Harlequin Holiday Collection - Four Classic Seasonal Novellas

her tiny one-bedroom apartment overlooking the mountain ranges beyond the city. At five on a Monday morning Kenner City was barely awake. It was December 19 and the temperature was about forty degrees. The only snow she would likely see would be atop those mountains that framed her view.
    Nothing like home.
    What Olivia needed was a cup of coffee and a shower. After all, she was the one, much to her family’s dismay, who’d decided to leave Boston. After several years as a biochemist for a New England medical research company, she’d ditched her parents’ dream and headed west to work as a forensic scientist in law enforcement.
    But the last few days she’d begun to have her doubts about her decision. It was almost Christmas and she was lonely.
    What she needed was to put up a Christmas tree. That would surely lift her spirits. Today, after work. No more putting it off. She was going to dive in to the holiday spirit.
    Two hours later she parked her aging Volvo in the rear lot of the annex building on the outskirts of the city. The building wasn’t impressive—a halfhearted effort on the part of the powers-that-be at providing space for the new crime lab. Though the third-floor facilities were far from cutting-edge, Callie McBride, the lead scientist, had put together an outstanding team.
    Olivia was early as usual. Callie, who seemed to live in her office, was already on the job. The only other person who consistently arrived early was Jacob Webster, the most experienced member of the team. Olivia’s pulse skipped at the thought of those precious few minutes she would have alone with him before the rest of the lab personnel filtered in.
    It was silly. Truly it was. Olivia tucked her purse and jacket into her assigned locker and shouldered into her lab coat. She just couldn’t help herself. Maybe it was because she was so far from home. Or the fact that it was almost Christmas. Whatever. There was just something about the man that made her foolish heart react in a wholly uncharacteristic way.
    She took a breath and braced for the impact of seeing him. He was several years older than her thirty—forty or forty-one, maybe. His hair was still dark, no sign of gray. But it was his eyes that really got to her. She melted each time she had the pleasure of peering into those deep, rich brown eyes. He was tall, obviously worked out and he had that movie-star classic profile. Strong jaw, perfect nose. Olivia shook her head as she moved to her station. She had to stop this. The man scarcely knew she was alive.
    Still, she glanced across the lab to where he worked, fully engrossed—completely unaware of her presence.
    Maybe this silly crush had nothing to do with being so far from home or the holidays…maybe it was that ridiculous concept of a woman’s biological clock. After all, Olivia was barreling toward thirty-one. Never married, hardly any past relationships to speak of.
    Whatever it was, she had to regain her perspective. After two months, it was clear Jacob Webster wasn’t interested.
    “Olivia, I need a word with you.”
    Olivia jumped. Too preoccupied with adolescent adulation, she hadn’t realized Callie was right behind her. “Sure.” She offered her boss a bright smile, but the frustration etched across the other woman’s face dragged Olivia’s lips into a frown. “Is something wrong?”
    “Why don’t we talk in my office?”
    If Jacob had looked up from his work when she came in, he wasn’t looking now. Olivia was glad. Any time Callie McBride had that look things were far from good.
    In her office, Callie took a seat, as did Olivia, and got straight to the point. “I’m very pleased with your work so far. However, when I give you an assignment with a deadline, I expect that deadline to be met. At the very least, I expect to be kept abreast of any reason that can’t happen.”
    Confusion joined the anxiety twisting away at Olivia’s insides. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand. All my assignments have been completed. In exactly the time frame I was given.” This made no sense at all.
    Callie’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “I asked you to have the Tanner case results in by five yesterday , so that I would be prepared for my eight o’clock briefing this morning.”
    Now Olivia was utterly dumbfounded. “I e-mailed the complete file to you. Just as you instructed.”
    Callie gave her head a little shake. “I don’t have it. And I need it—” she glanced at the clock on the wall