A Tiara Under The Tree

A Tiara Under The Tree
Carolyn Hector

The ultimate prize this Christmas…Former beauty queen Waverly Leverve can barely show her face in public after an embarrassing meme goes viral. But now fate—and a misdelivered pizza—have brought her dreams back to life. Gorgeous bad boy turned business mogul Dominic Crowne wants to sponsor Waverly in a pageant scheduled for Christmas Eve. Waverly vows to keep their arrangement purely professional—but soon their arrangement quickly takes a sensual turn…Dominic knows that his golden touch can fix almost anything—including Waverly’s tilted tiara. Against his own will, Dominic is mesmerized with his stunning new client. He’s falling for the pageant princess and the vulnerable, yet sexy woman within. But when Waverly’s ultimate goal finally comes within reach, can he help her achieve professional redemption and find his Princess Charming under the mistletoe?

The ultimate prize this Christmas...

Former beauty queen Waverly Leverve can barely show her face in public after an embarrassing meme goes viral. But now fate and a misdelivered pizza have brought her dreams back to life. Gorgeous bad boy turned business mogul Dominic Crowne wants to sponsor Waverly in a pageant scheduled for Christmas Eve. Waverly vows to keep their arrangement purely professional—but soon their arrangement quickly takes a sensual turn...

Dominic knows that his golden touch can fix almost anything—including Waverly’s tilted tiara. Against his own will, Dominic is mesmerized with his stunning new client. He’s falling for the pageant princess and the vulnerable yet sexy woman within. But when Waverly’s ultimate goal finally comes within reach, can he help her achieve professional redemption and find his Princess Charming under the mistletoe?

Pine needles were scattered across the top of the car. From the incident, the road rash had resulted in a half-bare tree.

Standing, Dominic wiped his hands on the back of his jeans. His six-pack abs flexed and Waverly averted her eyes toward the tree. The timber was safe from getting run over, thanks to the abandoned road Dominic had thought to take. His eyes followed hers. “I’m getting you another tree. We’re tossing this.”

Before he took another step toward the road, Waverly reached for Dominic’s arm. His bicep twitched beneath her palm. “I don’t need a tree.”

Dominic paused for a moment. Their eyes locked. Suddenly the tree was no longer in question. Waverly’s heart raced. Her feelings, jumbled with the longing for what the Harveys had and wanting it with Dominic, came into mind.

“What is it you need, Waverly?”

“I— I—” The words were lost but the action was not. Waverly leaped forward and threw herself into Dominic’s arms. He caught her and spun her body around, placing her back against the hood.

Dear Reader (#ud1e8716b-18da-5755-8cb9-5b01604fb29a),

Waverly Leverve has always had a passion for beauty pageants and bad boys. At one point in her life, her mother feared the latter would ruin her chances for the ultimate tiara. Eventually, Waverly’s mouth got her in trouble. Can you imagine having your ugly-cry face captured and placed on a viral meme for the world to see and use for their entertainment? Welcome to Waverly’s new world. What’s a dethroned pageant gal to do? Step back into the tiara of course.

I had a blast imagining all the memes of Waverly’s ugly cry. A lot of my inspiration came from a particular “crying meme” of a legendary basketball player.

Until the next pageant...happy reading!

Carolyn Hector

A Tiara Under the Tree

Carolyn Hector

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Having your story read out loud as a teen by your brother in Julia Child’s voice might scare some folks from ever sharing their work. But CAROLYN HECTOR rose above her fear. She currently resides in Tallahassee, Florida, where there is never a dull moment. School functions, politics, football, Southern charm and sizzling heat help fuel her knack for putting a romantic spin on everything she comes across. Find out what she’s up to on Twitter: @Carolyn32303 (https://twitter.com/carolyn32303?lang=en).

I would like to dedicate and acknowledge my editor, Carly Silver, and her magical editing squad. I say this with my most sincere pageant wave and ugly cry—THANK YOU.

Acknowledgments (#ud1e8716b-18da-5755-8cb9-5b01604fb29a)

I would like to acknowledge my Destin Divas for their entertainment, friendship and wisdom.

Contents

Cover (#u82a1bf76-12ba-509f-8bea-72298f603dc8)

Back Cover Text (#ue048fa2d-153d-54a3-9643-87498357054f)

Introduction (#ueb1c8f37-a483-56c9-bdfd-276e06691755)

Dear Reader (#uf2e18f6a-f59d-502e-b9bc-eda09dcda84b)

Title Page (#uc47e50c1-6adf-5ec9-a5b1-25f3684b0874)

About the Author (#u5e9c95b3-fb25-53a1-9e1b-f59d46a87fb1)

Dedication (#udde972a6-612d-5542-a49b-12c2e321c332)

Acknowledgments (#uafeab9cb-0c28-506e-b3ad-f27a70fdac1e)

Chapter 1 (#ub9693f0e-1d08-5dd0-9ad0-22c0ce139224)

Chapter 2 (#uea0783fc-3fb1-5485-9d22-6fc8aaa1fbb0)

Chapter 3 (#u2564398d-bbd9-50c2-8337-1f36061a5579)

Chapter 4 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 1 (#ud1e8716b-18da-5755-8cb9-5b01604fb29a)

Death by chocolate. Waverly Leverve licked the dark, shiny ganache off her fingertip until she cleaned her finger down to her chipped French manicure. Biting her bottom lip, Waverly glanced over the double cupcakes standing proudly on the crisp white china plate and settled on a Slow Torture Southern Peach Cobbler Cupcake.

For the last week Waverly had tried to wallow in self-pity and fatty foods. Why not? Any career as the future Miss Georgia and eventually Miss USA disappeared the moment officials forced her to give up her Miss South Georgia crown. So what if she’d colorfully told off a reporter? The journalist deserved her outburst. He’d propositioned her, assuming she was a naive pageant girl and when Waverly reacted, no one wanted to hear her side. He was the one with the recording. In hindsight, Waverly’s idea wasn’t a bright one, to tell a mic-ed reporter that the pageant establishment did not offer her enough money to sit around and smile in his face. There were a few f words dropped, along with her telling the man to self-fornicate. She should have just explained she was tired. Now here she sat in a bakery, shoveling carbs into her body.