Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Boss?
Nina Harrington
Enemies make the best lovers…Scott Elstrom craves freedom, adventure and exploration…so leaving the wilds of Alaska behind to save the family company isn’t top on his list of priorities! And getting the traditional CEO portrait painted by one feisty, quirky, sexy fireball…? Not in a million years!Toni Baldoni needs this commission – just because the new boss won’t play along, it doesn’t mean she’ll back down! But suddenly Toni’s not sure if it’s determination that’s got her pulse racing – or something altogether less appropriate! Trouble is, this battle of wills is not so much hard work…it’s a lot more like fun!
His gaze locked on to her face and stayed there, unmoving for a few seconds, before the corner of his mouth slid into a lazy smile.
The corners of those amazing eyes crinkled slightly and the warmth of that smile seemed to heat the air between them. And at that moment his smile was for her. And her heart leapt. More than a little.
In that instant Toni knew what it felt like to be the most important and most beautiful person in the room. Heart thumping. Brain spinning. An odd and unfamiliar tension hummed down her veins. Every cell of her was suddenly alive and tuned in to the vibrations emanating from his body.
Suddenly she wanted to preen and flick her hair, to roll her shoulders back so that she could stick her chest out.
It was as if she had been dusted with instant lust powder.
Dear Reader (#u7428b136-477d-51ae-9762-28f5b7b159f1)
Parents. We love them dearly, but sometimes they pass on a heritage and family expectations that we cannot shake off—no matter how hard we try.
Antonia Baldoni knows about expectations. Toni is the fourth generation of the Baldoni family of artists to paint the portrait of the CEO of Elstrom Industries. She needs the money to help pay for her younger sister’s gap year, with something left over for the university fees. Toni has taken care of her sister since their parents’ death.
Only the new CEO is not the academic cartographer Lars Elstrom but his adventurer son Scott. Scott Elstrom has been brought back from Alaska to take over the company because his father is ill.
Scott certainly does not have time to sit around long enough to have his portrait painted! He might be the last of the line but he is not going to let two hundred years of heritage go down without a fight.
The one thing he does expect is that quirky and stubborn Toni Baldoni might just be the girl he needs to help him save Elstrom Mapping—and give him hope for a second chance at love.
I do hope that you enjoy travelling with Toni and Scott on their journey to discover how they can put the past behind them and move forward together to a new life.
I would love to hear from my readers, and you can get in touch by visiting www.ninaharrington.com (http://www.ninaharrington.com)
Nina
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Boss?
Nina Harrington
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
NINA HARRINGTON grew up in rural Northumberland, England, and decided at the age of eleven that she was going to be a librarian—because then she could read all of the books in the public library whenever she wanted! Since then she has been a shop assistant, community pharmacist, technical writer, university lecturer, volcano walker and industrial scientist, before taking a career break to realise her dream of being a fiction writer. When she is not creating stories which make her readers smile, her hobbies are cooking, eating, enjoying good wine—and talking, for which she has had specialist training.
Other Modern Tempted™ titles by Nina Harrington:
THE SECRET INGREDIENT
TROUBLE ON HER DOORSTEP
This and other titles by Nina Harrington are available in eBook format from www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Contents
Cover (#ub3f9df0f-dce3-5077-9d05-22a8bfbc4d95)
Introduction (#ua81773be-0b65-5e87-94cc-43b26abf2407)
Dear Reader (#u5f57734b-fa99-5d7a-9583-0da2ebf708c5)
Title Page (#u643cadd3-cae6-5699-90e5-81252b039c3c)
About the Author (#u1aac2981-089e-5587-ba07-ebd36a17cfa4)
Chapter One (#ulink_2ca363c9-8197-54c0-968f-66346111ae5f)
Chapter Two (#ulink_089989c1-7d6c-585f-a118-05f241da1e27)
Chapter Three (#ulink_0c32cbaa-e277-5503-b044-7d2b1a7f35d0)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
ONE (#ulink_e4524fa2-0679-5c97-a419-28ad5b221a71)
Scott Elstrom looked out across the sea ice and squinted as the Alaskan sun rose over the horizon and made the light covering of snow suddenly turn brilliantly white.
It was so beautiful that for a moment he forgave the brutal biting wind that came with crossing the frozen sea. There was no cover for himself or his team of nine sled dogs and he could feel his cheeks burning with frostbite under the mask covering his face.
Reaching up with gloved hands, Scott turned off his head torch to save the batteries and, stepping off the sled, he ran a hundred paces on the thick plate of ice to get some warmth into his body and then jumped back onto the sled, much to the amusement of the dogs. The lead dog, Dallas, actually looked back and seemed to grin at him.
The dogs loved this weather: bright sunshine and a clear trail ahead across the sound to the base camp on the other side of the bay.
The fact that they had only crossed this stretch of sea ice once before didn’t matter. They were happy just to be out and doing what they did best. Running.
He had been out with his dogs for thirteen days, taking mapping and geo readings at each of the twenty stations the ecological survey company had established. Sometimes that meant staying in a small town along the way but often the station was a simple wooden house or shack where he would be alone with his dogs, checking their feet and feeding them. He loved this way of life and the gentle routine that they had settled into.
Out here in the silence he felt a kinship with all of the explorers who had used Elstrom maps in the past to find a route to new worlds as well as to hunt and fish.
Now that routine was shattered. The message from his sister, Freya, had been short and to the point.
Their father was in hospital. He had suffered another stroke and, although it was a small one and the doctors said that he should make a good recovery, his father wanted to talk to him. Urgently. Come home, Scott. We need you here.
Scott rolled his shoulders and fought back a sense of guilt at his resentment at having to go back to what passed for civilization a week earlier than he had planned.
They needed him. Well, that was new!
It had been two years since his father had handed over the management of their family business to his stepbrother, Travis. And look how well that decision had turned out! Now Travis was long gone and his father had been fighting for months to save what was left of Elstrom Mapping.
For their father to even admit that he needed Scott was astonishing.
That was why Scott had taken the decision to cross the open water instead of travelling inland and taking the slower route through the frozen forest and rivers to the station where he would find a snow machine and a lift to the local airstrip.
There was no other choice. He had to cross the frozen sea ice to get to the base camp to the airbase in time to catch the weekly cargo plane—it would take too long any other way.
But crossing open salt water ice was a serious commitment. The sea froze in huge cracked and floating plates which moved and heaved under the sled, making progress slow and dangerous. The ice was always unstable and never more so in the unusually mild Alaskan February.
Scott looked over the sled and, to his horror, he could see the ice ridges flexing and cracking. A giant piece of ice had broken away and was floating out to sea. He was driving across the frozen-over thinner layer.
One crack in a weak spot and the weight of the sled would drag him and the whole dog team underwater to their deaths, never to be found again.
There was a low grunt from his lead dog, Dallas, as she picked up a scent and set off at a steady pace onto the thicker ice, the other eight dogs behind her panting and settling into a trot from months of training and working together. They would run all day if he asked them, without complaint.
* * *
The blinding sunlight made Scott squint and glance sideways towards the open water of the sea.
For the last twenty-four hours he had been travelling and had barely dozed in the wooden trappers’ cabin for the the four or five hours while the dogs rested. Now, as the sun rose higher and warmed his skin, and the dogs moved steadily forwards, his mind drifted seawards.
The only sound was from the movement of the sled on the ice and the comforting panting noises of nine dogs moving as a team.
Beautiful. Unique. Mesmerising.
This was his life now. Not central London and everything that went with it.
He had waved goodbye to that world two years ago and would quite happily not see it again unless he had to. The technology he was using for his mapping and surveying meant that he could talk to his sister and his father, if he chose to, most days and at least once a week.
Of course Freya had tried to persuade him to come home for Christmas but what had been the point?
His quiet academic father had never understood how his son preferred adventure sports and a hard outdoor life to the quiet study of the maps and charts that had made Elstrom Mapping a familiar name around the world.
The only common thing holding them together had been the mapping company, and when his father had decided that Travis could be trusted to lead the company that link had been swept away, leaving nothing but regrets and harsh words behind.
The weather had closed in during December and made travel impossible for anyone at the research station, so he had a perfectly valid and very convenient excuse to stay in Alaska.
Way too convenient an excuse according to his sister, who’d ended up coping on her own for the holidays, being bounced between divorced parents who had drifted away from one another for years before their mother finally gave up trying to make a family with a father who was never home. Freya had spent New Year’s with their quite happily settled mother and her new boyfriend—a lawyer with a fine selection of colourful bow ties.
Scott chuckled to himself deep in the back of his throat. Freya would make him suffer for that one. He looked up and was just about to check his GPS position when his world shifted.
He felt the sled shudder and slip underneath him.
They had hit a weak spot in the ice.
Instantly every cell in his body leapt to attention, adrenaline surging through his veins.
While he had been thinking about London firesides, Dallas had slowed down, her tail high and in the shape of a question mark instead of hanging straight down. And her paws were dancing.
Scott’s heart almost stopped.
He couldn’t swim in five layers of thermal clothing and, even if he could, the water was so cold he wouldn’t last more than a few minutes. He would go down with the sled and the dogs.
The dogs would die because his father had given up the fight.
No way. Not while he still had breath in his body.
Scott snatched up the solid grab rope and dropped off the back of the sled onto his stomach, his legs spread wide so his body weight would be spread over the thin ice. ‘Dallas. Gee right. Gee right. Dallas.’
Dallas knew that this was the instruction to turn right to safety and she tugged and tugged as the team fought her, the other eight dogs desperate to run hard and straight. But she did it and after a few terrifying minutes Scott felt a ridge of hard ice under his stomach and they were back on the older solid pan ice.
The broken shards of ice ripped his right glove to shreds and his fingers instantly turned numb and blue. Frostbite. But he managed to haul himself back onto the sled and the dogs sped on to safety as the shapes of the cabins on the other side of the bay grew clearer in the growing early morning light.
He was going to make it home in time to hear what his father had to say after all.
But one thing was for sure. This was his chance to prove to his father that he was a better man than Travis could ever be. And nothing was going to stand in his way and stop him from making that happen. Not this time.
* * *
‘So let me get this straight. Those G-strings are edible?’
Toni pulled away the wrapping paper from the pink and black gift box that her sister Amy had given her and started reading the instructions on the back.
‘Of course.’ Amy shrugged and flicked the fluffy feather end of her pink whip against the packing. ‘Why else would you want to wear something that uncomfortable?’
‘I have just had a vision of what happens when those candy pieces come adrift and where they might end up in my lady parts. Amy, I love you and you are my only sister but I may save modelling this particular birthday pressie for another day.’
Amy giggled and shook her head. ‘Those knickers are not for us to ogle at. Save it for that hunky boyfriend you’re going to meet.’ She knocked her on the head with the feather whip again. ‘Very soon.’
‘Well, in that case I might as well put the box in the freezer right now and stick to eating supermarket chocolate bars.’
Amy sighed out loud and collapsed down on the arm of the dining chair next to Toni. ‘Now don’t be like that. It has been a whole year since you got rid of that skanky Peter and what did we agree? He was totally not worthy of your luscious magnificence. Right? Of course right. This is a new year and a new you, remember?’
Toni smiled and hugged the present to her new burgundy satin bra. ‘When did you get to be so clever? I’m going to miss having you around. You know that, don’t you?’
‘Of course. That’s why I’ve loaded up all these fancy gizmos on my tech so that we can talk every week!’
Amy wrapped one arm around Toni’s bare shoulders and rocked from side to side. ‘It’s only a few months and I’ll be right back in time to start university in September.’ Then she slid back and sniffed once. ‘And, for the record, I’ll miss you too but I’ll work hard to block out my pain by having the best gap year trip this world has to offer.’
Then she pointed the whip at Toni. ‘All thanks to the lovely Christmas present from my darling sister.’ She nodded over her shoulder. ‘The gals still cannot believe that you bought me a round-the-world plane ticket. Magic!’
‘How else could I get you out of the house long enough to get the plumbing fixed?’ Toni grinned. ‘You’re welcome. But you do remember that there’s one condition. You have to enjoy yourself and not spend the whole time digging up bits of ancient Peru.’
‘I can guarantee it. Oh! Looks like I’m getting the signal. I think more birthday cake might be almost ready. Be back soon.’
And with that Amy got to her feet and sashayed off as though she always wore a black laced-up pink and cream frilly basque and feather-trimmed mules around the house.
Toni sat back in her hard wooden chair and swayed a little from side to side as her whole crew of pals and colleagues from the media company where she worked joined in a very loud and very out of tune version of an old hit song about an uptown girl which was playing at full volume in her honour.
There was cheap Prosecco and white wine spillages and pizza and cheesy biscuit breadcrumbs all over the tablecloth, and probably the new plum lingerie that Amy had squeezed her into as the star of her Birthday Goddess sexy party special. At some point she had lost her shoe under the table when she sat down after all the toasts had been made.
Then Amy had presented her with a crown she had made from gold paper and wire and insisted that she wear it as a party princess. At a jaunty angle, of course.
Worse. Her make-up was probably a wreck after a brief but intense crying jag when Amy had said some incredibly sweet things about how lucky she was to have her as her sister and that leaving home for the first time was not going to change a thing.
The waterworks had started again when Amy gave her a bound book of their mother’s sketches of them as children and told her how proud their late parents would have been of her and what she had achieved, which had everyone in the room reaching for the tissues, paper napkins or, in more than one case, the corner of the tablecloth. There was not a dry eye in the house. Even Amy the Strong ‘accidentally’ dropped her napkin on the floor and had to drop out of sight for a couple of minutes to find it.
Good thing that the birthday chocolate iced cupcakes had arrived just in time to prevent a meltdown of nuclear proportions.
Toni glanced up across the tables and clusters of women spread out around the room. It didn’t matter that she looked a mess and that her guests were in great danger of trashing the dining and living room of a house she was borrowing from Freya Elstrom. Not to her friends, who had come out on a cold February evening to help her celebrate her birthday.
Amy had a lot to answer for. She had told Amy for weeks that she did not want a birthday party. It would only remind her of what had happened on her last birthday, when she had found her so-called boyfriend in the shower with the Brazilian lingerie model who turned out to be his real full-time girlfriend.
The one he had so conveniently forgotten to mention during the previous few weeks when he had been dating her.
That had not been one of her life’s finer moments.
Especially since she had already stripped off and was ready to make sure that Peter was washed in all of his important places.
Hence this surprise party. Toni’s latest project had been staging professional studio photo sessions on the explosion in demand for sex toys and bedroom accessories and daring lingerie among women of all ages. Young and old.
When Toni had mentioned it was her birthday in a few days and the first anniversary of breaking up with her cheating boyfriend then the girls had insisted that they hold a party for her to mark the occasion while Amy was still in London. Complete with the full range of accessories which had been used on the show. Amy thought this was a great idea and had arranged the whole thing while Toni was at work.
These were her real friends. Her real family. Girls from the local school she had known all of her life, who had left their husbands and boyfriends at home for one evening to share her birthday party, pals from her work, students from Amy’s school. All loud, boisterous and having fun. And that was precisely how she liked it. No false pretenses here. Real people who shared her life each and every day.
She was so lucky to have them.
And she was officially on holiday for two weeks. Now that was worth celebrating. Even if she would be spending most of the time painting the company portrait of a very serious-looking businessman. According to his daughter Freya, Dr Lars Elstrom was a quiet academic used to desk work and she had talked him into sitting for his portrait while he was in the office researching some work for a client.
But there was a problem. The painting had to be painted in a specific two-week window in February before her father went back to Italy for the spring. Could she do it?
Piece of cake.
Especially when the cake came decorated with half the fee for the commission in advance.
Thank you, Freya, and thank you, Dr Lars Elstrom.
That fee had bought Amy’s round-the-world plane ticket and was paying to have the boiler replaced in her little house. Hot water! Central heating she could rely on! Bliss. Apparently any tenant thinking of renting her house would expect plumbing that worked. Amazing. Some people had no appreciation of character properties.
Toni glanced out of the dining room window at the flurries of February snow which were forecast to be with them for a few days to come. Not the weather to be modelling fancy lingerie in her freezing terraced house. It might only be thirty minutes away on foot but it might as well be in another world. Brr.
No. Much better to do it here in this nice warm house.
Freya had a lovely home and Toni was going to enjoy living here for the next two weeks rent-free. And with all of the hot water she could use.
She loved patrons who believed in carrying on old traditions! Especially when that tradition meant that the CEO of the company always had their portrait painted by a Baldoni. And since she was the last in the line... Result!
A warm glow of happiness and contentment spread from deep inside her like a furnace that pumped the heat from her heart to the very ends of her fingertips. She had not felt so safe and secure for years. Protected. And cared for and part of a very special community of friends who looked out for one another.
She grinned across at Amy’s best friend, Lucy, who was demonstrating the finer points of how to tie a sarong. They had known one another since they were at primary school together just a few streets away. It was hard to imagine that Amy, Lucy and the other girls parading up and down in various stages of undress would be flying out tomorrow, all ready for trekking through rough terrain in South America.
It was actually happening. Her baby sister was going around the world with her best friends. One month travelling. Four months on an archaeological dig in Peru then another month relaxing. Six months. Three girls. Three boys. All great teenagers she had known for years. But six months? The longest they had lived apart since their parents died was over a year ago, when she’d worked in Paris for five weeks but came home most weekends.
They might have had the training and they all spoke excellent Spanish but the hard reality of what they would be facing made her shudder.
But no sniffles allowed. Time to start living a bit. Right? That was what they’d agreed at some mad hour on New Year’s Day. A new start for both of them. Pity that Amy was insisting that a new boyfriend was part of the package.
Maybe turning twenty-seven was not so bad after all when she had friends like these in her life. So what if she didn’t have a mega career as a fine artist? She had something much better.
And somehow she knew that her father would understand that trying to scrape a living as a portrait painter had never been the life she wanted and never would be. That had been her father’s dearest wish, but it wasn’t hers. No. This portrait for Freya Elstrom would be the last. No more commissions as the last of the Baldoni family. It was time to say goodbye to foolish ideas like that and start focusing totally on her photography career.
Amy sashayed forward with a plate with a cupcake on and leant sideways and rested her head on Toni’s shoulder. ‘I stashed two of the red velvet specials, which I happen to know are your favourite, in the washing machine.’
‘Clever!’ Toni replied and popped a little finger loaded with creamy chocolate icing into her mouth and groaned in delight. ‘Delish. And have I said thank you yet again for arranging all of this? It’s amazing and I love it.’
Amy laughed out loud and gave her a one-armed hug. ‘Several times. It’s the wine, you know. Causes short-term memory loss in older women.’
Then Amy started rubbing her hands together and mumbling under her breath. ‘Now. Back to the important stuff. What totally outrageous thing have you decided to do while I’m away? Remember the rules—it has to be spontaneous, the opposite of what you would normally do, and fun! Points will be awarded for the most ingenious solution!’
‘Dance on the table? Toni suggested then shook her head and waved her arms around. ‘No. Forget that one. The table legs wouldn’t cope with my current body weight and this food is too good to waste. Something outrageous. Um...’
Then she looked over Amy’s shoulder back towards the door leading to the hallway and her breath caught in her throat.
Standing not ten feet away from her was one of the most remarkable-looking men that she had seen in her life.
She was five foot nine so he had to be at least six foot two, from his heavy working boots and quilted jacket to the black cap pulled low over long, crazily curled dirty blond hair.
Slim hips. Broad shoulders. Long legs.
Her gaze tracked up his body before the sensible part of her brain clicked in to stop it.
‘Oh, Amy—’ she breathed in a low hiss of appreciation ‘—I owe you big time.’
‘This is so true! But what particular thing have I done now?’ Amy replied between mouthfuls of cake.
‘You didn’t tell me that you hired a lumberjack male stripper.’
‘Who? What?’ Amy looked up and whirled her head around like a meerkat before it froze in the same direction Toni was focusing on.
‘Oh. I see what you mean,’ she said with a cough and started taking photographs with the small digital camera that Toni carried with her everywhere.
‘I have no idea who that is and he is nothing to do with me, but what are you waiting for? Go and find out who he belongs to and if he’s available—nab him for yourself before any of the other gals do.’
And with that Amy pranced off towards her friends in her frilly lace-trimmed corset, which was going to be of zero value on an archaeological excavation in the Andes.
Leaning against the door frame, the mystery man didn’t move an inch. The very tall, very rugged, very cold-looking mystery man.
He was a fashion stylist’s idea of what would pass for an Indiana Jones style adventurer—after the action. In fact she would go so far as to say that he was quite scruffy.
Conscious that she was standing there ogling his long denim-clad legs, Toni’s gaze ratcheted up to his face just as he glanced in her direction. Blue eyes gazed at her so intently from under heavy dark blond eyebrows that she almost blushed under the fierce heat of that focus.
With cheekbones that sharp he could have passed for a male model if it was not for the heavy, definitely non-designer dirty blond and grey beard and the blue strapping that was bandaged around his right hand. His clothing was practical. Stained and well used. If this was a costume then it was entirely authentic!
He had not said one word to anyone but in those eyes and on that powerful face she recognised something very special. Confidence oozed out of every pore of this man’s body. He knew exactly who he was and what he wanted and what he was doing there.
That must be nice!
The way he simply leant against the door frame enjoying the view, as though he walked into a lingerie party every day of the week, screamed someone who was so totally comfortable in his own skin that it was sickening.
While she was dressed in a tiny purple satin push-up bra and matching shorts.
Oh, what? Not funny. So not funny.
Toni grabbed her kimono from the back of the sofa and pushed her arms into the sleeves faster than she’d thought possible!
Okay, some of these girls were used to wearing lingerie in front of the camera for a living, but she wasn’t. She didn’t like the idea that some stranger was standing there getting a good eyeful of a catwalk show.
Wait a minute. What the hell was he doing here? And who had invited him? Freya never said anything about having a boyfriend.
Perhaps he was just passing and someone left the door open!
‘Man alert!’ Toni cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, ‘Unaccompanied male in the room, girls!’
The screaming and squealing had to be heard to be believed.
Utter chaos erupted on all sides as the girls scattered to the wind, mostly upstairs to the bedrooms from the sound of it.
Righty. Time to sort this out.
Toni narrowed her eyes and pulled the edges of her kimono tighter together.
She tried to stomp over to the hulk but it was a tad tricky in feather mules so she ended up mincing across the room instead. Head high, chin forward.
And those blue eyes focused on every tiny step she took.
She cleared her throat and looked him straight in the eye.
‘Okay. You look like the kind of guy who likes straight talk. I’m Antonia Baldoni, house guest of Freya Elstrom. This—’ and she waved one hand towards the abandoned articles and some very odd bedroom toys ‘—is my birthday party. And you are?’
He moved slightly away from the wall to an almost upright position so that when he spoke the sound came from several inches above her head.
‘Tired. Hungry. Surprised. And delighted to make your acquaintance, Antonia Baldoni. House guest.’ He rolled back his shoulders and exhaled very slowly through his nose. ‘Strange. I’ve just come from Freya and she never mentioned anything about a house guest.’
There was a definite squeak and a giggle from behind Toni’s back and one side of this man’s mouth twitched just once before he breathed, ‘Make that house guests. And just when I thought this day could not get any more bizarre.’
‘You’ve just seen Freya?’ Toni looked at him with her eyes narrowed and her head tilted to one side. ‘Really? You have to forgive me, but I find that a little hard to believe. Freya was invited to my party tonight but sent her apologies from Italy. So. Perhaps it’s time for you to start talking before I throw you out. Let’s start with the big ones. Where exactly did you say you met Freya? And what are you doing here? And who are you?’
A low thundering sigh rumbled low in this big man’s chest and Toni stepped back as he slung his body forward as though it was taking a huge effort and strode past her into the kitchen, looking around as he did so from side to side, leaving an aroma in his wake which made her waft the air with one hand.
‘Hey. Wait a minute. I didn’t invite you in,’ Toni said and shuffled after him in her mules.
‘You don’t have to,’ the blond said and pointed to a framed photo on the wall between the cabinets. It was one of a collection of what looked like holiday snaps which Toni had not had time to admire. Until now.
By going up on tiptoe Toni could get a better look at what seemed to be a family photo of people gathered around a dinner table. She recognised Freya and an older man who looked so much like her that he had to be her father, Lars Elstrom. And standing behind them, grinning for the camera, was a tall handsome blond man with broad shoulders and blue eyes the same colour as...
She whipped around, blinked at the man standing with his arms folded and then back to the photo.
Her shoulders dropped. He nodded very slowly up and down. Once.
‘Scott Elstrom. Freya’s brother. And I live here.’
Then he sniffed and gestured with his head towards the worktop. ‘Is anyone going to eat that pizza?’
Toni stared at the photograph and then glanced up at the serious expression on his face before returning back to the framed snapshot of the man, scowling at her at some sort of winter sporting event.
It was definitely him. No mistaking the dirty blond hair and physique.
It was definitely on Freya’s kitchen wall.
And, just like that, the effects of two hours of wine-drinking and general merriment popped like an overstretched balloon and what was left of the rational part of her brain kicked right back in.
Not a male stripper.
Not a birthday present in the shape of a hunky lumberjack.
He was Freya Elstrom’s brother.
Nightmare!
Toni closed her eyes and pinched the top of her nose. She gestured back towards the party, which had magically returned to full swing inside the dining room, with the flat of her hand. ‘As you can see, this is my birthday party. And I’m rather occupied at present.’
His slightly bloodshot blue eyes locked onto hers. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’
At this distance all she could focus on were the thin pale tan lines radiating out from the corners of his eyes and the dark stubble and grey-blond beard above that full, sensuous upper lip.
But there was nothing polished about this man. Far from it. His cheeks looked more sunburnt than tanned and his jacket and trousers were designed for hard use and had seen it. Unshaven. Unkempt.
Inhaling was a mistake. He smelt of leather and travel and acrid sweat mixed with wet dog in a combination which perfume manufacturers could bottle as instant girl-repellent.
Smelly did not quite cover it. This man was seriously in need of a long soak and a shave and several cans of deodorant.
Then the right side of his mouth turned up into what was probably meant to be a reassuring smile.
And every sensory switch inside her body turned on to maximum power.
Just like that. Completely out of the blue and totally, totally not what she wanted to happen. Especially not now.
Speech was impossible and for what seemed like minutes, but was probably only seconds, they both stood there in silence. Breathing in air which positively crackled with electricity. Neither of them willing to shift an inch.
It was almost a relief when someone’s mobile phone started ringing. The ringtone was the theme song for a popular Italian coffee shop. Amy had been playing with it earlier that day; she loved coffee and wasn’t sure when she would see her next cappuccino.
‘I think it’s yours.’ He blinked, breaking the connection, stepping back and folding his arms.
Toni turned away and sucked in some air because apparently she had stopped breathing. She reached into the tiny evening bag she had left on the kitchen worktop and found the phone in the inside pocket, flipping open the tiny, silver, high-tech unit as a familiar voice hissed down the line.
‘Sorry to interrupt, but are you coming back in?’ Amy whispered. ‘Lucy is just about to light the candles on the birthday cake and we’re frightened of the fire risk. You can bring the hunk with you if you’d like to help.’
‘Be right there,’ she replied and closed the phone.
Sucking in a long breath, Toni lifted her head and stared into the face of one of the strangest-looking men she had ever met in her life.
Hell. Who was she kidding? He was smelly, bandaged and glaring at her. And totally gorgeous.
‘Stay right where you are. Help yourself to the pizza. I’ll be back soon and we can sort all of this out.’
TWO (#ulink_0f91a0b6-d4b5-5baa-a6ce-72130357bc7f)
Hustling a gaggle of still giggling party girls into their clothes proved more difficult than Toni had imagined, especially when their unexpected male guest was trapped in the kitchen and they were all desperate to take another peek before they left.
In the end Amy came to her rescue with the vague excuse that it was getting late and some of them had an early plane to catch. The next ten minutes were a mad rush of tidying up, distributing the bedroom toys and assorted lingerie items into party bags and arguments about whether they should break into the kitchen to rescue the chocolate brownies they had saved for the coffee.
It was almost a relief when she finally kissed Amy goodnight with promises that she would call if there was any trouble, and finally waved the girls goodbye from the doorstep.
Toni dropped her head back against the heavy door and gazed down the hallway towards the kitchen.
Trouble was waiting for her behind that innocent white-painted door. She just didn’t know how much.
Swallowing down a huge lump of apprehension, Toni inhaled a couple of short, sharp breaths. Perhaps she shouldn’t have downed all of those mystery cocktails Lucy had concocted followed by the champagne and wine.
Probably.
Blinking hard, she pushed away from the front door with the flat of both hands. Time to find out what Scott Elstrom was doing back in town.
Casually pushing the door open, Toni sauntered into the kitchen with as much aplomb as she could muster.
Scott was sitting on a bar stool with his back against the kitchen wall and an empty plate in front of him.
He had stripped off his outer coat and hung it from a hook near the back door that Toni had not even noticed before. Um. Maybe he had been here before?
‘How was the pizza?’ she asked in a sing-song voice as she took in the heavy grey and blond beard and dark blond hair. ‘If you fancy dessert, why don’t you help yourself to the chocolate willy lollipops? There are several flavours and they are anatomically correct.’
He scowled at them and coughed. ‘That’s good to know but I’ll pass.’ Then he nodded to the brownie pan. ‘Those look good.’
Toni clutched the tray and slid it across the worktop out of his reach. ‘My finest recipe. Which my birthday party guests would have enjoyed if the party had not been broken up so early by an unexpected guest. These brownies are staying over here until I have a few more answers.’
‘I didn’t ask you to send the girls home. As for unexpected—’ he raised his bandaged right hand in the air ‘—no clue you were going to be here. No apologies. No excuses. And those brownies do smell good.’
‘No brownie until I know who you really are,’ she replied with a shake of her head and folded her arms. ‘That’s only one photo. You could be some distant freeloading relative who Freya doesn’t want sleeping in her spare room. Or some ex-boyfriend. Or something.’
Without saying another word, he lifted a smartphone out of a side pocket on the leg of his cargo trousers, placed it on the breakfast bar and started tapping away. Toni couldn’t help but notice that his body might be on the sinewy side but his fingers were long and slender.
‘Hiya. Yes, I got here. How are things? Really? He’s already asking for pen and paper? Unbelievable...yes, I know.’ Then he shot her a glance. ‘By the way, I’ve just met your house-sitter. She gave me pizza and is ready to call the police to get rid of the crazy vagrant who thinks he lives here. Now don’t be like that. Calm down. You’ve had a few other things on your mind these past few days. Take a deep breath. That’s better. Inhale slowly. It’s all under control. Now, why don’t you have a word with your pal while I eat her brownies, okay? Okay.’
Toni could only watch, stunned, as this tall man in a check shirt turned around on the bar stool and calmly stretched out his hand towards her. ‘It’s for you. My sister would like a word.’
Five minutes later Toni collapsed down on the bar stool opposite Scott in a complete daze.
‘I am so sorry. We had no idea or we would never have organised a birthday party while your dad is in the hospital. Wow. That is so inappropriate I don’t know where to start.’
She reached into the brownie tin and cut an enormous cube and started nibbling at it to try and calm her nerves.
‘We had absolutely no clue. Because I would definitely have cancelled if Freya had let me know. Seriously. I would. This is awful. I feel so embarrassed. Mortified, really. That is all so inappropriate. Please let me apologise again and...’
Scott held up one hand. ‘I get it. You didn’t know. It’s your birthday. So you organised a party and enjoyed yourself. No problem.’
‘Actually, my birthday isn’t until Thursday but my sister Amy is leaving on a gap year trip tomorrow and she wanted to help me celebrate before she left so she arranged this surprise party and all my friends from the company turned up and... I am babbling. Because I am mega embarrassed.’
‘That would be true. About the babbling.’
Toni took another nibble of brownie before daring to glance up at this man who was just sitting there in silence, dominating the space.
‘So you are not a male stripper. Sorry about that little confusion. It was a ladies only night so any man had to have a very good reason for being there. And, seeing as none of the girls claimed you...I might have jumped to the wrong conclusion.’
His mouth opened slightly as though he was about to reply, then he reconsidered and closed it again. A rough-skinned hand rasped over his beard and he glanced quickly over his clothing as his voice rasped low in his throat. ‘You thought that I was a male stripper? What kind of stripper turns up dressed like this?’
She winced and closed one eye and pretended to duck slightly.
‘Scruffy lumberjack. Check shirt. Beard. Very popular with the city girls who like a—’ she coughed quickly ‘—less refined country look.’
Then she blinked. ‘The oiled chest and man string are a bit old-fashioned these days. The hunky bit of rough...oh, I didn’t mean to say...imply that you’re rough or anything, but...’
‘Maybe you ought to stop talking now. I am not the oiled chest type even on a good day and this has not been one of them.’
‘Oh. Yes. Right. Good. Or not good, depending on how bad your day has been. If you know what I mean.’
‘How bad has it been? Let me see.’
His dark blond eyebrows squeezed tight together and he pinched his forehead with a thumb and middle finger.
‘Almost lost a hand to frostbite. A pig of a snow machine to an air base. Cargo plane from Alaska to Iceland, scheduled flight to Rome, where I had to pay first class to get a seat, four hours at a hospital trying to work out what the hell was happening then a flight back to London. And don’t get me started with how long it took me to get from the airport to the hospital and back again.’
He lifted his chin and dropped his hand away.
‘So, overall, I’m not too happy about being here right now. I think that would sum it up.’
Toni blew out fast through narrowed lips. ‘Alaska? In February? Frostbite? Well, that explains a lot.’
Then she slipped off the breakfast bar stool and flicked out both of her hands. ‘Righty. What would you like? Coffee or tea? And I can easily reheat these brownies for you. Oh—you’ve already eaten the last of them. No problem, there are plenty more in the freezer. It will only take twenty minutes tops.’
He replied by easing his weight off the bar stool and rolling back his shoulders, making his chest pop.
‘Thanks for the offer, but it’s late and my body clock is deep-fried. Nice to meet you and thanks for the unexpected entertainment but I’m heading to bed. If you’re here in the morning we might try to have a conversation which isn’t in code. But right now I am way too tired to talk about the why and how.’
Then he looked up at her and asked, ‘The bedroom with the blue door—I usually keep it locked. Anyone sleeping in there?’
‘Oh, no. Still locked. Freya said it was private.’
And, with a quick nod in her direction, Toni watched him sling the huge duffel bag over one shoulder with a grunt and a wince. The weight of it meant that he had to lean forward from the waist but he shifted the load a few times before striding into the hallway and to the staircase which led to the bedrooms.
It took a few seconds for her champagne and wine-fuddled brain to connect with what was going on.
Her commission! Oh, no!
‘Wait a minute. One last question. I’m supposed to stay with Freya for another week and work with her father at the Elstrom office. Do I need to reschedule? I mean...when will your father be back in London?’
His steps slowed and with one movement he lowered the duffel on to the hall carpet. There was something in the way his shoulders were braced tight that made Toni feel the heat of his gaze even before he looked sideways at her.
Her body locked into a half-in-the-hallway-half-in-the-kitchen position. She simply couldn’t move. It was as if her feet were reluctant to leave the relative safety of the kitchen, just in case.
‘News flash. I’m back. Freya’s in Italy. Dad won’t be coming back any time soon. As of today, he has officially retired. Goodbye Elstrom Mapping. Hello Italy.’
Then he gave a twitch. ‘Sorry. But it looks like you’re out of a job.’
His gaze scanned her scantily clad body from the toes sticking out from the feathery mules to the top of her gold paper crown and lingering at all of the right places on the way up.
The start of a lazy lopsided smile warmed his mouth. ‘No rush to get packed tonight. Tomorrow will do. Goodnight.’
* * *
Goodnight? Out of a job? What?
Any lingering after-effects of the party had gone in a flash.
Before Scott could start up the stairs, Toni dashed in front of him and stood on the bottom step so that they were at more or less the same height.
To his credit, Scott Elstrom didn’t even flinch but braced himself, legs apart, and stared at her as she crossed her arms and stared him out.
‘Oh, no, you don’t. I signed a contract with Freya Elstrom to paint a portrait of the CEO of Elstrom Mapping. She was the one who got in contact with me. Begging me to do the work. I’ve dropped everything to be here.’
There was a deep low sigh from the man standing only inches in front of her and he shifted his gaze from her face to the wall for a few seconds.
‘What was your surname again?’
‘Baldoni. Ah, I can see that you recognise it. The Baldoni family have painted the last four generations of Elstrom chairmen. Freya called me just after Christmas to set it up for her father. Apparently he had been thinking about it for a while and finally just decided to go ahead with his portrait. This is the earliest I could do it, which makes me feel sick.’
‘Christmas. Right. So she asked you to paint his portrait after the holidays. No wonder she wanted me there.’
‘Actually, she was more concerned that it was a Baldoni than which member of my family it was. Apparently your father is a stickler for tradition.’
‘You might say that,’ he murmured and ran his hand back through his dirty blond, very scraggy hair. ‘He would want the same artist if he could do it.’
‘Tricky, since my grandfather is long gone. But if Mr Elstrom is ill,’ she murmured to herself, and then realised that Scott was still listening, ‘of course I can reschedule the sitting. That’s not a problem. When your father is better, Freya can let me know. I have some photos that she sent me and I’m sure I can come up with something he will be pleased with... Why are you shaking your head? Is there something else?’
‘My father is retired, Miss Baldoni. As of this afternoon, I am the new head of Elstrom Mapping.’
His eyebrows squeezed closer together but his gaze focused laser-sharp on her face.
‘And the last thing I need is my portrait painted.’
* * *
Scott stood back and watched the fiery brunette with the lovely brown eyes stomp past him up the staircase towards the guest bedroom before picking up his over-heavy duffel.
Toni Baldoni probably had no idea how much he enjoyed following her up the stairs. One slow step at a time.
The last time he had shared this house with girls wearing nothing but lingerie had been on Freya’s university graduation party, when he had dared to turn up an hour early and walked in on way too many over-excited girls high on champagne and life, all fighting for the hair straighteners and his attention. They had even taken over his en suite bathroom to cope with the party preparations.
Strange. He hadn’t thought about that in a long time.
An unexpected quiver of a laugh surprised him as this brunette stomped in her ridiculous shoes down the landing and her light gown wafted up, giving him a delightful flash of creamy thigh.
Eyes flashing, she instantly flung a glance at him over one shoulder and tugged down her gown, shot into the guest room and shut the door very firmly behind her.
Shaking his head and blinking to stay awake, Scott found the key, turned it in the lock and stepped inside the same bedroom that he had claimed the very first day he had arrived with Freya and his mother. This clean and uncluttered modern town house had seemed like another world from the dark, creaky old Victorian stone villa that was the family home they had shared with their father.
Sheer force of habit made him drop his duffel bag next to the bed and unlock and fling open the double windows to let some air into the overheated and stuffy room.
He didn’t need the heat.
He just wanted sleep and quiet to process the events of the day.
Freya had known that he wasn’t planning to come back any time soon and not that much had changed in the two years since he had last slept here.
It looked like the same bed, wardrobe and furnishings that he remembered.
But there was something new. Perched on the window ledge was a silver-framed photograph of a stunningly pretty slim blonde in a flimsy summer dress with legs that went on for ever.
Alexa.
Scott picked up the frame and glanced at it for a second before stashing it in the drawer of the bedside cabinet.
He had taken the photograph that first summer holiday they spent together walking in Switzerland. They were both single, in their twenties and had the whole world ahead of them.
In his eyes Alexa was the perfect woman for him. As a teenager he had watched his very different parents drift apart over the years and lead separate lives until the only thing they had in common was Freya and himself.
He wouldn’t make that mistake.
Alexa was clever, stunningly pretty and, best of all, a total sports fanatic like himself. They used to talk for hours about the things they both loved, laughing over tall tales from all of the exotic places that they had visited. They had been inseparable.
Heady with the mountain air, they had fallen in love. Over the next twelve months, they were so caught up in their engagement and the whirlwind of a top London wedding that he didn’t have time to stop and consider what married life was going to be like.
It was hard to believe that it could have ended so badly.
If Freya thought that being reminded of happier times with Alexa would help him to get over his cheating ex-wife then she didn’t understand.
There were some things a sunny disposition couldn’t fix.
Sometimes betrayal went too deep, like a bullet to the chest which lay too close to vital organs to be removed. Always there. Always catching you out when you least expected it.
A flash of memory surged through his brain, hot and wild. He could almost see Alexa reclining on this same bed, with a look of love in her eyes, beckoning him to join her. Her long straight blonde hair that he used to adore spread out across the pillow, warm, soft and inviting.
The frostbite in his fingers was nothing compared to this type of deep-seated pain.
Scott’s fingers tightened around the edge of the window frame as he looked out into the night sky, which in London was never going to be truly dark or clear.
Closing his eyes for a second, he gave way to the surge of anger and disappointment that he had buried deep inside himself since the moment he had walked into that hospital room in Rome.
It had been one of the most humbling experiences of his life. It was astonishing to see his father looking so low and depressed. Lars Elstrom had given up. Stopped trying. Beaten down by the events of the past few years to the point where he didn’t even see any point in keeping the company as a viable concern.
His speech was slurred slightly and he was going to have problems with the left side of his body for a long while, but his mind was still alive and sharp.
Suddenly the real reason why Freya had pleaded with him to come home for Christmas was only too apparent.
Elstrom Mapping was finished. Over. After two hundred years of creating maps and sea charts, the company was dead in the water.
A dinosaur.
That was the exact word that his father had managed to say to describe the family business that he had devoted his life to. An extinct creature which no longer had a place in the modern world.
His father had given up in every way possible.
How could this have happened so quickly? Two years ago, the business was not only healthy but thriving and he had almost managed to convince his father that modern technology was the best way forward. There had been plans. A budget. They had actually laughed that Elstrom would last another two hundred years.
But, of course, that was before he’d walked out on the company, leaving his stepbrother in charge.
Travis had taken over and destroyed Elstrom Mapping from the inside out. And his father had let it happen without a fight rather than admit that he had made a horrible mistake.
Now he wanted Scott to finish the job that he had started. Would he do it? Would he take over the company and be the final Elstrom at the helm? Even if it was for a short time, it would please him to think that Elstrom Mapping was still in the family.
What choice did he have? Of course he had to say yes.
He loved his sister and admired her more than he could say but there was only one thing that photograph screamed out to him and it had nothing to do with happy memories.
It was failure.
He had failed. Their marriage had failed and Alexa had betrayed him in the worst way possible. The last thing he needed today was a reminder of his past.
Just the opposite. He was going to need every scrap of positive energy he possessed if he had any hope of making good on the promise he had made to his father that afternoon. And a whole lot more.
Nothing was going to stand in his way.
He was going to have to pick up the pieces and prove that he could do what Travis couldn’t. Save Elstrom from going to the wall.
Elstrom Mapping was his. And it was not going to fail.
THREE (#ulink_b2b50b14-ab7a-53f7-99d3-b4cd65f4cf69)
‘So come on. Spill. What happened last night with you and the scruffy rich lumberjack?’
‘Nothing happened,’ Toni replied with a light casual lilt.
There was a roar of boos and hisses from around the chaos of the breakfast table in the tiny apartment Lucy shared with her flatmates and, for the last few days, her pal Amy Baldoni. Usually it was clean and organised. But this morning there were three girls crammed into the small kitchen diner with all of the kit they needed for their six months gap year expedition parked in the hallway. And they were eating as though it was the last decent breakfast they would have for ages. This was probably not far from the truth.
‘Come on, Antonia—’ Lucy grinned ‘—we know that guilty look.’
‘Guilty? Moi?’ Toni replied and pressed her right hand to her bosom in the most elegant ladylike manner.
‘Who’s guilty?’ Amy laughed as she waltzed in with her huge rucksack slung over one shoulder.
‘The girls are accusing me of holding out on the tantalising news about Scott Elstrom, that’s all,’ Toni replied and pressed her lips together tightly.
‘Aha. Busted. You are looking remarkably perky for a twenty-seven-year-old lady who partied late into the night,’ Amy replied and set her rucksack in a corner before taking her place at the table, loading her plate with toast and marmalade and ham and cheese croissants. ‘Go on, then,’ Amy said before biting into the toast. ‘Out with it.’
‘We did have a small interlude after you all left,’ Toni replied in a totally casual voice. ‘The man was jet-lagged, ate all the pizza and most of the pan of brownies. And no—’ she pointed to Lucy, who was just about to say something rude between eating because she always did ‘—I did not ask him to warm my toes for me or any other parts.’
‘Why not?’ Amy asked between chewing. ‘You promised that this year was going to be different. Now that creepy Peter is out on his ear, you’re young, free and single. All ready for a new date to be installed by the summer. That was what we agreed, wasn’t it?’
‘Was that at the New Year’s party?’ Lucy blinked. ‘I don’t remember much after that third cocktail. Or was it the fifth?’
‘New Year resolutions definitely have an expiry date.’ Toni laughed then caught the look that Amy was giving her. ‘Okay, I did sort of say that this year was going to be the start of new exciting things. New job. Lots more travel. New central heating boiler! Redecorating! Those things can be exciting too. So you can stop booing. A new boyfriend is an optional extra.’
‘Six months, darling sister,’ Amy replied, pointing her toast at her. ‘You said that you would be fixed up in six months. I have an excellent memory for facts and dates!’
‘Anyhow, when I surfaced an hour ago his bedroom door was open, his breakfast dishes were washed and draining in the kitchen and the house was in silence. The man had obviously gone to work on a Sunday. Either that or the sight of so many lovely ladies in their lingerie last night was more than he could stand and he took off back to Alaska.’
‘Alaska,’ Lucy sighed. ‘That’s on my list.’ Then she sniffed. ‘But not this trip. Way too cold. Bring on the sun. Oh. Speaking of which. We have twenty minutes until the boys get here.’ And with that she slurped her coffee and scraped back her chair.
‘Packing. That would be good. Be back soon. Amy, have you seen my hair straighteners?’
Toni got to her feet and started clearing away the breakfast plates as Amy chuckled into her tea and toast.
‘Hair straighteners? I think Lucy may be in for a bit of a disappointment when she gets to the campsite.’ Amy waved her hand from side to side and rocked her shoulders. ‘Apparently the electricity generators can be a bit temperamental.’
Then she looked up at Toni and grinned. ‘Don’t look so worried. I’ve packed a tool kit with a full set of screwdrivers into my suitcase. We shall—’ and she waved her butter knife in the air ‘—have power. So fear not, darling sister, the magical sat phone will be charged at regular intervals. How else am I going to be able to keep tabs on this amazing love life you promised to throw yourself into? I can see our house being turned into a real little love nest now that you’ve cleared out the lodger. Cool!’
Then she tucked into the marmalade with great gusto.
‘You are incorrigible!’ Toni replied with a grin and flicked the tea towel towards Amy. ‘Love nest? Where did you hear that expression? You know that it’s totally going to be the other way around! The boys will be falling over themselves when they take a look at you! Try not to break all of their hearts.’
‘Can’t promise a thing.’ Amy smirked and then startled Toni by wrapping her arms around her and giving her a big squishy hug. ‘I’m going to miss you but you understand why I don’t want you at the airport making a mushy scene, don’t you?’ Then, before Toni could answer, she stepped back and dropped her plate and cutlery into the sink. ‘Thanks for doing the washing-up! I should probably get dressed.’
And, with a wide-armed stretch, Amy walked slowly back to the bedroom where, from the sound of it, Lucy and two of her flatmates were already arguing about what to take in their hand luggage.
Madness. Total madness.
But she waited until Amy was out of sight before pulling out a tissue and blowing her nose. Stupid girl. She had known this day was coming since Christmas and she had promised Amy that she would not get all gooey...but look at the state that she was in!
Of course she understood. That was why she was here now instead of weeping buckets at the departure gate. But it didn’t make it any easier.
It helped if she imagined it was Scott Elstrom’s face at the bottom of the washing-up bowl.
This was entirely his fault!
Her brain had been spinning most of the night, working through the options, over and over again, weighing up the pros and cons, and the more she thought about it, the more obvious the answer had become.
She had to convince Scott that he should sit for a portrait in place of his father.
He was the new head of the company, after all. It was his duty to go ahead with the project that Freya had already paid half in advance. Wasn’t it?
But there was something else which kept whirling around inside her head every time she’d punched her feather pillow to try and find a comfy spot.
Freya had come running to her to ask for help. It had to be a Baldoni. No one else would do!
Surely that had to give her some bargaining power?
Toni scrubbed extra hard on the frying pan. Now all she had to do was pluck up enough courage to insist on it the next time she saw Scott.
Toni’s hands closed around the cool edge of the sink and she closed her eyes for a few seconds.
She didn’t have any choice. That portrait had to be finished, one way or another.
She needed the rest of the money to pay for Amy’s university fees in the autumn.
Girlish laughter broke through her thoughts and Toni smiled as she stacked the cups and plates.
Amy was right.
This was her chance to make a new start and claim her life.
The little girl who she’d promised to take care of the morning their parents died was a young woman now with her own life.
Amy was amazing and was going to go far in life. She knew exactly what she wanted and how she was going to get it. It had been Amy’s idea to talk to the university professors who were going to be teaching her and find out what kind of expedition would suit the coursework. Thinking ahead. Planning her future.
She had taught her sister well.
They had watched the dawn come up together in the garden of their little family house early on New Year’s morning and made promises to one another that could not be broken.
In three months’ time both of their lives would be completely different. Amy would be in Peru and working hard. And she would have finished this portrait, cleared out the clutter from their little house and redecorated every room. All ready for their cute London house to be rented out for the next three years while Amy was at university.
This was her chance to take her photography career to the next level and she was ready to grab it with both hands and do what it took to learn from the best. Travel. Live a little. Maybe even find the time to enjoy herself.
It was scary to think of the transformation that was going to take place but it was make the change now or stay locked in the same groove forever.
She chose now.
By the time she was thirty, her plan was to have the Antonia Baldoni photographic studio up and running. No more working for someone else. No more being taken for granted. No more being used by other people.
Three more years’ experience and training and she would be ready to start out on her own.
Starting with this portrait.
This was not the time to let one man who refused to have his portrait painted get in the way of Amy’s education.
Scott Elstrom was not going to escape that easily. And if she had to become a total pest to make that happen? Then so be it.
Because the new and improved version of Antonia Baldoni had decided to make some changes in her life and it all kicked off today.
Look out, world. Here I come. Bring it on.
* * *
Scott strode down the busy London pavement in the light morning sleet, wincing in pain.
His senses were assaulted by a cacophony of noise which seemed to come from every direction. Cars, buses, taxi cabs and motorcyclists. And people. So many people all crushed together. Jostling and pushing and manoeuvring around one another.
What were they all doing here at this time on a Sunday morning? Strange. He had forgotten what the barrage of noise and bustle of city life was like. Right now, his life in Alaska seemed like a distant dream. A fantasy of calm and quiet and beauty and...
He jumped out of the way as a cycle courier flashed across the path in front of him at high speed with only inches to spare. The light sleet mixed with loose snow that had been falling most of the night had made the pavements treacherous for cyclists.
Control. In Alaska he was in control of where and what and how he lived his life. The climate and the harsh conditions were all part of the job. He respected that. But here? Here, he had to battle very different challenges.
And every one of them was just as tough as climbing a mountain range or crossing sea ice.
But that was what he was here for.
He had promised his father and sister that he would give the family business six months of his life and stay in London until early September.
Six long and arduous months which right at that moment felt like an eternity of living in the city.
It was Freya who’d filled Scott in on the details when they had taken off to the hospital café to leave their father to rest.
The plan was to sell the building to property developers, who would give them a serious amount of money to build apartments in such a prestigious address. Any remaining charts and maps would be snapped up by collectors and specialist museums. With the money from the sales there would enough to pay off the debts and have some left over for their father’s retirement.
Because otherwise? Otherwise, things were going down so fast that it would mean bankruptcy and their father couldn’t tolerate the idea of not paying his bills to the suppliers who had been so loyal for the past few years.
Last resort? They had an amazing offer from a marketing company who wanted to create tacky mapping merchandise using the Elstrom company name.
Freya had been quite shocked at his expletive-laden reply to that suggestion and had to ask him to lower his voice.
No way. He was not going to see two hundred years of his family heritage handed over as a prestige symbol on cheap magnifying glasses and plastic rulers.
Little wonder that Freya had telephoned him to ask him to come home. His baby sister certainly knew what buttons to press to bring on even more guilt.
Lars Elstrom had just handed him the keys to the shop. He would be damned if he was going to be the one turning the lights out on the day they closed for good.
But it was more than that and he knew it.
It had been his decision to walk away and leave the company two years ago when things went off the rails in his life. He could have fought his father’s decision to appoint Travis to run the company through hard evidence and facts.
Instead, he had forced his father to choose between his apparently charming and talented and inspirational new stepson, Travis, and the angry man who Scott had become.
And that one decision had cost the company.
And now the stepson was long gone, the money had run out and suddenly his father needed him to step in and help the company with as much peace and dignity as he could.
How ironic was that?
But one thing was not so clear. Had he come back in time to save Elstrom Mapping? Because that was precisely what he intended to do. Or go down trying.
It was going to take all of his strength and ingenuity to survive the next six months.
Just as he had survived when his world was destroyed two years ago. Taking things one day at a time.
Starting right now.
Head back, chin up, Scott stopped outside the antique facade of Elstrom Mapping and glanced up at the old three-storey building which had been his playground and school as a boy, his centre in the middle of his parents’ divorce and then his chance to get close to his father again when he came to work here.
It had been two years since he had stood outside this door and waved goodbye to Freya as casually as if he were heading to the pub instead of a series of long arduous flights to a remote environmental survey base in Alaska.
It felt a lot longer.
Freya had organised a very casual meal out for the family before he took off and he had been a bear the whole evening. Bad-tempered and sullen and quiet. He couldn’t even recall why. Probably some snide remark his father had made about how much the business needed him to bring some new orders—with Travis managing the company they could use someone experienced to work with clients on operational mapping projects in the field.
Scott could see that now in hindsight but he had been blind to just how overwhelmed his father had been at the time by everything that had happened.
Two stubborn men. As different as possible from one another. It was hard to believe that they were even related.
They were from different planets which only collided in astrological time zones.
Neither of them ready to admit that the other person might need help.
Neither of them willing to talk about the real problem that was never going away.
No way was his father going to lower himself to plead with Scott to give up a paying job and a contract he had signed to come back to London and dig Elstrom out of a large hole which had nothing to do with him and everything to do with his own bad judgement.
Scott clenched his fingers tight around the elaborate key set that Freya had passed him and braced his jaw as he turned the three keys, one after the other.
His feet hesitated for just a fraction of a second before he brushed the fear away.
Time to find out just how bad things had become. Because, for better or worse, he was in charge of Elstrom Mapping now and things were going to have to change. And fast.
* * *
Two hours later, Toni stepped down from the red London bus and darted under the shelter of the nearest shop doorway. The February rain had swept in and was pounding on the fabric awning above her head and bouncing off the pavement of the narrow street in this smart part of the city.
Her gaze skipped between the pedestrians scurrying for cover until it settled on the elegant three-storey stone building across the street.
What was she doing here? She was a commercial photographer and wannabe studio business owner.
Toni closed her eyes and wallowed in ten seconds of self-pity and shame before shaking herself out of it. This had been her decision. Nobody had forced her to take Freya Elstrom’s offer when she’d called. But Freya had kept going on about how important it was to her father that a Baldoni had to paint the last of the Elstroms. It meant a lot to him and he was willing to pay her a special bonus if she could drop everything and work on the portrait in the next few months.
Now she knew the reason for the sudden urge to have his portrait painted was nothing to do with artistic appreciation and a lot more to do with the fact that the poor man was ill.
The last of the Elstrom family. A shiver ran across Toni’s shoulders. She didn’t like the sound of that.
Like it or not, she and Amy were the last of the Baldoni dynasty. Her father had been an only child and the only male cousins were far more interested in IT than fine arts.
Perhaps she had more in common with Scott Elstrom than she was prepared to admit?
Now all she had to do was convince him that the best thing for the business was to have his portrait painted. She couldn’t return the fee. The money had already been spent on Amy’s round-the-world plane ticket. And she needed the rest of the fee to help her through university.
So Scott had better get used to the idea.
Being immortalised in oil and acrylics was quite painless really.
Oh, yes. A man who chose to work in Alaska in the middle of winter was really going to go for that idea.
Now that did give her the shivers. That and the rivulet of rain water spilling out from the awning.
She was doomed!
Toni dropped her shoulders and shoved her free hand into the pocket of the practical but not very elegant all-weather coat she used for outdoor photo shoots.
The things she did for her sister!
Two weeks. She had two weeks’ holiday to sketch the portrait and work in at least two full sittings before heading back to work. She could finish the portrait at home over the next few weekends and collect the rest of her fee. With a bit of luck, there might be a little left over from paying Amy’s university fees to squeeze in a quick holiday somewhere warm and sunny.
Now that—she shivered in the icy wind—would be nice.
Exhaling slowly, Toni glanced from side to side to find a gap in the stream of people who had their heads down, their umbrellas braced forward against the driving sleet and rain and oblivious to anyone who might walk in their way.
Seizing on a momentary lull, Toni dashed out onto the road in the stationary rush hour traffic. She had almost made it when she had to dive sideways to dodge a bicycle courier and planted her right foot into a deep puddle. Dirty cold water splashed up into her smart high heeled ankle boots and trickled down inside, making her gasp with shock.
Hissing under her breath, Toni stepped up onto the kerb and inside the porch.
A brass plaque set into the old stone read: ‘Elstrom and Sons. Map-makers’ in the most stunning cursive script.
Blowing out hard, Toni rolled back her shoulders and tried to think positive thoughts. A flutter of nervous apprehension winged across her stomach.
This was so ridiculous.
She was here to paint Scott’s portrait. That was all. The small fact that he did not actually want his portrait painting was not important.
Much. She peered through the tiny squares of thick old glass set into the door but couldn’t see a thing—no lights or movement.
She ran her hands down the front of her raincoat and lifted her chin, stretched her hand out and rang the doorbell.
Instantly a low buzzing sound came from the door and a green light flashed.
Oh. Right. Security door. Well, that made sense.
She turned the handle, pushed the door a little and stepped inside.
Water dripping from every part of her, Toni shook the rain from her hair and instantly inhaled the glorious deep, rich aroma of antique wood, polished leather and that certain delicious muskiness that came from old manuscripts and bound books.
Laughing and half choking in the slightly dusty air, a sudden smile caught her unexpectedly.
Strange, Toni thought. That smell. It was so distinctive. She inhaled deeply and instantly recognized it. Of course. Her mother used to have a tin of beeswax and linseed oil mixed with lavender under the sink and brought it out whenever she dusted her father’s studio, which wasn’t often, considering how rarely any flat surface remained uncluttered with paperwork and art exhibition catalogues and letters and, occasionally, bills.
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