Her Favourite Holiday Gift

Eric Nelson was staring slack-jawed with disbelief at the paper he held when the door to his temporary work space—a rarely used conference room at Taka-Hanson headquarters—opened. He glanced up to see his old friend Jack Hanson shoulder halfway past the doorjamb and pause.

“Am I interrupting?” Jack gripped the edge of the door. “I knocked, but—”

Eric shuffled the papers aside and shook off his preoccupation. “Not at all. What’s up?”

“Wanted to run something by you.” Jack crossed the room and sprawled in the chair on the opposite side of the expansive table. He pulled his chin back and studied Eric for a good long stretch. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost, pal. Everything okay?”

No. Everything was the opposite of okay. Eric glanced out the window at the gray Chicago skyline. Snow had begun to fall in fat, wet flakes.

Perfect backdrop for his mood.

He hadn’t hesitated when Jack asked him to represent Taka-Hanson for this trumped-up wrongful termination case. The two of them went back to their law-school years, and Eric never said no to a friend in need. The high-profile status of the case didn’t hurt either. He relished the challenge.

Or, he’d thought so until he’d read the name of the counsel for the plaintiff. Turning back from the window, Eric shook his head, aware he’d been lost in his own thoughts. “Yeah, I’m…Actually, let me ask you something.” He shoved his fingers through his already uncooperative hair, blew out a breath. He couldn’t bluff Jack Hanson. Did he really want to? “You remember much about law school?”

A wistfulness passed over Jack’s expression like swift-moving cloud shadow. Eric knew Jack still missed practicing law, though working for the family business had been the right move after the Hanson patriarch had passed away a few years ago. Losing Jack had been a blow to the law firm, though. One they still felt.

“Every minute of it,” Jack said. “Best years of my life, until I met my lovely wife, that is. Why?”

Eric grimaced. “The name Colleen Delaney ring a bell?”

Jack barked a short laugh and interlaced his fingers behind his head. “Your three-year headache?”

“Migraine,” Eric said, but it wasn’t the entire truth. She was also the woman who’d stolen his heart, then crushed it. But he’d ignore that aspect of the problem. “That woman was a pain in my—”

“Hot, though,” Jack pointed out, aiming a finger Eric’s way. “You have to admit that. And you did start out as friends, if memory serves.”

Eric shrugged, not about to touch on the topic of Colleen Delaney’s “hotness,” or what could’ve been a long-lasting friendship…maybe more…if things hadn’t spiraled horribly out of control. “Not for long.”

“What happened with that? You never told me.”

And he never would. I fell for her and she unceremoniously dumped me? Uh, no. That wasn’t an admission one guy made to another. “Our personalities didn’t mesh,” he said instead. “Butting heads with an obstinate woman isn’t my idea of a good time.” Making love to Colleen by the glow of the streetlight streaming into her apartment window? That had been a good time. Better, actually. It had been an emotional epiphany—or so he’d thought.

Jack nodded slowly. “You two did fight like an old married couple. You know, I always suspected there was something between the pair of you.”

Eric’s ears flamed. He tried to forget that magical night. One of their typical beer-infused legal debates had escalated into something more. So much more. Something amazing—until it all crumbled.

Talk about a colossal mistake.

After one unforgettable night spent in her bed, her personality had done a complete one-eighty. Before that, they’d debated in a friendly way, hung out, studied together and shared a mutual, sizzling attraction. Afterward, her steel walls had slammed down, leaving him strictly on the outside and without a key.

Clearly, he’d been a one-off. If only he’d known that before his heart had gotten involved. Oh, well. Once the sting of the dismissal eased, he’d realized it was for the best. Opposites may attract, but he and Colleen were more like water and electricity than yin and yang. Their kind of opposite was never good. At least, that’s what he told himself. “An old married couple who despised each other and never should’ve gotten hitched in the first place,” he said.

“Indeed.” Jack cocked his head to one side. “But why the blast from the past?”

“Seems the past is going to explode into the present.” He spun the paper he’d been reading around to face Jack. “Delaney’s representing Ned Jones.”

“You’ve got to be—” Jack leaned forward and scanned the paper, a slow grin spreading on his face. “I thought that old tight-ass Framus was at the helm?”

“So did I, but she works for the guy. Who knows what happened there.”

Jack chuckled. “What are the odds? That’s fantastic.”

“Fantastic?” Eric spread his arms wide. “The woman hates me. She made every day of law school a living hell. I was never so happy to bid someone a permanent farewell,” he said, unsure whether he was trying to convince Jack or himself. Colleen had always been headstrong. But after they’d spent the night tangled up in each other, Colleen Delaney, aka She Who Must Be Right, started to remind him way too much of his loud, competitive family. Almost as if she wanted him to think of her that way. Granted, she was physically beautiful, and he’d always felt a pull toward her. But her penchant for getting in your face and refusing to back down until she could claim victory dimmed her outward attributes and left him cold. He got his share of that sort of stress every time he had dinner at his parents’.

While he could admire her tenacious drive to succeed, he didn’t approve of her no-holds-barred tactics. Never had. It wasn’t his style and he didn’t like to be around people who played the game that way. Despite the fact they both practiced law in Chicago, he’d managed to steer clear of her for years. To face her on opposite sides of a high-profile case now? Hell on earth. “I can’t believe she popped up. Couldn’t be a worse time.”

“Like I said,” Jack repeated, “what are the odds?”

“It’s a nightmare I don’t need, Jack. I don’t think you understand the problems she’s going to cause with the case, simply because I’m on the other side.”

Jack let his hands drop to his lap as he studied Eric, a line of worry bisecting his brows. “You want out?”

“Hell, no. That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Thank God.”

Eric frowned. “I wouldn’t let you down like that. I’m deep into research and I think I’m onto something big. I’ve got an angle on this thing.”

“Care to share?”

Eric preferred to have all his facts checked and double-checked before sharing theories with a client. Even when that client happened to be a friend. “Let me follow a few more trails. I’ll give you a full report once I’m sure I’ve covered everything pertinent. We’re in good shape, though. Stand down all the worriers.”

Jack gave a quick nod. “Excellent. As for the Colleen Delaney curveball, you have my sympathy. All I can say is, everything happens for a reason.”

Right. Eric wasn’t so sure about that. There was no reason beyond karmic cruelty why fate would throw the two of them together again. “Enough of your philosophical rhetoric. I’ll handle Delaney. You wanted to run something by me?”

“Yeah. I need your opinion.” Jack rubbed the side of his hand against his jawline. “We’re bringing Robby Axelrod back from Tokyo to head up the latest hotel project here in Chicago. Any thoughts on how that decision might impact the case?”

Eric sat back, tapping his Mont Blanc pen on the stack of paper in front of him as he methodically puzzled through the myriad of possible ramifications. Ned Jones had filed a wrongful termination suit after having been fired from Taka-Hanson. He’d been about to blow the whistle on Axelrod’s—and by extension, Taka-Hanson’s—alleged shady construction practices. He claimed they cut corners to save money, skimped on safety, among a litany of other complaints, all at the direction of Robby Axelrod on behalf of the company.

Frankly, Eric thought Jones was full of it. Gut feeling. The guy reeked of disgruntled employee sniffing for a payout. Taka-Hanson needed to present a united front and hide nothing. Hence, bringing Axelrod back served their purpose. “It’s a good idea,” he said, finally. “Show the world Taka-Hanson backs Axelrod one hundred percent.”

Jack’s alert posture softened. “I hoped you’d say that. I feel the same way, but you’re the boss on this one.”

“Giving the man the reins on a massive new hotel project is a genius strategy, actually. Wish I’d thought of it.” Colleen Delaney wouldn’t agree with the decision, but he didn’t much care. “It reinforces our position that Ned Jones has a self-serving, ulterior motive unrelated to the company’s business practices.”

“Excellent.” Jack stood. “I’ll let you get back to it then. I know you’ve got other cases besides ours.” He headed for the door but turned back, one hand on the brushed-metal handle. “Not that you asked for my advice, but as far as this thing with Colleen Delaney? Deal with it just like you did in law school, pal.”

Eric snorted. “What—argue with her incessantly, then drink beer with my friends and complain?”

Jack grinned. “That’s one option. Before that route, though, try killing her with calmness. So to speak. No actual killing, of course.”

Eric cocked his head in question.

“Don’t you remember how that used to go down?”

“Guess I’ve blocked it out.” He’d blocked a lot about Colleen out because thinking of it, of her, of what could’ve been hurt too much.