Christmas Confidential: Holiday Protector by Pappano Marilyn & Conrad Linda

Author:Pappano, Marilyn & Conrad, Linda [Pappano, Marilyn]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9780373278015
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-11-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 2

Soft footsteps on the frozen alleyway alerted Gage that someone was coming. He crouched lower, losing himself in shadows between the Dumpster and the brick wall at his back.

The snow had stopped falling right after midnight, but temperatures dropped precipitously over the past few hours. Daybreak’s lavender light diffused his view of the back door to the jewelry shop. He could see well enough, though. If the person coming down the alley was the half owner of the store, the one he’d been waiting hours to see, she’d be within his view in a few seconds.

Flexing his fingers against the cold, Gage held his breath. A master at waiting under difficult circumstances, surveillance was his middle name.

Investigation was another one of his better talents. It hadn’t taken more than a few hours last night to come up with verification that a woman named Elana Kelly owned half interest in the jewelry store. That fact had been noted as part of the tax record. But there didn’t seem to be any address listed for her.

He’d also found a recent photo from an article in the local weekly featuring the artists and craftsmen around Piñon Lake. However, her photo was not of her face like those of the other artists. Her picture showed only her hands holding the brooch, the one designed like the Bar-C brand, and a necklace she’d made to go with it. Those hands, still the ones he’d dreamed of, gave her away without him seeing her face. This was the woman he sought.

The article went on to say she’d come to the town of Piñon Lake four years ago with her infant daughter and they’d been welcomed into the artistic community here. The idea of a baby threw him, so he spent the next few hours trying to find records on the birth of a child with that last name anywhere in California during that time frame. And came up with nada. Then he expanded the search to look for any trace of Elana Kelly anywhere in the world before she came here. He found a few by that name but none close in age.

Finding nothing threw big red flags up in his mind. He was good at internet research. Real good. If he couldn’t find anything, it was because there was nothing there to find. Whoever this woman was, she had not come into this world as Elana Kelly.

So who was she? Part of a witness protection program? The feds excelled at making up new backgrounds; he knew because his eldest brother had been an agent in the program at one time. But no background info at all seemed odd. Made him wonder if she was running from something—or someone.

At that fleeting thought, the figure of a woman slowly crept down the alley and stopped at the jewelry store’s door. Her back was to him as she fumbled to put a key in the lock and let herself in. He didn’t get a good look at her face, but she seemed the right size and height.

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