The Beautiful Widow

He smiled, handing her a cup of coffee. ‘Help yourself to milk and sugar, or there’s cream in the fridge if you prefer,’ he said, before adding, ‘Five’s OK. I often get here around six anyway. I don’t sleep much.’

Superman. Only to be expected really. Why would Steel Landry function like a mere mortal?

He nodded to the plans tucked under her arm. ‘Come and sit down and tell me how you’ve got on,’ he said, taking the plans and spreading them out on the coffee table before sitting down on one of the sofas.

Toni looked down on the dark head for a moment. His hair was severely slicked back but a wayward tuft was defying the austere style and attempting to fall forward into a quiff. She felt a trickle of something hot surge through her veins and hastily sat down, so hastily she spilt a few drops of coffee onto the plans. Horrified, she blurted, ‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ reaching into her handbag and dabbing the drops with a tissue, which only spread the stain further.

‘Hey, don’t worry.’ His hand on her wrist was cool and although the contact only lasted a second she felt the impact for moments afterwards. ‘Leave it, it’s nothing. I have several other sets anyway. Now, show me what you’ve done.’

Hot and flustered, she began to speak, wondering what he must be thinking, but after a minute or two she became absorbed in her ideas, enthusiasm steadying her voice. Oblivious to his gaze moving to her animated face now and again, she outlined the different themes to the properties, her manner eager and natural. ‘So, what do you think?’ she said at last, raising her head and looking straight at him.

What he thought was that he’d like to feel the soft curves of her delectable lips beneath his and free her hair from that bun thing so he could run his fingers through it, Steel told himself ruefully. Hell, he wanted this woman more than he’d wanted anyone for a long, long time.

To give himself a breathing space he stood up and walked over to the coffee machine. ‘Another cup?’ he asked her, turning slightly. ‘I’m afraid I drink this stuff like water.’

‘No, I’m fine.’

He poured himself a black coffee and drank it straight down, scalding hot as it was, before saying, ‘I’m impressed. You’ve captured the vision of making each apartment different without any one lording it over another. Important with my clientele—they can be touchy about their status,’ he added drily. ‘The use of beautiful textiles, bold patterns and the vibrant gemstone-inspired colours will go some way to offset the somewhat utilitarian façade of the building, which cannot be changed to any great degree, but remember in winter the apartments will need to feel cosy with fires and the warmth of wooden floors, and in summer we need to get light flooding in where possible. I presume you have a source for the modern art and some of those more unusual materials and fabrics?’

Toni nodded. ‘Several. When I worked for James we had a client who wanted his hotel designed with a modern take on ancient Rajasthani architecture and interior design. It was a fascinating project. He even incorporated a lotus-patterned swimming pool and a bar with a stargazing deck.’

‘Our clients will have to make do with their bathrooms and wet room, but I like your idea of iridescent glass mosaic tiles. OK, full steam ahead, Toni.’ He saw her cheeks flush pink with pleasure and as she gathered up the plans and drawings he caught a discreet glimpse of creamy cleavage and his body hardened instantly. ‘I’ll take you to the site later today so you can get a feel for the place, but for now let me show you where you’ll be working. For the time being you’ll be sharing Joy’s office. I trust that’s acceptable?’

It was a rhetorical question but Toni answered it anyway, her breathless, ‘Of course,’ lost as he opened the interconnecting door through to his secretary’s office and stood aside for her to precede him. She saw a large desk and chair, a filing cabinet and various items of drawing equipment had been arranged in one half of the room, but even so there was plenty of space. She hoped Joy didn’t mind her imposing, though.

Steel glanced at his watch. ‘Joy should be here shortly so settle yourself in and she’ll tell you what’s what.’

‘Thank you.’

He leaned against the door, his expression slightly quizzical. ‘Don’t look so scared,’ he said softly. ‘I don’t know what you’ve heard about me but I can assure you it’s bound to have been grossly exaggerated. I rarely bite.’

Toni reacted immediately, straightening and giving him a cool smile. ‘I’m merely a little nervous, as everyone is on the first morning at a new job, and in my case it’s been a while since I’ve had to earn a crust.’

Her tone had his eyes narrowing slightly but he made no comment, merely nodding slowly before shutting the door and leaving her alone.

Toni put her hands to her flushed cheeks. Great start. Offending the boss. She sank down on the comfortable leather chair behind the desk and took stock of her surroundings. This would be a lovely place to work. Her corner of the main office at James’s practice had been cramped and on the dark side, as well as noisy. This was altogether different, and she was being paid handsomely to boot. If only Steel were more of an average boss everything in the garden would be coming up smelling of roses. But then, if he were an average kind of guy she wouldn’t be sitting in a fabulous office with a terrific project to get her teeth into and with a salary that had caused her mother to sit down suddenly when she’d told her the good news. Steel was larger than life in every respect and she needed to adapt to that and fast. She couldn’t keep going to pieces around him or, worse, acting as she had just done when all he’d been trying to do was put her at her ease. If only he weren’t so good-looking and aggressively masculine and big, she thought despairingly.

And the sexiest man on the planet, another part of her mind added relentlessly, with that certain something that made it impossible to be in his company without wondering what it would be like to be made love to by a man like him.

There, it was out at last—the thought she’d been fighting against admitting since she’d first set eyes on him. And he had been right a minute ago. He did scare

her. She didn’t want to feel attracted to another man for the rest of her life, or certainly a long, long time, and, although she knew there wasn’t the remotest chance of anything happening between Steel and herself, it still terrified her she could feel this way.

But this was her problem, not Steel’s. She simply couldn’t go on being so awkward and jumpy in his presence. To him she was just another employee and she would die, on the spot, if he guessed how she felt. And the irony was that if the impossible happened and he made a move on her she would run a mile. Steel was the last man in the world she’d ever get involved with. Her life was Amelia and Daisy now, and she would never allow a man into their precious threesome. She owed her daughters that at least. They had their grandfather as a stable male influence when one was needed and that was perfect; she could rely on her father not to let the twins down. Anyone else was suspect.

The door opening cut into her thoughts and a tall, slim blonde woman smiled at her, saying, ‘You must be Toni? Hi, I’m Joy, Steel’s secretary. Nice to meet you.’

The rest of the morning flew by. Joy spent some time showing her where everything was and introducing her around. The top floor of the building housed Steel and Joy’s offices, Steel’s private bathroom, a large conference room and another cloakroom. The floor below was used by Steel’s legal people and the accounts department, and the ground floor consisted of Reception and the team who controlled the outside contractors Steel used for various projects, along with various other employees Toni lost track of. It was a much larger organisation than she had expected but everyone seemed friendly and cheerful.

The two women lunched together in a small bistrotype café a stone’s throw from the office, and it was here that Joy filled her in on some facts about their illustrious boss.

‘Don’t be fooled by the old adage that men can only think of one thing at once, at least not where Steel’s concerned,’ Joy said, once they’d ordered their soup and rolls. ‘He can think of several things at once and he expects everyone else to keep up with him. He’s a workaholic but he plays hard too, although he never, ever gets seriously involved with a woman. Love ‘em and leave ‘em, that’s Steel’s style.’

‘The original bachelor?’ Toni put in drily.

‘And how.’ Joy nodded. ‘Work is his motivating force; women have to fall into line and accept an affair with him is only semi-permanent and strictly sexual. They queue up for the privilege,’ she added wryly. ‘And I’m not joking.’

Toni hadn’t thought she was.