Free Diamond by Sharon Sala

And she didn’t have to look at Jesse’s manager to know that he was smiling. She’d already heard his satisfied chuckle when Mack had started in.
    Her presence was resulting in exactly what Tommy had hoped for. If Jesse saw for himself what trouble she could cause, he’d dump her himself and save Tommy the trouble of having to do it for him.
    Diamond never knew what prompted her to do what she did next. Maybe it was frustration at being an unwelcome outsider, or the exhaustion she saw weighing heavily on Jesse’s face. But when the band started to play, she walked over to the table where Jesse had tossed his hat, slapped it on her head, and took the words of the song right out of Jesse’s mouth.
    Her voice filled the studio, blending perfectly with his deep, husky sound until it seemed as if it were no longer a song. Every stanza Jesse sang, Diamond echoed right after him, in her soft, crystal-clear voice. Every plea he made in the song she repeated with heartbreaking pathos.
    Al slid his bow across his fiddle and blinked back tears. He didn’t know who to believe was telling lies, the man or the woman. And then he caught himself and almost laughed aloud as he realized he’d been pulled right into the emotion of the moment. It wasn’t really happening, they were just singing a song. But hot damn, he thought, what a song. This was what had been missing.
    Tommy wanted to kill. She was good…and he wanted no part of her. Her presence in their lives was the first wedge between him and total control over Jesse Eagle, and that was something he wouldn’t allow.
    And then Diamond’s voice ended the song on a whisper as she sang, “… can’t get you out of my mind. ”
    Jesse stared. He couldn’t speak past the lump in his throat. Instead, he took his hat off her head, tossed it into the air, and yanked her off her feet and into his arms.
    Laughter bubbled out of him, overflowing into Diamond’s ears as he swung her around and around. The shocked silence of the men in the room began to lessen as, one by one, the members of the band joined in. Jesse’s excitement was impossible to ignore.
    “My sweet Lord,” Jesse said as he finally stopped spinning and set Diamond’s feet back on firm ground. He did not, however, turn her loose. “That was fantastic, lady.” He wrapped his hand in the tangle he’d made of her hair and tugged gently as he growled in her ear, “But what the hell kept you? If you knew you could do that earlier in the day, why did you let us suffer through six hours of rearranging that damned song?”
    Diamond flushed but had nothing to say. She only shrugged. What she’d done had been on impulse. She’d had no intention of trying to make herself part of the song.
    Jesse grabbed her by an arm as he turned to his manager. “Do you believe me now? I told you she could sing.”
    Tommy shrugged and grinned. There was nothing else he could do, but inside he was furious.
    “I want this on the album,” Jesse said. “I want her singing with me, just like she did a minute ago. She’ll have equal billing on the song and her credits listed on the album cover. Now…Tommy, don’t get that look on your face now. I’m right, and you know it.”
    Diamond was in shock. “But Jesse, I didn’t intend for you to think—”
    “I don’t care what was intended. I know what’s good, and so does the band. Right, boys?”
    Smiles and a scattering of “You bet, boss” came and went. But the men were in shock. Granted the woman could sing. But equal billing for a complete unknown on one of Jesse Eagle’s albums? That was a bit much, even for a good song. To a man, they began to eye her differently. This Diamond Houston must be heaven in bed for Jesse to be so eager to share billing with her.
    “Let’s call it a day,” Jesse said. “But tomorrow when we come in, it’s going to be down to serious business, ‘Lies’ was the last song on the album that hadn’t been arranged.” He grinned and tugged at