Snowbound With The Single Dad. Cara Colter

to give Noelle an awful headache, which worsened when Aidan came into the kitchen.

      Underneath his jacket, he had on an expensive shirt, pure white and possibly silk, not the kind of shirt you generally saw on the ranch. He exuded a presence of good grooming and good taste and subtle wealth that made the room seem too small and somewhat shabby.

      This whole idea was so ill conceived, Noelle decided desperately. Couldn’t she just announce the Old-Fashioned Country Christmas was a terrible mistake and send them all home? At the moment it seemed everyone, including her grandfather, the instigator, would be more than pleased by such a turn of events!

      “She told Tess the stove was dangerous,” her grandpa reported furiously. “You know how many kids we’ve had through this house without a single burn victim?”

      Yes, everyone would be more than pleased if an old-fashioned Christmas was canceled, except for Tess. Noelle’s eyes were drawn to her stillness.

      The little girl, in her candy-floss-pink outfit, with her gorgeous curls and pixie features, was standing off to the side, frozen as a statue, her hand resting on Smiley’s head, her wide eyes going back and forth between her Nana and Noelle’s grandfather.

      “That’s quite enough,” Noelle said quietly, making a small gesture toward Tess.

      All the adults in the room looked at the little girl.

      Noelle remembered the orphaned child she had been, and she reminded her grandfather of that with a glance and a loudly cleared throat.