His Christmas Assignment. Lisa Childs

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