Before Toni realized what was happening, Scott had crossed the few steps that separated them and had wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, his fingers working into her hair as he pressed his mouth against hers, pushing open her full lips, moving back and forth, his breath fast and heavy on her face.
His mouth was tender, gentle but firm, as though he was holding back the floodgates of a passion which was on the verge of breaking through and overwhelming them both.
She felt that potential, she trembled at the thought of it, and at that moment she knew that she wanted it as much as he did.
Her eyes closed as she wrapped her arms around his back and leaned into the kiss, kissing him back, revelling in the sensual heat of his body as it pressed against hers. Closer, closer, until his arms were taking the weight of her body, enclosing her in his loving, sweet embrace. The pure physicality of the man was almost overpowering. The movement of his muscular body pressed against her, combined with the heavenly scent that she knew now was unique to him alone.
It filled her senses with an intensity that she had never felt in the embrace of any other man in her life. He was totally overwhelming. Intoxicating. And totally, totally delicious.
And, just when Toni thought that there could be nothing more pleasurable in this world, his kiss deepened. It was as though he wanted to take everything that she was able to give him and without a second of doubt she surrendered to the hot spice of the taste of his mouth and tongue.
This was the loving warm kiss she had never known. The connection between them was part of it, but this went beyond friendship and common interests.
This was a kiss to signal the start of something new. The kind of kiss where each of them was opening up their most intimate secrets and deepest feelings for the other person to see.
The heat, the intensity, the desire of this man was all there, exposed for her to see when she eventually opened her eyes and broke the connection. Shuddering. Trembling.
Then he pulled away, the faint stubble on his chin grazing across her mouth, as he lifted his face to kiss her eyes, brow and temple.
It took a second for her to catch her breath before she felt able to open her eyes, only to find Scott was still looking at her, his forehead pressed against hers. A smile warmed his face as he moved his hand down to stroke her cheek.
He knew. He knew the effect that his kiss was having on her body. Had to. Her face burned with the heat coming from the point of contact between them. His heart was racing, just as hers was.
‘Is that the way you usually silence women who ask you tough questions?’ Toni asked, aiming to keep her voice casual and light as she tried to catch her breath. And failing.
He simply smiled a little wider in reply, one side of his mouth turning up more than the other, before he answered in a low whisper. ‘I save it for emergencies. And for when I need to answer tough questions.’
Scott pulled back and looked at her, eye to eye. ‘You have to know that it is killing me to even think about leaving you here when I head back to Alaska, but that is where I belong. Freya will be back tomorrow to help me with the cleaning and organising the media companies and she’s happy to do it, but she doesn’t need me, Toni. There is no work for me here. You deserve a lot better than a part-time lover.’
He was nuzzling the side of her head now, his lips moving over her brow and into her hair as she spoke. ‘Do I? I think that is the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to me.’
‘And I mean every word. Your life is here, where you have a brilliant future as an artist and photographer. I can see it now.’ His hand scrolled her name in the air. ‘Portraits by Antonia Baldoni. It is going to be magic. Who knows, I might even come and have my photograph taken.’
‘No need, Scott. I have all the photographs in the world. But they don’t come close to the real you.’
Scott rested his forehead on her for one more second before he stood back and held out his hand. ‘It’s been a delight working with you, Miss Baldoni. Good luck in your future career.’
Then he turned and strode away from her, back to the second floor and the sound of sawing wood and drilling. Leaving her sitting there in her smoky clothes and hair with a broken heart. Bereft and alone. And already missing him more than words could express.
TWELVE
Scott strolled into the boardroom at Elstrom in the bright March sunlight and was immediately leapt on by Freya, who gave him such a warm hug that all of his fears and apprehensions for this day instantly vanished.
Holding her at arm’s length, Scott moved his head slowly from side to side to check that they were the only two people in the room.
‘I know that Dad is still in Italy because I spoke to him this morning. But where have you hidden Travis? I thought his ugly face was bound to turn up at any boardroom meeting where money would be involved. Do I need to look under the table? That’s the only place he would be out of reach of my fist.’
‘Now don’t be like that,’ Freya scolded and wagged a finger at him. ‘Travis sent me a very sweet email yesterday, telling me that he had decided to leave Elstrom behind for good and move on to pastures new.’
Freya must have caught the look in his eyes because she gave him a quick nod. ‘Yes. That’s right. Travis has sold all of his shares. And no, before you ask, I don’t know who he sold them to. It certainly wasn’t anyone in the family because I asked around. So don’t give me that look. Who knows? It might be someone who has a real interest in the business. Think positive for once!’
‘Positive! Right. Well, I can’t say that I’m sorry to see him go. But I don’t like the idea that we have an unknown investor. That makes me nervous.’
Freya hooked her arm through the crook of Scott’s elbow and tugged him towards the back of the room.
‘Then here is something to put a smile on your face.’ She nervously licked her lips and Scott saw it.
‘What’s going on? I thought that you’d called me here for a board meeting?’
‘I have.’ Freya nodded. ‘With my office manager hat on, I can tell you that everything is going splendidly, the building is booked for the next two years with more enquiries coming in every day and the finances have never looked rosier. The full report is on your desk. There. Done. Now, on to much more exciting stuff.’
She stepped back and slowly angled her head towards the wall behind the head of the table. ‘Notice anything different?’
Scott rolled his shoulders back and followed her gaze, then blinked.
The full-length portrait of his uncle had been moved to the left, creating a gap which was occupied by a tall gold frame which matched the other portraits perfectly. What was inside the frame was covered by a plain grey dust sheet held up by a piece of tape, hiding the painting below.
It took a second for his brain to register what he was looking at.
‘Toni finished my painting. Wow. I wondered about that.’
‘Wonder no longer. That girl works fast! I have already seen it and paid the rest of her fee,’ Freya whispered, then stepped to one side and kissed him on the cheek. ‘This is your very own personal unveiling. Call me later. Love ya.’
With that, Freya swung her handbag over her shoulder and strolled casually out of the room, leaving him standing there with his back against the table, staring up at the dust sheet.
Something close to nerves ran across his shoulders. This was so ridiculous! This was only paint on canvas. Why did he need a personal viewing?
He took a couple of calming breaths. Who was he kidding? This was paint brushed on to one of her father’s canvases by the same clever fingers which had stroked his face and made him feel alive only a few weeks earlier. Until he blew it.
She had probably made him look like his grandfather. Complete with morning dress, sideburns and a handlebar moustache.
He deserved the worst.
Forcing the air from his lungs in one short blast, Scott tugged on the dust sheet and then gathered it up on to the floor.
Only then did he stand up, lift his chin and focus on the painting hanging on the wall in front of him.
What he saw took his breath away and Scott quickly pulled out a chair and collapsed down into it. Suddenly his legs were not quite as steady as they should be.
His portrait was astonishing.
Toni had painted him standing at the mullioned window of the office. His legs were braced and he was wearing cold weather gear and the fur-lined boots he had arrived in from Alaska. It was a side view and his left hand was resting on a wide decorated chart spread out on the mapping table in front of the window. Survey equipment and a dog sled harness were right there, on top of the map.
But that was not where the eye was drawn to. Scott’s gaze was riveted by the expression on his face. He looked tanned, unshaven, with swept back hair but, with his chin up and his back straight, he looked the equal of any of the other Elstrom men captured on these walls. Strong, powerful and in control. Even down to the grey in his beard and stubble.
But this portrait was different.
Toni had seen something in him which nobody alive had ever truly noticed before.
Yearning. It was in the way his blond eyebrows came together in concentration as his eyes stared out of the window where gentle snowflakes blurred the hazy outline of the tall buildings opposite Elstrom. His mouth was curved into a small warm smile as though he was dreaming of somewhere else. She had painted his eyes a shade of blue that he knew from his reflection in the mirror every morning. The exact perfect shade.
Tears pricked the corners of Scott’s eyes and he left them there.
Freya was right. This painting was intensely personal. Every single brush stroke screamed out to him that the hand that had painted his image cared about him so deeply and intensely that it was impossible to conceal.
It was a love letter in the shape of a painting.
Toni Baldoni was in love with him.
A bubble of happiness popped up from deep in his chest and he scrubbed his chin a couple of times. Men like him rarely got second chances and he had never imagined that it could happen twice.
Damn Toni for showing him how wrong he had been.
No way was he going to lose his chance of love again!
Leaping to his feet, Scott saluted the strong and intelligent-looking man in the painting before whirling around and striding to the door. ‘Wish me luck. I have ten minutes to work out how to tell Toni what I feel. And it had better be good!’
* * *
‘Oh, rollers,’ Toni grunted through gritted teeth as a great splodge of white emulsion paint dropped off the end of her paint tray and on to the leg of her painting overalls. She didn’t mind the paint; she was used to that. It was the wet patch she was not too keen on.
No time to get changed. She was determined to finish the studio walls today and that was precisely what she was going to do! It was the third coat and the last. From now on, the studio walls were going to reflect back every bit of the natural light she needed if she had any chance of working the way she wanted.
For the past three weeks Toni had filled her days and sometimes her nights with the perfect challenge. Transforming the Baldoni studio into a space which she could use for new clients and new portraits. She didn’t need a photographic studio on the high street. Not any longer.
The first things to go were the cracked paint trays and old chewed paintbrushes which she knew that she would never use. She had broken up the old wooden cracked picture frames and battered shelving and used them as firewood. That little splash of linseed oil really helped warm the old stone walls. Papers went for recycling. Same with the dried-up paints and oil cans.
It was as though working on Scott’s portrait had unleashed a cleaning demon which had been waiting inside to get out.
The portraits that her father had hung on the terracotta-coloured walls were the last things to be taken down. His hoarding of every receipt and invoice had actually come in useful for once and in three cases the client who had sat in this very studio so many years ago had been delighted to pop in and buy a copy of their portrait from the artist’s family and at very good rates.
The nice thing was, the moment they’d taken a look at Scott’s painting on the easel, they had been so delighted that they’d wondered if she might be available to paint their granddaughter or son who had just received a wonderful promotion at work.
Three new commissions in three weeks.
She would never have thought it possible.
Scott Elstrom had a lot to answer for, in more ways than one! No matter how many late nights she worked or how physically exhausted she was at the end of the day, Scott still filled her thoughts with dreams of what could have been and what had been lost.
It only took one glance at his portrait to take her instantly right back to Elstrom Mapping and the man who owned it.
It was gone now. Freya had collected it yesterday. All boxed up and packed away.
So why did Scott’s face still flood her mind even now, halfway up a ladder with her arms stretching up to cover the walls with white paint?
Stepping down from the ladder for a moment to check for dark patches, Toni was suddenly aware that there was a cold draught from the kitchen but she was sure that she had closed the back door.
Wiping her hands, she stepped into the kitchen and was suddenly aware that there was someone standing in front of her.
It was Scott.
In the flesh.
He was here. Standing in front of her. All tall and gorgeous and clean and handsome and so attractive she could happily have dived into those blue eyes and warm arms and not come up for air.
The masculine strength and power positively beamed out from every pore and grabbed her. It was in the way that he held his body, the way his head turned to face her and the way he looked at her as though she was the most fascinating woman he had ever met, and oh, yes, the laser focus of those intelligent blue eyes had a lot to do with it as well.
He was so close that she could touch him if she wanted to. She could practically feel the softness of his breath on her skin as he gazed intently into her eyes. The background noise of the radio she always played at full volume when she worked seemed to fade away until all of her senses were totally focused on this man who had captivated her.
She couldn’t move.
She did not want to move.
There was an awkward gap and just then her resolve gave way and she felt that she simply had to say something—anything—to fill the silence. ‘What are you doing here, Scott? What do you want from me?’
Her words blurted out in a much stronger voice than she had intended, and she instantly warmed them with a small shoulder shrug. ‘I thought that you were travelling?’
Scott straightened his back and lifted his chin. ‘What am I doing here? Well, I thought that was fairly obvious. I’m here to thank you for the portrait.’
Freya!
‘Do you think it is a good likeness?’ Toni asked as casually as she could.
‘Perfect. It’s me. All of me. Outside and inside too. I don’t know how you did that with paint but you did. Clever girl.’
‘It’s in the blood. But I’m pleased that you like it. That means a lot.’
He tilted his head slightly to one side and gave her a lopsided grin which made him look about twelve years old.
And her poor lonely heart melted all over again.
She smiled back, her defences weakened by the wonderful charm and warmth of this man she cared about so very much, who was standing so very close and yet seemed beyond reach.
‘What have you been doing with yourself these past weeks?’ Scot
t whispered. ‘Travelling the world with that camera of yours?’
‘Actually, I’ve been working on my own projects, right here.’ She waved her right hand in the air and looked up at the white-painted ceiling. ‘I thought that I might stay in one place for a while.’ Her voice quivered a little. ‘In fact, I decided to take a year’s leave from the media company and focus on painting for a while. See where it takes me.’
Scott glanced quickly over her shoulder before turning his gaze back to her face. ‘You’ve worked wonders. It looks amazing.’
His fingers traced a line along her chin from ear to throat. ‘My portrait is stunning. You should be very proud of your talents, Toni. I believe you have it in you to achieve amazing things with your work. Photographs, painting. It’s all part of your creative genius. You’re destined for wonderful things, my girl.’
His girl?
‘Oh, Scott, I’ve been such an idiot,’ she whispered.
His reply was to cup Toni’s head between his hands, his long fingers so gentle and tender and loving that her heart melted even more.
‘You were right, Scott. I did need to paint your portrait. And it wasn’t just for the cash, although it has been very useful. It was more than that. A lot more.’
Her head dropped forward on to his chest so that when she spoke her words were swallowed up in the warmth of his fleece shirt.
His reply was a low sigh of contentment as he wrapped his arms tighter around her back and drew her even closer so that she was totally encased in his loving embrace.
‘Ah. She finally admits that I am a genius in all things. Happy days.’
‘You don’t get everything right. You thought that I couldn’t understand what it was like to see the Elstrom heritage slip away from you. But you are so wrong about that.’
Words and feelings whirled around inside her head and her heart so fast that she thought she might pass out if it wasn’t for Scott’s strong arms holding her upright.
But how could she explain without giving away a secret that she had sworn to her parents that she would never tell anyone unless she had to?
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Boss? Page 15