eyes, narrow. As in very narrow.
In two strides he pushed open the black wrought metal gate and crunched his way up a brick and gravel path to a covered porch. The front door was painted in the same dark blue as the window frames and a pair of bay trees in bright painted pots provided a splash of welcome green against the dark wood.
He could hear the sound of the door knocker echo inside the house as he waited on the doorstep. And waited. So this time he knocked a little harder. Still no reply.
Strange. She must have slipped out. And he had been a bit vague when he’d said that he’d be around in the morning to collect some extra lighting equipment.
Scott was just about to head back to the car when he spotted a flash of colour out of the corner of his eye. Stepping forward, he could just see one corner of what looked like a living room from where he was standing in the porch. One step further and he had the best seat in the theatre.
The entertainment was Toni Baldoni. She was dancing. Swaying from side to side and apparently singing along to the music being fed into her ears through the wires dangling around her neck. No wonder she hadn’t heard the door knocker.
Plastic crates were stacked to one side and she seemed to be moving books from the shelves as she danced.
Hands in his trouser pockets, Scott leant his back against the wall and enjoyed the moment, suddenly content to simply watch in silence as the girl he’d come to see enjoying life on her own terms. There was a fire burning in the grate and the glow from the flames lit up one side of her face in the faint morning sunlight, turning her pale skin a golden shade of flickering shadow and light on sharp cheekbones and round full lips.
How many more variations of Toni Baldoni were there?
A bright red bandana held back her hair, focusing his attention on her face. And what a face that was! The girl who had come to Elstrom Mapping was bright and intelligent and happy to challenge him on every level. Confident in her ability and fighting her corner against all of the perfectly logical reasons he could come up with why the last thing he wanted was to sit still for hours while she painted his scraggy face.
But the girl he was looking at now was completely different. It was as if a weight had been taken from her shoulders and she was free to be herself in her own space. Her fine cheekbones glowed and a big smile creased her face, which positively beamed with warmth and happiness.
Yes. That was the difference. She looked happy. Joyous, even. High on life.
With a dress sense to match her mood.
Toni was wearing what looked to him like a flying suit, only the strangest one he had ever seen. It looked as though some toddler had melted every crayon in the box and sprayed the whole lot over a pair of workman’s overalls. It was astonishing. Put that with a brunette who was dancing across the floor and the whole picture was worth taking the time to admire.
In fact he could do better than that. He could try and capture some of that happiness.
Tugging his smartphone out of his jacket pocket, Scott lifted it to his eye but the second he pressed the camera button he knew that he had made a mistake.
The flash went off. Toni immediately whirled around and came to the window to find out what was going on. And saw him. Ogling her.
The expression on her face would have broken the camera lens. Oops.
Then he made it worse by giving a casual wave.
* * *
Toni stood with her hands wrapped around a copy of an old encyclopaedia for several seconds, staring at Scott in disbelief, before she whirled around, tossed the book on to the sofa and lifted the ear pieces out and turned off her music system.
Her heart was thumping so hard that she was certain that it would beat out of her chest and that Scott would be able to hear it on the porch.
Oh, no. She hadn’t expected him to show up this early.
She wasn’t dressed for visitors and especially not him! She had planned to get showered and blow-dried and nicely dressed before he turned up to collect the lighting equipment.
Plan B.
A low groan of exasperation escaped her lips and, with a quick shake of her head, she padded out to the hallway in her stocking feet.
Catching a glance at her reflection in the hall mirror wasn’t a good idea but there wasn’t much she could do about that now, and he had already seen her, so...chin up, smile on. She could carry this off...couldn’t she?
With her head high, Toni flung open her front door, ready to give Scott a lesson on manners.
The words caught in her throat as she gulped in a breath of air in startled shock.
She had been too busy reacting to seeing him standing there to pay attention to what he really looked like, but as the morning sunlight hit the porch she was hit by the full-on splendour that was the cleaned up version of Scott Elstrom.
He was wearing a smart cashmere jacket and dark trousers, a pale blue button-down collar shirt which only made his deep tan more pronounced and he had done something to his hair. Washed it.
Her stomach turned over just to look at him and her heart was doing things which were probably dangerous to her blood pressure.
She had thought that Scott was attractive when he’d first walked in on her birthday party, and he had changed his shirt yesterday at the office, but this version leaning against her porch was from another planet.
A planet of hunky handsomeness where the adult males were all tall, blond and had neatly trimmed beards which only highlighted their square jaws and long straight noses.
His cheekbones were so taut they might have been sculpted. But it was his mouth that knocked the air out of her lungs and had her clinging on to the door frame for support. A plump lower lip smiled wide above his cleft chin, so that the bow was sharp between the smile lines. It was a mouth made for smiling.
The corners of those amazing blue eyes crinkled slightly in his deeply tanned skin and Toni realised that he had been watching her. The warmth of that smile seemed to heat the air between them. It was so full of genuine charm and delight that she knew, no matter what, this was the smile that would stay with her for a long time.
This smile was for her. And her heart leapt. More than a little. But just enough to recognize that the blush of heat racing through her neck and face were not only due to the flames that had been warming her back.
That killer smile and those blue eyes came together in one single look that could charm anything in its path and knock it senseless. There was no escape. She was hit with the full blast.
* * *
The top two buttons of his pale blue shirt gaped open as the fabric stretched over a broad chest and revealed a hint of deeply tanned skin, and more than a few dark chest hairs.
He was stunning.
Oh, no. Do not stare at his chest. Just don’t.
The pounding in her chest was simply because she had been taken by surprise—that was all. Trying desperately to regain some kind of control
