LITMIR.BIZ

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on her face or sagged to a humiliating puddle at the feet of her bosses. Not to mention that her dress would burst wide open if she made any sudden movements. Wouldn’t the press have a field day with that?

      Jelly Ellie’s belly exposed yet again.

      She winced, fought back the horrible thought of the photo of her happy, pudgy, eight-year-old self hanging out of her bathing suit while hugging her cute and cuddly little sister forever captured by the paparazzi. She reminded herself she wasn’t that little girl anymore who’d been crushed by their cruel jokes and taglines that she carried too much weight. She was an accomplished woman, a doctor. She could do this.

      Make the cut. Just squeeze your fingers together and cut the ribbon.

      Nothing happened. Except that her palms grew more and more clammy. Any second the scissors were going to slip out of her sweaty hands and fall to the floor.

      Headlines around the city would read Senator Cole Aston’s daughter doesn’t make the cut. Folks would nod their heads in agreement, make comments that they’d known she wasn’t good enough to get the job done, that had the lovely Brooke Aston been there all would have been well.

      “Dr. Aston?” the CEO prompted from beside her, his low tone warning for her to get on with the program.

      She wanted to. Really, she did. But panic had seized her and, except for the trembling within her, she stood frozen in place.

      The room began to spin, to darken. She was going down. She’d be mortified. Her father would blame her. Brooke would blame her. The hospital would blame her.

      She prayed that when she went down she would bump her head and lose her memory, that she’d lose all recall of the day’s events. Amnesia would be a blessing.

      But rather than fall to the floor, a strong pair of hands closed over hers, applying pressure and closing her fingers over the scissors handles. The ribbon split in two and each end drifted toward the floor in a dainty float that Eleanor watched as if in a surreal dream.

      The sound of the applause and cheers—and was that a sigh of relief?—came from some faraway surreal place, too.

      When she turned her head and looked up into the twinkling brown eyes of her savior, she was definitely somewhere other than reality.

      Because Tyler Donaldson winked at her and drawled a breathy, “Hi, there, darlin’.”

      As if it was the most natural thing in the world for his hands to be over hers, he motioned his head slightly toward the crowd. “Better paste a smile on that pretty face of yours ’cause there are a lot of folks capturing the moment for posterity.”

      Who was this man and what had he done with the real Dr. Donaldson, who never spoke except in regard to patients?

      She gawked at him a second longer, then turned and forced a smile to her face the same way she’d done a hundred times before. She thought of happy times. Thought of medical school and how hard she’d worked, at how proud she’d been to accomplish something her daddy’s money and power couldn’t buy, something she’d had to do on her own. Something that didn’t require glamour, glitz or a hot little body.

      Although her smile stayed on her face, her mind didn’t go to her happy place. Oh, no. Her happy place was all tangled up in Tyler’s hand still covering hers, holding hers, of the electricity and warmth burning into her at his touch.

      He gave a squeeze as if he wanted to reassure her that she was going to be okay, that he was there and wouldn’t let her fall on her face.

      Oddly enough, she believed he wouldn’t.

      Which was crazy. He flustered her, barely knew she existed, so how could he possibly be rescuing her from total mortification?

      Her knees weakened, and she swayed.

      Tyler’s hand immediately went to her waist, steadying her, resting low on her back. “Just smile, babe. You’re doing just fine. It’s almost over.”

      Easy for him to say. She had to face the reception afterward, mingle with the bigwigs while representing her father, her family.

      But Tyler didn’t leave her side.

      He stayed and smiled right there with her. He kept his hand at her back and his strength gave her the fortitude to keep her smile in place even though she really just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry.

      When the photographers finally had their shots and moved on to their next victim, Eleanor let out a long breath and looked at her rescuer.

      “Th-thank you.”

      One side of his mouth lifted crookedly in a half grin. “No problem, sugar. You looked like you needed a helping hand.”

      Speaking of hand, his still rested against the curve of her back, burning through the thin red material and branding her skin.

      “I don’t like crowds.” Were those the first words she’d ever actually formed around him without stuttering, grunting or mumbling? Finally, coherency.

      “I noticed.”

      She smiled despite the nervousness still chipping away at her resolve. “Now, if only this party were over.”

      “Over?” He glanced around at the smiling, laughing people and shook his head. “Why would we want the party over when the night is so young?”

      “I don’t like crowds, remember?” She crinkled her nose and frowned up at him. Goodness, the man was tall. Probably about six-four. Maybe everything that came from Texas was big.

      He grinned down at her, then tweaked her nose with the tip of his finger. “I tell ya what, darlin’, you just relax. Have some fun. I’ll handle the crowd.”

      She glanced around at the people making their way into the room that had been decked out for the celebration. “But surely you have someone with you? You always have someone with you.”

      “You’re right. I do.” He winked then leaned close to her ear. “Tonight that someone is you, Eleanor. My friends call me Ty, by the way, and you and I are definitely going to be friendly.”

       CHAPTER THREE

      ELEANOR LAUGHED OUT LOUD for what seemed like the hundredth time that evening. Honestly, she couldn’t recall the last time she’d laughed so much.

      Had she ever?

      “You are very pretty when you laugh, Eleanor.”

      Now, there was a comment worth laughing at.

      “Because you keep saying funny things,” she told Tyler, not quite meeting his eyes. He’d complimented her repeatedly during the evening. Good thing she knew his reputation, that he was an incurable flirt.

      With a grin that was way too intoxicating, he touched her face. “I want you to laugh at what I say, but only when I’m saying something worth laughing at. I was serious. You are a very beautiful woman, Eleanor.”

      Despite the fact that she was sure he didn’t mean her to laugh, she couldn’t suppress the nervous little giggle that spilled from her lips. “Yeah, well, th-thank you.”

      Because, really, what else could she say?

      “Tell me about that,” he urged in a slow drawl.

      She bit her lower lip, hoping he wasn’t asking what she thought he was asking.

      “Your stutter.”

      Face flaming, she shook her head. “Nothing funny about my stuttering so let’s not talk about it.”

      “Have you always stuttered?” he asked, as if she hadn’t just spoken.

      “Perhaps you didn’t hear what I just said. I don’t want to talk about me.”

      “But

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