She couldn’t quite interpret his smile but had a feeling it wasn’t good news.
“I usually like to start with, ‘Good afternoon. How are you today?’” he said.
She didn’t quite suppress a very unladylike snort. “Please.”
He stopped about four feet in front of her, and putting his hands in his pants’ pockets, stood at ease as he jingled his pocket change.
“I came to tell you we had a family meetin’ last night, and we’ve decided to stand pat on this one. The boys don’t want to perform on the big stage.”
Kitty shook her head in frustration. “Why not, for cryin’ out loud? That’s just crazy! Most bands would kill for the chance to perform at the Grand Ole Opry!”
“The Four Saints isn’t most bands,” he said, his calm tone of voice a startling contrast to her own.
But then he didn’t have to break the news to her father and boss that she hadn’t gotten the Saints to sign on the dotted line.
“Why?” she asked once more, hating the pleading note in her voice. “Just give me one good reason why. Don’t you think you owe me at least that much?”
He sighed and wandered over to gaze out the window. “It’s nothin’ personal, Kitty,” he said in that same, aggravatingly reasonable tone. She was shocked to hear him address her by her given name for the first time. “It has nothin’ to do with you or your agency. It’s just the way it’s gotta be.”
She let out a huff of breath, defeated. “And you’re not going to give me a reason, are you?”
Bart glanced at her, and she could almost see the wheels turning in his head. Then he glanced down at her desk, and she froze when he reached for her brother’s pictures. He opened the dual frame and studied the photos for a long moment.
“Your brother?” he asked, and she realized he could read Rand’s name plate on the front of his uniform.
“That’s right.”
“I didn’t know you had a brother.”
Not wanting to get into the “I-used-to-have-but-now-I’m-an-only-child” explanation , she didn’t say anything.
“So where is he now?” Bart asked.
“Arlington,” she said.
Kitty knew the exact moment Bart realized what she was saying, and she felt tears threaten when he turned those deep golden eyes on her, the compassion in them unmistakable.
“I’m sorry, Kitty. I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t,” she said, turning her back to him in an attempt to regain her composure.
“You were close.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes. But it’s been ten years.”
She heard him sigh.
“I lost my oldest sister, Jenny, when she died in childbirth,” he said. “It’s been almost twenty years, now, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still miss her.”
Kitty swallowed hard and turned back to him. “I’m sorry.”
His smile was rueful. “You didn’t know.”
He closed the photo frames and returned them gently to her desk. When he stepped away, she leaned against her desk once more, gripping the edge on either side of her.
“Won’t you at least tell me why your nephews refuse to play the big venues? They are so good. And with the addition of the women—Addy and Candace?—they’ve reached an even higher level. I’m not just saying this to get them to cooperate. They really are that good. But no one is going to know outside of old Nashville, if they’re not willing to spread their wings a little.”
He raised a knowing eyebrow at that. “A little? The Grand Ole Opry isn’t exactly little.”
“Okay, so maybe The Grand Ole Opry is more than they want to bite off for their first time on a big stage, but give me a break, here, Bart. I’m under a lot of pressure to show off Konstantine’s best band, and you’re not helping any.”
He sighed once more. “Would it help if I told you it’s a matter of ‘can’t’ rather than ‘won’t’?”
She didn’t try to suppress her snort of disbelief this time. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? Are they hiding out? Is one of them wanted by the police? The F.B.I., maybe? Maybe one of them is in a witness protection program, or something? Because believe me, if it’s anything less than that, we can find a way around it.”
Bart just looked at her without blinking, as though looking inside her mind. “The old man is making things really hard for you, isn’t he?”
She crossed her arms over her breasts once more and managed to shrug. “Even if he is, that’s not why I believe in The Four Saints. They’re good. They’re more than good, actually. And I want to help them to get to the top—in spite of their reluctance to shine. Is that a crime?”
“No. Only you don’t understand.”
“Then enlighten me, for heaven’s sake!” she said, throwing up her arms in exasperation.
He narrowed those golden eyes, but after a long moment of consideration, he finally nodded.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
He nodded again. “Have dinner with me tonight.”
“What?” She must have heard wrong.