She hated to see him become so obsessed with work that he missed out on this family holiday he had been planning since his surgery.
“Sometimes he gets like this. An idea comes to him and he can’t rest until he figures out how to make it work. It’s just one of his quirks. You learn to live with it.”
She wouldn’t be learning to live with it. She would be leaving Snow Angel Cove within the week and he would be taking his workaholic quirks back to California.
“It’s Christmas Eve. He should let his brain rest for a few hours and enjoy the moment with his family.”
“Maybe someone needs to go remind him of that. Someone whose opinion he cares about.”
Sue gave her a meaningful look that made Eliza flush. It wasn’t her place to offer opinions about anything—not that he would care what she thought.
“Good idea,” she answered smartly. “Let me know what he says.”
The other woman snorted. “You know I meant you, missy. At least go knock on his door and remind him dinner will be ready at seven sharp, whether he’s there or not.”
Eliza wanted to come up with some excuse to avoid the task—but how could she send Sue traipsing down the length of the house, maneuvering around kids and dogs, on her bad foot?
“Sure,” she said, trying to give in as gracefully as possible. “I have to round up Maddie, anyway, in order to change for dinner.”
Outside his office door, she paused for a moment and took a deep breath, willing down the silly butterflies that now seemed to be marching in time to The Nutcracker suite. Just as she reached a hand up to knock, the door opened from the other side and, abruptly, he was there.
He froze, looking confused and disoriented to find her outside his door.
“Oh. Hi.”
She didn’t know how to respond to that intense look in his eyes that made her feel young and giddy and very, very female.
“Sue just sent me to pry you out of your office. It’s nearly time for dinner.”
“Right. I set an alarm to remind myself. I was just heading that way.”
He looked exhausted, she thought, his eyes blurry through those sexy glasses and his hair sticking up as if he had been running his hand through it.
She could clearly see his scar, raw, white and terrifying. Glimpsing this rare vulnerability affected her far more profoundly than it should. If he walked out to see his family now, everyone would see it. Questions would fly like sparks going up the chimney and his big, dark secret would be out.
Should she tell him, or should she let the truth come out? She still believed he was wrong to withhold that information from his family, especially after meeting them and seeing their love for him.
She sighed. She couldn’t do it. She wouldn’t be sneaky like that. “Before you go out there, you should probably take a minute to, um, do something with your hair.”
“What’s wrong with my hair?”
“Nothing, really. It’s just...it’s sticking up a bit and your scar is showing.”
Telling herself it was no different from helping Maddie, she reached a hand up and pulled the locks gently back in place. He froze at her touch and then, for an almost imperceptible moment, she almost thought he leaned into her hand.
The air between them seemed to thicken, heavy with awareness, tension, all the unspoken emotions between them.
“Thank you,” he murmured. In his blue eyes, she saw gratitude and clear awareness. He knew she was helping him cover up something she thought should already be out in the open.
She dropped her hand quickly to her side. “I hope you would do the same for me, if I had a brain surgery scar I was foolishly trying to keep from my family.”
His laugh was low and rusty-sounding. “You know I would.”
“Of course, here’s another good way to keep secrets from them,” she said pointedly. “Invite them all to spend the holidays at your lovely home but then just hide out the whole time in your office. They’ll never suspect a thing.”
He looked rueful. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s been a crazy couple of days. I’ve got a last-minute project I’m trying to wrap up but I’m almost done.”
“Well, we told everyone seven for dinner. It’s close to that. Sue wanted me to let you know.”
“Thanks.”
She should walk away. Her time was not her own, after all. She still had to find Maddie and change her clothes and her daughter’s, run a comb through her hair, maybe add a little lipstick, and then help Sue set out the dishes for the Christmas Eve feast. On a subconscious level, she knew all that. Still, she couldn’t seem to make herself move away from him and the seductive warmth in those tired blue eyes.
“El. I need to—” he started to say but the doorbell rang before he could finish the thought.
“Probably a last-minute delivery,” she said, grateful for the distraction. “Those poor drivers, having to be out on Christmas Eve. I’ll grab one of the gift bags of cookies for him.”
She picked one up off the console table in the hallway where she kept extras and pulled open the door.
It wasn’t a delivery driver. It was a man in a uniform, looking handsome and friendly and delighted to be there.
“Jamie!” Aidan exclaimed. The happiness on his face as he spotted his brother just about took her breath away.
The other man just had time to give Eliza a flirtatious grin before Aidan grabbed him hard in a bear hug.
“You always have to make an entrance, don’t you? Last I heard, you couldn’t get leave.”
The guy extricated himself and picked up his suitcase to come inside. “It was a last-minute thing. I didn’t know until late last night, so I’ve spent all day catching stand-by flights.”
“You should have called! I could have sent transportation for you.”
Jamie—just younger than Aidan, she remembered—gave a cheeky grin. “Then it wouldn’t have been a surprise, right?”
She could tell right away this one was a troublemaking charmer. Good thing her heart was no longer available.
“Your father is going to be over the moon,” Eliza predicted with a smile.
Jamie turned to her and aimed all that mojo her direction. “Hello, there. I don’t think we’ve met. I’m James. Younger brother to Geek Boy, here.”
“I’m Eliza Hayward,” she said with a polite smile. “Aidan’s housekeeper. For the sake of the family, I’m glad you’re here. But you have no idea how hard it’s going to be to find a bed for you.”
Jamie raised an eyebrow. “Do you know, I believe that’s the first time any woman has ever said that to me before.”
He was obviously a player, an uncomplicated flirt—at least on the surface. Because she caught just a glimpse of deeper layers beneath the lightheartedness—and because Aidan was so obviously thrilled to have his entire family intact and at his home—she decided to like the man.
“I’m not picky,” he said. “I can sleep on an unused sofa or a couple of blankets on the floor. Even a pile of hay would work. Wouldn’t be the first time somebody in a pinch had to make do with that on Christmas Eve.”
“I think we can probably manage to keep you out of the stable,” she said dryly.
He grinned and draped an arm over his brother’s shoulder. They