The Beautiful Widow - By Helen Brooks Page 0,60

if the shrieks and laughter were anything to go by, were having the time of their lives. Rose was playing at their feet and the baby was asleep.

It was Saturday morning, and the last three days had been the worst of her life. Since their talk in the car park Steel had retreated somewhere very distant. He was still present physically, still polite and courteous when he spoke to her, but it was clear to her she’d achieved her aim and whatever had been between them was dead as far as he was concerned. And following on from this thought, Toni said now in her defence, ‘He never spoke of love, you know. Commitment. For ever. It was a sexual thing on his side. Something that would be short-lived and semi-permanent.’

‘Even if that was true, and I don’t think it was but I’ll come on to that in a minute, I’d still say you were the luckiest woman alive. Again by your own admission he was sweet and thoughtful and not at all the big I am, like some men would be in his position, and you’d have had a fabulous time together. He’d have wined and dined you and the bedding part would have been out of this world.’

‘Poppy—’ She didn’t think she could take any more of this.

‘But I think it was more than that with him. See it from his side for a moment, Toni. Right from the word go you made it clear you were off limits because of what had happened with Richard and you being a single mother and everything, and so why would the poor guy say anything about for ever with you liable to run screaming if he did? He did the softly-softly routine for your sake. He didn’t give into his macho desires and take you on the office desk or in his chair or anywhere else he’d no doubt fantasised about, he let you get to know him, really know him. Now we all know men mostly think with a part of their anatomy a lot lower than their heads, so if he did all that for you I’d say it was more than good old lust driving him. And let’s face it, he could have any woman he wanted just by crooking his little finger if it was only sex motivating him.’

‘You’re not making me feel better. I wanted you to say I’d done the right thing and good riddance.’

‘To Steel Landry? No can do. Tell him you’ve changed your mind,’ Poppy urged. ‘Cry a bit and fall on his manly chest—they can never resist that, especially if you’re saying he was right and you were wrong.’

Toni had thought she’d never smile again, but now the corners of her mouth turned up. ‘You look like the backbone of the WI, all home-made jam and sponge cakes and church fetes. How come you’re such an out and out vamp under the skin?’

‘I could tell you stories about one or two WI members that would make your hair curl,’ Poppy said, grinning. ‘But seriously, don’t let this one slip out of the net. He might have had more than a brief affair on his mind and you’ll only know if you give him a chance and chill out a bit.’

Toni gazed at her friend over her coffee cup, her smile dying. ‘I love him, Poppy. That’s the thing. And whether he wanted me just for a while or something more permanent, I still can’t be with him. You’ve seen him. He’s …’

‘Oh, yes,’ Poppy agreed.

‘And rich and powerful—the whole package. I wouldn’t know how to go about keeping a man like that. I wouldn’t be able to. And then it would be a question of trying to ignore his little … indiscretions, and I’d die, inch by inch.’

‘I think you might be doing him an injustice. Who says he’s going to play around? He’s drop-dead gorgeous, yes, but even sublime beings like him are allowed to find “the one".’

‘And what if I’m not the one? What then?’

Poppy stared at her, suddenly deadly serious. ‘I know you love him, but do you trust him?’ she said very quietly as the noise upstairs reached new heights. ‘You’ve seen him almost every day for six months and you’ve worked closely with him on and off. And all those late-night cosies when everyone else had gone home. With all you’ve learnt about him, do you trust him?’

Toni’s eyes were stricken. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Richard undermined you