Clandestine Christmas. Elle James

doesn’t it?”

      “Which is?”

      “I owe you one.”

      Finally, the door closed behind him and Hannah leaned against the desk and rubbed her forehead. What, exactly, did she do to deserve today?

      It seemed that no sooner had the door closed, it opened again.

      She glanced at the message in her hand, then at Elliott Blackstone. While she didn’t think she’d ever completely recover from the shock of seeing Chad again, now that she’d had a little time to collect her thoughts, she couldn’t help wondering how much money was involved. Start-up costs for Seekers had drained more of her savings account than she’d expected. Then there was the plumbing that needed to be replaced; wiring that needed to be brought up to code. If this trace was as important as she was coming to suspect, then it could mean some much-needed earnings.

      “Give me five minutes, Hannah. That’s all I ask.” A breath expanded Elliott’s cheeks.

      She caught herself absently running her fingertip along the name listed on the phone message then nodded.

      Elliott immediately seemed to relax as he said, “Okay. Two weeks ago I extended bail to two people. Normally that wouldn’t be important, but one thing makes these two different from the rest. Enough that they made the news.” He paused for a moment. “Money.”

      Hannah tried to concentrate. To forget Stokes had thrown down a professional gauntlet she had no intention of picking up. To wipe from her mind that Chad waited on the other side of the door. “You deal in five-and-dime cases, Elliott. Small time.”

      “Normally, yes, but no one else would take these two, so I made an exception.”

      She latched on to the critical tone in his voice. “Who are they?”

      “Two employees of PlayCo arrested for grand larceny.”

      “Grand larceny?” She pushed her hand through her hair. “PlayCo’s a toy company. What did they take? Mickey Mouse’s pants?”

      Shaking his head, Elliott tried for a smile, and failed miserably. “I wish it were that simple. My brother-in-law is the attorney for these two. I made bail as a favor to him. They were due for a preliminary hearing this morning and…well, you know the rest.”

      “How much do you stand to lose?”

      Elliott swallowed visibly and named an amount.

      Hannah dropped her arms from where they were crossed over her chest. She didn’t know what shocked her more: the reappearance of Chad in her life or Elliott’s atypical behavior. She decided Chad definitely came out a painful first.

      “Like I said, it was a favor.” Elliott glanced at his recently chewed fingernails. “Look, I could go on all day about how this was a first offense. About how they had worked for the company for ten years and all that, but I won’t.” He paused. “The fact is I put up the bond and they skipped.”

      Hannah drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out, trying to come to terms with everything that had happened in the past ten minutes. Ten minutes. Six hundred seconds. Such a short time, really. A short time she was afraid would affect every minute of her life thereafter.

      Elliott wasn’t joking when he said he was in danger of closing down. If made to pay the amount of the bond, not only would his office be history, but Elliott himself would probably be paying off the debt for his next two incarnations.

      “Why call Chad in?” She recrossed her arms over her chest.

      “He’s the best there is, aside from you.” His expression was earnest. “Hannah, I need every ounce of manpower I have for this one. I swear, if I lose this place you might as well dig a hole for me six feet under. And don’t think I’m exaggerating. As much as I complain and manipulate, this business is my life.” Elliott shifted uneasily. “So…what do you say? Will you postpone your plans for Seekers and take this last one on?”

      Hannah thought about her daughter, the cost of the day-care center she’d wanted to enroll her in and the one she’d chosen instead because it was more reasonably priced. If she succeeded in this trace, she’d be able to afford to send Bonny to the other one…plus a whole lot more.

      “Does it mean working with Chad?”

      Relief colored Elliott’s ruddy features. “That’s up to you.”

      “You have files on these guys?”

      He pushed a thin manila folder across the desk. “Here. Only they’re not both guys.” Hannah looked at him. “One is a woman.”

      “What is this?” She examined the single sheet of paper in the file. The application form was skimpy at best, half the blanks left empty.

      “Like I said, this was a favor.”

      “Yes, you said that. What did you do? Just sign the bond without the normal paperwork? This isn’t like you, Elliott.”

      “Believe me, if I had known this was going to happen, I would have got more.”

      “It says here that the jumpers put their houses up.”

      “Expensive houses, too. The only problem is they’re mortgaged to the hilt. Not worth the dirt they’re built on to me.”

      “I don’t know, El…” She stepped away from the desk and chairs, pulling down the front ends of her vest. “Finding these two would be like finding—”

      “I know, I know. Like finding needles in a haystack the size of Europe.”

      Accepting the case meant more than postponing the opening of Seekers. It meant working with Chad again. A very risky prospect indeed. She wouldn’t even consider working against him. She might be afraid of what the man could do to her personal life, but she wouldn’t make the mistake of misjudging his professional talent.

      She slid her hand into her pocket, fingering the message inside. Anyway, maybe it was time Chad knew the truth. The thought alone choked off her breath.

      “Exactly how much money did you say there’d be in it for me?” she asked.

      Elliott named an absurdly high figure.

      “I’m in.”

      “Good.” Elliott leapt to his feet. “You have four days.”

      “Four days?”

      “If you don’t bring them in within four days, you miss out on the money and I lose my business. Hell, I’m lucky the judge even rescheduled the hearing.”

      Four days wasn’t much time, Hannah thought. That came out to two days apiece to find each bail-jumper.

      “No problem.”

      Chapter Two

      Heat pressed in on Hannah from all sides as she left Blackstone Bail and Bonds. But the external heat didn’t concern her half as much as the emotions expanding inside her. She drew to a stop, as much to adjust to the change in temperature as to face Chad where he leaned against the building.

      It was like someone had clipped an image from her memory and pasted it right in front of her: his right shoulder casually propped against the brick of the building; his hands stuffed into the pockets of his faded jeans; his legs crossed at the ankles, emphasizing the dusty cowboy boots he always wore.

      Even as she compared him to the image, she noticed some changes that didn’t match up. Details that went beyond the physical.

      When she’d known him before, there had been a sadness about him, a grief she’d later learned stemmed from the death of his wife and child in a car crash he’d refused to go into detail about. Now? Well, now he looked…more distant, somehow. Harder.

      “Elliott really bought himself one this time, didn’t he?” Chad’s