Defying Drakon

They walked over to the lift, the slender three-inch heels on her strappy sandals sounding over-loud in that unnatural silence. She felt their complete aloneness even more once they had stepped inside the private lift to be whisked silently up to the top floor of the building.

‘It really is very good of you to agree to talk to me again so soon.’ Gemini rushed into awkward speech in an effort to quell her increasing nervousness as she gripped her slender black evening bag tightly in front of her.

Not that she was normally the nervous type. Far from it. She was usually pretty outgoing. But there was just something so broodingly intense about the man standing beside her…

Drakon gave a tight and humourless smile. ‘After your less than orthodox behaviour earlier today, you mean?’

A delicate blush warmed her cheeks. ‘Yes.’

He nodded. ‘There are certain aspects of our conversation earlier that are…incomplete.’

She blinked up at him. ‘There are?’

‘Oh, yes,’ he said grimly.

Gemini brightened. ‘Of course—I hadn’t finished telling you about my proposal!’

‘That too,’ he acknowledged.

Too? What other part of their conversation earlier today had been left ‘incomplete’?

Gemini had no more time to dwell on that question as the lift doors opened and Drakon stepped back to allow her to precede him into the sitting room of his apartment. The sitting room seemed much more intimate this evening, illuminated only by four lamps placed about the room, and the glittering London skyline stretched enchantingly in the distance through those floor-to-ceiling windows. A small round table was intimately laid for two in front of one of them, tableware and glasses gleaming, three cream candles in the silver candelabra as yet unlit…

‘Would you care for a glass of wine?’

Gemini dragged her gaze away from the intimacy of those place-settings to look across at Drakon as he stood by the bar, his face appearing more harshly brooding in the dimmed lighting. ‘I—yes, thank you,’ she accepted, placing her bag down on the arm of a chair. ‘White, if you have it.’

Drakon smiled slightly to himself as he turned away to open and then pour the wine, sensing Gemini’s discomfort as she continued to stand in the middle of the room. ‘Was the rest of your day pleasant?’ he murmured softly as he crossed the room to hand her one of the two glasses of fruity white wine.

She gave him a startled look as she slowly reached out and took the glass he held out to her. ‘Er—busy. As usual.’

‘Busy in what way?’ Those black eyes studied her over the rim of his glass as he sipped the perfectly chilled wine.

Gemini had hardly expected to be discussing what sort of day she’d had when she next saw Drakon! Almost as if they were out on a real date. Which was utterly ridiculous! Not that she was dating anyone at the moment, her last brief romantic interest having ended months ago, but even so…His relationship with Angela apart, Drakon looked as if he ate up willowy blondes for breakfast, chewed them round for the rest of the morning, and then spat out their bones before enjoying a brunette for lunch!

Although perhaps thinking about Drakon eating her up wasn’t the best idea when Gemini now found herself unable to look anywhere but at his sculptured mouth as she imagined how those lips would feel against her skin…

‘We’re always busy the day before a big wedding.’ She rushed into speech in an effort to dismiss those erotic and entirely inappropriate thoughts. ‘There’s the church to decorate, the bride’s bouquet and all the corsages and buttonholes to arrange, then in the morning we’ll have to do the top table and twenty others in the reception marquee.’ She shrugged. ‘I have to be up very early tomorrow too in order to make sure it all gets done well before they return from the wedding at four o’clock.’

Exactly why had she felt the need to add that part? she scolded herself. There was absolutely no way she would still be here in the morning!

Drakon looked slightly puzzled. ‘I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘Oh. Sorry.’ She grimaced before taking a quick sip of her wine.

It was excellent. Of course. A perfectly chilled Pinot Grigio, if she wasn’t mistaken. Which she probably wasn’t; her father had considered learning to recognise a good wine as an important part of her education.

‘Delicious wine.’ She nodded her approval before placing the glass down on one of the side tables. Delicious, but definitely lethal for her to drink too much of it when she’d barely had time to draw breath all day let alone eat. Especially as her thoughts had already wandered into what it would feel like to have Drakon’s mouth on her!

‘I am pleased you approve,’ Drakon drawled dryly, even as he wondered about the reason for the blush that had now coloured Gemini’s cheeks. ‘You were about to explain the reason for your involvement in this “big wedding”?’ he reminded her.

She nodded, that white-gold hair gleaming pale and silvery in the lamplight. ‘I own and run a florist’s shop.’

Drakon scowled. ‘I didn’t know that…’

Gemini shrugged those slender shoulders. ‘There’s no reason why you should have done.’

Oh, but there was…As soon as his business meeting this morning had been over Drakon had telephoned down to Max Stanford and asked him to check not only whether Gemini was indeed who she claimed to be, but also into the dynamics of the relationship between Gemini and her stepmother. Perhaps he should have asked Max to put together a more detailed personal dossier on Gemini?

To learn that she had a job at all, let alone owned and ran her own florist’s shop, came as something of a surprise to him. Miles Bartholomew had come from old money, and had only added to that wealth during his successful business life; as his only child Gemini would surely have no reason to work. Unless…

His jaw tightened. ‘I thought you said you were not left without funds when your father died?’

‘I wasn’t.’ She smiled, revealing small and even white teeth. ‘As I said, I have a trust fund. I’ve owned my shop for five years now—I’m afraid I’m just not the type to sit on my backside looking pretty while I wait for some handsome prince to whisk me off my feet and into marriage,’ she declared.

This young woman was ethereally beautiful rather than merely pretty, and Drakon had no doubts that there had been plenty of men during her twenty-seven years who would have wished to ‘whisk’ her off to somewhere probably a lot less permanent than matrimony. Himself included…?

‘And do you enjoy owning and running a florist’s shop?’ he bit out, annoyed with his own thoughts.

‘I love it!’ She gave him another bright smile, those sea-green eyes glowing.

‘And is your shop successful?’

‘Very.’ Gemini shot Drakon a mischievous sideways glance. ‘And that’s not me being egotistical—it just is.’

‘Please don’t put words into my mouth,’ he advised dryly. ‘And no business “just is” successful. It takes hard work on the part of someone to make it so.’

She eyed him curiously. ‘You sound as if you speak from experience?’

He shrugged. ‘My father and uncle were the ones to found Lyonedes Enterprises. My cousin and I have merely continued to add to that success.’

Gemini knew these two powerful men had done so much more than that. Lyonedes Enterprises was now one of the most financially strong and successful companies in the world.

‘My father also started and ran his own company,’ she said. ‘He liquidated it all when he retired at sixty.’

‘Because you had no interest in running your father’s company? Or because he had no son to continue it?’ Drakon prompted curiously.

Her smile faltered slightly. ‘Both, probably.’

Was that a note of sadness Drakon could hear in Gemini’s voice? Perhaps an underlying wistfulness for having grown up an only child? Having spent much of his life growing up with a boisterous younger cousin, Drakon could not even begin to imagine what that must have been like. His parents’ house had always seemed filled to overflowing with the two of them, and also many of their friends.

‘Unfortunately my talent always lay with flowers and other things that grow.’ She brightened. ‘Even as a small child I was obsessed with digging in the garden. To the point that my mother finally persuaded my father to give me my own bed in the garden—no doubt in an effort to stop me from digging up his prize roses!’ she added affectionately.

Just her talk of her parents was enough to reveal the deep love that had existed between them and Gemini—making Miles Bartholomew’s second marriage, to a woman not so much older than Gemini herself, even more difficult for her?

Drakon made a mental note to himself to thank his mother the next time he saw her for never having put Markos and himself through that same unpleasantness. Not that either of them would have been difficult if Karelia had decided to marry again after their father’s death; they both loved her far too much to wish her anything but happiness.

‘I imagine, as you’re the owner of a florist’s shop, it must be difficult for a man to send you flowers,’ he commented.

‘Not at all,’ Gemini assured him lightly. ‘Yellow roses are my favourites, if you ever feel the—’ She broke off abruptly, that delicate blush once again warming her cheeks. ‘Sorry. Of course you aren’t ever going to want to send me flowers.’ She grimaced, before turning away to stroll across to the windows that looked out over the illuminated London skyline. ‘This really is a magnificent view.’

Yes, it was. Except Drakon wasn’t looking at the London skyline but at Gemini herself.

He didn’t believe he had ever met another woman quite like her before. Beautiful, obviously accomplished as she ran a successful shop, and from all accounts a loving and loyal daughter to her father despite the less than harmonious relationship that existed between her and her stepmother. And she now felt such a sense of duty towards the home where she had spent her childhood, which had been in her family for over three hundred years, that she had even risked the possibility of Drakon having her arrested earlier this morning.

‘Do you play…?’

He smiled slightly as he saw she was looking across at the piano.

‘A little.’

‘And do you play well?’

‘Passably.’ He shrugged.

‘I’m sure that if you play even a little you do it very well indeed,’ she chided teasingly.

Drakon crossed the room to stand beside her. The softness of her perfume was an enticing mixture of flowers and beautiful woman. ‘Why do you say that?’ he prompted.

She smiled widely. ‘I don’t know you very well, but I already know enough about you to realise you’re the type of man who, if he chooses to do something, will never do it “passably” well!’ Once again that smile faltered and then disappeared as she seemed to realise exactly what she’d just said. And its obvious sexual implications…

Drakon chuckled huskily as that becoming blush once again coloured the ivory smoothness of her cheeks. ‘I will take that as a compliment…’

Gemini wasn’t at all comfortable with the sudden intimacy between them—an intimacy she knew she was completely responsible for creating with her thoughtless comment!

Was it because she hadn’t completely dispelled those earlier images of a naked Drakon Lyonedes emerging from the shower from her mind? Probably. She found it a little difficult to think of him in the abstract at all when he was standing beside her. So hot and immediate. As well as dark and dangerously attractive!

She moistened her lips. ‘Perhaps we should just concentrate on our business discussion?’

Those dark eyes narrowed, and his mouth was once again a thin and uncompromising line. ‘In that case I believe we must first dispense with your mistaken belief that I am currently involved in a personal relationship with your stepmother.’

Gemini turned, her eyes wide. ‘Mistaken…?’

‘Certainly.’ Drakon frowned. ‘I have always made a point of never mixing business with pleasure.’

‘But—’ She gave a slightly dazed shake of her head. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘It is simple enough, surely?’ He raised those arrogant dark brows. ‘I have no idea why you should have drawn such a conclusion, but I assure you my only connection to your stepmother is one of business. In the form of my purchase of Bartholomew House,’ he added, so that there should be absolutely no doubt as to his meaning.

Gemini stared up at him wordlessly. He looked sincere enough. In fact he looked more than sincere—his handsome face was now visibly showing an expression of extreme distaste at the mere suggestion that he might be involved in an affair with Angela…

But her stepmother had told her—

A lie…?

What possible reason could Angela have had to lie about being involved in an intimate relationship with Drakon?

Knowing the other woman as well as Gemini had come to know Angela since her father had died, she found the answer was suddenly all too obvious.

Gemini had tried so hard to like Angela when her father had first introduced her as the woman he intended to marry. Despite the vast age difference between Angela and Miles. Despite the fact that Gemini had believed her father was rushing too hastily into a second marriage. And in spite of the fact that Angela had given every appearance of being nothing more than a voluptuous blonde beauty attracted to Miles’s money rather than the man himself.

Yes, despite all those things Gemini had still tried to like and get along with the older woman. For her father’s sake, if for no other reason, because she’d known how much he had wanted his second wife and his daughter to be friends.

Whenever the two women had been in Miles’s company that had always appeared to be the case. It had only been when Gemini found herself alone with the other woman that Angela’s hostility had become so blatantly obvious, in the form of cutting remarks or long, uncomfortable silences.

It had quickly become obvious to Gemini that, other than Miles, the two women had absolutely nothing in common, and that even that common interest differed greatly in its intent. Angela had wanted and demanded all of Miles’s attention for herself. The existence of his twenty-something daughter had been more of an embarrassment than anything else. Whereas Gemini had just wanted to see her father happy again.

Angela asking her to move out of the house once she’d married Miles had certainly been no hardship to Gemini. She had only moved back into Bartholomew House after her mother died so that her father wouldn’t be left alone there with only his memories. It had been perfectly natural for her to move out again in order to leave the newly married couple to their privacy.

It was the fact that Angela had made the request without Miles’s knowledge and knowing full well that Gemini would never tell him what she had done that had been hard to bear. Angela had made it obvious to Gemini that she resented any time father and daughter spent together—to the point that she’d ensured it rarely happened. It had been an attitude that was never visible whenever Miles was present. Angela’s behaviour then had been sickeningly kittenish as she’d continued to wrap her much older and totally smitten husband about her manicured, sexy little finger.

In the circumstances, was it any wonder that Angela had enjoyed implying to Gemini that she had managed to capture the interest of someone like Drakon Lyonedes—a man half Miles’s age and probably a dozen times richer?

Knowing Angela as well as she did, Gemini thought the other woman believed it was only a matter of time, anyway, until she made the fabricated affair into a reality. So what did it matter if she’d exaggerated the situation to Gemini now? And if it didn’t happen who was ever going to contradict Angela’s claims when the man himself was so utterly elusive?

Except Gemini had now met Drakon, and she felt extremely foolish for having believed the other woman’s boast about his being infatuated with her. Gemini had no doubt Angela was lying to her; Drakon Lyonedes wasn’t the type of man to be infatuated with any woman. Besides, being so arrogantly self-assured he obviously never felt the need to lie about any of his actions—least of all his involvement with a woman!

‘Am I right in assuming this information was given to you by your stepmother?’ he prompted harshly.

Gemini flinched at the disgust underlying his tone. ‘Perhaps I misunderstood her.’ She gave an uncomfortable lift of her shoulders. ‘I—She mentioned how…nice you were.’ Sexily gorgeous had been her exact words, actually, but Gemini really couldn’t bring herself to tell him that! ‘Maybe I just let my imagination take that a step further than Angela actually intended—’

‘I believe you assured me earlier that you do not lie?’ Drakon cut in.

She winced. ‘I try not to, no…’

‘Then do not do so now,’ he advised her coldly.

‘I believe I said I might have been mistaken,’ she said uncomfortably.

‘And do you really believe that?’

‘What I believe is that Angela was trying to hurt me by boasting of how quickly she had replaced my father in her bed,’ Gemini acknowledged shakily. ‘You must have thought I was completely off my head this morning when I started rambling on about the affair you were having with Angela.’ She offered him an embarrassed smile.

He gave a derisive snort. ‘Not completely, no.’

‘You’ve never been intimately involved with Angela, have you?’

‘No,’ he confirmed.

‘Oh, God, I’m so sorry!’

‘Here—drink some more of your wine.’ Drakon moved to pick up Gemini’s glass and handed it to her, inwardly seething at Angela Bartholomew and the lies she had told her stepdaughter. In order to hurt her? No doubt. For himself, Drakon took exception to any woman claiming to have a relationship with him that simply did not, never had and never would exist. Especially in the case of the voluptuous Angela Bartholomew.

Would he resent it quite as much if it had not been the intriguing and beautiful Gemini to whom that lie had been told?

Drakon didn’t even want to think about the implications of that question, let alone find an answer for it! ‘Not everything your stepmother told you about me was a lie. Lyonedes Enterprises is

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