Christmas Eva Read Online Free PDF

all the attention and constantly being hounded purely because of who he was…is.
    “You remember Eva, Mr. Lyell,” Felicity said. “I’m giving her the backstage tour.”
    His smile changed, somehow almost becoming less forced, and he held out a hand. “Of course I do. How are you?”
    Eva shook his hand. “Fine.”
    “You look a lot better than the last time I saw you, aside from a quick glimpse of you in church on Sunday.”
    She glanced at her reflection in the huge mirror. “Oh?”
    He caught her look. “You were barely awake, wired to who knows what, and covered in bandages and bruises.”
    “Oh, yeah.” She looked down at herself. “This is hardly an improvement.”
    Felicity coughed, a sure sign she was annoyed again. “Could you sign her program, please?”
    “Sure.” Mr. Lyell reached out and took the booklet and pen. He signed over his picture. “Did you enjoy the show, Eva?”
    “I did.” She noticed he even pronounced her name correctly, something not many people remembered to do, even after they’d heard it.
    “Rick said you were having makeup issues…” Felicity said.
    He shrugged. “It’s nothing.”
    Eva frowned at his hand and pointed. “What’s that?”
    A red mark covered the back of his hand. He glanced down and tugged his sleeve down to cover it. “It’s nothing. Just a rash.”
    Eva glanced up at her sister and then back at him. It wasn’t ‘nothing’, especially with makeup issues, but she didn’t have the right to ask. Oh, well. He could only say no. “It looks more than nothing. May I see?”
    He hesitated. “OK.” Slowly he held out his hand.
    Eva took his larger hand in her smaller one. His skin was soft and warm. She looked at the mark, realizing she was right. It was a clump of raised dots. “It’s an allergy rash.”
    “Really?” He rubbed the side of his face. “What to? I haven’t changed anything. And it has only come out in the last day or so.”
    Eva watched him. “It could be the makeup. Does it itch?”
    “Yeah—like crazy. It’s been driving me nuts since the makeup girl put it on.”
    Felicity nodded. “You should take it off. Evie, why don’t you give him a hand?”
    “I—”
    Her sister cut off her protest. “Yes, you can. She’s a trained makeup artist. She’s worked on heaps of film and TV shows. And won awards for her work.”
    He smiled and pointed inside his dressing room. “Come in.” He moved over to the chair in front of the mirror and spun it around. “How much lower do you need me to put the chair? Or is there somewhere else you’d like me?”
    “Ummm…” Flummoxed, Eva struggled to get her brain in gear long enough to think coherently. Where would she like him? A stupid question which only brought stupid responses to her mind and none of them repeatable in his presence. “Maybe lower it a little.”
    She ignored the way her face burned at the prospect of touching him, instead focusing on maneuvering her chair across the increasingly tiny room. She could almost feel the walls closing in on her.
    Stupid, stupid, stupid. She’d worked on hundreds of actors, some of whom she’d admired. So why was this one man so different? Yes, she had a crush on him. No, he wasn’t going to like her back. She was a nothing, a no one…she couldn’t even walk, and sure wasn’t pretty. So not the type of girl he’d go for. Not in a million years.
    He sat on the chair and lowered it as far as it would go. Then he leaned it back so his head was almost in her lap. “How’s this?”
    Eva caught her breath as his gorgeous blue eyes gazed up at her. “That’s…” She cleared her throat. “That’s fine.”
    Felicity put the box of wipes and several jars of cream at her side. “I have no idea which is which,” she said.
    Eva eyed the jars, automatically knowing which one to reach for. “This one for now.” She slowly and gently began to remove the makeup. It had been plastered on far too thickly, even for a stage