Free Snow Angel Cove (Hqn) by RaeAnne Thayne Page A

on her door. She could see a light on underneath the door across from hers but she didn’t quite have the nerve to knock on it. Instead, after a moment’s indecision she headed toward a padded window seat at the end of the hall upholstered in rich, deep colors that fit well with the lodge look of the rest of the residence.
    The window was a little frosted but through the darkness she could see snow falling steadily, whipped in all directions by the wind.
    She shivered, grateful for the comforts of the house. It really was a lovely place, with those massive beams and logs the color of sun-warmed honey.
    What had led Aidan Caine to purchase the house? He didn’t strike her as the outdoorsy cowboy sort, more like a sexy computer geek. Maybe there was more to him than she would have suspected from what little she knew about his public persona.
    The Geek God.
    He seemed a very complex man. Yes, he was a powerful and successful man with this grand, expansive house, his own company. To achieve so much at his relatively young age he was no doubt a workaholic, just like Trent had been, a man whose entire focus revolved around making money.
    On the other hand, he was obviously very fond of Jim and Sue and he had been extraordinarily kind to Maddie. He had been visibly upset about the accident and had gone out of his way to make sure she was all right, even coming to the hospital and eventually bringing her here for the night.
    All that hardly seemed the actions of a heartless, cold businessman, which was the image she’d had of him before today. How did she reconcile the man she had met that day with all the anger she had nurtured toward him and Caine Tech over the last three years?
    His company had stolen the heart right out of her husband. Plain and simple. The people he had met with at Caine Tech had taken Trent’s dreams of fame and fortune, his ideas for a new productivity app he was certain would revolutionize the business world, and had shut him down fast and hard.
    He had called her from California in despair to tell her about it and she had never heard him sound so defeated. She had tried to be encouraging but by that point she was exhausted and out of patience from trying to be a supportive wife in his endless chase for financial security for her and for Maddie.
    She couldn’t blame Aidan for the mess. Not really. Knowing the nature of big companies as she did, he probably didn’t even have any direct knowledge of that final meeting between his associates and her husband.
    Shifting her mind-set would be a difficult task where she had demonized him for so long. She could manage it for the few hours she might see him in the morning, before she left Snow Angel Cove.
    At exactly one minute to two, she heard the door just across from theirs open. Aidan walked out into the hallway in jeans and a T-shirt. Had he forced himself to stay awake into the early hours so he could check on her or was he habitually a night owl?
    He was wearing dark-framed glasses that only magnified the impact of those stunning blue eyes and his hair was a little messy, rumpled a bit on the right side of his head behind his ear. Perhaps he had been leaning his head against one side of a wingback chair or maybe propping his head on his hand while he read or watched TV. Or maybe he just had a cowlick on that side that resisted his hairstylist’s attempts to tame it.
    It hardly seemed fair that the man could have a zillion dollars and be gorgeous, too. She swallowed, suddenly aware of a completely unexpected quiver in her stomach. Oh, for heaven’s sake. Where did
that
come from? She hadn’t experienced the tiniest flutter of attraction to a man in so long, she thought maybe that part of her had withered and blown away like dry leaves in an October wind.
    She quickly shoved it down deep, where she put every other ridiculous urge she knew she could never act upon. While she was tempted to hide away under the throw, she didn’t want him knocking on her