Page 27 of Claiming Her Cowboy Kiss

“It could be bad news,” he told himself. Maybe Jolene had put it on the schedule for this week, and he’d been bumped. That happened, he knew. Maybe she’d gotten sick and wouldn’t be able to attend the acquisitions meeting, and he’d have to wait another week.

Or maybe… Maybe she’d met with the team, and they’d approved him to be their next big hit. Images flashed through his mind one after the other, his imagination now running wild.

Him on stage, a classical guitar around his neck, one hand on it and the other raised in the air.

The crowd in front of him, all of them going wild for his next song.

His name on a song climbing the charts until it hit number one.

His record going silver, then gold, then platinum. He’d hang them right here in this barn, where he’d live and perform all the concerts for the ranch. Every single one, and of course, they’d still be sold out.

Gradually, he came back to earth, and he couldn’t keep Jolene waiting any longer. She’d called about an hour ago, and though his stomach roared at him to eat, he knew he wouldn’t get a bite down until he’d spoken to the music producer.

Her line rang, and then a woman said in a flirty Tennessee drawl, “Katrina for Miss Jolene Gillespie. Who’s calling, please?”

“Kat,” he said. “It’s Kyle Stewart. I managed to miss Jolene three times.”

“Oh, yes, Kyle.” She paused for a beat and said, “I’ll transfer you. She’s in her office.” The line clicked, as Kat was very efficient at her job.

Only one breath later, Jolene said, “There you are.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I got cleaning the staging barn, and I forgot I’d put my phone on silent earlier.” He had to do that to trick himself to get work done. If he didn’t hear his phone, then no one wanted to talk to him. Crazy, but it worked.

“Well.”

He could hear the smile in her voice, and he got to his feet, almost not daring to hope for anything more than he’d been bumped to next week. At the same time, he prayed mightily that she’d have good news for him. He pressed his eyes closed, andprayed.

“Are you ready to hang up your toilet brush in favor of an album?”

His eyes shot open. His throat closed. His brain went bananas. He opened his mouth, but only a squeak came out.

Jolene laughed, which gave Kyle a few more seconds to react and then recover. “I’ve never known you not to know what to say,” she said, still chortling.

“I’m…for real?”

“For real,” she said. “We met this morning, and you were a unanimous yes.”

“Are youserious?” He paced toward the kitchenette, not seeing anything in the barn right now.

“Everyone lovedTake Me Back to Her. Even Jake, and he doesn’t like anything these days.” Jolene laughed again, but Kyle existed somewhere outside his body. “I told you that song would win them all over.”

Kyle swallowed, looked out the window, noted the wind rustling the grass, and turned around. “This is great,” he said.

“It sure is,” she said. “I know you do your summer concerts down there, but I’d love to see you in Nashville soon. We can go over everything. I’ll send you the contract today, of course. You can look it over. Have a lawyer or agent look at it. It’s pretty good, though.”

He was already familiar with the contracts at Black Hill Records. He knew he’d ask for a couple of changes, and he’d definitely have a lawyer look at it to make sure he wasn’t signing away something he didn’t want to. He simply couldn’t imaginenotsigning it, though.

“Define pretty good.” The words scraped his throat on the way out.

“It’s a three-record option,” she said. “With an early single release to gauge public interest and to use as publicity for the full record.”

“So we’re going to do a full album no matter what.” He could hardly believe that. Sometimes labels would do a track or two and release the single first. Then, if it did well, an entire album could be made.

“Yes,” Jolene said. “We already have a single, I told them. We need more like it.”

“Did they like anything else?”

“That’s what I want to talk to you about when you come to Nashville,” she said, clearly evading the question. Which meant no. Out of the two demo CDs he’d sent, they liked one song.

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