His Christmas Assignment

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 the CEO but he’s franchising the business,” Stacy explained. “After all the publicity last year, Logan felt as if he needed to expand to keep up with the demand for Payne Protection.”

“Cooper and Parker will each have their own franchise now,” Nikki said. “I’m going to work for Cooper. You could, too. He’s bringing in his own team of former marines.”

Candace hadn’t been a marine. But she had served.

“Or with Parker,” Nikki continued, her voice lilting with enthusiasm. “He’s recruiting former cops. You’d fit in there, too.”

“Logan would like you to come back to work for him,” Stacy said.

Candace shook her head again. If that were true, he would have come himself; he wouldn’t have sent his wife and sister to find her. He might not even know that they’d been looking for her. So it was just curiosity that had her asking, “What’s his team going to be?”

“Family,” Stacy replied.

“I’m not family,” she said. “And that was made very clear to me.”

“Is that why you left?” Nikki asked. “Because you thought there was too much nepotism—with me and Parker and Cooper?”

“It wasn’t the Paynes that were the problem,” Stacy said, answering for her before Candace had had the chance. “It was the Kozminskis. We were why she quit.”

Candace flinched at how petty she sounded. She wished that had been the reason she’d quit: pettiness. But fear was what had compelled her to quit. She hadn’t realized it at the time—because she had never acknowledged fear before. She wouldn’t have become a soldier or a cop if she had. So because she’d never acknowledged it before, she hadn’t recognized it.

“Not all of you,” Candace said. “I have no problem with Milek. I actually feel sorry for him.”

Stacy flinched now and quietly admitted, “I made a mistake.”

Nikki glanced at her sister-in-law, and while there was affection, there was also disapproval in her dark eyes. “You kept a secret—a really big secret—from him.” The youngest Payne hated secrets and didn’t understand that there were reasons to keep them. To Nikki, there was only black and white.

Candace understood gray. She had kept more than her share of other people’s secrets; that was another reason that she was always the buddy—the friend. She knew too much but she kept her mouth shut. “It wasn’t Stacy’s secret to tell.”

A soft gasp of surprise slipped through Stacy’s lips. “I’m glad Nikki tracked you down.”

Candace shrugged. “It doesn’t matter that you did. I’m not going back.” Not to Payne Protection. Maybe not even to River City.

“Why not?” Nikki asked the question.

Candace suspected Stacy knew. The woman’s dark gray gaze was focused on her as she studied her intensely. What had Garek told her?

She fought the urge to blush. Surely, he wouldn’t have told his sister...

But what if he’d told anyone else or everyone else? Despite her best efforts, her face flushed again. So she turned away from them to gaze out the window. Snow drifted softly to the ground but melted as soon as it hit the grass. The weather was unseasonably warm for December—which had caused the ski resort to be unusually quiet. “I like it here.”

It was quiet. It was safe. Due to the weather leaving the slopes more green than white, it was nearly deserted. So it was boring as hell.

“Why?” Nikki asked the question again, her voice full of confusion. She wanted excitement—had been fighting Logan for years to put her in the field. She didn’t understand that sometimes boredom was good.

“It’s pretty here,” Stacy answered for her as she stepped closer to the window and Candace and watched the big fluffy flakes fall onto the grass. “And it’s peaceful. I can see its appeal.”

Candace turned back toward them. Even if she ignored them, they weren’t going away. She might as well hear them out.

Unconvinced, Nikki shook her head. “I can’t. You need to come back, Candace. The agency is taking off right now. We’re busy as hell. We need you.”

Stacy said nothing—to Candace. Instead she turned to her sister-in-law and asked, “Will you give us a few minutes alone?”

Nikki nodded and headed toward the door. “Hope your pitch works better than mine did.”

Candace waited until the door closed behind Nikki then asked, “Why would you give me a pitch? Why would you care whether or not I came back?”

“Because I care about my brother.”

Candace had never had a problem recognizing fear in others. She heard it now in Stacy’s voice. “What are you talking about?”

And what had Garek told her?

“I’m losing him.”

“Milek?” That was who they were talking about? Candace had never had a problem with the younger Kozminski brother, but she’d never had a relationship with him either. Not that she had a relationship with Garek either. She’d had just that one, unforgettable night...

Stacy’s breath escaped in a shaky little sigh. “I think I already lost Milek. And now I’m losing Garek, too.”

“Have they quit, too?”

Stacy shook her head. “No. They both get along with Logan.”

Candace couldn’t suppress a smile. Men were so simple. They could go from being archenemies one minute to best friends the next. Maybe that was why she’d always gotten along better with them than women. “Then I don’t understand what you want me to do. If Logan can’t help you mend fences with your brothers, I certainly can’t.”

“I don’t want you to help me mend fences,” Stacy said.

Her patience worn thin, she asked, “Then what do you want?”

Stacy’s dark gray eyes glistened as tears welled in them. “I want you to help me stop Garek from getting himself killed.”

While she hated to admit it, she found herself leaping to his defense. “He’s handled himself well in a lot of dangerous situations. He’ll be fine.”

“Not this time,” Stacy insisted. “Not with these people.”

“Did he take that assignment with the starlet?” That was another reason she’d gone off the grid and rented a place with no TV and no internet. She hadn’t wanted anyone or anything to find her—to disturb her peace. If only she’d really found peace...

Stacy shook her head. “No. Logan sent Milek. Garek had already taken another assignment—one he sought out on his own. He’s going back to his old life, Candace. He’s working for Viktor Chekov.”

Candace should have felt vindicated. It was what she’d been saying about him all along—that he hadn’t changed. But over the past year she had watched him closely, nearly as closely as he’d watched her, and she’d never seen any evidence that he was still a thief. He’d worked hard—nearly as hard as he’d teased and flirted with her.

Had she actually been right about him?

Her legs weakened, and she felt the need to sit down. So she dropped onto the edge of the rental’s lumpy couch. Of course he’d always had that effect on her—that ability to make her knees weak—no matter how much she had fought her attraction to him. She should have kept fighting.

“What does any of that have to do with me?” she wondered.

“He didn’t take that assignment until you left,” Stacy said, and now there was anger and resentment along with tears in her eyes. “You drove him back to his old life.”

She laughed at his sister’s outrageous claim. “That’s ridiculous.” Garek would have actually had to care about her for her leaving to affect him. And it just wasn’t possible that he did.

“I know my brother,” Stacy said. “I know he really liked you. But you never gave him a chance.”

He definitely hadn’t told his sister anything about that night.

“So he’s gone back to his old life,” Stacy continued. “To Viktor Chekov. Those people are dangerous, Candace.”

She didn’t need to tell her. As a former cop, Candace knew exactly how dangerous Chekov was. While he’d never been convicted, he had committed every crime on the books. The last news she’d heard as she’d driven out of the city had been a report that Chekov’s right-hand man had been executed. While the reporter hadn’t dared to speculate, it was clear that everyone thought Chekov was the killer.

“They’re really dangerous,” Stacy said, her voice shaking with fear. “Garek’s in trouble.”

* * *

Garek was in trouble—more trouble than he could have even imagined. He couldn’t get Candace out of his mind. And he couldn’t afford the distraction right now—not with the dangerous game he was playing.

What if he’d been followed to this meeting? He’d watched the rearview mirror and hadn’t noticed anyone tailing him. But instead of the road behind him, he’d kept seeing Candace: her blue eyes wide with shock as she’d stared up at him, her lips red and slightly swollen from his kiss.

What if he’d missed a tail? He reached beneath his jacket and closed his hand around his weapon as he stepped out of the SUV. Nobody was going to get the jump on him. But he still could have been followed. And if someone saw him with the person he was meeting...

From an alley between two buildings, beams of light flashed. On and off. On and off.

Garek glanced around the deserted industrial area. Had anyone else seen the signal?

He could detect no movement but the December wind tossing snowflakes around the night sky. Maybe he hadn’t been followed. But he still had that uneasy feeling, that tingling between his shoulder blades that made him feel as if he was being watched.

The lights flashed again. Of course he was being watched by the person who waited for him inside the other SUV. Garek glanced around once more before heading toward the alley. He moved, as he always did, quickly and silently—keeping to the shadows.

Slipping between the SUV and the building beside it, he pulled open the passenger’s door. No dome light flashed; the person he was meeting knew all the tricks of maintaining his anonymity. In his line of work, he wouldn’t have lived long if he hadn’t.

FBI agent Nicholas Rus had done a lot of undercover work in his career with the Bureau. Before Garek had agreed to work with the man, he’d checked out his background. He didn’t care that Rus was related to the Paynes—that with his black hair and blue eyes, he looked eerily like the twins Logan and Parker. The FBI agent hadn’t been raised with them, by Penny Payne, so Garek questioned his integrity. He didn’t know too many people who were beyond corruption—besides the Paynes.

“Why you acting so nervous?” Rus asked as Garek slid into the passenger’s seat. “I didn’t notice any tail coming in behind you. Did you see a suspicious vehicle?”

“No.” But that didn’t mean that he hadn’t been followed. He peered through the tinted windshield, trying to see beyond the alley.

The snow had thickened, now, from flurries to sheets of white. The mild winter was over; the cold and snow coming in earnest now. He couldn’t see anything out there anymore. But whoever was watching him wouldn’t be able to see either.

Rus sighed and murmured, “Guess you’d be an idiot if you weren’t nervous...”

“I was an idiot to let you talk me into this,” Garek said.

“You’re the only one who could do this,” Rus said. “Viktor Chekov wouldn’t have let anyone else inside, and there’s no time. We have to recover the murder weapon before he ditches it.”

“If he hasn’t already,” Garek said. “He’d be a fool if he hasn’t.” And Viktor Chekov was nobody’s fool.

Rus shrugged. “The witness says he hasn’t.”

“The witness could be lying.” Especially if the witness was who Garek suspected it was. Viktor would not have killed in front of her.

Rus shrugged again. “That’s why we need the murder weapon.”

“We need more,” Garek said. “We need an admission of guilt.” Because that witness would never testify—for a few reasons.

Rus laughed. “If you think Viktor Chekov is going to confess, you actually might be an idiot.”

“He won’t confess to authorities,” Garek agreed.

“You think you can get him to confess to you?”

“Confess?” Garek shook his head. “Threaten? Brag?” He nodded. “Yeah, I can get him to do one of those.”

A muscle twitched along Rus’s jaw he clenched it so tightly. He hadn’t been raised with his half brothers but yet he shared some of their tells when it came to stress.

The special agent asked, “Is he still having his guys check you for a wire every time you show up for a protection duty shift?”

Garek nodded. As he’d said, the man was nobody’s fool; he knew not to trust Garek.

Rus’s irritation escaped in a ragged sigh. “He’ll kill you if he catches you wearing one.”

Garek nodded again. But his life was the least of his concerns. He was more concerned about his family.

At least Candace was gone. He didn’t have to worry about her. He only had to worry about getting her off his mind so that he wouldn’t get so careless that he’d wind up dead.

Rus gripped the SUV steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white. “I want this guy. I really want this guy. But if your family knew that you were risking your life to help me...”

“They’re your family, too,” Garek reminded him. Actually they were more Rus’s family since he was a blood relative albeit not a legitimate one. Garek was only related through marriage, and his sister’s at that.

Rus shook his head. “They don’t feel that way—at least not all of them.”

Garek knew the Paynes well enough to know who had welcomed Rus and who hadn’t. Nikki hadn’t. But of all of the Paynes, Penny had welcomed him the most—despite his being the evidence of her late husband’s betrayal.

But that was the kind of woman Penny was—the kind who’d taken an interest in the kids of the man who’d confessed to killing her husband. She had welcomed the Kozminskis as warmly as she had Nicholas Rus.

“Give them time,” he said. While Penny had accepted Garek and his siblings, it had taken the other Paynes more time.

“If something happens to you while you’re carrying out this assignment for me...” Rus shook his head.

Garek wanted to assure the FBI agent that nothing would happen to him, but he knew Viktor Chekov too well to make any promises. “I’ll let you know when I get the evidence you need...”

If I’m alive...

Rus must have had the same thought because he reached out and squeezed Garek’s shoulder. “I appreciate your doing this.”

Garek shrugged off his gratitude and his hand. “It’s like you said. Nobody else could do it.”

“But that doesn’t mean you had to agree. You could have refused.”

He could have. He might have...if Candace hadn’t taken off on him the way she had. But she was gone and with her any excuse he might have had to not finally do the right thing—what he should have done fifteen years ago. Take down Viktor Chekov.

He pushed open the passenger door and stepped out into the snow and the cold. “I have nothing to lose.”

“Just your life...”

He softly shut the door and hurried away from the alley. He moved quickly now, not so he wasn’t noticed, but so that he didn’t freeze off his ass. Christmas was only a few weeks away. Hopefully he would wrap up this assignment before then, so that he could spend an honest holiday with his family.

And Candace?

Where was she?

Other than on his mind? She was always on his mind, staring up at him with such confusion and desire. Her pupils had dilated so only a thin rim of blue circled them. She’d wanted him, too. But then why had she left?

Dimly he heard the SUV pull out of the alley and drive away. But he didn’t glance back as he hurried toward his vehicle. He didn’t look back until it was too late—until he’d finally heard the footsteps rushing across the asphalt behind him.

He had been followed. He had been watched—just like he’d feared.

Before he could turn around, a body connected with his and slammed him into the side of his SUV. His head struck metal, and like the snowflakes, spots danced across his field of vision—momentarily blinding him. He had no idea who had attacked him and no idea if he would survive the attack.

Chapter 3

Candace was home. In River City again, at least. Raised an army brat, she’d never had a real home. But she had lived in this city longer than any others. So it was probably as close to home as she had ever come.

She had already done what she’d had to do. Not what she’d wanted to do. She wasn’t sure what she actually wanted anymore.

Her hand trembled as she slid the key in the lock and turned the knob. But Candace hesitated before pushing open her apartment door.

He was gone.

She knew that. After all, two weeks had passed and she knew what he’d been doing during that time. Sort of. As much as anyone ever knew what Garek Kozminski was doing. He wasn’t still in her apartment. But he’d been there the last time she had been.

So she stepped carefully inside, but she didn’t stop in the living room. She carried her suitcase directly down the hall to the bedroom.

Some of the clothes she hadn’t packed had fallen to the floor around the bed. And on the bed the silk sheets were as tangled and twisted as she—as they—had left them. Her face heated with embarrassment. What had she done? And why the hell had she come back here? To the scene of the crime. The scene of her stupidity.

The scene of the most exciting night of her life. And Candace, as a soldier and a police officer, had lived an exciting life.

Her breath shuddered out in a ragged sigh—like it had that night he’d kissed her. She should have stopped him then. She’d pulled back. But then he’d looked at her—like no one else had ever looked at her—with such hunger and desire. And instead of shoving him away, she had looped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down for another kiss.

She had been a fool that night. And she’d been an even bigger fool to come back. Garek Kozminski had gotten what he’d wanted from her. He wanted nothing else—or he would have been the one who’d tracked her down. Not his sister.

She shouldn’t have let Stacy get to her. She should have just stayed away. Not that she doubted what his sister had told her. She believed that Garek had gone back to his life. What was the saying—once a thief always a thief?

But she had found no evidence that he’d been stealing anything since he’d been a teenager. Was he just so good that he had never gotten caught?