Free The Beautiful Widow by Helen Brooks Page B

wondered what she tasted like. Sweet as honey. Without a doubt.
    It took more will power than he knew he possessed to resist kissing her, to resist plunging his tongue into the moist, undefended territory of her mouth. He wanted her so badly he was in danger of shaking with the need. The scent of her was warm and inviting, teasing his nostrils, and her hair smelt of summer fruit—peaches, apples perhaps.
    He straightened, letting his arms fall to his sides and taking a step away from her before he gave in to the sensual desire turning his blood to liquid fire. She didn’t move, staring at him with huge eyes, her body as still as his. How long they would have stood there he didn’tknow, but when the front door to the house opened and shrill shrieks of ‘Mummy!’ broke the unnatural silence that had fallen she reacted with a speed that took him by surprise. One moment she was staring at him with great dark eyes, the next she was meeting the two little girls who ran pell-mell towards her with outstretched arms.
    Steel found he was transfixed. It was an effort to raise his gaze to the stout, grey-haired woman in the doorway who called, ‘I’m sorry, dear, but they’ve been watching from their bedroom window for you to come home and once they caught sight of you …’
    ‘It’s all right, Mum.’ Toni disentangled herself, turning to Steel with a strained smile as she said, ‘These are my children, Amelia and Daisy.’
    He’d been right with his second guess. She hadn’t wanted him to meet her children. The knowledge hit at the same time as he acknowledged he was experiencing a feeling of tremendous relief that the twins were tiny copies of their mother, apart from their hair, which was a riot of tight brown curls. He couldn’t see any obvious evidence of the man who had sired them.
    ‘Hello, Amelia and Daisy,’ he said smilingly. ‘Who is who?’ He crouched down to make himself less intimidating.
    ‘I’m Amelia. She’s Daisy.’
    One of the twins was burying her face in her mother’s neck but the other little girl surveyed him with the penetrating, steady gaze of a child as she spoke. Steel nodded at the tiny figure. ‘My name’s Steel Landry, Amelia.’
    ‘Steel?’ The minute nose wrinkled. ‘That’s not a name, that’s what things are made out of.’
    ‘It’s what I’m made out of,’ he counteracted swiftly as Toni murmured an agonised
‘Amelia'.
    ‘Like a robot?’ Amelia asked interestedly.
    ‘Sort of.’ Steel found himself laughing.
    The little girl thought for a moment, then she said, ‘There’s a boy at nursery, his name’s Tyler, and he’s always picking on Daisy. If I tell him my mummy’s got a friend who’s made of steel I bet he won’t pick on her again.’
    ‘It’s worth a try,’ said Steel seriously.
    Amelia beamed. ‘I’ll tell him tomorrow.’
    ‘Hello, Mr Landry.’ Toni’s mother tottered towards him, holding out her hand. ‘It’s very nice to meet you. Can I offer you a coffee? My husband’s just made a fresh pot.’
    Toni was looking at her mother and he could see her rejection of the idea on her face before she had time to hide it. It was the spur he needed to answer, ‘That would be most welcome. Thank you. If you’re sure it’s no trouble.’
    Crazy.
As he followed the women and children into the house Steel knew he was playing with fire. This was a woman with more baggage than royalty travelled with, but it didn’t make any difference. It should have; everything in his orderly, controlled life to date was screaming that fact at him. But it didn’t. He wanted to see her in her natural habitat and the fascination wouldn’t be denied. He might regret it—he very probably would, he acknowledged wryly, but he hadn’t got to where he was today without taking chances.
    He needed to—he
had to
—peek under the façade Toni presented to the world and see
her,
the real woman. He’d ached with a combination of lust and uncertainty since the first moment