Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Boss?

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.’