The Beautiful Widow

He smiled. ‘I like that very much. Do it.’

His approval brought pink into her cheeks but Steel was already striding up to the main doors. By the time he had unlocked them and stood aside for Toni to precede him into the old fusty factory she had gained control.

Seeing the building in its raw state made the project come alive. Carried along on a wave of enthusiasm, Toni found it easier to concentrate on the job in hand and ignore the attraction of the tall dark man prowling about at her side. She was full of ideas, some practical and some not so practical, but by the time they left she knew she could make each apartment spectacular. Initially the vast basement had been designed as a caretaker’s flat, but on seeing it Toni had suggested a much smaller, more compact one-bedroomed dwelling with the remaining space kitted out as a gym with sauna and steam rooms for the occupants of the apartments. ‘And a jacuzzi,’ she’d added, after Steel had approved the idea. ‘For the ladies.’

One dark eyebrow quirked. Steel turned from locking the front doors, a lazy smile twisting the stern mouth. ‘That’s a little sexist,’ he protested mildly. ‘Males like jacuzzis too.’

‘Not as much as women do.’

Steel shrugged, his silver-blue eyes watching the way the evening sunshine brought out the red in her dark brown hair. It was natural, he’d swear to it, he thought inconsequentially. When had he last seen a beautiful woman with hair that owed nothing to a bottle for its rich colour? ‘Don’t the pins and what have you in that thing make your head ache?’ he said suddenly, nodding at her tightly secured coil of hair.

She stared at him as if he’d gone mad—and perhaps he had, Steel thought ruefully. Personal remarks to employees weren’t his style.

‘A little, perhaps,’ she said slowly after a moment or two. ‘But it’s neat and out of the way for work.’

Steel glanced at his watch. ‘It’s nearly half-past five. You’re officially in your own time.’ He could hear himself speaking but didn’t seem able to stop himself.

If she understood she didn’t give any sign of it. ‘I can sketch out some of our new ideas and have them ready for you in the morning.’ Her voice was cool, businesslike. ‘Of course the cost will be pretty general at this stage.’

Damn the ideas. His body had been throbbing with sexual frustration all afternoon and now he gritted his teeth as he walked to the Aston Martin and opened the passenger door, helping her into the car. ‘There’s no rush.’ He leant one arm on the roof of the car and smiled at her. ‘Leave them till tomorrow. Fancy a drink now the working day is done?’

What are you doing? another part of his brain ground out. You’re breaking every rule in the book.

Ah, but they were his rules. He was the boss. He could break them if he chose to do so. Anyway, what was the matter in two working colleagues enjoying an end-of-day drink?

She seemed a little flustered but her voice was firm when she said, ‘Thank you, but no, I ought to get home. The girls will be having their bath soon and I like to be there when I can.’

Steel blinked, disconcerted to find he’d forgotten her children existed in the last few minutes. ‘No problem.’ He shut her door, mentally kicking himself as he walked round the bonnet.

When he slid into the car he saw she was sitting very straight and still. He cursed silently. During the afternoon she had relaxed with him and now they were back to square one. ‘How about I take you straight home now, unless you need to call in the office for anything?’ he suggested quietly. ‘That way you shouldn’t miss time with your children.’

She glanced at him and he saw her eyes were wary. ‘Thank you,’ she said after a moment or two. He got the feeling she would have liked to refuse the offer and wondered why. Was she bothered about what the neighbours would think when she was brought home in a nice car by a strange man, or didn’t she want to run the risk he might meet her family? Neither reason sat well and he felt an edge of anger to his curiosity about what made this dark-eyed, honey-skinned woman tick.

Toni sat hugging the folder of plans and her notes to her chest during the journey as though she needed their protection. Steel wondered what she’d do if he suddenly pulled into a quiet side road and cut the engine, and toyed with doing just that to see her reaction for a second before he had the grace to feel ashamed of himself. But she made him want to do something outrageous, he told himself in justification for his crassness. She was so in command of herself, so restrained. She made him feel like one of the lecherous villains from the old silent movies. He could understand why her opinion of the male sex was at an all-time low, but did she seriously think he was so boorish as to make a move on her in his car of all places?

The thought of having her in the back seat, of making her shake and shiver and moan beneath him as his hands and mouth explored every inch of her delectable body, nearly caused him to drive into a large family saloon. After this Steel gave all his attention to the rush-hour traffic and let his self-induced arousal subside.

When he drew up outside the terraced house where her parents lived Toni opened the door even as he cut the engine. ‘Wait, I’ll help you,’ he offered as she began to scramble out of the car, but by the time he’d walked round to her the inevitable had happened and the plans and papers were all over the pavement.

He bent to help her retrieve them, wincing as their heads collided and then catching her as she stumbled.

‘I’m so sorry.’ She was scarlet. ‘It’s your car, it’s so low.’ And then she blushed still more if that was possible.

He thought it showed remarkable restraint when he didn’t point out that if she had waited as he’d suggested there wouldn’t have been a problem. He managed a creditable laugh. ‘I’ll use the four-by-four next time.’

‘No, I didn’t mean—’

She was still in his arms and every muscle in his body had tightened as evidence of the fact. He looked down at her face, noticing a tiny indentation in her nose—the result of an injury when she was young maybe?—and the way her full lips were slightly apart showing small white teeth. He wondered what she tasted like. Sweet as honey. Without a doubt.

It took more will power than he knew he possessed to resist kissing her, to resist plunging his tongue into the moist, undefended territory of her mouth. He wanted her so badly he was in danger of shaking with the need. The scent of her was warm and inviting, teasing his nostrils, and her hair smelt of summer fruit—peaches, apples perhaps.

He straightened, letting his arms fall to his sides and taking a step away from her before he gave in to the sensual desire turning his blood to liquid fire. She didn’t move, staring at him with huge eyes, her body as still as his. How long they would have stood there he didn’t know, but when the front door to the house opened and shrill shrieks of ‘Mummy!’ broke the unnatural silence that had fallen she reacted with a speed that took him by surprise. One moment she was staring at him with great dark eyes, the next she was meeting the two little girls who ran pell-mell towards her with outstretched arms.

Steel found he was transfixed. It was an effort to raise his gaze to the stout, grey-haired woman in the doorway who called, ‘I’m sorry, dear, but they’ve been watching from their bedroom window for you to come home and once they caught sight of you …’

‘It’s all right, Mum.’ Toni disentangled herself, turning to Steel with a strained smile as she said, ‘These are my children, Amelia and Daisy.’

He’d been right with his second guess. She hadn’t wanted him to meet her children. The knowledge hit at the same time as he acknowledged he was experiencing a feeling of tremendous relief that the twins were tiny copies of their mother, apart from their hair, which was a riot of tight brown curls. He couldn’t see any obvious evidence of the man who had sired them.