“So you came back to pick up strange men in bars?”

She glared at him. “You say that like you doubt I can.”

He hadn’t meant to challenge her. He knew she could pick up any man she wanted. Even him …

And he had no business letting her affect him. But his body ached with wanting hers. “I say that like I wonder why you’d want to,” he clarified.

“I think it’s safer picking up strangers than taking a chance on a man I know.” She sighed. “The men I know always disappoint me.”

“Maybe you didn’t really know them,” he said.

She met his gaze and held it for a long moment before nodding. “Maybe not …” She wriggled down from the stool, and her body pushed against his.

He remembered that night—remembered how close they’d been, nothing between them as skin had slid over skin.

She leaned closer, her lips brushing his ear, and murmured, “Or maybe I’ve known them too well …”

His Christmas

Assignment

Lisa Childs

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Ever since LISA CHILDS read her first romance novel (a Mills & Boon story, of course) at age eleven, all she ever wanted was to be a romance writer. With over forty novels published with Mills & Boon, Lisa is living her dream. She is an award-winning, bestselling romance author. Lisa loves to hear from readers, who can contact her on Facebook, through her website, www.lisachilds.com, or her snail-mail address, PO Box 139, Marne, MI 49435, USA.

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Special thanks to Patience Bloom for bringing the bodyguards of the Payne Protection Agency to Harlequin Romantic Suspense!

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter 1

Voices rose in anger, penetrating the thin walls of Logan Payne’s office. Garek Kozminski closed the outside door so softly that it made no sound. He probably could have slammed it and they wouldn’t have heard him enter. But he was used to moving silently. In the past, his freedom and even his life had depended upon it.

Not much had changed...

He crossed the reception area and approached Logan’s office—not to eavesdrop. Due to the volume of their argument, he could have heard them from the parking lot. Usually Logan didn’t yell; as the CEO of Payne Protection, he didn’t need to yell to be heard. The other voice was female and easily recognizable to Garek even though Candace Baker didn’t usually deign to speak to him.

Apparently she had no problem talking about him. “I can’t believe you would consider offering this assignment to Garek Kozminski!”

He had figured Logan had called this meeting about a job. In the year that he’d been working for his brother-in-law he’d had many assignments. Had Candace protested every one?

“He’s proven himself over and over again,” Logan defended him. “He’s a damn good bodyguard!”

“Garek Kozminski is a thief and a killer!” she yelled. “I can’t believe you would trust him. I never will!”

Garek felt a twinge in his chest—one he refused to acknowledge as pain. Candace’s low opinion wasn’t exactly a surprise or unwarranted. And of course he had done nothing to change it; he’d actually done more to provoke it and her.

Logan’s voice wasn’t just loud but it had gone chillingly cold when he said, “He helped save my life and my brother’s life—”

“Because of his criminal connections,” she interrupted.

“That’s enough,” Logan told her. He didn’t shout now; he sounded too weary to fight anymore. “Garek and Milek Kozminski are essential members of this team.”

“They’re your brothers-in-law...”

And maybe that was her real problem: Logan had married Stacy instead of her. She had obviously been in love with her boss for a long time; she’d left the River City Police Department when Logan did in order to join the fledging bodyguard business he’d started a few years before.

“Candace,” Logan said, “if you can’t work with them, maybe you can’t work—”

“Hey!” Garek said as he pushed open the office door before Logan could finish his ultimatum. He didn’t want Candace fired. Sure, she hated Garek. But he didn’t hate her.

He wanted her.

He had wanted her since the very first time he’d seen her. She was all long legs and sharp curves and sass. It sparkled in her blue eyes every time she looked at him. But she wouldn’t look at him now. Instead she’d tilted her head down so that her jaw-length black hair skimmed across her face, hiding her eyes.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Garek said, although he’d had a good excuse. Someone else had called him about a job, an assignment he might not be able to refuse no matter how much he wanted to...

“It’s probably a good thing you were,” Logan remarked. “In fact you might want to give us a few more minutes...”

Candace lifted her chin and shook her head. “There’s no need. I’m doing what I should have done a year ago...”

A year ago was when Garek had started at the Payne Protection Agency—after his sister had married Logan Payne. He doubted Candace’s timing was a coincidence. She had probably wanted to resign then, but no doubt her pride had forced her to stay.

“I’m quitting,” she finished.

Logan jumped up from the chair behind his desk and cursed. “Damn it—”

“You were just about to fire me,” Candace pointed out. “This is for the best, and we both know it.” She turned then and finally faced Garek. Her blue eyes had never been so cold as she stared at him.

Conversely, heat rushed through Garek as his temper ignited. But before he could say anything, Candace pushed past him. He reached out and grasped her arm.

She stared down at his hand. Her voice as cold as her gaze, she said, “Don’t touch me. Don’t ever touch me.”

He would have teased her, as he had incessantly for the past year. But he sensed that her coldness was just a thin veneer for deeper emotions.

Candace Baker was strong. She was nearly as tall as he was, and she was all lean muscle. But there was also a vulnerability about her that she desperately tried to hide beneath a tough attitude. Just like the coldness, neither was who she really was.

“I didn’t figure you for a quitter,” he goaded her.

“You don’t know me,” she said as she jerked her arm free of his grasp. “And you never will...”

Before he could challenge her claim, she was gone. And he couldn’t have that. He just couldn’t have that...

* * *

“I’m a fool,” Candace berated herself as she tossed clothes into the open suitcase on her bed. “I am such a fool...”

Not for quitting. Hell, she should have done that a year ago. She was a fool because she’d waited too long. And mostly because she had let him get to her.

How?

She knew what Garek Kozminski was. And unlike everyone else, she wasn’t going to forget—because she couldn’t let herself forget. In addition to being a killer and a criminal, he was also a flirt. Just a flirt...

That was why he kept teasing her. And looking at her...

She shivered even now thinking about how that silvery-gray gaze was always on her, touching her like a physical caress. He was just teasing her. He couldn’t really want to touch her. He couldn’t really want her.

She was always the buddy, the gal-pal—never the woman a man actually desired. So he was just messing with her for his own amusement. She was not amused. She was furious. And the more he flirted with her, the most frustrated she got. That was why she had lost her temper with her boss.

The doorbell rang, echoing throughout her bedroom from the wooden box on the dark blue painted wall. She doubted it was Logan paying her a visit. He had obviously been about to fire her before Garek had interrupted him.

After what he must have overheard her saying about him, why had Garek tried to stop Logan? Instead of insisting his brother-in-law terminate her on the spot, Garek had actually tried to talk her out of quitting.

But he didn’t know her. And around him, she wasn’t certain that she knew herself anymore.

The doorbell rang again, or rather incessantly, as if someone were pressing hard on the button. With a sigh she turned away from her bed and headed down the hall. But before she could even reach the front door, it opened. She knew that it had been locked; she always locked her door. And nobody else had a key to her place.

She reached for her holster only to realize she had left it—and her weapon—on her bed with the half-packed suitcase. But why would someone break into her place?

She had nothing of value. And while she had once brought a Payne Protection client to her apartment in order to guard the woman, she was alone now.

But then she was no longer alone as the intruder boldly sauntered into her apartment. He was incredibly tall with lean muscles and blond hair that nearly touched his shoulders. Her breath caught, but she shouldn’t have been surprised. Who else would have so easily picked her high-tech lock but Garek Kozminski?

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she demanded to know.

“I need to talk to you,” he replied. But he was looking at her that way he always looked at her—like she was an ice cream cone he wanted to lick.

“So you picked my lock and let yourself inside?”

He shrugged as if breaking and entering was inconsequential. But surely he knew there were consequences for crimes; he had spent time in prison for at least one of the probably many offenses he had committed. “You didn’t answer the doorbell.”

“There are reasons people don’t answer their doorbells,” she pointed out. “I could have been gone.” If she’d packed faster, she would have been gone. That urge she’d had to run intensified—probably because she had come face-to-face with the reason she wanted to run. That she needed to run...

His lips curving into a smug grin, he said, “But you’re here.”

“Not for long,” she said as she spun around and headed back down the hall toward her bedroom. It wasn’t too late. She could still escape.

But he followed her. “You’re packing? Where the hell are you going?”

She paused as she was about to toss a sweater into the suitcase and realized that she had no idea. She had no plan. She’d only known she needed to leave—to get away for a while. Then she could decide if she wanted to come back. Ever.

“You don’t know,” he surmised.

“Anywhere you’re not,” she replied.

He clasped a hand to his heart. “Oh, that hurts—like a knife through the heart.” Despite his playful tone, there was something in his gray gaze—something almost like real pain and regret. Did he actually care that she wanted to get away from him?

“Do you have a heart?” she wondered.

“Yes,” he replied. “So much so that I convinced Logan you’re a better man for this job than I am.”

“Man?” Now she knew what he meant about the knife through the heart; a sharp pang in her chest felt as if he’d driven his blade deep.

“Yeah, that assignment you wanted—it’s all yours,” he magnanimously offered.

She shook her head. “I quit.”

“Because you wanted that assignment,” he said.

“No, I didn’t.” She hadn’t wanted that assignment; playing bodyguard to some reality star turned B-movie actress held no appeal for her.

His gray eyes narrowed as he stared at her. “You just didn’t want me to have it?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Why not?” he asked. “What would I steal or who would I kill if I took this assignment?”

He had definitely overheard her argument with their boss. Her face heated with embarrassment—not over what he’d heard as much as having to explain why she hadn’t wanted him guarding a woman who rarely wore clothes on camera, or according to the tabloids, off camera either. She wasn’t certain she understood why herself.

She wasn’t certain about anything anymore.

She shrugged. “It’s a high-profile assignment—one that will raise the awareness of Payne Protection to the national level.”

“Last year—all the attempts on Cooper’s and Logan’s and Parker’s lives—raised the awareness of Payne Protection,” he pointed out. “That’s why an LA actress wants to employ one of our bodyguards. We’re the best.”

She wanted to argue the “we,” but Logan had been right earlier. He and Parker probably wouldn’t have survived if not for Garek’s help.

“That assignment doesn’t require the best,” she said—since she suspected the entire need for a bodyguard was just the actress desperately trying to get some more minutes of fame.

“Then why didn’t you want me to take it?” he asked.

She shrugged. She wasn’t about to admit it had bothered her a lot to think of him with a scantily clad reality star. “It doesn’t matter now.”

“It mattered enough to you,” he said, his voice deepening with confusion and concern, “that you quit the job you loved.”

“Loved is right,” she agreed. “Past tense. I don’t love it anymore.” But that was a lie; she knew it even as she said it. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her job anymore. It was that she was afraid she might fall in love with something—with somebody—else.

“Is that my fault?” he asked. “Or Logan’s?”

That was why she couldn’t risk falling again—because she had already made enough of a fool of herself over love before. “If this had anything to do with Logan, I would have quit when he married your sister.”

“Maybe you were just waiting around for them to fail,” he said. “It’s not like anyone really thought they’d last.” He chuckled. “Least of all me.”

“They have a child together,” she said.

“Little Penny,” he murmured, his grin widening with obvious love for his two-month-old niece.

Candace’s breath caught in her lungs. Garek was so damn handsome it wasn’t fair. “You shouldn’t be here,” she said. “You need to leave.”

He glanced around as if just realizing where they were. “I’ve been wanting to get into your bedroom for a year now...” He stepped closer to the bed and ran his fingertips across the sheets. “Silk...”

She flinched with anger and embarrassment and lashed out, “Of course you’d be surprised a man like me would have silk sheets.”

“Man?” he repeated, his brow furrowing with confusion. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You just said I was the best man for the job—”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he said.

“Why not?” she asked. “Everybody else thinks of me as just one of the guys.”

He shook his head. “I have never thought of you that way.” He stepped closer now and jerked her into his arms so quickly that she didn’t have time to react. If she’d had time, she would have stopped him—she would have hurt him. Instead she just slammed up tightly against his chest, so that she felt his every breath, his every heartbeat...

“And I have thought of you,” he said with an intensity in his gray gaze that had her heart racing with excitement, “every moment since I’ve met you...”

He lowered his mouth to hers but when their lips were just a breath apart, he paused and murmured. “And I have thought of doing this...of kissing you...”

And then he did—he kissed her with that intensity she’d seen in his eyes. He kissed her with such passion that she had no doubt he didn’t think of her as one of the guys. He thought of her the way she’d been thinking of him.

And she realized something else—it was too late to escape.

* * *

It was too late. No matter how hard he tried, Garek was unable to escape his old life. It just kept dragging him back in...

Back into a life lived on the edge, back into a life of danger...

Maybe it was a good thing that Candace had taken off the way she had, because at least he wasn’t dragging her in with him. He didn’t even know where she had gone—just that she’d finished packing her suitcases sometime that night and she’d left.

Her leaving had hurt more than the fist that slammed hard into his stomach. He coughed and doubled over in pain, but strong arms held him up so the fist could strike him again. Harder.

A curse slipped through his lips along with a slight trickle of blood. He didn’t have any internal injuries; he’d just bitten his tongue. Purposely. He’d been beaten harder than this before; hell, his brother had beaten him harder than this before. Of course that had been years ago when they’d been just kids. But he groaned as if he were in agony. The truth was the old man didn’t pack the wallop he had once had. But as the godfather of River City, Michigan, Viktor Chekov commanded respect and fear.

And with good reason. The guy was a killer. And maybe it could finally be proven...

With a jerk of his silver-haired head, Viktor called off his goons so that they released Garek. He dropped to the ground with a groan and complained, “What the hell kind of greeting was that...?”

“How do you expect me to greet you?” Viktor asked. “You just walked away—”

“I didn’t just walk away,” Garek said. “I was taken off in handcuffs to prison.”

A muscle twitched in Viktor’s slightly sagging cheek. “That wasn’t because of the work you did for me.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Garek agreed. “But I might have avoided jail time if I’d given up what I did for you, or if I’d set you up...” Like he was setting him up now...

Viktor swung again—this time right at Garek’s jaw. He could have ducked. But he took it on the chin. And this time he didn’t bite his tongue on purpose. He spit out a trickle of blood and wiped his mouth.

“If you’d done that, you would already be dead,” Viktor told him.

And this was why he hadn’t given up or entrapped Chekov. The sentence he’d served out had been for something that hadn’t actually been a crime.

“I never would have betrayed you.” Then. But he was a different man now. He was actually a man now whereas when he’d worked for Viktor he’d been a desperate kid, living on the streets.

“You’ve been out of prison a long time, Garek,” Viktor reminded him. “But until tonight you have never come back to the family.”

Viktor and his organization had never been family. They had preyed on his desperation and utilized the skills he’d learned from his jewelry-thief father before Patek Kozminski had gone to prison.

“I made my sister a promise,” he said. And while it had been a struggle at times, he had kept that promise—to never leave her again for either a jail cell or a grave. They had already lost their father—first to prison and then to death. “I vowed to her that I would stay on the straight and narrow.”

“You’ve been working for her husband, that former detective, Logan Payne.” Viktor had obviously been keeping track of him over the years.

“Still am,” Garek said. Unlike Candace, he wasn’t about to quit a job he loved—even for another job that had to be done.

“So why are you here?”

Garek wiped the blood that continued to trickle from the corner of his mouth. Maybe Viktor had hit him harder than he’d thought. “To offer my services.”

Viktor glanced at his gargantuan goons and chuckled. “You think I need another bodyguard?”

“I think you need a good one,” he said.

The two muscular guys glared at him.

Viktor shook his head. “I am perfectly safe.”

“But the people close to you aren’t,” Garek said. “I heard you recently lost a member of your family.” Not a blood relative but a very close associate.

That muscle twitched again in Viktor’s sagging jaw. “It is too late for Alexander.”

Polinsky had been murdered just days ago—shot in the head execution-style. The feds believed that Chekov had been the executioner.

“What about Tori?” Garek asked. “Aren’t you concerned for her safety?”

Viktor’s face flushed with color at the mention of his daughter’s name, so Garek braced himself for another blow. But Viktor didn’t swing his fist. Instead his shoulders slumped. “Tori is safe. Safer without you near her.”

Garek nodded. “I thought that once, too.” Actually he’d thought the opposite. He was safer if he was nowhere near her. Viktor loved his little princess so much that he would probably kill anyone who made her unhappy. And Garek hadn’t ever seen the young woman happy.

“Why are you really here?” Viktor asked. He stared at him again, as if trying to see through him.

“You already checked me for a wire,” Garek reminded him. He needed more than a recording with Viktor’s admission of guilt. He needed evidence. And he had to get close in order to get his hands on it. “I want to make sure Tori is really safe,” he said. “For old times’ sake.”

“What about that promise to your sister?” Viktor asked, his dark eyes still narrowed with suspicion.

Garek shrugged. “I haven’t been happy with my sister for a while now.”

“Then why work for her husband?”

“Logan didn’t lie to me and Milek,” he said. “Stacy’s the one who kept secrets.” That secret had affected and devastated Milek. While Garek had already forgiven her, he wasn’t sure that their brother ever would.

Viktor nodded with understanding. He had obviously kept very apprised of not just Garek’s life but Milek’s and Stacy’s, too. A shiver of unease chilled Garek’s skin. He didn’t care about himself but he cared that his past association might have put his siblings in danger.

“I think Tori would like it if I hire you,” Viktor admitted. “Despite all the years that have passed, I don’t think she ever quite got over you.” He stepped closer, his hand reached out as if to shake, but he slapped Garek instead. “And if you hurt her again, I will hurt not just you,” Viktor threatened, “but everyone close to you.”

The unease turned into a shiver of dread and foreboding. It was good that Candace had left town; she would be out of danger. It was just everyone else that Garek had to worry about when he took down the godfather of River City.

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 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?

Or that lucky?

If he was working for Chekov again, his luck would probably run out. Like Stacy had said, he was in danger. Candace just didn’t believe there was anything she could do to stop him. Or to protect him.

By coming back, she had only put herself in danger—her heart and maybe even her life.

* * *

“What the hell are you doing?” Garek asked when his vision cleared and he recognized his brother as the one who’d knocked him into the side of his SUV.

“What the hell are you doing?” Milek asked, his voice raised and sharp with anger.

Garek blinked again—making sure he was really seeing his brother. Milek didn’t get angry; he didn’t lose his temper anymore—not even when he had every right. “What’s wrong with you?”

Milek shoved him back, knocking him against the SUV again. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Garek answered honestly. His brother wasn’t making a whole lot of sense. “And how the hell did you find me here? Did you follow me?”

He had suspected someone might have, but he hadn’t seen anyone behind him. He’d been distracted, though. But...

“Did you follow me?” he asked again.

Milek snorted. “How else would I have found you? Of course I followed you. You’re not as good as you think are.”

His brother must have been right—about Garek’s not detecting a tail. But maybe that wasn’t the only thing Garek wasn’t as good at as he’d thought he was. Candace had left that night—after they’d finally given in to the attraction that had burned between them for a year.

At least he’d felt it.

“I taught you everything you know about following someone,” Garek reminded him. That was why Milek was so good. “And I may have noticed you were behind me, if I’d known you were back already.”

Milek had taken the assignment Candace hadn’t wanted him to take—protecting the reality star. Why hadn’t she wanted him to take it?

She had never explained her real reason. Jealousy?

But if she’d cared, she wouldn’t have run away—like she had sometime in the night. She wouldn’t have left him if she’d really wanted him.

“The girl wasn’t in any danger,” Milek said. “It was just a publicity ploy.”

Which was what Candace had suspected. The woman was so astute. How had she never realized how he’d felt about her—how he’d felt about her for nearly a year?

“It took you two weeks to figure out it was all a publicity stunt?” Garek teased.

Milek shook his head. “It only took me two minutes.”

“So you milked the assignment to enjoy the weather in California?” Garek gestured at the snow. “I don’t blame you.” He would have razzed him about staying for the starlet. But it was too soon to tease Milek about women.

“I might have stayed longer,” Milek admitted, “if Stacy hadn’t called me.”

Garek shook his head, both frustrated with and sympathetic to his sister. “I told her to back off and give you time.”

“She didn’t call me about that,” Milek said.

That was the single most devastating thing that had ever happened to his brother. So it was no wonder he didn’t want to talk about it; he probably couldn’t.

Garek had tried a couple of times to get him to talk, and Milek had asked him to move out of the warehouse apartment they’d once shared. He’d moved into an apartment while he’d looked for something more permanent.

Milek continued, “She called me to talk about you.”

Garek chuckled. “Sounds like she was just looking for any excuse to reach out to you.” And he couldn’t blame Stacy for trying. He wanted to try again, but he was worried his brother would cut him completely out of his life then.

Milek shook his head. “It wasn’t an excuse to talk to me. She didn’t want to call me. So she hesitated—maybe too long. How deep are you in?”

Garek sucked in a breath and then choked on the cold air. “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Milek shoved him again. But Garek was already backed up as far as he could go against the SUV. “You’re working for Viktor Chekov again.”

“Not like I used to,” Garek assured him. And he felt a flash of pain that his sister and brother had assumed he had. Didn’t they know him better than that? He could understand other people thinking the worst of him; he’d done nothing to correct misconceptions of him. In fact with Candace, he had enjoyed playing the bad boy with her—to tease her and irritate her. But he hadn’t been a boy for a long while—if ever. “It’s an assignment—a protection job.”

Milek cursed him. “You brought Viktor to Payne Protection as a client. You sought out this assignment. I’m going to ask you again—what the hell are you up to?”

Garek opened his mouth, ready to spin the situation the way he had to Logan, so the CEO of Payne Protection had agreed to take on the Chekov family as a client. But Milek knew Garek hadn’t been in love with Tori—like he had professed to Logan. His brother would immediately know he was lying.

So he admitted, “I’m not supposed to tell anyone what I’m really up to.”

“Is that what whoever you just met in the alley has been telling you?”

Milek hadn’t seen Rus. To keep the FBI agent out of it, Garek could lie about whom he’d just met. He hesitated as he considered it.

And Milek asked, “Don’t you think I’ve had enough secrets kept from me?”

That question struck Garek harder than Milek had when he’d knocked him into his vehicle. He nodded in agreement. “But it’s hard to be totally open and honest when you’re working undercover.”

The tension eased from Milek’s shoulders and he breathed a sigh of relief. “That was Special Agent Nicholas Rus who you met in the SUV in the alley.”

“Nobody can know.”

Milek tensed again. “You’re trying to take down Viktor Chekov?” The anger was back in his voice as he asked, “Are you crazy?”

“Maybe...”

But a man had been murdered. Recently. Before that there had been others. Lives Garek could have saved had he taken Chekov down fifteen years ago. He hadn’t been brave enough then; he’d been a scared kid who’d given in to threats. But now he was a man, and he knew if Chekov wasn’t stopped, there would be more lives lost.

“But it needs to be done,” Garek said. “He has to be stopped, or he’s just going to keep killing. He should have been stopped a long time ago.”

“Killing...” Milek murmured.

Garek wanted to bite his tongue again—that he’d brought up a subject too close to his brother’s wounded heart. “I’m sorry...”

Milek raised his voice again, which shook with anger. “Garek, this is too dangerous.”

In the spirit of being honest, he had to admit, “And it’s not dangerous just for me. He threatened if my assignment is more about betraying him than protecting Tori, he won’t just hurt me. He’ll hurt my family, too. He’ll hurt everyone I care about.”

Garek shuddered but not because of the cold; he shuddered because he remembered the coldness with which Viktor had so casually uttered that threat. But he knew it hadn’t been idle.

“If you want to do this or you feel you have to, don’t worry about me,” Milek said. “I can take care of myself.”

His brother always had.

“And Logan will protect Stacy just like he did before,” Garek said. He was trying to assure himself that he hadn’t put everyone he loved in danger. “You’ll all be fine...”

But then Milek warned him, “I’m not the only one Stacy reached out to...”

Garek raised his brows. “Who else is there?”

Since their father had gone to prison, it had been just the three of them. Their mother didn’t count; she had never been there for them and then she’d turned on them. He wouldn’t have gone to prison and Milek juvenile detention if she hadn’t testified against them. They had an aunt and uncle, too, but they had only wanted to exploit them—like Viktor Chekov had.

“Candace,” Milek said. “Stacy was going to track her down and bring her back to River City.”

“Damn her.” He loved Stacy, but she had interfered in their lives too much. Her interference had cost Milek everything that mattered to him. What would it cost Garek?

Candace?

* * *

Logan couldn’t stop staring at his wife—with his usual awe at her beauty. But he was also in awe of her powers of persuasion.

“How did you do it?” he asked.

She paused with her fingertips on buttons at the front of her blouse. “You did this,” she said. “You threw me down on your desk the minute I stepped inside your office.”

He grinned unabashedly. “That is true,” he admitted. Then he leaned down and gently skimmed his mouth across hers; her lips were slightly swollen from his previous kisses. “But that’s because you’re irresistible. And beautiful and amazing...”

Beneath his, her lips curved into a smile. “I love you.”

“And I love you,” he said. He pulled back and leaned his forehead against hers. “I missed you.”

“I guess.” She gestured at the papers and pens strewn across his floor. He’d swept them off when he’d pulled her down onto the mahogany surface with him. “Nikki and I were only gone a couple of days.”

“That’s a couple too many,” he said.

She nodded in agreement. “It was.” Disappointment darkened her already dark gray eyes. She stepped back from him and uttered a heavy sigh. “And it was for nothing. I couldn’t convince Candace to come home.”

He skimmed his fingers along her bottom lip and tilted it back up. “You were so successful she actually beat you home.”

“Really?” Stacy’s eyes brightened, and her whole face lit up with a smile. He hoped their daughter took after her beautiful mother. “She must have packed right up and headed back. Nikki and I only stopped at an outlet mall for some early Christmas shopping.”

“Nikki, of course...”

Stacy arched a brow. “You wondered how I found Candace on my own?”

“I don’t doubt you could have done it,” he said. His wife was as brilliant as she was beautiful.

“I didn’t have any time to lose, though, so I asked for Nikki’s help.”

His sister was as brilliant as his wife. If only she could be happy doing what she did best—instead of nagging for dangerous field work.

Then Stacy’s words sank in and he asked, “What’s the urgency in bringing Candace back? I know I’ve been griping about not having her on my team, but...”

She smiled and kissed his cheek. “You think I did this for you. That’s sweet.”

He grinned at her teasing. “And obviously off base. Then why did you want Candace back so desperately that you and Nikki tracked her down and convinced her to come ask for her job back?”

Stacy cupped his cheek now in her soft palm and gave him a pitying smile. “Men are so oblivious.”

He was used to his wife giving him a hard time; they’d been going at each other since they’d been teenagers. If only he’d realized sooner most of that resentment and anger had been attraction and passion...

“What am I missing?” he asked.

“Candace didn’t come back for her job.”

He tilted his head. “Then why did she ask me for it?” Even though he had been able to tell that it had been really difficult for her to bury her pride and ask...

Stacy shrugged. “I guess she needs the job. But it’s not what she really wants.”

Logan tensed with dread. He had been oblivious once before, totally unaware the woman he had considered a friend and only a friend had had a crush on him. “What are you up to?”

Stacy patted his cheek and laughed. “Sweetheart, once again—not about you. Candace has been over you for a long time. Not that I think her feelings even ran that deep or she wouldn’t have been able to continue working for you after you fell for me. Nobody’s that much of a masochist.”

That was what he’d thought, too. That everyone had exaggerated what might have been Candace having a small crush on the boss.

“No, Candace came back for Garek.”

He cursed as his dread rushed back.

Stacy’s smile faltered, and she insisted, “That’s a good thing.”

Logan shook his head. “No, no, it’s not.”

Now hurt flashed in her dark gray eyes. “Do you think she’s too good for my brother?”

He cursed. “That’s not it at all. You know I love your brothers.” Which hadn’t always been the case. But they’d helped save his and his brothers’ lives.

Then he’d gotten to know them and had learned how hard they’d worked to build new lives for themselves. They’d also brought him a ton of business—better business than Chekov. But because Garek had brought him so many clients, he hadn’t been able to refuse to take on Chekov when his brother-in-law had asked—especially once he’d explained to him why—which was also why Logan hoped that Candace hadn’t come back for Garek.

“She’s the only one who will be able to get through to him,” Stacy insisted, “to get him away from Viktor Chekov.” She shuddered—with revulsion and fear—as she uttered the mobster’s name.

“What makes you think that?”

“Because she’s the reason he went back to that life,” Stacy said. “When she quit Payne Protection and left town, he was devastated.”

Logan snorted. “He’s Garek. Nothing devastates Garek.” He’d never known a more resilient human being. The guy had been through hell and back and never lost his sense of humor.

“She did.”

He shook his head. “You’re wrong.”

“He was crazy about her,” Stacy insisted.

“Garek flirts with every female,” Logan said. “He’s even flirted with my mom.”

“Penny’s a hottie,” Stacy said with a giggle. “But Candace was different. He tried to be a better man for her. For the past year he hadn’t even dated another woman. That’s why, when she took off, he was devastated—so devastated he went back to his former life.”

Logan needed to find a way for her to make up with her brothers. She was so estranged from them that she didn’t even know them anymore.

“No,” he told her. “That’s not why he went back to his old life.”

“It’s not?” She furrowed her brow and studied him as if he had been holding out on her. “What do you know?”

“Only what Garek told me,” he said. “He had a reason for asking for this assignment with the Chekovs.” One that had convinced Logan to take on a mobster as a client. “He wanted this assignment so he could protect Tori Chekov.”

Stacy shrugged. “Why?”

“Because he’s in love with her.”

He heard a gasp, but it hadn’t slipped through his wife’s lips. He turned to the open door of his office. Had they forgotten to shut it? He’d wanted his wife so badly he hadn’t even noticed. His desire for her only seemed to intensify the longer they were together.

Candace Baker stood in the doorway, and all the color drained from her face, leaving it stark with shock. And he realized his wife had been at least half right. Candace had come back for Garek.

Now, having overheard what she had, would she quit again? The news had obviously affected her.

While he didn’t want to lose her as a team member again, he didn’t want to lose her as a friend either. They had been friends for years. So he was worried about her—worried about her safety if she were to stay. It would probably be the wisest and the safest thing for her to leave again.

If Tori Chekov thought Candace could potentially be a threat to her relationship with Garek, she might have her father take care of the female bodyguard.

Permanently...

Chapter 4

At that ski cabin in Northern Michigan, Candace had gotten her quota of quiet. She might have needed it then—the boring to outweigh the excitement she’d had and left. Now she needed noise, and it had to be loud enough to drown out the voice in her head that kept calling her an idiot.

She had found it at the downtown club. The music was so loud that it wasn’t heard; it was felt. It throbbed low in her body, beating as hard as her heart. But her heart hadn’t started beating that hard—that frantically—until she’d seen him.

On some level, she’d probably known Garek would be here—since Viktor Chekov owned the club. It was probably why she’d gone home and changed after she’d awkwardly stumbled into the middle of that conversation at the Payne Protection Agency. She’d told herself that she’d just wanted to look her best to make herself feel better.

But she’d wanted to make him feel bad.

As if Garek would care...

He hadn’t sought her out. And now she knew why. He’d reunited with the girl he’d loved since they’d been teenagers. Or so Logan thought. Stacy had denied her husband’s claim even though it was apparently what Garek had confided in him.

Logan had broken that confidence because he hadn’t wanted her wasting her time or her heart again—like she’d wasted it on him.

Yet here she was, wasting her time some more—coming down to a club to torture herself with the sight of Garek and his girlfriend. At least her martini was good. Over the rim of the glass, Candace studied them. They were a distance away since they sat at some raised-up, roped-off table near the dance floor and she sat at the crowded bar.

She’d been lucky someone had given up his seat to her. He’d even bought her martini. He stood near her now, his mouth near her ear as he tried talking to her. She couldn’t hear anything, and it had nothing to do with the music. It had everything to do with that voice in her head—the one that continued calling her names.

Tori Chekov was as beautiful as Candace had suspected she’d be. Petite. Curvy. With long curly blond hair. No one would treat this woman like one of the guys—or a buddy.

But Garek...

He wasn’t flirting and joking as he usually did. Instead he seemed tense, on edge—more cognizant of his surroundings than of the woman who sat beside him. He acted as if he was on a job—not a date.

But he looked like he could be dressed for a date. In a black shirt and pants, he looked dangerously sexy. His blond hair gleamed like gold under the strobe lights from the dance floor.

In Candace’s mind flashed the image of how she’d seen him last, lying naked in her bed, moonlight gleaming off his bare skin. He was almost too beautiful to be a man, but he was masculine, too—all toned muscle and chiseled edges.

How had she left him lying there alone? How had she just walked away?

But she hadn’t just walked. She’d grabbed her half-packed suitcase, and she’d run.

Garek continued his visual surveillance of the club—his attention on everything but the woman beside him. She knew he was assessing the entire building for possible threats like the vigilant bodyguard he was. In that assessment, he turned and his gaze met hers.

The air between them vibrated like the bass of the music. There was an electricity—a connection so overwhelming that she had that urge to run again.

And this time she needed to keep running.

* * *

“Damn it!” the words slipped involuntarily through Garek’s lips as he leaped to his feet.

One of Chekov’s goons reached beneath his jacket for his weapon. “Is there a problem? A threat?”

Tori reached out and grasped his arm. “What’s wrong, Garek?”

He shook his head and lied, “No problem...”

But he had a problem. She sat at the bar, her legs endlessly long and sexy beneath the short hem of her strapless dress. It was red and tight and so damn sexy that it was drawing every man in the club to her.

One of those men placed his hand on her bare shoulder, and Garek ground his teeth together as jealousy and rage coursed through him. He wanted to break every finger in that man’s hand for having the audacity to touch his woman.

Candace was his.

But he couldn’t stake his claim—not without risking her life when Garek put Viktor Chekov behind bars. Because even from behind bars Viktor would be dangerous—maybe even more dangerous because he would be out for vengeance.

And if he wanted to hurt Garek...

He was already hurting, every muscle tense with desire and fear for Candace. He had never wanted any woman the way he wanted her. And making love with her once had only increased the intensity of that desire to madness. His body throbbed with the need to be with her again—to be inside her—because now he knew how amazing it was. How amazing they were together...

“You want me to get rid of her?” a voice in his ear asked.

He touched his fingers, which shook slightly, to his earpiece.

“What?” he asked, fear gripping his heart in a tight fist.

“I can get rid of her,” the man offered.

Because the danger was real, he thought immediately she would be gotten rid of for good—forever. But then he remembered the man talking to him wasn’t one of Chekov’s hired goons. It was his brother’s voice in his ear, offering to help—not hurt.

Not that Candace wouldn’t get hurt. Hell, knowing Candace, Milek might get hurt, too, if he tried to get rid of her. The woman wouldn’t go anywhere unless she wanted to. She was stubborn and strong.

So why had she left him that night?

He wanted to know. Had to know...

“I’ll handle her,” Garek said, although he doubted he was any more capable than Milek of getting Candace to go anywhere she didn’t want to. As a former soldier and cop, the woman had skills. “I need you to watch Tori.”

Her hand tightened on his arm. “Nobody needs to watch me,” she said, her tone as waspish as it had been since he’d taken over as her bodyguard.

She hadn’t welcomed him back into her life. In fact he wasn’t sure from whom he had more to fear: her or her father. Viktor had accepted his explanation for why he’d stayed away after he’d been paroled. Tori wouldn’t even let him explain. She had barely spoken to him over the past two weeks—which was probably fortunate for him, given how nasty she sounded when she did speak to him.

“It’s for your protection,” Garek reminded her.

She pulled her hand away from his arm and sat back in her chair. He didn’t know why she’d wanted to come here. She didn’t dance. She didn’t drink. She didn’t even seem to enjoy the music. Hell, she didn’t seem to enjoy anything anymore. But then, had she ever?

He wasn’t sure if he ever remembered Tori Chekov being happy—even when they’d been younger. He hadn’t had the chance to be a kid; his father and uncle had recruited him into the family business at a young age. And then when his father had gone to prison, he’d gone to work for Tori’s father. She hadn’t had to work, though. Ever.

Her father made sure she had everything she wanted. So why wasn’t she happy?

But then Milek—finally—approached the table, and she actually smiled. “It’s great to see you. Come sit with me,” she implored him.

Milek slid past Garek to take the chair he’d vacated, and his brow was furrowed in bewilderment. Maybe Tori’s warm greeting had confused him since she’d never been that friendly to him before. Or maybe he was worried that Garek intended to speak to Candace.

He wanted to do more than speak to her. He wanted to do everything he’d done to her that night—over and over again. But she’d run from him.

She wasn’t running now—which was good, since it had taken Milek too long to take over for him on protection duty. And the club was crowded, so crowded he had to push his way through a crush of bodies to reach the bar.

For a moment he thought she’d slipped away, but then a man moved and he saw her sitting on that stool, her long legs crossed. She had painted her lips as red as her dress, and they were curved into a smile as she looked up at the man standing over her.

Garek’s blood heated with jealousy and anger. He’d arrogantly thought she had come to the club to see him. But what if she’d actually come here for a date?

He wouldn’t have brought her to a place like this. It was too loud. He would have taken her someplace quiet and intimate—like her bedroom.

He wanted to take her there now. He pushed forward and wedged the other man aside with his shoulder. His maneuver brought his thigh flush against hers. His body tightened with desire.

“Hey!” the guy protested.

Garek turned to him and for once he dropped the mask of humor and let his true feelings show. He also lifted his arm just enough to reveal the holster strapped beneath it.

The guy lifted his hands and backed up. “I had no idea she was yours. Sorry, man.”

“I am not his,” Candace called after the man.

But either he didn’t hear her or he didn’t believe her because he hurriedly disappeared into the crowd. Before turning toward her, Garek summoned the grin and the cocky attitude he had always shown her. “I just found out a few hours ago you were back,” he said casually, as if his heart wasn’t pounding erratically with each breath he took.

He stood so close to her that he could feel it when she breathed in; her breast swelled and pressed against his arm. “I wouldn’t have figured this for your first place to hit.”

She turned back to her drink, running her fingertip around the rim of the martini glass. “You don’t know me,” she said. “So how would you know what kind of places I frequent? Maybe I’m a regular here.”

In her sexy red dress, with her black hair fluffed up and her lips painted—she looked like the other female club patrons. But she wasn’t any more comfortable than he was in his undercover assignment. She visibly fought the discomfort though, lifting her chin as if she was ready to take a blow, and her brilliant blue eyes glared at him.

“I could be a regular,” she insisted.

He laughed. He couldn’t help it. He loved her prickliness. That was probably why he’d spent the past year provoking her—trying to get a reaction from her. Trying to get her attention. He had missed her. He’d missed her so damn bad.

“I know you,” he said. He’d made a point of learning everything about her—while being careful to reveal very little of himself to her.

She shook her head in denial. “No, you don’t. But I know you.”

She had to talk loud—because of the music. But there was still the danger that someone else might overhear her. It was better if no one knew how close they were. Or had been...

Nobody could know what she really meant to him. Not even her. So he lost the grin, and he drew on another mask—one of coldness. “If you actually knew me,” he said, “you would have known better than to show up here.”

“I didn’t show up here for you,” she said, her tone so disparaging he almost believed her.

He glanced toward the crowd into which the guy had disappeared. “That loser wasn’t your date, was he?”

She lifted her martini glass. “He bought me this.”

“So you’re just here to pick up guys?”

She shrugged her naked shoulders. “Why not?”

Because she belonged with him.

“So that’s why you came back to River City?” he asked. “To pick up strange men in bars?”

She glared at him again, her eyes narrowed. “You say that like you doubt I can.”

He hadn’t meant to challenge her. He knew she could pick up any man she wanted. Even him...

And he had no business letting her affect him. But his body ached with wanting hers. “I say that like I wonder why you’d want to,” he clarified.

“I think it’s safer picking up strangers than taking a chance on a man I know.” She sighed. “The men I know always disappoint me.”

He opened his mouth to argue, to point out she hadn’t given him a chance. For a year she had ignored him or fought with him. When he had finally gotten close to her, she had run from him.

“Maybe you didn’t really know them,” he said.

She met his gaze and held it for a long moment before nodding in agreement. “Maybe not...” She wriggled down from the stool, and her body pushed against his.

He remembered that night—remembered how close they’d been, nothing between them as skin had slid over skin. His breath caught in his lungs. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak. But he could hear the warning Milek uttered in his earpiece. “You have a problem.”

He’d already known that. But he glanced up and noticed Viktor had stepped from his back office into the heart of the club. If he saw Candace...

She leaned closer, her lips brushing his ear and murmured, “Or maybe I’ve known them too well...”

He shook his head. “If that were true, you wouldn’t have come back. You would have kept running.”

Anger flashed in her blue eyes. She didn’t deny, though, she had run.

He stepped aside, so that she could get past him. And he advised her, “Run, Candace, run...”

She called him a name no lady should even know. But she was Candace. She’d fought in a foreign country. She’d fought in her own country. She was the toughest woman he knew. But when she walked past him, he noticed the faint sheen in her eyes. He had hurt her, and he hated himself for hurting her. But instead of reaching for her, he curled his fingers into his hands and resisted the urge.

He had to let her go.

And go she did. Her head held high, her chin up, Candace walked past him as if she didn’t know him. As if she didn’t care...

Had she cared? Had whatever Stacy had said to her compelled her to come back? To try to help save him from himself, or from Chekov?

And had he just thrown away whatever chance he might have had with her?

Like he’d resisted reaching for her, he resisted watching her walk away. Instead he lifted his head and met Viktor Chekov’s gaze. The man had avoided prison for so many years because he didn’t miss anything. He knew how to find and exploit the weaknesses of his enemies.

Had he just discovered Garek’s greatest weakness?

* * *

Candace’s eyes stung. But it wasn’t with tears. It was the cold that was getting to her. While she’d retrieved her long jacket and winter boots from coat check, she still wasn’t warm enough. The winter breeze penetrated her jacket and chilled her to the bone.

She should have used the valet parking. But she’d wanted easy access to her vehicle in case she’d needed it. Two blocks and an alley away wasn’t easy access, though. She shivered and blinked. But it wasn’t against tears. She was blinking away snowflakes.

They fell heavily, wetting her hair and dampening her jacket—chilling her even more. But maybe it was Garek’s words and his attitude that had chilled her most.

He hadn’t wanted her to come back.

She’d tried to pretend that night had never happened. She hadn’t realized that he would want to pretend the same thing—until she’d looked into his face and seen no memory of their encounter in his eyes. He had looked at her as if he’d never seen her naked.

As if that night had never really happened...

Had it?

Or had she dreamed it all?

Garek Kozminski had her doubting herself all over again. She’d thought she’d known him so well. But maybe she did. Maybe that was why he’d pushed her away like he had. He didn’t want her too close.

Not because of Tori Chekov. Just like she hadn’t seen any memory of their night on his face, she hadn’t seen any love for that woman on his face. He had lied to Logan about his reason for working for Viktor Chekov again.

Why? What was he really doing for the gangster?

For the past year she’d been claiming he hadn’t changed—that he was still the criminal he’d once been. Of course she’d had no evidence to back up her suspicion. She wasn’t even sure why she’d been so desperate to believe the worst of him. Because he’d irritated and frustrated her? Because she hadn’t wanted to acknowledge or give in to the attraction she’d felt for him?

But maybe she had been right about him after all. Had he gone back to his old life in every way?

She stepped off the sidewalk to pass through the alley to where her car was parked on the other side—on another street. The snow was deeper between the buildings as were the shadows. Her boots slipped on the snow-covered asphalt, but she regained her balance, catching herself before she fell.

She uttered a little gasp of surprise and relief, grateful she hadn’t fallen. Despite her jacket and boots, she wasn’t dressed warmly enough to take a tumble in the snow. So she slowed her steps, moving more carefully as she continued into the alley.

Maybe the person behind her was moving just as carefully or maybe the snow had cushioned his footsteps—because she didn’t hear him until his shadow fell across her. She barely had a moment to reach for her purse, to fumble for her gun, before he attacked.

Her purse fell from her shoulder, dropping—with the gun still inside—into the snow. She couldn’t use it to protect herself. And with her limbs numb from the cold, she wasn’t certain she could move quickly enough to fight off her attacker. He was big, his hands strong—as they wrapped around her neck. She couldn’t see his face, though. He wore a ski mask, but it wasn’t in deference to the cold. It was as a disguise. So she couldn’t identify him.

Why had he bothered? It was apparent he had no intention of letting her live.

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