“Ye-es,” Eliza said warily. Why was everyone staring at her?
“Is he as gorgeous in real life as he is on YouTube?” one of the twentysomethings asked.
“I swear, I’ve watched his Ted Talk like a hundred times, just so I can swoon a little at the place where he takes his glasses off for a minute while making a point.”
Eliza wasn’t sure what to say. She had signed a confidentiality agreement. Did her opinion that he was even
more
sexy in person violate that agreement? She decided the wise course would be to remain quiet.
“What do you do there?” The question came from a tired-looking woman wearing a gray sweater that was fraying at the sleeves.
She wasn’t sure whether she could talk about that, either. “My official job title is housekeeper. A little of this, a little of that. Do you all live here in Haven Point?”
As she hoped, the question seemed to turn the conversation away from tricky areas. “Oh, I should introduce everybody,” McKenzie said. “Hang your coat over there and then grab a bowl of soup out of the slow cookers there—they have little signs that say what’s in them. After you’re settled, I’ll tell you everyone’s names.”
She wasn’t going to remember more than a few, but she supposed that didn’t matter. In a few more weeks, she wouldn’t meet these people again.
McKenzie was very good at ordering people around, which was probably a good skill for a mayor, Eliza thought in amusement as she obediently grabbed a bowl from a slow cooker marked White Chicken Chili, added a slice of thick-crusted bread and found a seat between the flower shop owner and Megan Hamilton.
“Okay, everybody, this is Eliza Hayward. She was supposed to start work this week for Megan but of course the inn fire has changed everything. Five minutes after she found out the inn burned down, she was hit by a car right outside here—driven by Aidan Caine himself.”
“Oh, my word,” a matronly woman with a silver-and-black bob exclaimed. “But you’re okay?”
“It was just a tap,” she assured her. “I’m really fine, nothing broken, just some scrapes and bruises.”
“And now you work for Caine?” a woman with a poodle perm and a sour expression demanded.
“Only for a few weeks. He found out about the inn fire and that I was now unemployed and homeless because of it and insisted on my daughter and I staying at Snow Angel Cove for the holidays to help him out.”
Poodle Perm snorted. “He can afford it. What else is he spending his money on? Not fixing up the buildings he owns in town so we can bring some real businesses in, that’s for sure.”
McKenzie frowned at the woman. “I’m sure he will. Give the man a chance, Linda.”
“We don’t have time for him to sit around on his ass looking gorgeous,” she retorted. “Our holiday sales are down fifteen to twenty percent from last year. At this rate, my boutique won’t be open by summer. Everybody is shopping at the new big box store in Shelter Springs, not here.”
“How many times do I have to tell you, Mom?” the blonde twentysomething said. “Sales will pick up when you stop offering stuff that was out of date when
you
were in high school.”
“My clients favor the traditional, classic items.”
“Sure. For their funeral clothing.”
The conversation devolved from there into what sounded like a familiar disagreement that had McKenzie rolling her eyes at Eliza. “Sorry,” she said. “Don’t mind the great Fremont family feud. Samantha wants to drag her mom into the twenty-first century, kicking and screaming if she has to. Let me introduce you to everyone else.”
She went around the circle and introduced the women, the rest of whom seemed friendly and interested in her. Eliza knew she wouldn’t remember half of them, though she had tried to use some of the memory devices to remember the names of guests at the hotel.
“This seems like a fun organization. How often do you get together?” she asked, when McKenzie had introduced everyone.
“A couple times a month, always on Friday,” the mayor said. “We charge five dollars for the potluck lunch and give the money we raise to the food pantry. Usually we have a quick lunch and then a craft or something. Today we’re just relaxing because we’ve been working like crazy making things for our booth tomorrow at the Lights on the Lake Festival.”
“Oh, you mentioned that the other day. What is it, again?” she asked, innocently enough.
The volume in the room escalated as a dozen women answered her at once.
“Whoa. Slow down. Give the girl a break,” said the woman with the salt-and-pepper bob—Maria, she remembered.
“The Lights on the Lake Festival was started by boat owners around here years ago. Since the lake usually doesn’t freeze until late January, if at all, boat lovers decided to decorate their watercraft with Christmas lights and have a parade along the lakefront the Friday before Christmas. The whole thing exploded from there and now it’s part gift bazaar, part food and music festival, part holiday celebration. I’ve been the chairperson three years in a row. It’s a wonderful time for all.”
“It sounds lovely.”
“Be sure to check out our booth. We’re selling all kinds of gifts we’ve made through the year. All proceeds benefit the Lake Haven Library and their literacy program.”
“Maddie would love the boat parade,” Megan Hamilton said. “It’s really magical to see all the boats with their lights sparkling on the water at sunset.”
“Tell me what’s going on with the inn,” she prompted.
Megan sighed. “It looks like we’re going to rebuild but it’s going to take six months to a year. It’s too bad you can’t work for Aidan until I’m ready to reopen.”
Eliza thought of that stunning kiss she couldn’t shake from her memory and wasn’t sure she agreed. Another few weeks of working for him and she would probably be more than a little in love with the man—exactly what she
didn’t
need right now.
The conversation turned to holiday travel plans people had and when the group would meet again. She loved listening to the interaction of these women who were obviously a tight-knit group but were willing to open their ranks to her, a newcomer who wouldn’t even be here in a few weeks.
At one point, one of the ladies cornered her to tell her a little more about the history of the area, a subject she found fascinating.
A short time later, the informal lunch started to break up.
“I’ve got to finish my errands and get back to Maddie,” she said to McKenzie. “I’m just going to walk through your store for a few minutes to see if I can cross a few gifts off my list.”
“Sure! Don’t worry if you can’t find what you want. Just come to the festival tomorrow and walk through the booths, especially our Helping Hands booth.”
“Absolutely.”
Under the watchful eye of Rika—who was probably a very formidable deterrent to shoplifters—she wandered through the displays of handmade and specialty items in the store. She ended up finding a pretty silk scarf and some delicious pear-scented handmade soap for Sue—along with buying ten more bars for the bathrooms at Snow Angel Cove—and a local author’s book of cowboy poetry for Jim.
She couldn’t come up with anything for Aidan. No surprise there. What could she possibly buy that might be meaningful to a man who had his own private jet, for crying out loud?
After Eliza paid for her items, McKenzie surprised her with a hug. “I’m so glad you came. I’m still keeping an eye out for a job around here. We want you to stay.”
She smiled back, gave the dog a rub on the curly scruff just above her bandana and headed out into the cold wind that blew off the lake.
A quick trip to the pharmacy and grocery store later, she was loading bags into the back of her SUV when her cell phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Eliza, darlin’, it’s Sue. Tell me you haven’t left town yet.”
“I haven’t left town yet,” she answered dutifully. “I just finished at the grocery store and was about to head back.”
“Oh, perfect! Listen, Aidan just called. His plane landed early and he needs a ride out to the ranch. We didn’t expect him until later and Jim is still in Boise buying a new part for the tractor and I’m up to my elbows in frosting. Do you mind swinging past the airport there on the west side of the lake and picking him up?”
For all of about ten seconds, she couldn’t answer. Her heart raced and her palms suddenly felt clammy.
Oh, for Pete’s sake. She had to get a grip here. Yes, the last time she had seen the man he had kissed her senseless but she was a grown-up here. That was no reason for her to panic just at the thought of seeing him again. She worked for him and lived in his house! She couldn’t avoid him forever.
“Um. Sure. I can do that.”
“Thanks, hon. There’s a sugar cookie in it for you when you get back, assuming your little girl doesn’t eat all eight dozen of them first.”
She heard a giggle in the background that warmed her heart.
“Everything going okay?” she asked
“We’re having a great time and don’t need you back anytime soon. If Aidan hadn’t called, I would have told you to go see a movie or something.”
“Thanks. Give her a hug from me.”
“You bet. You can find Aidan at hangar twelve in the airport. It’s the newest and biggest one, on the north end of the back row of buildings.”
“Okay.”
She blew out a breath. She could handle this. Yes, she had been ridiculously obsessed with that kiss. Just because he had left town shortly after—as if he couldn’t wait to get away from her—didn’t mean things had to be awkward between them. Right?
She sighed and backed out of the parking space, then headed in the direction Sue had indicated, trying to keep her suddenly clammy palms from slipping on the steering wheel.
The airport—really only a cluster of metal hangars and one taller concrete building that must serve as the air traffic control center—was located on a wide stretch of land just below the foothills with broad views of the lake and the surrounding mountains.
She found the newest hangar easily and had just pulled up in front when Aidan walked out wearing a tailored peacoat with a worn tan leather laptop bag strung over his shoulder and carrying a small duffel. He looked distracted and tired and rumpled, his hair tousled with deceptive casualness that still managed to hide any trace of his scar.
And he looked sexy, she added silently.
Very, very sexy.
His eyes widened when he spotted her and she thought she saw a quick flash of something else in his expression, a heat that made those dancing butterflies in her stomach take to the floor again.
No, she was probably imagining it, she told herself as he lifted a hand in greeting and headed to the passenger side of the SUV.
When he slid inside, the air seemed to shiver with the luxurious scents of leather and the black pepper and sandalwood of his soap—she knew it was his soap because she had discovered it in his shower a few days earlier when she was checking the towel supply there.
She hadn’t meant to snoop but just walking into the en suite bathroom of the master bedroom at Snow Angel Cove had been an intoxicating sensory experience.
Now, having that familiar scent in the enclosed space of her vehicle sent all her pheromones into ecstasy until she sternly ordered them to cut it out.
“Hi,” he said as he settled his duffel and briefcase behind the passenger seat. “I guess you’re my ride.”
“Sue just called and asked me to pick you up,” she said quickly. “Apparently Jim is tied up out of town and since I was in Haven Point running errands, anyway, I told her I didn’t mind.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it. Sorry if I made you go out of your way, coming out to this side of town.”
“You’re paying for my time,” she was compelled to remind him. “If you want a dozen doughnuts from my favorite shop in Boise, individually hand-delivered in twelve separate trips, it wouldn’t make a difference to me.”
He didn’t quite smile but she thought some of the exhaustion seemed to seep out of his features. “I like maple bars. For future reference.”
“Good to know. I’ll keep that in mind.”
For the next few moments, she concentrated on driving around the hangars toward the exit.
“How was California?” she finally asked when she pulled onto the main road that would lead them back to the lodge.
“Rainy, when I left. How have things been here?”
“It’s been beautiful weather since you left. Today was even above freezing. A little of the snow is even melting, though I understand we’re supposed to have a small storm Sunday. It should clear out before your family’s travel day on Tuesday.”
“That’s good.”
“Sue has been cooking up a storm. Your family is going to eat very, very well, I can promise you that. Maddie and I have almost finished preparing all the bedrooms. We’ve only got a few more things to do and should wrap up tomorrow.”
“You work fast.”
“It’s a beautiful house. Making it a little more comfortable for your guests has been a joy.”
“Good.”
He seemed to settle farther in the seat and even closed his eyes for a moment. Did he have another headache? She wanted to ask but didn’t want to bring up any reminders of that fateful night.
“You’ve been running errands, you said,” he finally said after a moment.
“Yes. I ordered a couple of lamps for one of the guest rooms that didn’t have them and then Sue asked me to pick up a few things at the grocery store.”
“It seems like shopping opportunities are few and far between in town. The town must close up in the winter, not like my hometown. Winter is the busiest time of year back home, though high summer is beginning to draw as many visitors.”
“I’ve seen pictures of Hope’s Crossing. It’s very pretty.”
“You’ve never been there?”
She shook her head. “My family lived in Grand Junction for about six months when I was in elementary school but we didn’t do a lot of sightseeing to other areas of Colorado.”
“Why only six months?” he asked as they drove over the bridge that spanned the Hell’s Fury River and headed around the east side of the lake toward Snow Angel Cove.
“My father was on a temporary job for the summer there. He was a road construction supervisor and we moved around a lot. I went to nine elementary schools in seven different states by the time I graduated sixth grade.”