A desperate need to discover who went with the voice drove Zane forward toward the ballroom. Afraid to disturb the singer, he peered around the corner. His breath caught in his throat at the sight he discovered. McKenna? How could the hypnotic voice filled with such passion come from such an uptight, controlling woman?
But there she was, singing while she swept the floor.
Not ready for her performance to end, he slid behind the corner as much as possible while being able to watch. Barefoot, her brown hair coming loose from her god-awful bun, tendrils curled around her face softening her features. Her skin glowed with a rosy hue as she glided over the floor with her broom partner. How could singing transform her? While she wasn’t classically beautiful like Cassie or Grace, this McKenna was anything but dowdy. Her voice throbbed with desire. The kind that only came from a woman whose passion ran deep and smoldering.
Danger warnings clanged in his head, snapping him out of his haze. What was he thinking? She had a gorgeous voice. So what? The only reason he felt drawn to her was because of her song choice. If she chose a different one, he wouldn’t have this intimate reaction.
He stepped into the light. McKenna spotted him and froze. Her smile disappeared and the beautiful voice that had filled the air died. She tucked the loose strands of hair behind her ears, smoothed a hand down her skirt, and straightened. The all-work-and-no-fun wedding planner returned. “Did you lose something? I can show you where we keep found items.”
“You have an incredible voice.” His voice, almost as husky as hers when she sang, startled him. He cleared his throat and swallowed hard as he tried to control his racing heart. “Did you know that’s Ginny’s favorite song?”
“I did. She sings it around the office and plays the Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald albums that it’s on. She says it makes her feel close to your grandfather since it was their song.”
“Have you considered a singing career?”
McKenna shook her head and paled. Pain flashed in her brown eyes. “I could never sing in front of anyone.”
The confident, assertive, in-control woman he’d met tonight who put him in his place multiple times and turned him down for a dance feared performing? What a waste of a beautiful gift.
“A lot of well-known singers suffer from stage fright. There are ways to cope with it,” Zane said.
She grabbed the dustpan, scooped up the pile at her feet, and dumped the contents into the nearby industrial gray garbage can. “It doesn’t matter because the music field is too unpredictable. One minute you’re on the top. The next no one remembers your name, and that’s only for the one in a million who make it. Most people don’t earn enough to pay the electric bill much less a living wage. That’s the good thing about the wedding industry. People are always getting married.”
“Some multiple times.”
“You speaking from personal experience?”
Lord, no. He was smart enough to learn from his parents’ mistakes rather than repeat them. “Between my parents, they’ve been married five times.”
“That had to be rough. I bet you no sooner got accustomed to a stepparent and they were gone.”
“It didn’t affect me since I lived here.” He chuckled.
“Ginny said you moved to the ranch when you were in middle school. Why was that?”
He stiffened. No way in hell would he answer that question.
Instead, he glanced around the slick, modern rustic space. “I like the old barn better.”
“You’re not a fan of western weddings?”
“I am because it’s provided an income for Ginny.” Zane stopped and remembered his reason for returning, getting her to dance. How had he gotten so far off track, talking to her about his parents’ stellar marital examples? He rarely talked about them to his best friends, much less to a woman he just met.
“I’m done here, and the rest of the staff is gone, do you have keys to lock up?” McKenna asked, pulling him back to their conversation. He nodded, but before he responded she continued. “Good. I’ll show you where we keep lost items and head out.”
What? This hadn’t gone the way he planned. “Hold on. I thought since the guests are gone and no one will catch napkins on fire or start a drunken brawl we could have that dance.”
McKenna stared at him. “Has anyone ever told you you’re over the top with persistence?”
“Only when I want something.”
Chapter Three
Zane’s husky voicewrapped around McKenna, feeling as intimate as a caress. Her body urged her to accept his invitation, arguing no harm could come of a simple dance, especially since they were alone.
But common sense insisted mixing work and her personal life, especially with her boss’s grandson, could derail her career plans, and she refused to take the risk. Despite knowing the sensible response, staring into Zane’s handsome face as he flashed her a hypnotizing smile, she wavered. The man could wrangle a sizeable donation from a miser.
“You know you want to say yes,” Zane said, as if sensing her hesitation.
