The Beautiful Widow - By Helen Brooks Page 0,64

can work out something. You have a life stretching before you free of debt.’

She stared at him. ‘I can’t accept a house from you.’

‘Of course you can. It was always meant for you. Of course at one time I imagined the pair of us in that bedroom upstairs, but—’ he shrugged ‘—your decision changes nothing about the house. Whether we’re together or no, it is yours.’

‘This is madness.’ She felt as though she were in a dream. ‘I can’t possibly have it, or the money either. You must see that?’ She was trembling with shock.

‘I see nothing of the kind. You and the twins need your own place and this is a perfect home. It’s all arranged.’

‘Steel—’ She felt as though she were losing her grip on reality. ‘This is madness, it’s crazy.’

He smiled, but it didn’t reach the beautiful eyes and showed how deliberate his air of relaxation was. ‘Everyone’s allowed to be a little crazy once in their lives. This is my time. It’s all official and above board, no strings attached, by the way. All that is required is a few signatures.’

‘I can’t.’ She waved a shaking hand. ‘I just can’t.’

‘I’m not trying to buy you, Toni. I don’t work like that. I simply need to know that you and the twins are safe and secure and then we can both get on with our lives. I expect nothing from you, you made it very clear how you feel, but it doesn’t change how I feel, OK? So indulge me. You know I can afford to do this without it making a dent in my bank balance, but it would mean a great deal to two little girls and their quality of life. If you can’t accept it for yourself, accept it for them. I won’t come knocking on your door if that’s what’s bothering you. Not without an invitation anyway.’

He was bewildering her with his gentleness. ‘But why would you do this?’ she asked helplessly. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘Isn’t it obvious?’ He held her frantic gaze.

‘Not to me. People don’t give other people houses.’

If any other woman of his acquaintance had said that he wouldn’t have believed them, but with Toni he knew it was the truth. He’d been to hell and back the last weeks, but he knew he’d only got himself to blame. In the beginning he had set out to seduce her and yet he’d been the one who had been seduced—seduced into love. Ironic. And the fact that she could walk away from him and cut him out of her life should have killed that love stone dead; he wasn’t the type of man to turn the other cheek—he never had been. But it didn’t make any difference. It should have, but it didn’t, not where she was concerned. She mattered more than his feelings.

His Achilles heel. That was what Jeff had called her when he’d got blind drunk at his brother-in-law’s at Christmas and slept the night on their sofa. Jeff had come down early in the morning when he’d had a head on him like a banging drum, and over a cup of strong coffee they’d talked about Toni. Apparently he’d said enough in his inebriated state for Jeff to know most of it anyway.

Steel screened his expression. Jeff had told him that Boxing Day morning to tell her how he felt, just once.

‘Forget your pride, mate. She might sling it back in your face but can you feel worse than you do now? Annie’s worried sick about you, I can tell you that. Tell her and then leave it in the lap of the gods. If nothing else you’ll have no regrets. Say those three words you’ve always maintained you’ll never say to any woman—I love you. It’s easy, believe me. I say it to Annie all the time.’

Steel walked across to her. He’d known for weeks this day was his last chance to convince her they could make it. Not that he wanted to use the offer of the house as blackmail—he would have done if he’d thought it would work, but he knew Toni too well by now. But it was this knowledge that told him she cared for him. How much he didn’t know. But she cared.

Toni had risen to her feet at his approach, her eyes wary, but he didn’t touch her. He didn’t trust himself to. ‘I want you to have the house because I love you,’ he said softly. ‘I’ve never said that to