LITMIR.BIZ

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was just something about a man in glasses, especially one whose brilliance was off the charts. She wanted to pull them off and toss them onto the table so she could see those amazing eyes....

      She jerked her attention back to the matter at hand. “Your family sounds terrific,” she said. “I can understand why you’re so close to them.”

      “Pop worked hard to keep us tight after our mom died. It wasn’t always easy with so many kids, especially when we were all heading in different directions by that point. Over the years, it has become more difficult to get us all under one roof.”

      “What a nice gesture, then, to bring everyone here for the holidays. I am sure your family will be grateful.”

      She thought she saw a shadow flit across his gaze before he blinked it away. “I hope so,” he said. “My motives are mostly selfish. This way I get to spend Christmas with everybody but don’t have to sleep in the uncomfortable twin bed of my childhood room at Pop’s house on Winterberry Road.”

      She didn’t believe his casual tone. This holiday with his family was important to him, for reasons she didn’t quite understand.

      She had picked up the impression before. Somehow she sensed he needed his family around him this year—maybe because of the heartache they had all endured over the past few years or perhaps to celebrate anew the joy that had come hand-in-hand with the sorrow, as it often did.

      He wanted everything to be perfect and she resolved again that she would do her best to make sure of it.

      She slid off the chair to her feet. “I had better finish with the Christmas tree. Those angels aren’t going to jump on the tree by themselves, you know.”

      He smiled and reached to clear her plate. “Angels fly, you know.”

      “So I’ve heard. I can do this, really.”

      He shook his head. “I’ve got it. Pop’s number one rule in the kitchen, if you don’t work, you don’t eat.”

      “I haven’t even met the man and I already like him.”

      “You’re going to love him, I promise. All the women do. They just can’t seem to resist that trace of an Irish accent. One time Jamie and I went to a party over in Steamboat when we were in high school and he convinced me to pretend we were exchange students from Ireland. It wasn’t that tough since we had spent our childhoods imitating Pop’s brogue. You should have seen the ladies topple at Jamie’s feet.”

      “And yours, I’m sure.”

      He made a face. “Jamie has always been a natural flirt. Mom used to joke that he charmed the nurses in the hospital nursery from the very beginning. I, on the other hand, was always more comfortable behind a keyboard.”

      “I doubt that. I’m sure you do just fine with the ladies, working that sexy geek thing you’ve got going.”

      The faint echo of her own words seemed to circle around the kitchen, growing louder and louder in her mind. Oh, no. Had she really just said that? Hot color soaked her cheeks. Where was the darn off switch on her mouth sometimes?

      He gave a strangled sound that wasn’t quite a laugh and just gazed at her for a long moment, until she wanted to sink through the radiant-heated Italian tiles of his kitchen.

      “Okay, can we just forget I said that out loud? I had a concussion yesterday, remember? I’m not in my right mind.”

      A new awareness seemed to spark between them, sizzling and arcing like heat lightning on an August afternoon.

      “Sexy geek?” He spoke the words in a low voice that made her insides shiver.

      Oh, like he didn’t know how that smile broke nerd girls’ hearts everywhere. “It’s the glasses,” she said. “Not to mention the whole computer-genius thing.”

      Okay, she had to stop now.

      “Mama? Mama! Where are you?”

      In all her life, she had never been so grateful for her daughter.

      “In the kitchen, honey. Stay where you are, I’ll be there in a minute.”

      She turned back to Aidan and found him watching her with an expression she couldn’t quite read.

      “I’ve got to go. Thanks for the, um, delicious sandwich. Oh, and the primer on your family. It helps. Maybe I won’t make a total fool of myself around anyone but you.”

      She scooped up the notebook, drained the rest of her water and hurried out of the kitchen as fast as she could manage.

       CHAPTER NINE

      THE STORM FINALLY started to ease again about the time she and Maddie put the finishing touches on the tree.

      Her daughter clasped her hands together at her chest and gazed raptly up at the tree. “It’s so pretty, Mama. The most beautiful tree I’ve ever seen!”

      Eliza had to agree. The tree made a stunning statement in front of the big two-story windows of the great room, its greenery a vivid contrast to the stark white snow blanketing everything outside.

      “You’re absolutely right.”

      She looked up sharply at the voice and found Aidan standing at the end of the hall that led to his office, where he had retreated to take a phone call an hour earlier, shortly after they finished their quick sandwich and she had completely humiliated herself.

      His hair was a little rumpled on the left side, as if he had run his fingers through it while on his phone call.

      She had actually called him a sexy geek. Where was a conveniently placed snowdrift to dive into when she needed one?

      “Hi, Mr. Aidan. Do you like it?” Maddie asked.

      “I think it’s the most beautiful tree I’ve ever seen, too. The two of you did a great job.”

      “You helped! We couldn’t have reached the top without you.”

      “Not unless one of those angels swooped in and carried you up to the top.”

      She laughed, delighted at the image, as Eliza heard a rattling of pans in the kitchen, followed by muffled swearing.

      Aidan glanced in that direction. “I guess Sue must be feeling better.”

      “She says she is.”

      “What about you?”

      She still ached, she couldn’t deny that. Even now, she had to fight the urge to knead her fist into her throbbing lower back, but she firmly believed staying in motion had been the best possible medicine. By this time tomorrow, she expected even those aches and pains would dissipate.

      “Almost back to normal,” she answered.

      “Good.” He gave her one of those irresistible smiles and for a moment she was once more in his gleaming kitchen with the electricity snapping and sizzling between them.

      He was the first to look away. “The snow seems to have finally stopped. Feel like getting some air? I thought maybe we could bundle up and walk out to the barn to check on the horses.”

      “Yes!” Maddie answered instantly, before Eliza even had a chance to think. “Can we, Mama? Oh, please!”

      She didn’t want to spend any more time with him than she had to but maybe the best way to deal with her mortification would be to wade straight through it. After snowfall all day, the temperature would undoubtedly be icy. A nice walk in a blizzard might be just the thing to cool down her overheated imagination right about now.

      “Sure. A little fresh air would be nice. Maddie, why don’t you work on straightening up in here while I go find our coats?”

      “Okay!”

      Maddie

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