Snow Angel Cove: An uplifting, feel-good small town romance for Christmas 2018

He was silent for so long, she wondered if her question had been unforgivably rude. After a long moment, he sighed. “I love my family. Don’t get me wrong. We’re all very close and I enjoy being with them. I consider my brothers my best friends. I’m flying the whole crew here for Christmas, aren’t I?”

“But?”

He sighed again. “But when a guy is the middle of seven children, he can sometimes have an overwhelming need to find his own way. Whenever I go to Hope’s Crossing, I’m always Dermot’s boy, the one who invariably had his nose pressed to a computer. There’s something very appealing about the fact that nobody in Haven Point knew me when I had braces on my teeth and bad acne and a crush on the head cheerleader, who was only interested in my younger brother, Jamie the stud—which, by the way, is fairly traumatic to the ego when you’re fifteen and would like to think you’re the stud, despite all evidence to the contrary.”

She couldn’t help a startled laugh, shocked that he would reveal something so personal to her.

“Did I just say that out loud?” he asked ruefully. “I must be more tired than I realized. I don’t believe I’ve ever shared that with another human being on the planet. Or articulated it so clearly, even to myself.”

She knew perfectly well she shouldn’t find the man appealing here in the quiet hush of the night when the rest of the world slept, but this evidence of past vulnerability made him seem less like a mythical, larger-than-life personage and more like someone who had weaknesses and insecurities.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Caine. I’m good at keeping secrets.”

He made a face. “I told you to call me Aidan. When I divulge embarrassing secrets to somebody, I usually insist they call me by my first name.”

It felt strange but she did her best. “Aidan, then.”

“Eliza,” he mused. “It’s not a very common name anymore.”

“My mother’s name was Elizabeth and everyone called her Betsy. She wanted to be called Eliza but nobody ever did so she decided to give the name to me. I always thought it was old-fashioned. My friends in school called me Ellie but it seemed a little young-sounding as I grew up.”

“I like it. Eliza. It fits you, somehow.”

They lapsed into a not uncomfortable silence. She knew she should probably muster the energy to go back to her bedroom but she couldn’t quite manage it. She found something strangely appealing about sitting in this darkened hallway with him, talking softly about nothing in particular while the storm raged outside.