Protecting Holly. Lynn Bulock

laughed. “Nobody can grouse when they don’t get a Christmas card from me this year.”

      She wasn’t about to tell Jake that nobody ever got a Christmas card from her except a few of the people she volunteered with at the Galilee Women’s Shelter. By the time she was done sending out all the business-oriented ones from the office most years, she was tired of looking at them. And this year nobody was going to get those, either.

      “Hey, there are always fruitcakes.” That was what made working with Jake so much fun. He had a quick wit and sharp sense of humor. “No absolutely necessary meetings from inside today?”

      Holly shook her head. “I made sure you were off the list for anything but the highest alert levels from the regional field office or Washington. You should be able to make Barclay your only priority for as long as it takes.”

      “Ah, Holly, you’re too good to me.” She wasn’t sure what made her smile back so quickly—the words or the smile that went with them. Both made her feel just a little more inclined toward taking care of Jake Montgomery.

      His door closed and Holly stared at it with a sigh. What would be more dangerous…Jake remaining happily oblivious about how much she cared for him, or Jake knowing just how much she cared? Either one broke her heart. In the long run, she decided, going back to her cooling coffee and insistent computer screen, having Jake know she cared would be even more dangerous. Because there was no way there could ever be anything between her and a man like Jake Montgomery.

      Four hours later Holly was ready to wring her boss’s gorgeous neck. “For a man who doesn’t want to be disturbed, you sure are disturbing me plenty,” she said, coming into the office with his latest request off the shared printer down the hall. He had his own printer in the office, but it wasn’t of the quality of the networked one, nor could it handle some of the bigger demands he put on it. So Holly was the one bouncing up and down getting what he’d ordered.

      This was on top of fending off all the calls from everyone who was sure Jake wanted to talk to them and the requests for other computer work from bureau personnel around the state who kept getting put on Jake’s ever growing waiting list. By the time he finished up Barclay’s evidence, he was going to have enough other cases to keep him busy until Memorial Day of next year, Holly was sure. And lucky her, she would be the one placating all those people while they groused about why Jake hadn’t gotten back to them yesterday.

      Jake glanced over the documents she brought in. “Thanks. There’s got to be a pattern in this someplace. Maybe if I rearrange it and print it out a couple more times I’ll have the basis to his algorithm.”

      His harried comment told her that Jake was still trying to crack the passwords to get into Barclay’s private files. More than likely, there were passwords on top of passwords. Jake would be a bear to be around until he’d found at least one or two levels of them. After a moment of her standing in front of the desk, Jake looked up again. “Something else?”

      “We had a lunch date at twelve-thirty, remember?”

      Startled, he looked at his watch. “It can’t be that late. But it is.” He stood, setting the papers aside. “Right. Want to ride with me?”

      “Sure. Let me get my purse and I’ll be ready to go. But I’m not using my ‘in’ with the police department to get you out of any speeding tickets.”

      Jake grinned. “You won’t have to. I think Sam told them to lay off me for the minor stuff as long as I’m working for the task force,” he said with a teasing grin. “Besides, it’s lunch hour in the middle of the city. I can’t go fast enough anyplace to get a ticket.”

      He was right there. The short trip to the Stagecoach Café only took about ten minutes anyway, and before they knew it Jake and Holly were sitting beside the crackling fire, looking at the specials. She was happy to see that Aunt Lidia had put chili on the menu today, along with her famous minestrone. A baked potato loaded with Lidia’s chili was just the thing to take the chill off the day. Holly didn’t have to look any further on the menu.

      They ordered and sat waiting for their food. Jake pulled out his leather-bound PDA, turning it on and looking over at Holly. “We’ve been working together too long for me to pull one over on you.”

      “No such thing as a free lunch,” Holly said with a sigh. “What’s this one going to cost me?”

      “Not as much as you might think. Just a little bit of Christmas shopping. You work with the shelter my mom’s so involved in, don’t you?”

      She was surprised he’d noticed, even at the gala in October. “Galilee? Sure I do.” It was on the tip of her tongue to ask what that had to do with anything, but she held off. Jake never kept her in suspense long.

      “I never know what to get Mom for Christmas. It’s the one gift I usually stew over all of December and frankly this year I don’t have the time. I figured maybe you could figure out something the shelter needs and arrange to get it done in her name.”

      He told her what her budget was and Holly’s eyes widened. She didn’t spend that much on her own mom if she added up gifts for a decade. But then, she wasn’t a Montgomery, either.

      Their food came, and the waitress served it quickly and left. Holly was ready to ask him what else he needed done when a silky voice greeted him someplace close behind her. “Jake, fancy seeing you here. Please, don’t get up.”

      The tone of the woman’s voice said she didn’t mean that, but Jake took her at her word. Holly looked back at the petite blonde, dressed for the Colorado winter in a ridiculously formfitting leather jacket with fur trim. It was the kind of “fun” coat that only someone with as much money as the Montgomerys, and far less common sense, would own.

      “Zoe Taylor, Holly Vance. Holly’s my assistant, Zoe.” The woman’s speculating look eased a little. Not that Holly could imagine this woman seeing her as a threat.

      “Ah. Business lunch?”

      “The first of many, I’m afraid. Which is why I left that message on your machine last night canceling our date for the mayor’s Christmas party.”

      Zoe’s full pink lips drew into a pout. “I heard it, and I think you’re mean, Jake. How on earth do you think I’ll get someone else to go with me at this late date? You can’t possibly cancel.”

      “I can, I’m afraid. Already have if you remember. Why don’t you give my cousin Brendan a call, see what he’s doing? Or if you like, I could do it for you…”

      Zoe backed off in horror. “No, that won’t be necessary. I can still get my own dates to charity functions. I’ll see you later, Jake.”

      After Zoe left, Holly and Jake finished their meal in relative silence and before she knew it, Holly was back in the front passenger seat of the red Escalade. It was a reminder of the passing seasons that Jake had garaged his sports car for the winter and brought out the heavier vehicle, still the same deep, glossy red as the Viper. “Okay, now where are we going?” she asked as Jake pulled out of the restaurant parking lot in the opposite direction she expected.

      “Courthouse. I need to get one more thing from Rose.” Jake was silent for two blocks, whistling thinly through his teeth.

      “That’s odd,” he blurted, making the turn for the courthouse’s underground garage.

      “What is it?” It was a rare thing for Holly to see her boss agitated over something while driving.

      “I thought for a minute…” Jake trailed off, checking frequently in the rearview mirror. “No, must have been mistaken. There are so many dark-blue SUVs around here. I can’t have really seen the same one three times in the course of one afternoon.”

      Holly was inclined to agree with him. But if she did, what was making the hair on the back of her neck underneath the tight dark-brown French braid start to prickle in apprehension?

      Chapter Two

      “Are