LITMIR.BIZ

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      “I have to go! I have to get out of here.”

      She flew to the front door and outside before he could stop her. Sprinting across the street, she noted that her house was brightly lit, which was unusual. Her family was usually very energy-conscious. But she had to get away from Mitch and their past and the pain, and she couldn’t stop to admire how pretty the house looked with all the lights bedecking the evening.

      She threw open the door and slammed it behind her, gulping air as she realized she’d left her hair ornaments at Mitch’s, so that her usual snug do was a tousled mop. Her lips had been kissed of lipstick and felt larger than normal. She had to get her makeup on and her hair up before her family’s sharp eyes noticed—

      “Surprise!”

      Crystal screamed as it seemed a hundred people leapt out at her from behind sofas and curtains and tables. Her hand flew to her throat and then to her uncustomarily mussed hair.

      The added shock was too much for her already skittish blood pressure. Before Crystal could stop herself, she slid to the parquet floor in a faint.

      Chapter Four

      Crystal thought she was waking from a nightmare when she opened her eyes to see Frank Peters staring down at her. “Are you all right, Crystal?” he asked.

      Even in their high school days, Frankie had been a menace. Girls weren’t safe in his car. He was too darn handsome for words, and he by golly knew it.

      She wanted no part of him. “I’m fine,” she whispered. Now go away, nightmare.

      Lincoln Lark, who’d once held the record for most yards rushed in a season for the Lover’s Valley Vikings, tried to help her to her feet. “Let me carry you,” he offered. “I’ll put you on the sofa.”

      Lincoln hadn’t come by his record by accident. He rushed for yardage the same way he rushed for women. Crystal wanted no part of him, either, having seen him snap the back of homely Penny Parson’s bra while she was fishing around in her locker. He’d laughed uproariously at her yelp of surprise and pain. Crystal hadn’t thought the “turtle snap” was very funny. “Go away, Lincoln,” she said, as gently as possible, giving him a little push. “I can get up by myself.”

      “Aw. You’re always saying you can do everything by yourself, Crystal Jennings.” Barney Fearing was the third head that clouded her vision. “Only woman in Lover’s Valley who’d have three strong, handsome men offer to help her, and stubbornly stay lying on her back just to show everybody how independent she is. Come on, you old party pooper. Can’t believe you hit the ground at your own surprise party.”

      She eyed Barney, her gaze narrow. He was always less tolerant of her than the other high school guys, possibly since they’d once gotten into a water-balloon-throwing contest and she’d hit him square in the zipper so that he’d gone around for a couple of hours looking like he’d peed his jeans. Not only that, but the balloon had hit him hard enough to send the color rushing from his face. The girls had cheered her, but Barney had been respectful of her aim after that. He’d begun treating her like a kid sister he had to protect.

      He wasn’t acting so brotherly now. She frowned at him.

      He ogled her legs. “If you don’t get up, I’m going to forget I’m a gentleman and look up your dress. When you faint, Crystal, you show a maximum amount of skin.”

      She gasped, and either he pulled her to her feet or she shot there by furious propulsion.

      “Jes’ kiddin’,” he said with a toothy grin.

      But she’d gained her feet only to come face-to-face with Mitch. Crystal stifled a moan, wondering if she’d pass out again.

      “Here, Doc,” Barney said. “This is the most hardheaded woman in all the valley. Got a cure for that?”

      The room became still as night. Crystal flushed cold all over. Not a single soul in the room was unaware that Mitch had dumped her. Fascinated curiosity captured everyone’s attention.

      He eyed her coolly, assessing, most likely, the mark he’d left on her unruly hair and swollen lips. “Haven’t seen one in the Physician’s Desk Reference,” he said maddeningly. “Hardheadedness isn’t something that necessarily demands a cure, though. And should the patient want to be cured, that would require a doctor of psychology. It’s not my field.” He winked at her, playing to the audience.

      “What are you doing here?” she demanded, exasperated with his audacity.

      He shrugged. “When you fainted, Mom called me over to check you out. Are you all right?”

      “I’m fine.” She’d been completely fine until he’d stormed back into her life. “I’ve never fainted before. Never. You needn’t have bothered yourself on my account. I’m sure it was just an allergic reaction to something.”

      He grinned at her.

      “Come on,” Barney said, hauling her into the great room. “You’ve got about a hundred old chums here to talk to. You don’t have time to have a panic attack. Me and Frank and Lincoln’ll take care of you in case you start getting woozy again.”

      Crystal groaned inside. She felt physically ill. But her mother and Uncle Martin and Aunt Elle were beaming like sunshine, delighted with their surprise party, and she’d be damned if she’d disappoint them. Taking a deep breath, she smiled at all of the guests crowded into the great room and flowing across the hallway into the parlor. “Thank you all so much for coming,” she said loudly. “What a wonderful surprise!”

      Then she went over and kissed her family, with her three over-eager knights at her side.

      Mitch, she noticed when she glanced over her shoulder, merely leaned up against the door she’d fainted against, his grin as irritatingly wide as a canyon.

      MITCH HUNG AROUND, even though his medical services were no longer required. Aunt Elle pressed a drink into his hand, and Martin managed to get him into a discussion about the skin on Martin’s upper arm that had turned brown in an odd-shaped patch. Mitch recommended a specialist for him to see, and then Bess spirited him into the kitchen so she could thank him for the roses displayed on the table.

      “Crystal doesn’t know you sent them,” Bess confided. “We didn’t have a chance to tell her.”

      “That’s all right.”

      She didn’t say anything to that, and Mitch suddenly wondered why he’d been lured into the kitchen, away from the guests. Away from Crystal. “Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked, wondering if she perhaps had a reason for keeping him in here with her.

      “Well, you could put some olives on top of those crackers with the spread on them, and arrange a little garnish beside that cheese ball.”

      He glanced in the direction she indicated. Tiny olive slices sat atop different types of spread, and perfectly placed rows of crackers lay waiting beside a tempting cheese ball. His lips folded. “You’ve already done that, Bess.”

      She looked up, her attention clearly elsewhere. “Oh, you’re right. How silly of me.”

      “Can I carry them out to the guests for you?”

      “Oh, no, Mitch. You just sit right down here and make yourself comfortable.”

      He sat but decided Bess had a motive. “Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?”

      “Why, no!” She gave a high laugh. “I just haven’t seen you in so long I thought I’d allow myself to monopolize your time for a little while. Neighbor’s privilege, you know.”

      Through the serving window, he could see Crystal being squired around the room by Frankie, Lincoln and Barney. She now wore a feisty red dress with a short, knife-pleat skirt that swayed gently just above her knees when she slow-danced to the three-piece band on the patio. After Crystal had sufficiently

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