LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter 1

      “SEX SCANDALS, insider media leaks, Mafia connections and homicidal nurses running amok in a hush-hush, celebrity boutique hospital in Austin, Texas? How are you planning on spinning your way out of this one, Sebastian?”

      Sebastian Black grinned at his stern secretary, Blanche Santini, like James Bond smirking at Moneypenny. “I’m not a spin doctor,” he said. “I’m a highly trained public-relations specialist adept at repairing the tattered reputations of the social elite.”

      Blanche snorted.

      “I’m shocked that you doubt me, Blanche, shocked.” He loved teasing her just to see her get bent out of shape. He’d hired Blanche because she reminded him of the doting aunt who’d raised him. He kept her on—even after he discovered she was nothing like his permissive aunt Bunnie—because she was the most efficient secretary he’d ever employed.

      “Confidential Rejuvenations’ latest disgrace made the front page of the Inquisitive Tattler. It’s the fourth time this year. Tough case, even for a man with your silver-tongued talents.”

      “Have you ever known me to fail?”

      “First time for everything,” Blanche said crisply and dropped the Confidential Rejuvenations file on his desk.

      With his smile still firmly entrenched, Sebastian cradled the back of his head in his palms and propped his feet on his desk. Blanche frowned at his shoes, which were polished to a high sheen. It was all he could do not to settle them back on the floor. The woman worked for him. He wasn’t about to let her dictate his behavior.

      “Why, Blanche,” he drawled. “If I didn’t know better I’d think you wanted to see me fall on my ass.”

      “Charm, poise and sex appeal will only get you so far in life, Mr. Black.”

      He hated when she called him Mr. Black. It made him feel like his father and he was nothing like his old man. “Don’t forget my razor-sharp wit.”

      Blanche rolled her eyes. “Mark my word, one of these days you’re going to get your comeuppance.”

      “Comeuppance? Which millennium is that from?”

      She ignored his comment. “At some point the wine, women and song have got to come to an end.”

      “It still works for some,” Sebastian said.

      She waved a hand at the file. “You have a first-class seat booked on the ten a.m. flight to DFW. With the time difference and plane change, you should arrive in Austin on schedule for your dinner appointment with the Confidential Rejuvenations’ owners. I checked the weather in Austin, storms are expected this evening so I packed your raincoat. Would you like me to drive you to the airport, sir?”

      “No, thanks,” Sebastian said. Blanche had driven him to the airport before and she followed the speed limit as if it was one of the Ten Commandments. “I’ll get Linc to do it.”

      “As you wish.”

      He chuckled, but the minute Blanche was out the door, he dropped his feet to the floor, leaned forward and flipped the file open. Truth was, he loved a challenge of this magnitude.

      Sebastian saw himself as a modern-day knight in

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