by Helen Brooks
‘Are you very old?’
Amelia faced him in the small narrow hall and, somewhat taken aback, Steel murmured, ‘Not very old, no.’
‘My grandad is. He’s got white hair. When he came to our sports day last week he couldn’t run in the fathers’ race and Tyler said he was rubbish.’
Steel found he didn’t like this Tyler very much.
‘Amelia, that’s enough.’ Toni’s face was burning. ‘I want you and Daisy to go up and get ready for your bath and I’ll come up in a minute. OK? Go on, scoot.’
Steel found himself practically pushed through a door that led to a compact little kitchen and dining room, then out into a patio area where a tall, slightly stooped man rose to shake his hand. ‘I’m Toni’s father, Mr Landry. William Otley. Do sit down. I normally have a cup of coffee out of the way here while the twins get ready for bed. I find I’m in great need of the caffeine.’ He grinned. ‘I’m not as young as I used to be.’
Steel smiled back. ‘I can imagine they keep you on your toes.’
‘Oh, yes, but I wouldn’t miss a minute.’ Toni was hovering at their side and now her father turned to her. ‘Go and see to the girls, dear. I’ll look after Mr Landry.’
Her hesitation was visible. She clearly wanted him anywhere but here, Steel thought grimly.
She gave him a hunted smile, murmuring something about she wouldn’t be long, and then reluctantly went back into the house.
Steel smiled faintly to himself. Whether she liked it or not she wasn’t indifferent to him as a man; the way she had stilled in his arms had told him that. It was a start.
Yes, another part of his mind answered wryly. But a start to what?
CHAPTER FIVE
‘YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE asked him in for coffee.’ Toni fairly hissed the words in her mother’s ear as they presided over the girls’ undressing. ‘You really shouldn’t have.’
‘Why ever not, dear?’ Vivienne said airily.
‘He’s my boss. It’s just not … done.’
‘Nonsense.’ Vivienne whisked Daisy up into her arms.
Toni gave her mother a helpless glance and then decided not to pursue the conversation, aware of little ears flapping. Determined she was still going to put the girls to bed—Steel had known what she intended when he’d accepted her mother’s invitation after all—she sent her mother downstairs and supervised the twins’ bath time. Once they were in their pyjamas, looking impossibly angelic with flushed cheeks and tousled curls, Amelia declared she wanted to go downstairs to say goodnight to the steel man. ‘I want to see him, Mummy. Just for a minute?’
Toni kept her voice bright and pleasant when she said, ‘He’s talking to Grandad, honeybee, so maybe another time.’
‘Ple-e-e-ase, Mummy? Please.’
Daisy glanced from her twin to her mother and then added her own plea, tugging on Toni’s skirt. ‘Me too, Mummy. Me too.’
As they’d been speaking Toni had heard her mother coming upstairs. Vivienne had obviously caught the gist of what they’d been saying as she now put her head round the door, saying, ‘I can take them down.’
The twins, sensing an ally in their grandmother, increased their entreaties. ‘Please, Mummy. Just for a little while.’
Toni found she was hanging onto her patience by a thread. She didn’t want her children getting to know Steel, or any other man for that matter; her home was a place apart from the world outside its four walls. But that was the rub. This wasn’t her home, it was her parents', and her mother had every right to invite whomsoever she liked in for coffee.
Was she being ridiculous and churlish? she asked herself wearily, knowing the answer was in the affirmative. Sighing, she said to the two little faces looking up at her so imploringly, ‘Just a quick goodnight, then, I mean it, and then I’ll read you a story in bed before you settle down.’
The twins shot off, Vivienne following more slowly with Toni bringing up the rear. When she walked out to the patio it was to see Daisy—shy, timid little Daisy—standing in front of Steel with one small hand resting on his knee as she told him some story or other about what had happened at nursery that day. ‘An’ Miss Brown told him to come back an’ say sorry but he wouldn’t, would he, Melia?’
Amelia, who was sitting on her grandfather’s knee, shook her damp curls. ‘He put his tongue out at Miss Brown,’ she volunteered.
‘An’ that’s very naughty, isn’t it?’ Daisy said indignantly.
Steel nodded seriously. ‘Very, I’d say.’
‘Tyler?’ Toni asked over her daughter’s head.
‘The very same,’ Steel said solemnly.
Daisy looked up at her mother. ‘He put a flutterby—’
‘A butterfly,’ Amelia corrected. ‘They’re called butterflies.’
‘He put a butterfly in the crayon tin an’ wouldn’t let it out an’ tried to kick me when I got the lid off an’ it flew away.’
‘You did that?’ asked Toni, amazed. Daisy was frightened of Tyler; all the children were. ‘You got the tin away from him?’
Daisy nodded vigorously. ‘It was only a little one an’ it was scared. It wanted its mummy.’
Toni touched her child’s curls. ‘That was a kind thing to do, my sweet, but now this mummy wants both her little girls tucked up in bed, so say goodnight to Grandma and Grandad and Mr Landry. Quickly now.’
Daisy ran to her grandfather and he gave both little girls a kiss and then Vivienne did the same; when they reached Steel they clearly expected him to follow suit and he didn’t disappoint them. Toni’s heart seemed to stop beating for a moment as he bent forward, tenderly kissing each small forehead as he said, ‘Goodnight, Amelia. Goodnight, Daisy. I hope Tyler behaves himself tomorrow.’
‘He won’t,’ said Amelia, turning as Toni led the girls away.
‘He never does,’ added Daisy, beaming at Steel, who smiled back. ‘Miss Brown says he’s got ants in his pants.’
The twins were asleep even before Toni finished reading the story they’d chosen, but she continued to sit for a moment in the quiet room, faint echoes of conversation and laughter from the garden drifting up to her. She felt so het up her nerves were stretched to breaking point and her stomach was in knots, and yet really nothing was wrong. Her mother had invited her boss in for a coffee when he’d been nice enough to drop her home. What was wrong with that?
Nothing and everything. When the boss was Steel Landry.
She’d just stepped onto the small landing when her mother came upstairs. Toni took one look at Vivienne’s face and said, ‘What? What have you done, Mum?’ as her stomach plummeted.
‘Now don’t be cross, dear, but I’ve asked Steel if he’d like to stay for a bite to eat,’ Vivienne said defensively.
Toni said nothing; she couldn’t. Words had failed her.
‘It was only polite, after all. He must have been able to smell the beef casserole I’ve got in the oven and there’s plenty. He was only going to go back to an empty apartment, bless him, and a man should come home to a hot meal in the evening.’
Bless him? ‘He’s got a daily who sees to the apartment and his meals, Mum,’ Toni hissed through gritted teeth. ‘He’s not little orphan Annie.’
‘Talking of Annie,’ Vivienne continued, completely undeterred by her daughter’s simmering fury, ‘he was telling your father and I about his sister. He thinks the world of her, doesn’t he? And he must be worried to death. That man’s got a lot on his shoulders, Toni. Offering him a meal after how good he’s been to you was the least we could do.’
Toni gave up. She didn’t know what had been said downstairs, but for some reason her mother had decided Steel was in need of comfort and sustenance. Anyway, it was too late now. The deed was done. Trying to keep her voice from betraying just how angry with her mother she was, she muttered, ‘What did he say when you asked him?’ as it dawned on her Steel had been put in a very awkward position. He’d probably only accepted the offer of a cup of coffee to be polite, and now here was her mot
her pressing him to stay for a meal. Would he think she was in cahoots with her mother, that she was attempting to inveigle her way in with the boss by the back door? Worse, would he suspect she fancied him and had asked her mother to pave the way? Joy had said women fell over themselves to sleep with him. Would he assume she was prepared to assume the role of much more than his interior designer?
‘What did he say?’ Vivienne wrinkled her brow. ‘Something about he wouldn’t like to impose, I think, but I told him there was no question of that and we’d love him to stay.’
Toni groaned. ‘Mum, he was trying to say no.’
‘Nonsense, dear. He was just being polite.’
‘You probably totally embarrassed him.’
‘Of course I didn’t.’ Vivienne’s tone was sharper; she couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. He’d looked so pleased when she’d asked him, poor soul. ‘You weren’t there, Toni, so don’t make assumptions. I’m going down to put a few more new potatoes on to go with the casserole, so if you want to change and come down in a minute, you can open a bottle of wine. All right?’ And with that Vivienne sailed off, bristling under her daughter’s criticism, her grey curls bobbing with righteous indignation.
Toni shut her eyes for a moment. Somehow she had been manoeuvred into the most ridiculous position; she could strangle her mother. This was so embarrassing.
Tiptoeing back into the girls’ room, she opened the wardrobe, which held some of her things along with a selection of the girls’ clothes. The rest of their clothes were packed in two enormous suitcases under the girls’ beds; there simply wasn’t room for them anywhere else.
The June evening was warm but, in view of her earlier thoughts, she didn’t intend to dress up in one of the floaty summer dresses she had. Steel might already have the wrong idea about her; she wasn’t about to confirm she was trying to seduce him. With this in mind she pulled on a pair of casual white linen trousers and a sleeveless tunic in a soft jade colour, brushing out her hair and leaving it loose about her shoulders after she had cleaned her face free of make-up. Part of her was itching to put on some mascara and lip gloss as she surveyed her scrubbed, squeaky-clean image in the bathroom mirror, but she resisted the temptation. She was not going to titivate in the slightest; just the opposite, in fact.
Thrusting her feet into a pair of old flip-flops, she went downstairs, so nervous she had to pause in the hall and unclench her fingers, which were in tight fists at her side.
Her mother had clearly already opened the bottle of wine. When she walked through to the patio Steel and her parents were deep in conversation, a bottle of red on the table and four wine glasses half full. The somnolent air was rich with the scents from the potted plants and herbs that were her father’s pride and joy, and as she paused in the doorway the three of them laughed at something that had been said. There was a naturalness to the scene, an easy-going 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. ‘I’m just embarrassed my mother wouldn’t take no for an answer when she suggested you stay for dinner. She’s never worked outside the home, you see. She’s got no idea of how things are done in the modern world. She still operates half a century behind the times, I’m afraid.’
‘Don’t apologise for her, she’s great, and for the record I had no intention of saying no when she asked.’ He settled back in his chair, his eyes pure mother-of-pearl in the fading light. ‘I wanted to stay.’
‘Oh.’ Taken aback at his frankness, Toni nodded helplessly. ‘I see.’
‘I doubt it.’ There was lingering amusement in the curl of his mouth, but he didn’t elaborate, instead continuing, ‘Amelia and Daisy are delightful. They’re a credit to you.’
‘Thank you.’ She had stiffened slightly as he spoke.
‘Very different personalities; almost like the two halves which make up their mother.’
She was taking a sip of wine, but was surprised into looking at the pearly eyes. She couldn’t resist asking, ‘What does that mean?’
‘One so sure of herself and how she sees the world; a go-getter with boundless enthusiasm and a zest for life. The other more shy and vulnerable, needing to know she’s safe and secure, holding on to what she knows because she’s afraid of getting hurt.’
Toni stared at him, a hot prickly sensation running up and down her spine as she saw he was perfectly serious. His insight unnerved her totally and to combat the weakness she took refuge in a feigned cynicism, managing a scornful little smile before she said, ‘And you saw all that in two little girls in, what—five minutes? I hardly think so.’
‘You’re telling me I’m wrong?’ His voice was mild, reasonable.
‘Of course, Amelia and Daisy are much more complex than that.’
‘I wasn’t talking about the twins.’
Toni took a deep breath. He was her boss and she needed this job, but she was blowed if she was putting up with whatever game he was playing. ‘Don’t attempt to analyse me when you’ve hardly spent any time in my company,’ she said tightly.
He didn’t seem the least offended. In fact he smiled, the hard angles of his face breaking up into attractive curves. ‘Fair enough,’ he said silkily, ‘but I know I’m right. Tonight you look about sixteen, do you know that? And infinitely more lovely than the capable career woman of daylight hours. I thought at first that I was seeing you with the outer shell removed, but that’s not true, is it? It’s still there, it’s just taken a different form.
What would it take for you to relax, really relax in a man’s company, Toni?’
She cleared her dry throat. ‘I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.’
‘At work you’re a remarkably gifted and enterprising woman, one who isn’t afraid to take chances and think outside the box. And such enthusiasm is catching. You’ve certainly excited me,’ he said, deadpan, before adding, ‘I can’t wait to see the finished apartments in due course.’
She stared at him, flustered and confused. When he’d said she excited him for a moment she’d thought … But he hadn’t meant she excited him, she told herself in a hot flush of embarrassment at her ridiculous assumption. Merely that her plans for the apartments did. She had to get a hold of herself around this man.