Defying Drakon. Carole Mortimer

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СКАЧАТЬ 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 СКАЧАТЬ