with Dean and look how that had ended up. She hadn’t spoken to her sister in two years. And she missed Ali so much more than she ever missed her ex.
Mac left his spot farther back on the platform and strolled up to the microphone. Kate’s melancholy about her sister vanished as her heart stumbled. Mac’s stride was confident as that soft smile played at his lips. What was he doing?
He nodded his thanks to Joe Masters and gripped the microphone with one hand, casually pushing his too-mussed, too-sexy hair from his forehead with the other. He flashed a smile. “Afternoon, ladies and gents. Joe asked if I wanted to do an acoustic version of one of my own songs as a way of introducing myself and my music. Would anyone mind?”
Kate’s heart beat a little faster. Had Joe actually offered Mac this solo time or had he asked Joe if he could sing in order to torment her again? A part of her longed to hear him sing...longed to know how bad he might be, despite today being about people getting their money’s worth. The thing was, some incompetence on his part might at least go some way to crushing her emerging attraction to the man.
The crowd whooped and clapped their approval as Kate took a generous mouthful of wine, her gaze on Mac.
As soon as he struck up the first note, Kate’s stomach knotted with a horrible, traitorous thrill.
Then he sang.
Every hair on her body rose.
She closed her eyes and let the music...let Mac...wash through her senses. She couldn’t stop her smile, and she couldn’t halt the tingling infusing her skin. Slowly, she opened her eyes.
He looked straight at her, and, even from a distance, she could see the no doubt intentional temptation in his gaze. She should’ve walked away. Instead, her feet remained rooted to the floor, her eyes on his.
The realization of just how much trouble she could find herself in mixed with the physical effects of his rich, melodic, utterly beautiful voice. How was she supposed to stop herself from acting on the sudden desire pulsing through her? It had been months since she’d even looked at a man, let alone felt this incredible pull toward one.
She wasn’t naïve. She knew this was pure lust that hung between her and Mac. Old-fashioned, come-to-mama attraction crackling across the space that separated them.
Kate quickly turned away and picked up her glass of wine, steadfastly ignoring the way it trembled as she drank.
“Hmm.” Vanessa leaned her forearms on the bar and whispered in Kate’s ear. “Like I said, electric.”
Accepting defeat, she put down her glass and covered her face with her hands. “Why now? Why when I’m so far away from trusting a man again does one have to turn up who looks like that?”
Vanessa straightened. “We don’t get to choose the timing of these things. Surely you, of all people, know that after all the heartbreak you’ve seen in your work.”
She walked away, leaving Kate feeling both afraid and shamefully enthralled. Turning toward the stage again, she studied Mac; thankfully, he was concentrating on his guitar strings. Maybe she needed to act cool about his being in the Cove and looking for someone. Act as though it was no big deal.
A bit less animosity, might help them both. If she adopted a no-nonsense business approach to him, surely that would douse the fire and fuse the electric. One thing was for certain—now that Mac had stepped in to help her fund-raiser, she had to speak to him, had to show her gratitude. Avoiding him was out of the question.
* * *
MAC BOWED TO the rapturous applause that reverberated throughout the space and tried his hardest not to search the crowd for Kate. The occasional sadness he saw in her eyes was slowly increasing the burden of his subterfuge, making him want to get to know her better...to prove to her he was a good guy. Mostly.
Straightening, he raised his hand in thanks and slipped his guitar strap over his head as he exited the stage. Accepting the back claps and nods from the people he passed, Mac headed to the bar. A cold bottle of beer would quell the strange blend of euphoria and self-doubt rippling through him.
There was no denying the warmth that emanated from the people around him, no denying his relief at their congratulations and easy acceptance of him considering the less than favorable welcome he’d received from certain individuals. He didn’t like small towns. Never had, never would. He lifted his finger to Vanessa at the far end of the bar. Why he didn’t like them escaped him, though. Was the dislike his own or something he’d been taught by his family? As far as he knew, they’d never even lived in a town the size of Templeton.
His father had known for a while Marian Ball lived here. Had he inferred something to Mac in the past that made his son overly cautious about communities he knew nothing about? Most likely. Kate was problem enough, but he had to keep everyone else at an enforced distance, too, or risk divulging something about why he was in town. He had to ensure Marian was the first to know, nobody else. He might want closure to his father’s search, but Mac also wanted the woman to hear what he knew from him and only him.
“Hey, Mac.” Vanessa opened the fridge behind her and pulled out a bottle of his preferred beer. “You did good out there.” She flipped off the top and slid it across the temporary bar. “That one’s on the house.”
“Thanks, but as the proceeds are going to charity...” He tossed a few coins into the bucket on the bar and took a lengthy slug. “All in the name of helping out those less fortunate, and all that.”
“Hmm, not sure Kate sees your helping out that way.”
His defenses immediately slammed up. “Why? What’s she been saying?”
“Whoa.” Vanessa raised her hands, her brow creased and her gaze irritated.
Mac briefly closed his eyes. “Sorry.”
“So you should be. I’m just the messenger, after all.”
“The messenger?” Mac stilled. “Of what?”
Vanessa shrugged. “I just think the pair of you could get along quite nicely if you gave each other a chance.”
Matchmaking. Another reason he didn’t like small towns. He sipped his beer. “You’re way off the mark there. Kate and I are...” He scowled. “Working each other out.”
“Oh, that’s what you’re doing, is it?”
Vanessa’s eyes turned infinitely softer as he hovered his beer at his mouth.
She glanced over his shoulder and grinned. “Hi, Kate. I’ll leave you to it. I’ve got some thirsty customers who need serving.”
Slowly, Mac turned. Kate held her chin high, her chocolate-brown eyes burning with annoyance, her cheeks flushed and her hands firmly perched on her slender hips. “I came over here to thank you for playing, only I didn’t expect you to be chatting so offhandedly about me to Vanessa. Do you know she’s one of the worst gossips in town?”
Despite, or maybe because of, her clear irritation, amusement rolled through him. “Then it’s just as well I didn’t give her anything to gossip about.”
She rolled her eyes and, slid up to the bar beside him. “If you’re not careful, you’ll
