The Beautiful Widow

caused in the two buxom barmaids, or the way they practically fought to serve him when he went to order drinks once they’d found a table close to the roaring log fire. He came back with a glass of wine for her and an apple juice for himself and two menus, sitting down and smiling at her as he murmured, ‘I’ve surprised you today, haven’t I?’

She eyed him warily. ‘A little, I suppose.’

‘Another surprise. I’ve decided we’ll take the day off.’

‘What?’ She sat up straighter. ‘What on earth for?’

‘It’s not often I decide to buy a house. I want to celebrate.’ His smile widened, a little like a shark’s. ‘Besides which, I want to get a few facts and figures clear in my head before I make an offer. If I got into the office there’s too much distraction.’

He saw her expression relax slightly. ‘Oh, I see. You mean we’ll still be working but on the ideas for this house.’

‘If you want to put it like that.’

Her brows came together for an instant and she took a sip of wine. ‘Steel—’

‘Decide what you want to eat so we can order and then you can tell me your plans for each room.’ He picked up his own menu and pretended to be absorbed in it, only raising his head when one of the barmaids came across with a pad and pencil to take their order, practically drooling as she looked at Steel.

The meal decided, he met her gaze. ‘So? Tell me your thoughts thus far.’ The flames from the crackling fire in the big old hearth were picking out the red tints in her dark brown hair, her pale creamy skin and red lips a delicious contrast. Before she could speak, he murmured, ‘Rose Red. From the fairy tale, you know? Has anyone ever told you that you look like Rose Red?’

She stared at him for a moment. ‘The first thing to be tackled is the kitchen. It’s too small and hopelessly outdated. I suggest you knock through into the old scullery and also the room next door, which is currently a breakfast room. That would give you a huge space to play around with, and if you go for Shaker-style units with pretty handles and granite worktops, and perhaps natural slate tiles on the floor, they’ll fit in with the beamed ceiling and feel to the property. There’ll be ample space for a kitchen table and chairs and so on.’

Steel nodded. ‘Go on.’

‘Apart from the original sitting room, which is quite wonderful as it is, there seems to be several small rooms downstairs as a result of the extension done to the original building. You don’t need a morning room and a snug, not when you have a dining room and study and second sitting room already. If you sacrifice the morning room to extend the entrance hall to make more space as you come into the house, the snug could be changed into a downstairs cloakroom.’ She paused for breath.

‘Could all that be done without ruining the original features?’ Steel asked thoughtfully.

Toni nodded, her face animated as it always was when she was starting a new project. ‘Absolutely, and I know of a wonderful reclamation yard as well as a supplier of beautiful limestone that would look just right in the entrance hall. Upstairs if you sacrificed two of the bedrooms and divided each into two bathrooms, four bedrooms could have an en-suite. I’ll draw that up for you later. And the master bedroom is more than big enough to incorporate an en-suite as it is. That would just leave the one bedroom next to the present bathroom and it would be easy to knock through. This would mean six bedrooms all with en-suites, which I think is preferable to eight without.’

‘I agree.’ He smiled. ‘I was right to bring you.’

‘The main sitting room, or drawing room I suppose, would be more imposing if four-panel doors were used to create a double-width entrance, but that’s just a suggestion. It’s fine as it is. But overall I think you need to be careful to create a look that’s easy and timeless, something opulent and in keeping with the period feel but not heavy or dark. The mullioned windows are beautiful but they don’t let in as much light as modern ones, so we need to concentrate on pale fabrics—creams and duck-egg blue and ochre for example—and do away with all those dark, patterned carpets. There are wonderful floorboards underneath them—I’ve checked. They’d only need to be sanded and sealed, and rather than hide them you could enhance them with rugs. Thick, luxurious ones in light shades.’

She came up for air to find Steel smiling at her.

‘What?’ she asked warily. Why was he looking at her like that?

‘Sounds great. You’re in charge.’

‘In charge?’ she echoed faintly. The way he’d said it.

‘From start to finish and down to the last teaspoon in my new kitchen. Run with it. Forget the other projects. I can get those sorted. I want you to concentrate on this from now on. I only want to know if there’s a problem. Otherwise, you have a free hand on the alterations, colours, fabrics, everything. And I don’t want to see it until it’s finished, OK?’

Her face registered alarm. ‘Steel, this is your home we’re talking about. You’ll have to choose the kitchen you want and so on. I couldn’t possibly presume to speak for you; you might hate my taste.’

‘No.’ He grinned at her, but for once she was too wound up to notice. ‘I trust you implicitly.’

‘It’s not a question of trust. It’s a matter of taste.’

‘But you have perfect taste, Toni,’ he said solemnly.

‘You know what I mean. It’s not like these are apartments or something. I couldn’t take over completely.’

‘You can’t do your job?’ He raised one eyebrow.

‘This is not my job,’ she protested adamantly.

‘You are employed by me as an interior designer and I’ve asked you to be in sole charge of a job from beginning to end. It’s as simple as that. I have no experience in creating a family home, which is what I’m wanting here; furthermore I’d find the details tiresome. You have free rein with the financial side and money is not a problem.’