Jingle Spells (2 page)

“I suggest you be that driver,” Noelle said.

“I'd rather not.”

“Then who?” Noelle met his gaze. “This is our busiest time of year. Everyone's schedule is packed.”

“That's for sure,” Ethan said. “I'm booking talk show appearances as fast as I can to counteract the effect of Lark DeWynter's new bestseller.
The Christmas Lie
was just reviewed in the
New York Times
and it's playing havoc with Christmas cheer
.
I can fix that. I always do. But I have no spare time.”

“Elf personnel issues tend to peak about now,” Belle said. “It's the stress of the season, and with Kris potentially going off the rails, I—”

“I know.” Cole hadn't considered how this part of his plan would work, but he could see the trap closing on him.

“I have to agree with Noelle,” Dash said. “The driver should be someone with maximum clearance, which means it has to be one of us in this room, and we're all working on last-minute Christmas preparations. You, not so much. You're the logical candidate, big brother.”

“Okay.” Cole rubbed the back of his neck. “I'll take the driving duties.”

“In fact, you probably should shadow her while she's here,” Dash continued. “You know, keep close track of her and make sure she sticks to the program, literally.”

Cole met his brother's gaze. Mischief danced in those green eyes. “She's a professional, Dash.”

“If she's so professional, why did she hack into your database?”

That was an excellent question, one he'd been struggling with. “Maybe for old times' sake, to prove she could. I don't know, but I'll find that out, too. I can assure you, excessive monitoring of her activities won't be necessary.”

“Maybe not.” Dash winked at him. “But I'll bet it would be fun.”

Cole glanced away before Dash could read his reaction. Oh, yeah. Monitoring Taryn would be more fun than he'd had in ten years. But indulging in that kind of fun would land both of them in an untenable position. He wouldn't do that to himself, and he certainly wouldn't do that to her.

Chapter 2

T
aryn Harper powered down her computer, picked up her glass of red wine, and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows to admire the view. Her high-rise luxury apartment faced the Seattle harbor, and this time of year it sparkled with festive lights. Christmas was a big deal for a girl born on December 25, and she always made sure to party hearty.

This year she had more elaborate plans than usual, because she was about to hit the big three-oh. She was the highest wage earner among her family and friends, so she'd decided to foot the bill for a Christmas Day cruise through the San Juan Islands. Yes, it might be a tad chilly on deck, but the music and dancing and food inside would keep people warm and happy.

And she would be happy, too, damn it. So what if she didn't have a yummy guy to invite as her date on the cruise? So what if all her friends had either a serious boyfriend or a husband, and a few had kids, too? She wasn't in some relationship competition with them, and besides, being unattached allowed her to concentrate on a job that she loved, a job that allowed her to live very well.

But a girl about to turn thirty might logically take stock of her situation and look for loose ends to tie up before launching into her third decade. In Taryn's case, that meant settling the Cole Evergreen question.

She'd never found out why he had dumped her ten years before, and a lack of resolution made forgetting him near impossible. Well, that, and the memory or how perfect they'd been for each other, mentally and sexually. She needed to talk to the guy, and she knew exactly how to get his attention.

Last night she'd hacked into the Evergreen Industries database and left a clear message—
You're vulnerable. Call me. I can fix it.
If he was still the Cole she'd known and loved, she figured he would respond to that. But he hadn't called, and waiting was no fun.

Maybe he hadn't found it yet. Maybe he'd found it and was discussing it with his staff. Maybe he was discussing it with whatever woman was currently in his life. He wasn't married. She'd researched that.

But she was prepared to discover that he was involved with someone. At twenty-two he'd been so beautiful—brilliant green eyes, luxurious dark hair and an amazingly taut body for someone who didn't put much effort into keeping in shape. And he could make love like no one she'd found since. Add to that his intelligence and his adorable tendency to blurt out the truth, no matter what, and he'd been all she'd ever wanted in a man.

There was the rub. She'd compared every guy who'd come along after to Cole. No one else had stood a chance. And that was why she lived alone in this elegant apartment overlooking the harbor, and why she would be dateless for her birthday party.

Draining her glass, she turned away from the view.

Her intercom buzzed before she'd made it to the kitchen to start dinner. Setting down her wineglass, she walked to the front door and pressed the button connected to the lobby's video camera. She wasn't expecting anyone. And then she spotted the man standing in the lobby talking to Tom, the security guard, and nearly had a heart attack. Never in her wildest dreams had she thought Cole would appear in person, and unannounced, at that. She pushed the intercom button. “Hi, Tom.”

“Hello, Miss Harper. You have a visitor. Shall I send him up?”

She gulped. “Yes.” The elevator was fast. He'd be here in no time. Running into the bathroom, she finger-combed her short curls, but she couldn't change clothes or put on makeup, or—damn it! Her doorbell was already chiming.

Heart pounding, she made herself walk back to the front door, but she was shaking. She fumbled with the lock and finally managed to open it, but her head buzzed from a massive adrenaline rush. “Cole?”

Those emerald green eyes hadn't lost a fraction of their intensity. His gaze swept over her in typical Cole fashion, as if he were taking inventory. “Hello, Taryn. May I come in?”

“Sure.” Doing her best to breathe normally, she stepped back from the door.

He strode through it confidently. His long wool coat, black as his hair, carried with it the cool tang of December in Seattle. There was another scent, too. Apparently he still wore his distinctive peppermint aftershave.

In college he'd shaved twice a day, especially if they were spending the night together. Judging from the smoothness of his square jaw, he'd used a razor sometime in the past hour. One whiff of his freshly applied aftershave rocketed her back to long winter nights spent in his bed.

Dear God, her physical reaction to him hadn't changed. He showed up and instantly her body became welcoming, yielding and decidedly moist. How inconvenient, especially because he didn't look particularly happy to see her. No smile, no warmth, only a strong sense of purpose, which she recognized from the old days.

He'd identified a problem and he'd come up with a solution. Once Cole Evergreen saw his way through an issue, he proceeded with single-minded intent. But she couldn't figure out why he had come
here
instead of contacting her by phone or even by email. That didn't seem particularly efficient.

He pulled off his black leather gloves and turned to her. “It's about the database.”

“I figured.” She noticed he wasn't wearing a wedding ring, confirming her intel about him not being married. The coat underscored the drama that had always lurked beneath the surface of this complicated, beautiful man. As he unbuttoned it, her quick survey confirmed that he hadn't let himself get soft in the middle. “Can I take your coat?” she asked.

“I'm not here to chat, Taryn. Obviously I need your services. Knowing your talent, the job shouldn't take long. Two or three days, at most. Can you leave tonight?”

She stared at him. “I beg your pardon?”

“I want to hire you, exactly as you suggested. You're the only person who's ever hacked into my database, so I want you to fix whatever weaknesses are there. The situation is critical. I'd like you to start tomorrow. Can you do that?”

“No, I can't do that!” She'd expected a response, a conversation, maybe even a request that she correct the problem, but not with this kind of urgency. “Look, Cole, I—” She'd thought bringing up the past would be relatively easy, and maybe it would have been on the phone. But face-to-face, her courage failed her. “Just because I did it, don't get paranoid and think you have a huge security problem. You don't. I was able to get in because I know your design habits, which made it easier for me.”

“What prevents you from coming with me tonight?”

“That's none of your business.”

“You hacked into my database. That makes it my business.”

She wished that his forceful pursuit of a goal didn't turn her on so much. But she remembered he'd been that way in bed, too. Her pleasure had been his goal at all times, and wow, had he delivered on that promise.

He sighed and glanced away. “I'm sorry. I'm going about this all wrong.”

Oh.
Her heart gave a familiar lurch, as it used to do anytime he revealed the vulnerability beneath his determined exterior. With a flash of insight, she understood the motivation behind his steamrolling behavior. She'd embarrassed him by hacking into a system he'd designed.

Chances were he hadn't kept the situation to himself, either. “Who knows I hacked in?” she asked gently. “Besides you, I mean.”

His attention returned to her, his expression resigned. “Everyone at the administration level of the business, which includes both my brothers, my sister and our new head of security. I had to tell them.”

No, he didn't
have
to tell them, but she should have guessed that he would. His unflinching honesty and sense of responsibility would have forced him to admit that his database wasn't a hundred percent secure, no matter how painful that admission had been for him to make.

She hadn't thought of that possibility. She'd somehow imagined this would be a little game between the two of them, but instead his whole family was now involved. That was unfortunate.

“I regret pulling such a stupid stunt, then,” she said. “I have no defense, really. I was curious about what you were up to, so I poked around until I found your company, and then I couldn't resist trying to crack your code.”

For the first time, a spark of humor lit his eyes. “Well, that's typical.”

“I know. And I have to say, it was fun figuring out how to unlock the database.”

The corner of his mouth curved in something that resembled a smile. “You always did relish the idea of outsmarting me.”

“I did. It gave me a challenge.” She'd missed their intellectual sparring more than their sex, and that was saying something. “But I'm sorry you're on the hook because of my prank.”

“Then get me off the hook, Taryn. Come to Colorado and strengthen my security so even you can't get in.”

It was a gold-plated opportunity to have her personal question answered. But if she was still attracted to him, and he was over her, spending a few days working together could be hard on her ego.

He cleared his throat. “You do realize I'll compensate you for your time, right?”

“Well, yeah. You said in the beginning you wanted to hire me, so that usually involves money.” She wished she could figure out what was going on in that excellent brain of his. “Unless you had some other type of compensation in mind?”

Heat flared in his eyes for just a moment. “No.”

Interesting. That bit of heat had indicated he wasn't totally immune to her. But he might not be available. “Forgive me if that was inappropriate. You probably have a steady girlfriend. Maybe even a fiancée.” She could at least satisfy her curiosity on that score.

“I don't.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

She waited to see if he'd ask about her love life. He did not. So if she'd cherished a tiny hope that he had something besides business on his mind, she should kill that hope right now. Once she'd thought he was in love with her, but then he'd abandoned her without a word. She'd been hurt and confused, but she hadn't been able to convince herself that his feelings had been bogus.

Perhaps she should finally face the possibility that he'd grown tired of her and hadn't wanted to say so. Honest as he was, he would have blurted the truth if she'd asked him. She wanted to ask now, but she hesitated. Sad to say, he still had the power to hurt her.

He focused his green eyes with laser precision. “Are you in the middle of a project you can't leave for a few days? Is that the stumbling block?”

“As it happens, no. I only take small local jobs in December, so I have time to celebrate Christmas and my birthday.” It was the truth, but she didn't mind that it also served as a little dig. Ten years ago she'd invited him home for Christmas and her birthday, and he'd accepted. Then he'd bailed without an explanation.

“Right. Your birthday.” His expression once again became difficult to decipher. “I promise you'll be back here long before then. I remember how much you looked forward to Christmas.”

“I do.”

He glanced at her tree. “But if it's Christmas cheer you're after, you'll find plenty of it in Gingerbread. It's Christmas year-round there, but winter snow adds a lot to the ambiance.”

“I saw the pictures online when I was looking up Evergreen Industries. Cute little town.” The landscape had reminded her of the long walks in the snow at MIT when she and Cole had been lovers. They'd often debated the merits of some new computer technology, and whenever they'd disagreed on some obscure point, the argument usually had turned into a snowball fight, which led to kissing, which led to racing back to his apartment to have sex.

“I've booked you a room at the Nutcracker Inn.”

His comment detoured her trip down memory lane. “You've already booked me a room?”

“It seemed like a good idea. They're extra busy in December. The place is loaded with Old World charm. All the rooms have feather beds, and yours is one of the few with a woodburning fireplace.”

“I admit that's tempting.”

“There's more. The proprietor, Mrs. Gustafson, bakes apple strudel every morning. She brings a tray to your door with warm strudel, fresh-squeezed orange juice and hot coffee.”

“Sounds pretty cozy.” Too bad when she pictured staying at the Nutcracker Inn, she automatically put Cole in the picture, too. He wouldn't be there, and she needed to remember that.

“It is cozy. Or so I'm told by anyone who's stayed there.”

“You mentioned hot coffee as if that's a selling point. Don't tell me you're a coffee drinker at last.”

“Nope.”

“Wuss.” She used to tease him about that all the time.

He smiled. “Addict.” His gaze held hers, and his voice softened. “Whatever happened to those big glasses you used to wear?”

“Got contacts.” As she looked into his eyes, she remembered another very important thing. Before they'd been lovers, they'd been good friends. Sex had been an enhancement of that friendship, at least in her mind. But sex had raised the stakes, too. At the time he'd left, they'd been so deeply enmeshed that they couldn't have dialed back the relationship to a friendship level.

After ten years, though, they ought to be able to do that. She'd like to stay in touch. Not many people communicated on the intellectual level that she and Cole had.

“Okay,” she said. “I'll take the job.”

His shoulders sagged with relief. “Thank you. That means a lot to me.”

“I'm doing it as a friend, though. I'll be insulted if you try to pay me.”

“That's not right. You should be paid your going rate. In fact, because I'm hauling you away during the holidays, you should get more than your going rate.”

She folded her arms. “Then you're willing to insult me?”