The Beautiful Widow

Dessert was a frothy chocolate concoction with a raspberry sauce that was tangy and complemented the rich chocolate perfectly, and by the end of the meal Toni was very full and more relaxed. But only up to a point. Steel simply wasn’t the sort of man you could relax around—or maybe she should say the sort of man she could relax around, she acknowledged silently. He was too … disturbing.

Maggie had gone home once she had brought out the dessert and coffee, and now Toni said, ‘Maggie’s a wonderful cook. Has she worked for you long?’

He nodded. ‘A good few years. She comes in most afternoons and prepares an evening meal unless I’m going out, and sees to the apartment and laundry and so on. Her husband died shortly before she came to work for me and left her fairly well off, but she likes to keep busy. She looks after one of her grandchildren every morning so the hours here suit her.’

Toni thought back to the motherly way Maggie had with her. ‘She likes to feel needed.’

The observation seemed to surprise him. ‘Needed?’ He considered this for a moment. ‘Yes, I suppose you’re right, I hadn’t looked at it like that. She was very happily married, by all accounts, so I suppose it must have been hard when her husband died, especially as it was a long illness and she nursed him herself. She’s a good person.’

And devoted to Steel, by the way she’d fussed round him. Which had to mean he wasn’t quite the hard, remote, slightly sardonic mogul he presented to the world?

Or maybe it didn’t. She didn’t know, Toni thought confusedly, what Steel was, and she didn’t need to. She was an employee, that was all. She finished the last of her coffee, feeling acutely awkward as she said, ‘That was a lovely meal and all the nicer for being so unexpected. Thank you.’

‘My pleasure.’ The firm, sensual mouth suddenly quirked with amusement as he added, ‘See the lengths I’ve gone to to make you relax?’

She giggled, she couldn’t help it, the first real natural response she’d made all evening, then felt acutely embarrassed as the silver eyes narrowed on her mouth.

‘That’s better,’ he murmured, ‘but don’t tense up on me again. Let’s go and sort out those plans and the other bits and pieces before I call a taxi.’

‘Oh, you needn’t do that,’ she said quickly. ‘I came by underground and—’

‘And you’re going home with me in a taxi.’

With him? This was getting worse. ‘I’ve got my ticket—’

‘I’m going to call the hospital for an update and then a cab, OK? I have never yet left any young woman I was responsible for to make her own way home, and I don’t intend to start with you, Toni.’

She stared at him. ‘You’re not responsible for me.’

‘You came here early this evening because I asked you to and you stayed for a meal for the same reason. It is now—’ he consulted his watch ‘—getting on for eleven, and soon all the gremlins and goblins come out to play. Indulge me.’

He was light-hearted, casual, but she couldn’t rise to the humour. ‘Really, there’s no need.’

‘Yes, there is.’ The silver eyes fixed her determinedly.

Oh, for goodness’ sake! ‘Thank you,’ she said. Not.

‘I’d drive myself but I’ve had a drink,’ he added, rising to his feet as though the matter was settled. ‘Now come along.’

Toni stood up. She felt she couldn’t do anything else but she found she really didn’t want to ride home with him in a taxi. They’d shared a meal, admittedly, but on opposite sides of the table. A taxi was altogether more … She baulked at the word intimate and substituted cosy.

Fifteen minutes later she was sitting in a

cab on her way home to Finsbury clutching her portfolio to her chest. Steel was sprawled beside her taking a good two-thirds of the seat, his long legs stretched in front of him and his whole persona one of lazy relaxation as he went over a few key points of the project.

Toni tried to concentrate, she really did, but she was acutely aware of a hard male thigh against hers, the five-o’clock stubble on his chin, which accentuated his brand of aggressive masculinity tenfold, and, not least, the bigness of him. The hard muscled shoulders were broad in keeping with his height, but it was more the overall virility of the man that was so disturbing. And attractive. And definitely scary.

Oh, she didn’t doubt those worldly, sophisticated women a man like Steel would date would be able to handle his fascination just fine. But she was neither worldly nor sophisticated, she admitted feverishly, wishing the journey would end. Before Richard she had never slept with a man before. Lots of her boyfriends had tried to go all the way, of course, but that wasn’t how she had been brought up. She hadn’t minded kissing and petting, she was as red-blooded as the next woman, but she’d always known she would need to be in love before she committed herself body, soul and spirit. It was just the way she was made and that was that. She’d done apologising for the fact long before Richard had come across the horizon. It hadn’t taken her long to understand that the male sex worked on quite another agenda, however. Most of them didn’t need to do more than like a woman before they indulged in anything and everything, no holds barred. And some of them simply refused to compute the word no.

But Richard had been understanding and prepared to wait. He’d assured her that one-night stands and casual sex weren’t on his agenda either, and he had charmed her down the aisle before she had recognised he was essentially a terribly weak and flawed individual. But even then, when her love had turned to lukewarm affection and she had realised she was always going to have to be the strong one in the relationship, the one who carried the family and made all the important decisions, she still hadn’t known about his addiction. He had been cunning enough to keep that dark side of his life from her completely, so maybe he had been stronger than she’d thought?

To her acute discomfort she came out of the maelstrom of memories to find Steel was watching her with eyes like polished, razor-sharp crystal. ‘I’m sorry?’ Too late she realised he was waiting for an answer to a question she hadn’t heard. Wonderful. Just the way to show a new boss you were on the ball.

‘It doesn’t matter.’ He brushed away whatever he’d said with an inclination of his head, but his gaze didn’t leave her face as he continued, ‘What were you thinking about just now?’

She had only known him a matter of hours but she already knew prevarication wasn’t an option. Deciding a half-truth would carry the weight she needed, she said quietly, ‘I was thinking how someone’s life can be turned around in an hour or two. When I came to see you tonight the future looked like an uphill struggle I might never get control of, but now, now I feel I’ve been given my life back. Richard left us in a terrible mess and it was hard to come to terms with the fact I’d never really known him in spite of being married for four years. But that is the past and I have to look to the future for me and the girls. I can do that now.’

He was still watching her closely but his tone was light when he said, ‘What would you have done if I hadn’t offered you the job?’