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Maddie had plenty of experience with hospital rooms and didn’t seem at all distressed to be in a new one. In fact, she had spent the past hour chatting up all the doctors and nurses in her usual friendly fashion.
Every time Maddie touched a surface, Eliza wanted to cringe and grab the spray disinfectant. Having a child with a serious health condition had given Eliza a severe case of germaphobia, at least when it came to hospitals.
No matter how good the hospital’s housekeeping department might be, most emergency departments were a breeding ground for viruses and bacteria by the very nature of the cases they treated.
She had to get out of here.
“Look, I appreciate your concern and I understand you’re just doing your job, but what do I have to do to convince you I’m fine so you’ll let me go? As I said, the SUV barely touched me. I don’t need X-rays or stitches and I don’t want any pain medication.”
“You might be singing a different tune in the morning. You’re probably going to hurt everywhere.”
She already hurt everywhere but she wasn’t about to tell this earnest, concerned young doctor that. “I promise, I’ll pick up a bottle of ibuprofen and take them faithfully.”
The doctor still didn’t look convinced so Eliza decided to appeal to her sympathy, if nothing else. “I appreciate your concern. Everyone here has been really great. I can highly recommend the hospital and will be happy to post good reviews on Angie’s List or wherever you hospitals need reviews, but I have had a really miserable day. The worst.”
The doctor gave her a sympathetic look. “The paramedics told me you were supposed to start work at the Lake Haven Inn. I’m so sorry. What rotten timing.”
“Almost as bad as being in the crosswalk at the exact moment a driver coming down the hill hit a patch of ice, right? Haven Point hasn’t been really great to me. Right now I just want to take my daughter and go.”
The doctor frowned again, looking torn. She studied the computer screen again and studied Eliza carefully.
“If I were to release you, where will you go?”
“I was going to drive back to Boise. I have friends I can stay with for a few days, until I figure things out.”
That was a blatant lie. Yes, she had plenty of friends but she wouldn’t feel comfortable calling any of them a few weeks before Christmas and inviting her and her daughter over for an open-ended visit.
She didn’t like the bleak option of an extended-stay hotel somewhere, but she would figure out a way to make it work for a while.
Dr. Shaw chewed her bottom lip, looking more like a middle-school student prepping for an algebra test than the attending physician at an emergency room.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t feel good about you driving two hours back to Boise when we haven’t properly assessed your injuries, especially with that storm. It’s already snowing pretty hard out there and I can imagine the mountain passes between here and Boise are restricted to chains or four-wheel drive only.”
“I have four-wheel drive on my vehicle and chains in my trunk.”
She also had a pounding headache that would make even driving to the mountain pass an interesting exercise, but that was another thing she decided not to mention to the physician.
“How about this. I’m all right with releasing you from here but I don’t feel good about sending you out into the storm. Do you know anyone in town you could stay with tonight?”
She shook her head then fought a wince as her pain cells reacted quite negatively to the gesture. “Megan Hamilton is the only person I know—besides the nice EMTs and your staff here, of course. I imagine Megan has her hands full right now, dealing with the fire at the inn. I can’t add another burden onto her plate.”
“We’re at a stalemate, then.”
“What if I were to find a hotel room for the night and drive back tomorrow?”
“I’m afraid that might be easier said than done. A lot of our hotels are only open seasonally, during the summer. With the fire at the inn, we lost half the available hotel rooms in town. All their guests had to scramble to find lodging here or in Shelter Springs, from what I understand.”
She sighed. Finding a way through this quandary was more effort than her aching head wanted to handle right now. “I suppose that’s our answer, then. I can’t stay overnight in the hospital simply because of a lack of hotel rooms. Not with Maddie to think about, too. I’ll drive back to Boise to stay with friends. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
The doctor was quiet. “I’m still not crazy about that option. You’ve got a sprained wrist and a concussion. We both know you’re in no shape for driving under perfect conditions, forget about driving at night during a winter storm. Give me a few moments to see if I can arrange something.”
“I may have the solution.”
The sudden masculine voice in the room startled both of them. Only Maddie, happily watching her show with her headphones on, didn’t jump.
Eliza and the doctor both turned to find Aidan Caine standing in the doorway, looking lean and sexy in a blue sweater, jeans and worn leather boots.
She knew who he was now. She had figured it out during the ambulance ride, when she heard the EMTs mention his name. She should have recognized him immediately but she had been too dazed after the accident to place why the face of the man whose vehicle had hit her seemed so familiar.
Aidan Caine. The Geek God. That’s what the magazines called him. He was a tech genius whose company had recently been named one of the five most influential in Silicon Valley. Though only in his midthirties, he was reported to be worth well into nine—possibly ten—figures.
She had never met the man in person but they were connected by a tangled web that went back far further than the events of this afternoon. What an odd coincidence, that he had been driving in the little town of Haven Point at the exact moment she was crossing the road.
If she didn’t know better, she might think Aidan Caine had some kind of vendetta against her and was determined to ruin her life—all while looking like a cover model for Sexy Geek Monthly.
“Hi!” Maddie exclaimed suddenly, distracted from the Disney princess movie she was watching. She pulled off her headphones and beamed at Aidan.
“Hey, Mama, look! That’s my friend! The nice man who helped me when you were hurt.”
Nice man? Aidan Caine? She really needed to have a talk with her daughter about developing more discriminating taste. From all reports, the man was ruthless and cold, used to taking what he wanted, to hell with the consequences.
He had just mowed her down with his car, for heaven’s sake.
Eliza had plenty of reason to know Mr. Caine and the people who worked for him only cared about the Caine Tech bottom line, not about all the people they stepped on to protect it.
Oblivious to just how much this man had indirectly altered the course of her young life, Maddie slid off her chair and trotted over to him holding out her paper. “Look, Mr. Aidan. I’m coloring a picture. It’s a Christmas tree. You can have it, if you want.”
Eliza braced to swoop in and protect her baby, fully expecting him to be impatient and brusque with a little girl’s childish drawing. Instead, he surprised her by taking the paper with apparent delight. “Thank you. It’s very nice. I especially like the angel on the top.”
“We always have an angel on the top of our tree,” Maddie informed him. “Except this year. This year we don’t even have a Christmas tree. Isn’t that sad? We were going to have one at our new apartment but it burned down. Now I don’t know what we’re going to do. All our ornaments are in boxes. So are most of my toys, even my Barbie Malibu Mansion.”
Dr. Shaw stepped forward before he could answer. “This is a secure area, Mr. Caine,” she said, her voice cold. “How did you get back here?”
The young doctor didn’t seem very impressed or intimidated by Aidan’s reputation, either. She faced him down, chin up and arms crossed over her chest like she was a one-hundred-pound offensive lineman protecting Eliza, who had the ball.
“I asked where I could find Eliza Hayward and the receptionist gave me the room number. Is that a problem?”
“Yes! We have strict security protocol. This area is restricted to family and friends of patients. As far as I know, you’re neither.”
“He’s my friend,” Maddie said firmly. “I want him here. He’s nice.”
Eliza flushed. Maddie had become very good at pushing her weight around in hospitals.
“There. You see?” Aidan said, after flashing a rather devastating smile to her daughter. “I’m Maddie’s friend. And I do believe I have an answer that might help everyone.”
She sincerely doubted that. Eliza pulled the warmed blanket—quickly losing its comforting capabilities, anyway—up to her chin, wishing she were wearing something other than this atrocious hospital gown.
A little battle armor would be nice when confronting a man like Aidan Caine.
“You need a place close by to stay for the night so you can leave the hospital, is that correct?”
Eliza didn’t want to answer but she could see no point in dissembling. “I want to drive back to Boise to stay with friends but Dr. Shaw is concerned about the storm.”
“With good reason. It’s really coming down out there.”
He was not helping her position with the doctor. Maybe he was trying to sabotage her life.
“Here’s the thing,” he said. “I recently took ownership of some property in town.”
Dr. Shaw gave an inelegant snort. “More like half of Haven Point,” she muttered.
To Eliza’s surprise, a hint of dusky color rose on the man’s cheekbones. “Not quite. But one of the properties is a large lodge on the southeastern shore of the lake about two miles from Haven Point.”
“Snow Angel Cove,” Dr. Shaw offered.
He looked surprised. “You know it?”
“I grew up on the lake, Mr. Caine. Everyone knows Snow Angel Cove.”
“Then you can confirm that there’s plenty of room for Ms. Hayward and her daughter to stay while she recovers from her injuries.”
He really thought she would just merrily pack her daughter up and go move to a stranger’s home? Either he was unbelievably arrogant or ridiculously clueless. She would bet on the former.
“That’s not necessary. I’ll figure something else out,” she said, her tone stiff. Her head throbbed as if someone had wedged it in a car door and was slamming the door against it again and again for fun. The rest of her wasn’t faring much better.
After the miserable day she had endured, she just wanted to be alone somewhere where she could whimper and sniffle and lick her wounds by herself.
“There aren’t any hotel rooms left in town. You heard the doctor. I don’t feel good about you leaving town, either, in the middle of that storm. I promise, I’m not a homicidal maniac.”
No. Only a fiercely ruthless competitor who had built his business from nothing in only a few years—and the man who had indirectly contributed to her husband’s death.
She didn’t want anything to do with him.
“That’s impossible,” she said. “Completely out of the question. I’m not staying with you.”
Surprise flitted in his blue eyes, as if he had never expected her to refuse. “If it makes you feel any better, a very nice couple has been overseeing the renovations on the property for me the last few months. They’re staying on the property, as well.”
That made the whole thing sound more like a genuine offer to help her out of a tough situation and help her get released from the hospital and less like he planned to drag her to his evil lair for his own nefarious purposes. But still.
“This is stupid. I’m fine to drive back to Boise. I’m used to driving in snow. I’ve got a four-wheel-drive SUV and I have good tires on my car. Unlike someone else I could mention,” she said pointedly.
Where was all this snarkiness coming from? She was never caustic or sharp. She considered herself a nice person, darn it. Apparently, leaving one job and apartment, losing another of each in a terrible fire and then being mowed down on the street, all in the same day, tended to bring out the worst in her.
Unfortunately, reminding him of his contribution to her situation only seemed to strengthen his resolve.
“That is exactly the reason you should stay at Snow Angel Cove for the night. I feel responsible that you were hurt.”
“You are responsible,” Devin Shaw murmured.
He nodded. “There. What the good doctor said. I am responsible for you being hurt. I would offer to put you up in a hotel for the night but as Dr. Shaw pointed out, I doubt there’s one room to be found in town. This is the next best thing. Please, Ms. Hayward. Better than some cramped couch at a friend’s house.”
“Do you have a Christmas tree?” Maddie asked eagerly.
He looked down, apparently disconcerted by the question. “Um, I don’t think so. Not yet, anyway.”
“That’s okay,” Maddie said.
She seemed to accept this failing—and the whole situation—with far more equanimity than Eliza. She also seemed to have developed an immediate liking for Aidan.
Eliza wanted to pull her daughter close and whisper to her a bit of maternal advice about being careful about the men you decide to trust, but this probably wasn’t quite the time.
“It’s not a bad solution,” Dr. Shaw said with a pensive nod. “As a last resort, I was going to offer my own house for you to stay. It’s not far from here and I have an extra bedroom. The only problem is, I’m on shift all night tonight and you and your daughter would be alone there. I’ll tell you quite frankly, I feel much better about you staying somewhere with people around than I would even if we could find you a hotel room here or up in Shelter Springs.”
Eliza studied all three of the people in the room, looking at her with varying degrees of expectation. She was too tired and battered to make this kind of decision right now! This whole thing was so ridiculous.
If she only had herself to consider, she would jump up from this bed, grab her coat, tell them all to go to hell and drive to Boise, against medical advice or not.
But she would be a poor mother not to be concerned about her daughter’s well-being. Maddie had already had a long, hard day. She was a trouper but she had to be exhausted. Subjecting her to at least a two-hour car ride in poor conditions—and with a driver who, like it or not, probably wasn’t in any shape to drive—would be foolhardy.
He had an abundance of bedrooms and a caretaker couple in residence. She likely wouldn’t even see the man before she and Maddie left in the morning.
The thought of having a safe, comfortable bed suddenly held enormous appeal. One night. What would be the harm in that?
And anyway, what choice did she really have in the matter? She had a feeling it was either stay with him or be stuck here in the hospital overnight.
“I suppose we could stay for one night, if you’re certain you have the room.”
Relief blazed across his features and she realized with some surprise that his concern was genuine.
“Absolutely,” he answered. “We have more than enough room.”
“The place is huge,” Dr. Shaw said.
“Yay. Now we can help you get a Christmas tree!” Maddie exclaimed.
“Great,” he answered another quick flash of that devastating smile.
“I do have one caveat,” Dr. Shaw said. “Someone will have to check on Eliza during the night. I would prefer every two hours but at least once or twice will suffice.”
“That can be arranged,” he said.
“Great. Then I’ll start work on your discharge papers.”
She hurried out of the room, leaving Eliza alone with the man who had put her in the hospital bed in the first place.
CHAPTER THREE
BY THE TIME the nurse brought the final paperwork to release Eliza from the emergency department an hour later, Maddie’s patience with hospitals had trickled away, leaving her tired, hungry and cranky.
“I want to go home,” she said several times. Each time, panic trickled through Eliza at the reminder that she didn’t have a home for her daughter.
“We’re going to stay overnight at Mr. Caine’s house,” she finally explained just as she was shrugging back into her coat.
At least she assumed that was still the plan. She hadn’t seen the man in an hour, not since he left with her car keys to call his employee to retrieve her vehicle from downtown Haven Point and take it out to his property so she would have all her things waiting for her when they arrived.
“Are we having a slumber party?” Maddie asked with excitement. She had been hounding her mother to let her stay overnight at a friend’s house but Eliza had always been too nervous, given all the medication her daughter required. Apparently this was the next best thing.
“Something like that,” Eliza murmured.
The more thought she gave to it, the more ridiculous the whole concept seemed. What in the world was she thinking? She didn’t even want to speak with the man, forget about staying in his home.
She was a smart, capable woman. She never should have let herself be railroaded into this whole thing, storm or not.
When they walked out to the reception area, they found Aidan leafing through a magazine in one of the uncomfortable-looking chairs.
He rose when she and Maddie came through the door. “Are you free to go?”
“So they tell me,” she said glumly.
She had no choice, she reminded herself. She had her daughter’s welfare to worry about first and foremost. A safe, warm place for the night, even with Aidan Caine, was the best option for Maddie.
“Excellent. I’ve already brought the car around.”
He gripped her elbow as they passed through the outside door and she caught a whiff of some kind of expensive peppery aftershave before the wild swirl of icy wind and blowing snow snatched away her breath.
“It’s so cold!” Maddie exclaimed.
“Come on. We’ll get you warmed up.”
Still gripping her arm, he headed for a very familiar vehicle and opened the door to the backseat.
“Hey! This is my SUV,” she exclaimed.
He nodded. “It seemed the safest choice, since you had a car seat and everything. I drove the rental with the lousy tires into town while they were discharging you and swapped with the key you gave me. I hope you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind. What about your rental?”
“I called them to pick it up,” he said grimly, “with a few choice words about renting out an unsafe vehicle.”
She would not like to be on this man’s bad side.
After he made sure she and Maddie were both settled securely, he pulled out into the snow.
Within the first few minutes of observing while he drove along at a crawl, the wipers valiantly trying to beat back the snow, she realized driving back to Boise would have been a nightmare. She wouldn’t have made it, not with the headache still throbbing through her to the same rhythmic beat of the wipers.
“Are you doing okay?” he asked after a few moments.
She shrugged then realized he couldn’t see her in the dark interior of her SUV. “Yes. Fine.”
“Thank you for giving me this chance to try to make things up to you,” he said, his voice low. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am about what happened today. I’ve been having flashbacks ever since that terrible moment when I thought I had hit both of you. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forget it.”
She relived that moment of helpless terror when she had seen Maddie racing directly into the path of the oncoming vehicle and realized he wouldn’t be able to stop in time. A fine-edged shiver rippled down her spine. “I doubt I will, either.”
If she had any doubts about his competency behind the wheel, they were quickly allayed as he drove through the snowy night around the lake. Though they encountered few other vehicles on the road, he was cautious, alert, leaving plenty of time for braking at the few stop signs they passed through on the way out of town and then progressing at a sedate pace.
She had a feeling this was more a reaction to the events of the afternoon than his usually driving patterns. That didn’t make her appreciate his vigilance less, given the dangerous conditions.
“Tell me again about what you were doing in Haven Point, the job you were supposed to be starting,” he said after a few moments without taking his gaze off the road. “I only caught bits and pieces of the story at the accident scene and then a little more at the hospital.”
She released a long breath and shifted in the seat. Just that slight movement hurt and she sincerely wished she had taken the doctor up on her offer to write a prescription for pain medication.
“I have a degree in hotel management and was hired to take charge of the Lake Haven Inn.”
“What were you doing before today?”
“Until yesterday I’ve been working as the assistant manager at a small hotel in Boise. I’ve been there for three years, since my husband died.”
“I’m sorry. About your husband, I mean.”
“Thank you.” Manners compelled her to acknowledge the condolences, though it felt strange, wrong somehow, when they were coming from Aidan Caine.
She stared straight ahead at the snow blowing against the windshield. When she was a little girl, she used to think the snow reflecting in the headlights looked like stars and she would pretend her dad was piloting a rocket ship through hyperspace.
That time of imagination and fun seemed a long time ago. Now driving through snow was at best an inconvenience, at worst, an experience fraught with tension and peril.
“It seems an odd time to start a new job, right before Christmas,” he observed.
“I suppose. I was actually hired in early November but it took a little time to tender my resignation and end the lease on my apartment.”
“You really did pack up everything, didn’t you?” He jerked his head to the back, piled high with boxes.
“Most of our things are in storage. These were only the essentials. Moving to Lake Haven was supposed to be a new start for us. I guess that didn’t work out so well.”
That panic hovering just beneath the surface since the moment she’d seen that blackened building seemed to bubble up all over again. For a moment, she wanted to just close her eyes and wallow in self-pity. She had pinned such high hopes on this move. Running a hotel in a small town had been her dream since she was just a girl working the front desk at the Seaswept Inn on the Oregon Coast.
She loved the idea of raising Maddie in this small town, finally putting down roots after Trent had moved them from job to job, opportunity to opportunity, always in search of pay dirt.
The charming town of Haven Point and the whole Lake Haven area had seemed the perfect location—quiet part of the year, bustling during the summer months, and close enough to Maddie’s specialists in Boise that they could still go to appointments with relative ease.
She had loved Haven Point on previous visits and had felt welcomed from the first moment she stepped into town.
She was so tired of disappointments, of constantly being forced to rechart her life’s direction.
“I’m sorry about your job situation,” Aidan said quietly. “I can only imagine how upsetting that must be for you and for Maddie.”
What did he know about upsetting job situations? He came from a completely different world and probably had no idea what it was like to struggle, to wonder which bills she could afford to pay off that month and which she would have to make token payments on until a better time.
“Upsetting. Yes. It certainly is.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what are your plans beyond the next few days?”
She didn’t have a fallback position. Why would she ever have imagined she needed one?
“I don’t know yet,” she admitted. “I haven’t exactly had a great deal of time to go over my options, considering I’ve been at the hospital since five minutes after I found out the inn burned down.”