His Christmas Assignment. Lisa Childs

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       Chapter 2

      The lock rattled—just a couple of quick clicks—before the doorknob began to turn. Candace reached for her weapon, grasping it tightly in her hand as she approached the door to the condo she’d rented at a ski resort in northern Michigan.

      Nobody knew where she was. And nobody here knew her at all. So who the hell was breaking into her unit?

      Had Garek tracked her down—like he had that night at her apartment? Her heart rate accelerated, and her hand trembled slightly as memories of that night rushed through with a wave of heat.

      Embarrassment—she called the heat. She was embarrassed for being such a fool. She couldn’t be feeling desire. Not for Garek Kozminski.

      Not again...

      She lifted her weapon and pointed the barrel at the person stepping through the door. Disappointment rushed through her now. Her intruder wasn’t Garek.

      She recognized the dark curls and eyes of the petite young woman who stepped through the door, her hands raised. “Don’t shoot,” Nikki Payne said, but her smile belied any fear.

      “What the hell are you doing here?” Candace asked. “And why are you breaking in? Did Garek Kozminski teach you how to do that?”

      “No, I picked the lock,” another voice replied as the door opened farther to Stacy Kozminski-Payne. The woman dropped a packet of lock-picking tools into her purse.

      “Doesn’t anyone in your family wait for a person to open their door?” Candace asked.

      Stacy shrugged. With tawny-colored hair and dark gray eyes, she didn’t look that much like her brother Garek but for the quick, sly smile that crossed her face. “Why put you through the trouble of answering the door?”

      Since the two women had already stepped inside, Candace closed the door. “See, look, no trouble.”

      But it was trouble that they were here. Neither of these women was her friend. Nikki had resented that her brothers had chained her to a desk at Payne Protection while they routinely assigned Candace dangerous field work. And Stacy...

      Maybe that was more Candace’s fault than Stacy’s. She had disliked the female Kozminski even more than the males—because Stacy had posed such a threat. Candace had thought the woman had been a threat to Logan Payne’s life, but she’d been a threat to his heart instead. Not that Candace had ever had a chance of winning his heart. He’d never been attracted to her the way he’d been to Stacy. The way he still was...

      Candace couldn’t blame him. Even though Stacy had given birth just a few months ago, she’d regained her petite figure with little effort. Candace wanted to hate her. But Stacy couldn’t help that she was beautiful and lovable.

      Candace turned away from her and focused on the youngest Payne. “You went to an awful lot of trouble to track me down.” Since her brothers had strapped her to a desk, Nikki had become a computer expert.

      Nikki shrugged her thin shoulders. “It was no trouble.”

      “I haven’t been using my credit cards.” When she’d taken off, she’d taken out enough cash to cover her expenses for months. She’d only been gone a couple of weeks.

      “You ran a red light,” Nikki reminded her.

      Candace’s face heated with embarrassment over her transgression. She’d been distracted—thanks to Garek Kozminski.

      “I was driving a rental...” She had been so careful to cover her tracks, so that no one would find her. Or at least so she could convince herself that no one could find her. Then she wouldn’t have been disappointed if no one had shown up.

      Nikki snorted. “Ticket goes on your driving record but the registration is also listed for the vehicle you were driving at the time of the violation. And the rental has a GPS locator. So you were easy to find.”

      Despite her best efforts...

      “Why?”

      “The ticket,” Nikki said. “The first one you’ve ever gotten, by the way.”

      Like Candace didn’t know that. “I meant why did you track me down?” She was pretty sure it hadn’t been her idea. “Who asked you to?”

      Garek? But then why hadn’t he come himself?

      “I did,” Stacy replied.

      “You asked her to track me down?” she asked. “Why? To make sure I stay gone?”

      Stacy laughed. “I can understand why you might think that...”

      Candace wouldn’t have blamed Stacy if she had asked Logan to fire her. She—and everyone else—knew that Candace had been in love with her boss. What wife would be okay with a woman working with her husband when the woman was in love with him? A woman who was very secure in his love.

      Stacy confirmed this when she continued, “But I actually wanted to find you to bring you back.”

      Panic, at the thought of facing everyone again, pressed on Candace’s chest. And she shook her head. “No, I should have quit a year ago.”

      “But you didn’t,” Stacy said.

      “I should have,” she repeated. Not because of the embarrassment over everyone knowing how she’d felt about Logan. She’d endured worse things than embarrassment.

      Before joining the River City PD, she’d been an army reservist who’d done a tour in Iraq. And in the River City PD, she’d done a stint in vice—dressing up like a prostitute. That hadn’t lasted long, though, because few johns had tried picking her up. It had been quite the joke in the department. She had been the joke. But she hadn’t left the River City Police Department until Logan had. No, there were worse things than embarrassment—like heartbreak.

      She should have left because of Garek.

      But if she had left...

      Her face heated again and this time it wasn’t with embarrassment. Her entire body flushed as she remembered that kiss and what had followed...

      She shook her head, as much to dislodge those memories as in refusal of Stacy’s invitation to return. “I can’t go back,” she told her. “Logan must have told you...” She doubted he kept anything from the woman he loved. “If I hadn’t quit, he was going to fire me.”

      “You don’t have to work for Logan,” Nikki said.

      Candace laughed. “He’s the boss.” And not just because he was the oldest Payne sibling but also because it had been his idea to start the protection agency. It was his business.

      “He’s СКАЧАТЬ