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.
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
