“You basically need somebody to play hostess to your family.”
“Wow. In a manner of speaking, I suppose that’s exactly what I need.”
What he needed was a wife. But of course, she could never say that.
“Look, I’m the first to admit, I have many bad habits,” he said. “One of them is a single-minded focus on whatever project I’m working on. I can get a phone call and forget everything else but solving whatever problem is on the other end. If that happens, I would love to know somebody else is here besides Sue to make sure my family doesn’t feel ignored.”
She wanted to suggest he just turn his phone off but, again, it wasn’t her business.
“The job would include room and board for you and Maddie as well as a salary I think you’ll find more than fair,” he said, naming a gulp-worthy sum that made actually made her palms begin to sweat.
“That’s entirely too much.”
“I promise, you will earn every penny of it. My family is great but they’re crazy and wild, too.”
She didn’t know how to answer him. On the one hand, this would be an answer to her prayers. Working and staying at Snow Angel Cove through the holidays would give her a little breathing room, time to send out some feelers about who might be hiring and to really plan out her next step instead of jumping out of desperation into a job that might not be a good fit.
In addition, the compensation he was offering for only a few weeks would provide a much-needed financial cushion to tide them over for several months.
She wasn’t a fool, however. Was Aidan making this offer because he genuinely needed help or was it driven by his guilt over hitting her with his SUV?
Could she really afford to let that matter to her?
“It’s late,” he said after a moment. “You don’t have to make a decision about this right now. Think about it overnight. I do think Maddie would have fun playing with my niece and nephew. Carter is just about her age. He’s a real character but fun. His sister, Faith, is a few years older and one of the sweetest girls you’ll ever meet. The other kids are older but they’re all really decent human beings.”
“I will think about it,” she said, even though she already knew what her answer would be. She wasn’t particularly thrilled about working for anyone connected to Caine Tech, especially not the founder and CEO, but she had to be pragmatic. For room, board and a salary like that—not to mention the chance to give Maddie a safe, comfortable, welcoming place for Christmas—she would be a fool to refuse.
The past three Christmases had been tough, all the way around. Trent had died in November three years earlier. That year the holidays had been a blur of shock and pain and sorrow. The past two years, Maddie had been in the hospital.
The chance to spend the holidays here in this lovely home where her daughter could experience a genuine family Christmas was too choice to pass up.
She climbed up from the window seat, doing her best not to wince at her various and sundry aches and pains. “We both need to try to sleep tonight. Thank you for checking on me. As you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”
He rose as well, his T-shirt clinging again to those unexpected muscles. “I’m glad,” he said with a slow, sexy smile that made her toes tingle.
Oh, for crying out loud, she chided herself. The man was a gazillionaire who probably had his pick of any hot-bodied bimbo he wanted. He would never be interested in someone like her, a frazzled mom wearing pajamas she bought at a big box store and wrapped in a blanket.
Even if he were interested, for some unfathomable reason, she certainly wasn’t. Right? Not in Aidan Caine, who was brilliant and gorgeous and dangerous.
“Good night,” she murmured quickly and hurried to her room before he could even answer.
When she slipped back into the cool covers, her daughter made a tiny sound in her sleep but didn’t awaken. Eliza lay in the darkness while the storm flung snowflakes against the window, listening to the miracle of her daughter’s breathing, as she had done so many times before.
While she might be reluctant to stay at Snow Angel Cove for a plethora of reasons, she would do it for one reason only. Her child.
SHE ACHED IN every single joint and muscle.
Even her eyelids hurt—though she had no idea why. It seemed a good enough excuse to keep them closed, even though her internal biorhythms sensed daylight.
She wanted to roll over and try to go back to sleep but even that seemed like too much effort right now.
With great exertion, she managed to wrench her eyes open, only to find a curious little face about an inch and a half away from hers.
“Mama! Are you awake?”
“Mmmph,” she mumbled. Even that hurt.
“Come on. Get up. It snowed so much last night! You have to see!”
Maddie bounced on the bed in her enthusiasm, unleashing a whole host of new aches and pains. Eliza swallowed her groan and opened her eyes fully. Maddie beamed and bounced on the bed again.
Her delight in the world around her, how she embraced each day with excitement and joy, filled Eliza’s heart with a little burst of joy, even when the rest of her hurt.
“Good morning, Miss Maddie.”
“It snowed so much!” she repeated eagerly. “You have to see. Hurry, Mama, before it all melts!”
Eliza had a feeling she wasn’t going to be hurrying anywhere for quite some time. She drew in a deep breath and pushed away the blanket then swung her legs to the floor.
Maddie waited eagerly while she wrapped the throw over her shoulders again and dutifully padded over to the window. When she looked out, a small laugh escaped her. Wow. Maddie wanted her to see the snow before it melted. Judging by the scene outside the window, that happy event wouldn’t be until April, at the earliest.
Maybe not even until May.
The snow covered everything in heavy, deep mounds. Even the pines wore thick white coats, with hardly a bit of green showing through.
As she expected in the night, the view from the house was spectacular. The vast lake—her research before deciding on the move to the area had taught her the lake was seven miles across and fifteen miles long—gleamed a bright, vivid blue in contrast to the blinding white snow everywhere else. The raw, dramatic mountains rose up almost from the water’s edge.
“Isn’t it pretty, Mama? Don’t you just love it? I want to build a snowman right now! Can we?”
Yeah, that wasn’t happening at the moment, when she could barely walk. “Why don’t we go look for breakfast first and then we’ll see how things go?”
“Okay. I am hungry.”
“We need to get dressed first. Can you find some clothes in your suitcase?”
Maddie nodded and unzipped her case. “Can Bob and me visit the horses today?” she asked as she was pulling out her favorite sweater which, not surprisingly, had a horse appliqué sewn on the front. “Mr. Aidan said I could if you let me.”
“That would be fun. You have to do some homework first before we do anything else right? While I’m in the shower, finish changing out of your pajamas and try to finish a worksheet or two.”
Maddie, predictably, made a face at that but agreed.
Eliza had decided not to enroll her into a new kindergarten class until after Christmas so her daughter didn’t have so many transitions