They headed out toward the barn, their high-tech, super-duper recording studio and practice space. She hadn’t been in it while they were working, though she’d been given a tour some months back.

But it was entirely different now. Ezra was in the booth looking seriously at the console as he and someone else consulted.

“Hands off.” Paddy inserted himself between Natalie and Damien. Damien laughed as he danced around his brother to plant a smooch on Natalie’s cheek before he headed to his drums.

“He’s such a punk,” Paddy grumbled.

She held a smile back.

“Let me introduce you to Jeremy. He’s been asking after you.”

Paddy took her into the booth where Ezra turned, his face all business until he recognized her. “Nats, hello darlin’.” He gave her a hug.

“What is it with all you guys and your need to call my girlfriend pet names and hug up all over her? Hands. Off. Ezra. Jeez.”

“But he’s so adorable and huggable, Patrick.” She gave Paddy what he called her puppy-dog eyes, and he grinned.

“Ezra huggable and adorable? Okay, well, that’s gonna make me snicker for days. Jeremy, this is Natalie.”

Their manager gave her a quick once-over and took her hand in his. “I’m pleased to meet you. They’ve all had such nice things to say about you. Even Sharon loves you, and she’s the toughest judge of character I’ve ever met.”

Well, that made her feel better, even if she was a little embarrassed. “Thank you. It’s nice to meet you, too.”

Paddy tucked her up in a comfy chair in the booth, well out of the way, but with a great view of the action.

Everyone got headphones on and took their places. Ezra made some adjustments on the board and then went out to join them. Jeremy sat at the controls, putting his own set of headphones on, and she just watched.

Something different came over each of them as they coalesced with Ezra clearly in the lead. Ezra took over with ease and confidence. Each of them did some sound adjustments, and Paddy got up and took over a few times until it all worked like he wanted.

His brothers just let him. A minor argument broke out as Paddy, who’d sat back at the piano, played a few notes and asked Vaughan to come in with his bass. They went back and forth, Paddy frowning, Vaughan pushing back, saying how he’d been doing it was best.

Ezra looked on, adding when he seemed to feel it was necessary.

She’d been concerned at times, hearing the stories about how they worked while recording. It sounded pretty awful and mean. But really, as she watched them, it wasn’t so mean. Paddy wasn’t attacking Vaughan personally, just his opinion on a tone. And Vaughan wasn’t attacking Paddy personally, just his opinion on the same.

While there was no shortage of insults and curse words being tossed around, it was surprisingly professional as each played the same opening again and again. Ezra came into the booth and listened to both several times, asking Damien to come in here and there.

Finally, Ezra spoke.

“Paddy’s right. I think, though—” he shot a quelling glare at Vaughan, who’d opened his mouth to argue “—that Vaughan has a point on a few things, so I adjusted a small bit.” He took Vaughan’s bass and fiddled a bit, playing. Paddy played along, and when he got exactly what Ezra had said, his whole expression changed.

“Got it. Yeah, I see what you mean.”

“Let’s do this. Paddy, let’s do one whole take so I can get a baseline.” Ezra handed the bass back to Vaughan, who seemed mollified by the response and being partially right.

Vaughan looked up and winked at her, and she laughed.

Paddy flipped his brother off and settled, his fingers tracing the keys for a moment. Damien set a beat, and everyone hit it, sliding into something altogether different from those four brothers who started a band to get girls and stay out of trouble.

He played the opening notes, leaning closer to the microphone and started to sing, a breath filled with emotion.

The song swelled through the headphones as “Silent No More” started.

In his workroom, the song had been stripped down, but there in the studio, it unfurled as the other instruments embellished it just right, as Ezra’s voice on the chorus deepened it, sharpened it and polished it.

Once they finished, they all started writing stuff down, and then she was blown away by the level of energy they put into making the song perfect.

They argued over so many things. Played parts different ways; sometimes one of them would take over the other’s part to underline a point.

“Fascinating, isn’t it?” Mary came in and settled next to Natalie. “It’s easy to only see them as these laid-back, gorgeous boys who play music because they were born to. And then you see how much work they actually do, and it’s like... I don’t know. The first time I saw this it reshaped my perspective, to say the least.”

“I’ve never been privy to any part of this process, so it’s all been eye-opening. I have a whole new level of respect for what they do and for how they work together.” Because if someone told her something she’d created sounded weak or needed more of this or that, she wasn’t sure how easy it would be to take without it being personal.

“Damien once said it was like watching sausage get made. But I don’t think so. It’s like trying to create a recipe. It’s good a dozen different ways. Less of this, more of that. Cook it longer, bake it, sauté it, whatever. But there’s a way it should be. And while you can enjoy it one of those dozen ways it’s good, there’s a way it will shine brightest. They all have to work together to make that perfect recipe.”