His Christmas Assignment. Lisa Childs

      “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?”