The Beautiful Widow - By Helen Brooks Page 0,28

atmosphere that made Toni feel all at odds with the others. They seemed to know each other and yet they’d only just met; it was silly but she felt horribly left out and almost betrayed, as if Steel Landry had intruded into that part of her life she had to keep separate from any outside influences.

Steel looked up and saw her. His hand had been reaching for his wine glass and it paused momentarily, his crystal eyes narrowing. Then his fingers closed round the stem and his voice was smoky when he said, ‘Toni, we were wondering where you’d got to. Come and sit down and have a glass of wine.’

His words reinforced the strange feeling but also provided the shot of adrenaline she needed to walk out into the evening air with a polite smile on her face. ‘I hear my mother’s roped you in for a meal,’ she said coolly. ‘I hope that won’t upset Maggie if she’s got one of her wonderful dinners prepared.’

The thick black lashes swept down to hide the expression in his eyes for a moment. ‘Maggie’s away for a couple of days,’ he said smoothly, his gaze encompassing Vivienne and William as he added, ‘We all need a break now and again.’

‘Absolutely.’ Vivienne sent a triumphant glance her daughter’s way. ‘I’m sure she’d be glad to know you’re having a hot meal.’

Her father’s look was more of a reproof, stating—as if she didn’t know—that she was being uncharacteristically rude to a guest. Feeling as though she were a recalcitrant child who had been put in her place, Toni reached for her glass of wine. In all her wildest dreams she hadn’t expected her first day at work to end like this, she thought with a faint touch of hysteria.

They ate at the small patio table, which was disturbingly cosy. Her mother’s casserole followed by sherry trifle couldn’t compete with Maggie’s culinary expertise, but Steel further endeared himself to Vivienne by having second helpings of everything and declaring every mouthful delicious.

Toni struggled to eat anything. If it weren’t for the effect he had on her; if the owner of Landry Enterprises had been an elderly, white-haired gentleman or a geek type or even a Flash Harry, she would have handled this situation perfectly well, but Steel … Steel was Steel. Devastatingly attractive and every bit as dangerous; more powerful and sure of himself than anyone she’d met and a man who had a different woman for every day of the week, if half the rumours about him were to be believed. And she believed them, every one of them. Look how he had her mother eating out of his hand; her father too, come to it.

When her mother bustled inside to fix some coffee, refusing Toni’s offer of help with a cheery, ‘I can manage perfectly well, dear,’ a soft twilight was falling, bathing the tiny garden in scented intimate shadows. It was a beautiful evening, the sort of night when lovers would take a long slow walk along country lanes wrapped in each other’s arms, Toni thought with a pang of longing, before silently chastising herself for such a notion. Whatever was the matter with her?

But she didn’t need to ask. She had never been so aware of another human being in her life as she was of Steel tonight. Every slight movement he’d made, every intonation of his voice had shot along her nerves like liquid fire. The breadth of his shoulders outlined under his shirt—his jacket long since having been discarded— the sculptured bone structure and hard handsome face, and not least the big predatory male body had dried her mouth and caused her heart to palpitate. And over and over had drummed the thought that she had committed herself to working with this man, that he was her boss, that she couldn’t escape him. And would she want to, even if she could?

‘I’m just going to get my pipe and baccy.’ Her father ambled to his feet and Toni had to resist the urge to grab hold of him and demand he stay as she watched him enter the house.

‘Don’t worry, you’re not alone with me.’ Steel’s voice held dark amusement and as her eyes shot to his face he nodded at the high brick wall dividing the gardens. A small robin was perched there surveying them with bright black eyes, head slightly on one side. ‘We have a chaperone on hand.’

‘Don’t be silly, I’m not worried,’ she lied quickly.