The Home Is Where The Heart Is Collection. Maisey Yates
more patience, time and inclination deal with propagating the species, he had always figured.
Just went to show how stupid he could be about some things. What the hell was he thinking? This was just about the sweetest thing he could imagine, to have a little creature turn to you in full trust for warmth and security in a crazy, messed-up world.
Eliza opened the door to the cook’s quarters. The room smelled like her, like vanilla bean and citrus and summer flowers all mixed together. She had made the space their own over the past week, he was happy to see. Toys were piled in a big wicker basket next to the comfortable easy chair and a little Christmas tree stood on a table in the corner with presents underneath. She had piled throw pillows on the sofa and even hung a picture of a lovely cottage by the sea with a mother and daughter walking along the shore, hand in hand.
She was so good at making a space warm and inviting. He had walked through the guest rooms the other night and loved all the welcoming little touches she had created for his family.
“Where would you like me to put her?” he whispered.
She pointed to the bedroom and he followed her. Here, too, the space was theirs, with a pink comforter on one bed and another bright blue comforter splashed with purple-and-yellow flowers on the other.
“Give me a minute to get the bed ready,” she murmured.
She pulled back the comforter and then gestured to him. The girl didn’t stir as he carried her in and set her down. Eliza quickly pulled her boots and coat off in silence and handed them to Aidan, pointing to the other room.
He carried them into the little sitting room and waited while Eliza presumably changed Maddie into pajamas and tucked her in.
He should probably go but he found himself deeply reluctant for the evening to end.
When she walked out of the bedroom and closed the door behind her, she looked a little surprised to see him still there.
“I didn’t know where you keep these.” He held out the coat and boots in his hands.
“The mudroom. Sorry. I should have told you.”
“Oh. Right.” He felt stupid for not figuring it out.
“I can take them.”
She walked out into the kitchen and then to the mudroom, where she hung her coat and Maddie’s while he did the same with his own.
“Thank you again,” she said. “We both had a wonderful time.”
He didn’t want the evening to end. Not yet. “It’s still early. We were supposed to end the evening with hot cocoa by the fire, remember? You haven’t had anything until you’ve tried my pop’s famous real chocolate cocoa.”
“That was a bribe for Maddie’s sake and she’s sound asleep,” she pointed out.
“What would I have to offer to bribe you to stay?”
“Oh, I’m fairly impervious to bribes or blackmail,” she said, with rather adorable primness.
“Fine. I’ll just ask you, then. I’m not ready for the evening to end yet. Will you have some of my pop’s hot cocoa with me?”
SHE SHOULD REFUSE. If she were wise, she would bid him good-night, escape into her rooms and close the door firmly behind her.
Clearly, she wasn’t very wise.
The bald truth was, she shared his sentiments. She wanted to spend more time with him. The night had been wonderful. Whether it was foolish or selfish or both, she just knew she wasn’t ready to close the door on the evening quite yet.
He had been so sweet to both of them all night: teasing and funny, protective and kind. With Maddie, he had been extraordinarily gentle, taking delight in the simple pleasure of Christmas lights on the water simply because the little girl had loved it.
That quiet conversation in the enforced intimacy of the SUV seemed to echo between them, reminding her all too forcefully that for almost six years—and especially the past three on her own—she had dedicated everything she was and had ever been to her daughter. She had made every choice with Maddie in mind, first and foremost.
As Aidan so eloquently reminded her, before she was a mother, she was also a woman—something she had lost sight of along the way.
Foolish it might be, but this man made her feel glittery and bright and alive.
Yes, she knew this wasn’t anything approaching the beginnings of a relationship. She wasn’t a complete idiot. They were attracted to each other, certainly. Crazy as it might be, she was still at least woman enough to sense a man’s interest.
Aidan Caine was attracted to her, an idea she found stunning and intoxicating at the same time.
Physical desire between them was one thing, a natural—if shocking—human reaction, but the idea of anything beyond that was simply laughable. The barriers between them might as well be as formidable and unbreachable as the raw-spined Redemption Mountains.
She fully understood all that. Even so, what would be the harm in spending an hour in conversation with him? Maybe, if she were honest, sharing another one of those intense and magical kisses, if the opportunity presented itself?
“I didn’t realize I was presenting a decision of such enormity. It’s only hot chocolate, Eliza. With maybe a little Irish whiskey in it, if you’d like.”
Heat soaked her cheeks and she sincerely hoped he couldn’t see it, that he never suspected she was contemplating sharing more than a drink with him. “I’m sorry. I was woolgathering.”
She let out a breath, feeling as if she were about to take a giant leap off the top of his barn. “Yes. I would love some hot chocolate. Thanks. Just cocoa, though, please.”
She had enough trouble feeling intoxicated when she was with him.
He gave her that astonishing smile—bright, unfettered, genuine—that seemed to turn him into another person.
“Coming right up, then. People travel across oceans and continents for some of Pop’s hot cocoa. Okay,” he amended, “for Pop’s cocoa and the world-class skiing in Hope’s Crossing.”
“You really don’t have to go to any trouble. Sue has been stocking up on gourmet cocoa mix. There are several flavors in the pantry that would suit me fine. I’m not picky.”
He shook his head. “You won’t say that after you have Pop’s cocoa. It will spoil you for anything else.”
His words had an unfortunate ring of truth. She was very afraid spending this Christmas season at Snow Angel Cove would spoil her for any other holiday.
“I need to go take off my boots and check to make sure Maddie went back to sleep.”
“Great. I’ll get started, then.”
She hurried into her rooms. After switching to ballet flats and checking on Maddie, who was sleeping soundly, she hurried to the bathroom. Hoping he didn’t notice, she ran a brush through her hair, scrubbed her teeth and reapplied a little lip gloss.
When she walked into the kitchen, she found Aidan wearing a black apron and standing at the big six-burner stove, stirring the contents of a small saucepan with a wooden spoon.
“Something smells delicious,” she said. A lesser woman might get drunk on the smell of rich chocolate alone.
And him.
“It tastes better than it smells. Trust me. We’re almost there, just a few degrees shy of full boil.”
The chocolate or her hormones? She let out a breath and took a seat at the work island in order to watch him work. She thought again how comfortable he