Carole Mortimer - Irresistible Greeks - Defiance and Desire

‘I merely told her that it was time for her to leave,’ he answered economically, having no intention of boring Gemini with the truth of her stepmother’s flirtatious manner—almost as if he had not witnessed the viciousness of her attack on Gemini!—or the fact that she had dared to invite him out to dinner this evening. It was an invitation Drakon had left the other woman in absolutely no doubt he would refuse—along with any others she might care to make in the future.

The sneering remarks she had made about Gemini following that refusal had been enough to alert Drakon anew concerning Gemini’s safety…

‘Are you free for dinner this evening?’

Gemini had been lost in thought during Drakon’s lengthy silence, but now she looked across at him sharply. ‘You’re inviting me to have dinner with you again?’

He nodded briskly. ‘It is obvious that we need to discuss the continuing problem of your stepmother further, and as I will no longer be flying back to New York today—’

‘You won’t?’ Gemini blinked owlishly, not sure whether that lurch in her stomach was due to a residual nausea from earlier or if it was solely to do with the fact that Drakon apparently wasn’t returning to New York today as planned, and had actually invited her out to dinner with him this evening!

It was an invitation she knew she shouldn’t accept…

Couldn’t accept.

Not when she had spent the past four days telling herself that her heated response to this man had been just a figment of her imagination. An overreaction to everything else that was going on in her life at the moment.

She’d only had to look at Drakon again to know she had been fooling herself…

This man—the way he looked, the aura of power he wore like a mantle about those broad and muscular shoulders—appealed to Gemini on a level she had never experienced before. He somehow made her feel safe, protected, while at the same time being aware that Drakon himself was the biggest danger of all to her. Physically and possibly emotionally as well…

‘No. I—’ Drakon broke off as a knock sounded on the internal door of the apartment. ‘That’s probably your assistant. I instructed her to let you know when she was ready to lock up for the day.’ He shrugged as Gemini raised her brows.

Yes, Drakon Lyonedes was a man she knew she should beware of—for more reasons than the obvious one of finding him so mouthwateringly attractive. Left unchecked, he was more than capable of taking over her life if he chose to do so—and was certainly arrogant enough.

‘You—’ It was Gemini’s turn to break off as a mobile phone began to ring. It had to be Drakon’s, because the ringtone of hers was one of her favourite songs rather than a normal ringtone like this. ‘That’s probably Markos, checking to see if you arrived here in time to save me from the clutches of my evil stepmother!’ she guessed dryly.

‘This situation is not in the least amusing, Gemini.’ Dark brows lowered over those coal-black eyes as he removed a mobile phone from the breast pocket of his tailored jacket. ‘And I believe my cousin knows me well enough to know I will most certainly have saved you—if indeed you needed saving,’ he declared, before taking the call. ‘Yes, Markos,’ he said, at the same time giving Gemini a small inclination of his head in acknowledgement of her correct guess as to the identity of the caller.

Gemini decided to leave him to the privacy of his call and left the room to answer the door to Jo, reassuring her assistant that she was fine before accompanying her down the stairs to close the blinds and lock the door behind her as she left for the day.

Leaving Gemini completely alone with Drakon…

She lingered downstairs in the shop for several minutes after Jo had gone on her way, restlessly tidying where no tidying was necessary as she thought over Drakon’s invitation to dinner this evening. So that they might discuss the problem of Angela further, he had said. Although quite what that meant she had no idea. It was now more than obvious to her that Angela’s dislike of her wasn’t necessarily personal but was directed towards what Gemini represented. An inborn resentment that she doubted any amount of talking between herself and Drakon would succeed in changing.

Which was reason enough for her to turn down his dinner invitation, surely?

If she wanted to turn it down…

She had total recall of her visit to Lyonedes Tower. Of Drakon’s cool arrogance. His remorseless power. Most telling of all, she clearly remembered what it had felt like to have those chiselled lips and those long elegant hands on her body as he made love to her in the lift.

Which was precisely why she shouldn’t even think about agreeing to have dinner with him again this evening.

‘What are you doing alone down here in the darkness?’

Gemini turned sharply to face Drakon, instantly noting how the width of his shoulders almost filled the doorway leading out to the stairs of her apartment. Immediately she was reminded of just how tautly muscled his chest and shoulders had felt beneath her hands…

Not a good memory to have when she was still debating whether or not it would be sensible, even sane on her part, to spend another evening with him!

‘Just tidying up,’ she said lightly. ‘Are you ready to leave now?’ she added hopefully.

Drakon looked across at her speculatively. The blinds that had been pulled down over the windows shrouded the shop in half-light, making it impossible for him to see her clearly—although he thought he could make out two bright wings of heated colour in those ivory cheeks. She also seemed slightly nervous and she avoided meeting his gaze.

‘You are not recovered enough to go out to dinner this evening,’ he said slowly.

‘I—’

‘Perhaps you would prefer it if we were to remain here and I prepared something for us to eat?’ Drakon suggested swiftly when he sensed she was about to use her earlier indisposition as a way of refusing to have dinner with him. A refusal he had no intention of accepting…

Her eyes widened as she gave a disbelieving huff of laughter. ‘You can cook, too?’

‘Of course.’

Of course he could cook, Gemini chided herself derisively; he was a man who gave the impression that he could do absolutely anything he chose to. ‘Well?’ she asked in a reminder of the conversation they’d had the previous week when she’d asked if he played the piano in his apartment.

‘Passably.’ His mouth curved into a wry smile in acknowledgement of that conversation.

Gemini laughed. ‘In that case you can certainly cook for me some time.’

He quirked dark brows. ‘But not this evening?’

She shrugged. ‘I really don’t see that there would be any point. Angela is—well, Angela.’ She grimaced. ‘And whatever bee she currently has in her bonnet over me will no doubt pass when she gets some other multibillionaire in her matrimonial sights.’

Drakon frowned. ‘Did you really believe earlier that I was involved with her in a personal way?’

Yes, briefly, she had once again believed that. How could she have thought anything else when the other woman had appeared here like an avenging angel and accused Gemini of trying to seduce Drakon?

Gemini shrugged again. ‘It really doesn’t matter what I do or don’t believe on that subject, does it?’

‘Oh, but it does,’ Drakon murmured as he stepped further into the shadows. ‘To me it matters very much.’

Gemini swallowed hard as she watched him approach with lithe, purposeful strides, only coming to a halt when he stood mere inches away from her. ‘I—it’s all been sorted out now, so no real harm done,’ she dismissed nervously.