inviting.
The walk hadn’t been cleared since the snowfall resumed in the afternoon and walking through it took effort. Maddie struggled for only a moment before Aidan picked her up and settled her on his shoulders, much to her glee.
She said something to him Eliza couldn’t hear and they laughed together. The sound warmed her even more than her wool coat.
She inhaled deeply of air scented with pine and snow and resolved to simply enjoy the moment. Whatever her reservations about working for Aidan Caine—the tangled past she doubted he even knew about, her pride that balked at taking a job offered out of pity, this silly schoolgirl attraction—she couldn’t deny that Maddie seemed happy here.
When they reached the barn, he opened a small door next to the huge double doors and set Maddie down inside before reaching a hand out to help Eliza over a patch of ice. He wore leather gloves but she could swear she felt the heat of his skin through them.
She quickly pulled her hand away and looked around the cavernous space.
Through her thirty-one years on the planet, she had spent very little time inside of barns. If someone ever asked her to design the perfect barn, however, she would have pointed him in the direction of this aging building at Snow Angel Cove.
Made of weathered wood with a traditional gambrel roof, the barn smelled of hay and horses and dust. A mouse-fat calico tabby sidled out of view as soon as they spotted it but a black-and-white border collie wandered immediately over to them, long, busy tail wagging.
“Oh,” Maddie exclaimed, shrinking away from the creature. She loved horses but dogs, on the other hand, freaked her out a little.
“It’s okay,” Aidan assured her. “He won’t hurt you. This is Argus. He’s the king of the barn.”
“Really?”
“Well, he thinks he is, anyway. He bosses everybody around. But he’s really gentle. I promise, he won’t hurt you.”
Her daughter didn’t look completely convinced but because her middle name should have been Spunky, she petted the dog’s head with ginger care then giggled when the dog licked her, his tail wagging even harder.
“Mama, I think Argus likes me.”
“Looks like it.” She knelt down to pet the dog, too, and was rewarded with a nuzzle and a lick.
“Did he come with the ranch?” she asked.
“No. He’s Sue and Jim’s baby. Goes everywhere with them.”
“Do you have a dog?” Maddie asked.
“No. But my whole family does.” He gave Eliza a rueful look. “I forgot to mention when I was giving you the guest rundown that they’ll be bringing a miniature herd when they come. Dylan would never travel without his dog, Tucker, a black-and-tan coonhound, Andrew has a chihuahua named Tina and Lucy and Brendan each have little mutt purse pooches who are less than a year. Daisy and Max. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” Eliza assured him. She loved dogs and always had. When she was a girl, she’d had a Labrador retriever named Frisbee. She had adored that dog and grieved deeply when he died at thirteen, just before Eliza went off to college. She had dreamed of having a half-dozen pets when she had children—of which she had wanted a half-dozen more.
Life as a single working mother with an ill child had forced her to put that dream on hold. Maybe when they were settled somewhere permanently, she would consider it.
They spent a few more moments showering love on Argus until one of the horses made a raspberry sort of sound that made Maddie giggle.
“That’s Cinnamon,” Aidan said. “The gentlest horse in here. I got her specifically with Carter and Faith in mind.”
He had bought a horse strictly for the rare visit from his nephew and niece. She knew that shouldn’t touch her heart but she couldn’t seem to help it.
Which was the real Aidan? The tough businessman who ground up his competitors and sprinkled them on his espresso or the softie who bought a horse for his niece and nephew who might only visit him here a couple times a year?
“Oh,” Maddie breathed, her eyes wide as she approached the stall containing the red horse. Roan, Eliza thought it was called, though what did she know? She had absolutely no knowledge of horses, other than what she had seen watching Gunsmoke and The Rifleman reruns with her dad.
“She’s beautiful. The most beautiful horse in the whole wide world.”
Her daughter was obviously in love. She had her hands clasped together at her collarbone like the heroine of a melodrama and was gazing at Cinnamon with a rapt expression.
The horse was pretty, Eliza had to admit, with kind, gentle eyes. Even she could tell, though, that she was by no means the most elegant horse in the barn. Most of the half-dozen other horses she could see were muscled and strong, especially a big black with a flowing gray mane.
“Bob says they’re all nice horses but he likes Cinnamon the best,” Maddie declared.
“Would you like to make friends?” Aidan asked. “I brought a couple of carrots from the kitchen. You can feed her some.”
Her daughter looked torn. “Bob doesn’t like carrots. How do I feed her?”
He took her hand and led her closer to the horse, then handed her the carrot. “Nothing to it. You just hold it out for her and Cinnamon will do all the work.”
“She might bite me, though.”
“Not this old girl, I promise.”
Eliza held her breath as Maddie hesitated for only a moment then offered up the carrot. Cinnamon lapped it out of her hand in one bite, with a grateful whinny.
Maddie giggled. “It tickles, Mama!”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Eliza said.
“I’ve got another carrot if you want a turn.”
Despite Aidan’s confidence that the horse wouldn’t bite, those teeth were big and she wasn’t at all eager to put her fingers within reach.
“I’m good. Thanks.”
“Okay, Maddie. Looks like you get to be the designated carrot-delivery girl. Here you go.”
He gave her another one and this time she held it out with more confidence. She even found the courage to pat the horse’s neck and was rewarded with a gentle head butt that made her giggle again.
“See? She likes you.”
“I like her, too,” Maddie announced, which wasn’t really news to anyone.
He chuckled. “I need to check on a couple of the other horses. We have one who’s going to foal in the next month. Are you two good staying here with Argus and Cinnamon?”
Eliza nodded. As he walked down to the far end of the barn, she tried not to watch him go, focusing instead on her daughter
