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He raised dark brows. ‘Which, unfortunately, will not prevent you from suffering a hangover tomorrow morning.’
She laid her head back against the chair, breathing deeply. ‘At this moment I’m more than happy to let tomorrow take care of itself!’ She frowned suddenly. ‘Are you even able to legally demolish a house as old Bartholomew?’
That square jaw tightened. ‘Not completely, no.’
‘What does that mean?’
He seemed to choose his words carefully. ‘It means that our plans for the redevelopment of the site have, by necessity, to incorporate the original house.’
Gemini’s heart sank. ‘Incorporate it how, precisely?’
He shrugged. ‘Plans have already been submitted and approved for the building of a hotel and conference centre.’
Gemini’s hand tightened about her wine glass as she felt a sudden wave of dizziness. ‘And no doubt Angela has known about these plans from the beginning?’
Drakon drew in a deep breath before turning and walking away, his back towards her as he looked out of one of the floor-to-ceiling windows. ‘I believe your stepmother was made fully aware of our intentions at the outset, yes…’
Gemini would just bet that she was! She was sure Angela had been aware of it and no doubt inwardly gloated about it! It wasn’t enough that she now owned the home that she knew full well Gemini had wanted for herself; the other woman was selling Bartholomew House to Lyonedes Enterprises knowing it was that company’s intention to totally change, if not obliterate, the house and grounds as Gemini knew them…
‘Intentions that I assure you I would have done everything in my power to block if I had known of them!’ she cried.
‘No doubt.’
‘It would appear that I’m only just in time to present you with my own offer.’
Drakon’s eyes narrowed as he turned slowly, allowing none of the regret he felt at seeing Gemini so pale and obviously distressed to show in the deliberate blandness of his expression. Which didn’t mean that at that moment he wouldn’t have liked to strangle Angela Bartholomew with his bare hands for being the initial cause of that distress!
He’d had no idea of the rift that existed between the two Bartholomew women when he’d entered into negotiations for the family house and grounds. Not that it would ultimately have made the slightest difference to those negotiations—but he usually made a point of being aware of any extraneous circumstances in his company’s dealings.
He did not particularly care for the way Gemini now looked at him as if he were about to commit murder! ‘What sort of offer?’ he asked.
She stood up, only to sway slightly on her feet as the effects of the wine she had just consumed kicked in. ‘Do you have a bread roll or something that I could eat?’ she asked self-consciously.
Drakon gave an impatient sigh. ‘We will sit down and eat dinner. Afterwards you will tell me about this offer you wish to make me.’
Sit down and eat dinner? Gemini felt as if even attempting to eat the bread roll she had requested would probably choke her! ‘I think we’ve gone well past the stage of politely eating dinner together, don’t you, Drakon?’ she said dully.
‘Then I suggest we impolitely eat dinner together.’ He pulled one of the chairs back from the table and looked at her pointedly.
She gave a humourless smile as she walked slowly across the room and sat down abruptly in that chair. ‘It might be as well if you gave lighting the candles a miss,’ she advised heavily.
He nodded as he stepped round the table and began to take food from the hostess trolley and place it in front of her. ‘We will not talk again until you have eaten something,’ he assured her gruffly as he sat down opposite her.
For all the notice Gemini took of the meal—smoked salmon, followed by individual beef Wellingtons and tiny roasted vegetables, with some intricate chocolate confection to finish—Drakon might as well not have bothered putting it in front of her. Gemini was only able to chew disconsolately on a bread roll as she remained lost in the misery of imagining the beauty of Bartholomew House swallowed up by a hotel complex. It was unthinkable—unacceptable that such a thing should be allowed to happen.
True to his word, Drakon remained silent throughout, only speaking again once they had reached the coffee stage of their meal.
‘It’s decaffeinated,’ he assured her as he placed a cup on the table in front of her.
At any other time, under different circumstances, Gemini would have felt warmed that a man like Drakon Lyonedes had bothered to remember her preference in coffee. Under very different circumstances! ‘Thank you,’ she accepted woodenly, before taking a sip of the black unsweetened brew.
‘You’re welcome,’ he muttered as he resumed his seat opposite her.
‘I can’t exactly claim to have enjoyed my meal,’ she said apologetically.
He shrugged. ‘Luckily the chef of my favourite London restaurant is not here to be offended by the fact that you did not eat any of the food he so expertly provided.’
Gemini shot him a frowning glance. ‘I could kick myself now for not realising Angela was up to something underhand after she refused my own offer to buy Bartholomew House from her.’
Drakon’s brows rose. ‘You made her an official offer for Bartholomew House?’
‘Oh, yes,’ she said. ‘Angela just laughed in my face.’
The more Drakon heard about Angela Bartholomew the more he disliked her. And he would certainly have preferred to be more prepared for the distress caused to Gemini by her stepmother’s mercenary nature.
He chose his words carefully. ‘Admirable as your actions were, I doubt the amount you offered even came close to the offer Lyonedes Enterprises made to your stepmother—’
‘I made sure the amount I offered slightly topped yours,’ Gemini assured him firmly.
Drakon’s eyes widened. ‘You have that sort of money at your disposal?’
‘More or less.’
His mouth twisted ruefully at the way that sea-green gaze now avoided meeting his. ‘How much more and how much less?’
Gemini stood up restlessly. ‘I do have the money,’ she reiterated distractedly.
Drakon’s lids narrowed as he looked across at her searchingly, noting the glitter in those sea-green eyes, the flush to her cheeks. And the determined set to that full and sensuous mouth…
Under different circumstances he could imagine nothing he would have enjoyed more than making love to Gemini until those sea-green eyes became heavy with desire, her cheeks flushed with pleasure, and those pouting lips swollen with arousal.
Under different circumstances…
As it was, even a hint of the sexual interest he felt for her, which had been growing steadily throughout the evening and intensifying to a physical ache when he’d placed his hand against her nape earlier, would be completely rejected.
Drakon couldn’t remember the last time—if ever—a woman had piqued his sexual interest as much as Gemini did. If he were completely honest with himself she had begun to do so from the first moment he’d looked at her on the security monitor this morning, as she’d restlessly paced the room she had been confined to. Markos—damn him—had been quite correct in surmising as much when Drakon had announced it was his intention to talk to Gemini himself. His cousin had also known exactly which buttons to push to get a reaction out of Drakon when he had come up to the apartment and interrupted their conversation.
Drakon had been as surprised as Markos had looked when he had announced that Gemini was to be having dinner with him this evening. Surprised by the need he had felt to reassure her that he was not, nor had he ever been, involved in an affair with her stepmother. And not a little alarmed that the circumstances of their meeting meant he was the very last man Gemini would ever consider becoming sexually involved with.
Over the years Drakon had become accustomed to having any woman he bothered to take an interest in. The cynical part of him knew those conquests were due as much to his extreme wealth as to any personal attraction he may or may not possess, but he already knew Gemini well enough to know that neither his wealth nor the way he looked would be enough to tempt her into a purely physical relationship with him. She was a woman who would require…more…
Which left him precisely where?
Attracted—deeply attracted—to a woman he knew there was absolutely no possibility would ever return that attraction, let alone act upon it!
‘You do have the money, but?’ he prompted shrewdly.
Gemini shot him a frown. ‘What makes you think there’s a but?’
He gave a derisive smile. ‘Isn’t there?’
Yes, there was. And it was a big one. One that Gemini had desperately been trying to overcome this past month without success…
She sighed. ‘I told you earlier that my parents set up a considerable trust fund for me. The interest has been paid to me on a yearly basis since I reached the age of eighteen, and the capital amount is to be made over to me on my thirtieth birthday.’ She grimaced. ‘I’ve been trying for the past month to see if I can break that trust and have the capital now, so that I can buy Bartholomew House.’
‘And?’
She scowled. ‘My father’s lawyers assure me the trust was set up in such a way as to be unbreakable. Of course if Daddy had made the new will, as he promised he would…!’ She gave a frustrated shake of her head. ‘But obviously he didn’t, so I’m stuck with not being able to get at the bulk of my money until my thirtieth birthday.’
Dark brows rose over those coal black eyes. ‘Which means you will not receive the capital for…what…? Another three years or so?’
‘Two years and four months, to be exact,’ Gemini acknowledged grudgingly.
Drakon gave a humourless smile. ‘By all means let us be exact—’ He broke off, a perplexed frown appearing between his eyes. ‘That would make your birthday some time in October?’
She nodded warily. ‘The twenty-second.’
‘But that is not the month for Gemini.’
Her wariness proved merited! ‘No…’
‘I had assumed your unusual name derived from your birth sign?’
Gemini forced a bright and totally insincere smile to her lips. ‘Obviously you assumed wrong.’
Drakon studied her through narrowed eyes, noting that smile and the dull flatness of those sea-green eyes…‘You are being evasive, Gemini.’
‘Am I?’
‘You know that you are.’
Her expression was pained as she began to pace, slender and long-legged and extremely graceful, her hair a silvery curtain about her shoulders in the moonlight reflecting through the windows behind her.
‘I don’t see what my birthday has do with the offer I’ve made you—’
‘You have not made me any offer yet—nor do I wish to hear it until we have finished our present conversation,’ Drakon assured her decisively as she would have gone on. ‘Gemini is the sign of the twins…’ he murmured slowly.
The frown deepened between those sea-green eyes. ‘Most people would have realised by now—and accepted—that I would obviously prefer not to talk about this subject any more!’ she muttered crossly.
He nodded. ‘I have realised.’
‘But you continued anyway?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why?’ she demanded.
Because, painful as he could see this subject was to her, Drakon wanted—needed—to know!
She had told him so much about herself already—when her birthday was, what she did for a living, her love for her parents, her disharmonious relationship with her stepmother. And it wasn’t enough. Drakon found that he desired to know all that there was to know about Gemini Bartholomew. Almost as much as he desired to make love to her…
‘I’m a twin,’ she revealed suddenly, her eyes glittering brightly with unshed tears as she turned away. ‘I had a brother,’ she continued quietly. ‘He only lived for three hours after he was born, and my mother chose my name deliberately—not out of the sadness of losing him, but out of the joy of knowing him even for that short amount of time. She didn’t want any of us to ever forget him—’ Gemini broke off abruptly as her voice choked with tears. The silken curtain of her hair fell forward to hide the depth of emotion so clearly revealed in the rawness of her voice.
Drakon gave a self-disgusted snort and moved swiftly across the room. He took Gemini into his arms, resting her head against his shoulder, and moved his arms firmly about the slenderness of her waist, her closeness allowing him to breathe in the soft perfume of her hair. ‘I am so sorry, Gemini,’ he muttered. ‘You were right. I should not have pushed you in the way I did.’
‘No, it’s okay.’ She shook her head. ‘I—It’s just that since Daddy died there’s no one left who knew about Gabriel—that was my brother’s name. Gabriel. Gemini and Gabriel.’ She drew in a ragged breath. ‘It’s strange, because I never really knew him, but I’ve always felt as if…as if I were somehow incomplete…as if a part of me were missing.’ She looked up to give a tearful smile. ‘Weird, huh?’
Not weird at all when one considered that Gabriel had been her twin—that the two of them had shared their mother’s womb for nine months at the very beginning of their lives…
It also explained that sadness Drakon had recognised earlier in the beauty of Gemini’s eyes when he had mentioned there being no son to inherit her father’s business. Because he now realised there had been no living son…
Gemini had no brother living. No parents, either. Leaving her completely alone in the world.
Much as Markos’s flirtatious nature often annoyed him, and much as he sometimes grew concerned about his widowed mother spending months living alone in Athens, Drakon knew he couldn’t imagine being without either of them.
His hand seemed to move of its own volition to touch the softness of her hair. ‘I think that is a perfectly natural feeling in the circumstances,’ he said as he stroked that silkiness.
Those sea-green eyes widened as she breathed, ‘You do?’
‘Of course.’ Drakon nodded, entwining several of those silky strands about his long fingers. ‘I have considered Markos as my brother since I was ten years old, and we have always been close. To know that you could have had that same closeness with your own brother must be difficult sometimes. Especially this past six months, with both your parents now gone too.’
Gemini had no idea what she was doing, virtually spilling out her life history to Drakon Lyonedes of all people! Having only met him for the first time this morning, and having found him so remote and arrogantly sure of himself, she would have thought him the last person she would be confiding her inner emotions to only hours later!
Even more worrying was the fact that she was now completely physically aware of him…
Not that she hadn’t been aware of his dark and dangerous good looks from the moment she first looked at him—what woman wouldn’t be? But being this close to him…held tightly in his arms, with her body moulded against the lean and muscled hardness of his…every part of her, all her senses, seemed to be screaming with that awareness.
He smelled so good—clean and virile male, with a spicy and insidiously delicious cologne. And his body felt so warm and solid against her own. Those shoulders wide and muscled, his chest and stomach powerfully lean, his long legs placed solidly either side of hers, his thighs hard and—
Oh, help…!
Gemini tensed even as she looked up at Drakon through lowered lashes, barely breathing as she felt the press of his arousal against the softness of her stomach. She was only a few inches shorter than him in her heels, and their faces were even closer as the warmth of his breath brushed against her cheek. There was no doubting that Drakon was aware of that sudden sexual tension too. His jaw was clenched, a nerve pulsing in that tightness, his mouth was compressed and his cheekbones high and prominent. And those dark eyes—
Those dark eyes were burning with the same desire Gemini could feel pressing so insistently against her!
What did she do now? To act on the aching desire flooding her limbs and so desperately clamouring for her to close the distance that separated their parted lips would be asking for trouble. To pull away and run wasn’t really an option either, when they still had so much to talk about.
Drakon suddenly solved her dilemma by grasping the tops of her arms and putting her firmly away from him before stepping back.
‘Better now?’ he prompted coolly. The emotion in those coal-black eyes was now shielded behind hooded lids, his expression once again arrogantly remote as he lifted his glass and took a swallow of the white wine.
Well, Gemini could breathe again, at least! It remained to be seen whether or not she would be able to put that physical awareness behind her as thoroughly as he appeared to have done. ‘Much,’ she confirmed huskily. ‘Thank you.’
Drakon had no idea what Gemini was thanking him for. Allowing her to talk of her family, perhaps? Or the fact that he had decided not to act on the sexual tension that minutes ago had thickened the air in the room to an almost unbearable degree?
It was a sexual tension he would normally not have hesitated to act upon, but in Gemini’s case, here and now, it could only have seemed like taking advantage of her vulnerability…
Drakon knew himself to be many things—controlled, arrogant, ruthless—but until this moment he would not have thought self-denial to be a part of his nature. It was a self-denial he would no doubt live to regret if the throbbing ache of his erection was any indication!
He arched arrogant dark brows as he turned. ‘For what?’
Gemini shrugged. ‘Being a shoulder to lean on when I needed one.’
‘I did nothing except listen,’ he dismissed abruptly as he placed the empty wine glass back down on the table. ‘And I believe it is now time for me to listen to you, as you make your offer to me with regard to Bartholomew House. The same as that you made to your stepmother?’ he reminded her.
Gemini looked at him searchingly for several long seconds, but could see nothing of the compassionate and caring man of seconds ago in the harsh implacability of Drakon’s expression. The obviously aroused man who had held her in his arms only seconds ago had also gone.
She gave a rueful shake of her head. ‘My offer is to Lyonedes Enterprises rather than to Drakon Lyonedes…’
His mouth tightened. ‘It is one and the same thing.’
‘Not really,’ Gemini pointed out. ‘Lyonedes Enterprises doesn’t consist of just you, does it? There’s your cousin to consider, too.’
He looked down the length of his arrogant nose at her. ‘My cousin, I assure you, will be more than willing to accept my judgement, as I accept his, in all matters relating to Lyonedes Enterprises.’
Gemini would just bet he would! She had no doubt that not too many people ever went up against this man in any of his decisions—not even the cousin he was obviously so close to. Not in the way that she had done today.
Now that she had actually met and spoken with Drakon she realised she was lucky his Head of Security hadn’t decided to lock her in the basement this morning after all—and thrown away the key!
‘Okay.’ She drew in a deep breath. ‘My offer to Angela in buying Bartholomew House was that I’d pay over the interest from my trust fund for the next two years, and the remaining amount once the capital was released on my thirtieth birthday. I’m willing to make Lyonedes Enterprises the same offer once the property becomes yours.’
It was exactly the offer that Drakon had been expecting Gemini to make, after hearing the details of her trust fund.
And an offer he had no choice but to refuse on behalf of Lyonedes Enterprises.
CHAPTER FIVE
GEMINI knew what Drakon’s answer to her offer was going to be even before he spoke—could see that answer as she looked into those remorseless black eyes.
‘Yes. Well. Obviously not.’ She moved quickly to pick up her clutch bag from the arm of the chair where she had left it earlier, her face pale in the lamplight. ‘I think it’s past time I was going, anyway. I’m sorry to have wasted your time.’ She turned away.
‘Gemini!’
She froze before turning slowly back to face Drakon. ‘Yes?’
Drakon scowled at the brief flash of hope he saw in those in those sea-green eyes. ‘I cannot let you leave when you are so obviously upset.’
‘I don’t see how you’re planning on stopping me.’ She looked at him quizzically. ‘Look, Drakon.’ She sighed wearily as he continued to scowl his displeasure. ‘It’s obvious that you aren’t any more interested in the deal I’m offering than Angela was, so I think it’s best if I just be on my way now. It will save us both the embarrassment of your having to say so.’
No. Unfortunately Drakon could not in all conscience even consider a deal in which Lyonedes Enterprises effectively paid out millions of pounds for a prime site the company wanted in the heart of London, then shelved their idea to build a hotel complex there in favour of selling it on to Gemini, who would then pay them back in instalments. From a business point of view the whole idea was ludicrous!
And from a personal one…?
Drakon frowned darkly as he saw the look of defeat in the pallor of Gemini’s face. Her eyes now appeared like huge sea-green lakes of bleak despair against that paleness. Because she now knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had lost the family home she so obviously loved. The last tie with the father she had also loved and so recently lost…
He gave an impatient shake of his head, knowing that he couldn’t back down on his decision. Not only was it the right one in regard to Lyonedes Enterprises, it would be totally against his nature to do so. ‘I do not believe for one moment that your father intended your trust fund to be used for such a purpose.’
She gave him a bitter smile. ‘We’ll never know now what he intended, will we?’
Drakon’s jaw tightened. ‘The fact that he did not, as he intended, make a new will, perhaps implies that he had rethought his decision to leave you Bartholomew House?’
‘Oh, please, Drakon!’ Gemini threw him a fiery glance. ‘As you didn’t even know my father you can have absolutely no idea what he did or didn’t decide.’
He winced at the emotion in her voice. ‘That is not completely true. I met your father several times at social functions in London over the years.’
That was news to Gemini. Although there was absolutely no reason why her father should ever have mentioned meeting the legendary Drakon Lyonedes to her. He couldn’t have known that Gemini and Drakon would meet one day. Especially under these circumstances!
‘And?’
He shrugged those wide shoulders. ‘And he always seemed a man of decisiveness and purpose.’
Gemini smiled sadly. ‘Then I can only assume you must have met him pre-Angela.’
‘Perhaps,’ Drakon acknowledged. ‘But from a practical point of view what would you even do with a home and grounds the size of Bartholomew House? Surely it is far too big for you to have considered living there alone?’
Her stubbornly pointed chin rose. ‘I have—had,’ she corrected firmly, ‘no intention of living there alone, Drakon.’
Ah. It was a complication Drakon hadn’t but definitely should have considered before now…‘You are engaged. Or intend to be married soon?’
‘Of course not.’ She looked down pointedly at her bare left hand before adding, ‘I wouldn’t be here having dinner alone with you if I was!’ She shook her head. ‘But I don’t intend always to be alone. I would like to be married at some time in the future, and to have children of my own one day. Whenever I’ve envisaged that day I’ve always thought I would be living in Bartholomew House,’ she said huskily.
Guilt was not an emotion Drakon was in the least familiar with, and it now sat uncomfortably heavy on his shoulders. Especially when it was in connection with a young woman he found altogether too attractive for his own comfort! Nor was he particularly happy with the brief feeling of satisfaction he had experienced at knowing Gemini was not seriously involved with anyone else at the moment. The chances of her ever becoming involved with him, now that he had refused even to consider her proposal for purchasing Bartholomew House, were also extremely remote!