were gems—but Gavin didn’t want a wife or a family. He was happy having fun on a short-term basis. He’d save the serious stuff for his career.
Like their parents, each of the Sutherland sons had been driven to succeed. Unlike their parents, none of them had taken a shining to the family business of real estate. They’d gone into the music industry instead.
Gavin had always loved music, but couldn’t sing or play a note of it. He’d been drawn to the business side, enamored by the contracts and deals.
Elite Records was pitted against rival label Cheating Hearts Records, owned by town matriarch Mags Dumond. Mags treated Beaumont Bay like one big Monopoly board, but Elite had something Cheating Hearts didn’t: scruples. The Sutherland brothers prided themselves on focusing on the artist first. The strategy served them well.
As Gavin saw it, he owed his livelihood to entertainers. Without their talent, there would be no recording studios. There would be no sponsorships. There would be no benefit concerts or acoustic ballads played to small crowds on open mic night. He’d seen a lot of lawyers and agents take advantage of bright-eyed artists in Nashville and yes, here in his treasured hometown of Beaumont Bay, but Gavin’s allegiance lay with his clients.
He shook a few hands and slapped some shoulders as he slowly made his way out of the party. On the elevator ride down, he recalled the seething glare Hannah had shot him before the elevator doors closed. While he was congratulating himself for so magnanimously protecting the innocent entertainers of the world, perhaps he should apologize for speaking out of turn about a close family friend.
He’d let Hannah know he hadn’t meant to insult Hallie. Explain that the booze had gone to his head, and he’d been talking out of his ass. As he stepped out of the Beaumont Hotel onto the lit street teeming with tourists and locals alike, he keyed a message into his phone to Hannah.
You know I think Hallie’s great. Sorry if I acted like an ass.
There. He felt better already. He inhaled the sweet breeze of magnolias coming from the flower shop on the corner. A flash of blond hair in his periphery drew his attention. By the time he turned around, the woman had shut herself into a waiting car, its windows tinted and dark.
Evidently, his conscience thought he owed Hallie an apology, too.
Three
Early the next morning, Gavin stepped into Elite Records and greeted his brother. Will was sitting at the conference table, coffee in hand. Hannah was with him, wearing a pink pantsuit, her blond hair curled and “out to there” as Alex had described last night. Gavin still got the biggest kick out of his oldest and most serious brother finding love with a woman who sparkled from head to toe.
“Hey, Han,” Gavin said as he sat down across from them.
“Hi.” Her head cocked to one side, she shot him an expression he couldn’t quite read. Could mean anything. She hadn’t responded to his text last night. He supposed there was an outside chance she’d never received it. Before he could ask, Hallie entered the room, her mood updated to Serious 2.0.
“Gavin.” Her usual businesslike tone had an edge.
Yep. Hannah had definitely shared what he’d said about Hallie at the party. He should have expected them to share everything. He also should have kept his damn thoughts to himself.
“I have the merchandising agreement for Hannah’s upcoming shows in the UK. The pricing is great, and from what I can tell they’re making a fair offer.” Hallie handed out packets, each fastened with a gold binder clip. She then took her seat to Gavin’s left—leaving one empty chair between them.
He slanted her a glance but she studiously ignored him. He turned his attention to the contract in front of him. As soon as he read the first line of the document, his personal concerns vanished. He became mesmerized by the legal speak that had once been a foreign language but was now second tongue.
He didn’t find any sketchy or sneaky phrasing, but there was a clause or two he could add to the contract to ensure Hannah was a more equal partner.
His goal when negotiating was to ensure each party clocked a win. It could be a challenge to orchestrate, which he never understood. Working relationships were best when everyone was happy. The greed in this industry never failed to amaze him. It was why he charged in first and gave his full attention to his client. Contract work was often viewed as boring and tedious, but it turned him on in a way not many people understood. Gavin was his clients’ biggest and best advantage.
“I’ll give their offi
ce a call this afternoon.” He held out his hand to take the other copies of the contracts. “We’ll have a few minor errors removed and the clause added, and you’ll be set.”
“Thanks, Gav.” Hannah smiled prettily, relieved. Making his clients feel at ease was rewarding.
“I’ll admit,” Will said as he stood from the table and tossed his copy of the contract over to Gavin, “I’m smart as hell, but I don’t see what you see when looking at those things.”
“Practice, brother. Lots and lots of practice.”
“If you’ll excuse us.” Will tucked his wife to his hip and sent her a heated gaze no one missed. “We have to discuss something in my office.”
Then they were out, Hannah whispering something into Will’s ear that Gavin was grateful he hadn’t overheard. He was happy for them—he was happy for all his brothers for achieving fiancé or husband status so effortlessly—but he also did not need to know details.
He turned to Hallie to say what, he didn’t know. How do you address someone you inadvertently insulted who refused to talk to you? “That went well.”
She blinked at him.
“The contract, I mean.”
She blinked again.
Oh-kay. He’d try a compliment.
“Music Keepers isn’t a company I’ve worked with before. Good job finding them. They might be worth a second look when it comes time to re-up Cash’s touring merch contract.”
“Yes.”
So, he’d squeezed one word out of her. At least it was an affirmative one.
“Hallie. What gives? I think I know, but I’d prefer you tell me.” If he knew one thing for sure, it was that he who speaks first loses. If he launched into an apology for what he’d said to Hannah, he might share more than Hallie knew. And he did not want her to know what he’d said last night if he could avoid it.
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