And he clearly had no idea that she could see it in his face. And, if anything, his words only served to bind them more closely together instead of driving them apart. He was doing this for her as much as himself.
Toni pushed up from the sofa and put her coffee mug on the table, aware that Scott was still watching her every move.
‘You’d better see the studio first. It would make a perfect workroom for your dad.’
‘I know. It’s fantastic news, Freya! My friend must have taken fifty photos yesterday before she made up her mind but I had a feeling that she would, fast! What was that? How did Scott react to the news?’
Toni grinned and scanned through some of the images on her camera one-handed. ‘Your brother gave that poor woman the benefit of his full-on charm offensive. I have never seen him so cooperative. He even shaved a little and changed into a smart shirt! I know! Amazing. She was putty in his hands. But it worked. We have a deal! I am so pleased for you both. In fact, Scott was so relieved that the building is safe for the rest of the year that he took off into the snow to bring back coffee and doughnuts. It’s a dangerous mission but he refused to be deterred.’
Freya’s laughter echoed down the phone as she described how it was positively balmy in Rome but she would be back in a few weeks to do more to help out. With a quick promise to meet up as soon as they could, Toni closed the call and put down the handset. Her fingers lingered on the phone as she breathed out slowly.
In a week and a half she would be back at work in some freezing photographic studio and this world of old maps and charts and wood-panelled walls would be a distant memory.
But what about Scott?
He was serious about renting out her house so there was no hope that she could be free of him. And that was the problem. She didn’t want to be free of the man.
They had worked side by side over the past four days and the more time she spent with Scott the more she liked him.
Scott Elstrom was clever, quick and actually willing to listen to her ideas, which made a nice change from her normal work where she was still the minion girl Friday who did most of the running about for the guys with the professional qualifications and experience. Scott treated her like an equal.
The hard, brash exterior was a total front—the armour he wore to get by in his world. Gut instinct told her that he had been badly hurt at some time but she wasn’t going to pry. If he wanted to tell her about it he would if and when he was ready. She still wasn’t sure what his true reasons for coming back to Elstrom Mapping were but he was certainly working hard to save the business.
In four days, and with fingers which were still strapped up and obviously hurting, Scott had helped her to clear the main office, made an inventory of everything that had been left behind in the mapping room where the few staff used to work, and had passed her the first box of items to photograph.
Yesterday’s visit from the location scout had been the icing on the cake!
She’d loved this old building and had immediately seen the potential for several historical documentaries and dramas already commissioned during the year.
It was a start and meant Scott could get to work on the inventory without having to worry about the lights being turned off. He might even be able to afford to replace the central heating boiler and the flaky electrics which made the lights flicker on and off.
Lifting her camera to her eyes, Toni captured a few images of this amazing room with all the rows of tools and the huge drawing tables.
She heard his footsteps pound up the staircase before the front door closed and slowly turned towards the office as Scott came bounding in and dropped his bakery bag on to the table in front of his office window.
There were snowflakes caught in his hair and on the shoulders of his coat and as Toni stepped into the office he lifted his chin and looked out of the window with a wistful smile on his face. As though he was looking out at the light snow and thinking of other people and other places.
Her breath caught in her throat and she pressed the shutter and kept on pressing it. Over and over again.
The tingles ran down her arms to her fingers. That was it. That was the image she had been looking for.
There was always a moment when she knew that she had taken the perfect shot of her subject. Sometimes it took days of careful staging to make the subject feel comfortable in the setting and other times it was completely spontaneous. Sometimes it never happened and they had to make the best of what they had taken.
Not today. The picture she was going to paint was already forming in her mind and she could practically see the way her paint was going to capture his swept back blond hair and dark eyebrows, damp now with melting snow.
Sniffing back a wave of emotion, Toni lowered her camera and smiled as Scott turned to face her.
It was as if every cell in her body was suddenly totally fascinated by the freckles across the bridge of his long straight nose and the way the crease lines at the sides of his eyes were white against his tanned skin.
Scott Elstrom was not a handsome man at all. He was gobsmacking gorgeous.
His presence jumped out at her, grabbed her by the bra straps and pulled her with such force that she could almost feel her body leaning forward towards him.
‘Hey—’ he grinned ‘—ready for coffee?’
A shot of pure lust hit her hot and wet in all of the wrong places.
Oh, my. Not now. Please, not now. This is not good.
‘You bet,’ she whispered in a quivering voice. ‘Any time.’
He shot her a worried look. ‘Sore throat? You have to watch these colds this time of year.’
Oh, please don’t be nice to me, she willed. Focus on the work instead.
‘Not at all,’ Toni replied, lifting her chin. ‘Just chattering too long on the phone to Freya. She’s so pleased with the location deal she just couldn’t wait to call.’
‘Damn right,’ Scott said and shrugged off his jacket. ‘You did a great job, so today we have chocolate cream éclairs instead of doughnuts. Prepare for the sugar rush!’
His shirtsleeves were still rolled up and Toni couldn’t stop herself from focusing on how the blond hairs on his arms prickled to attention as he dived into the bag and pulled out the coffees and pastries.
‘Don’t you mean that we did a great job? I only made that first call. It was your idea to dig out all of those old photos of the building and I know she loved those sepia prints with the horse-drawn carriages outside. Light bulbs were flashing inside her head with every new image.’
Toni reached out and wrapped a napkin around the piece of iced pastry which was in great danger of oozing fresh cream all over his desk and tried to ignore the way that Scott’s lips closed around the top of his coffee. ‘The shameless charm offensive didn’t hurt either, you old smoothie.’
Scott
