LITMIR.BIZ

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I?’ Gemini deliberately showed none of the inner turmoil she felt at seeing Drakon again as she casually picked up her wine glass and took a sip of the deliciously fruity red wine.

      ‘Probably not.’ He shrugged those broad shoulders.

      ‘Definitely not,’ she corrected pointedly.

      Drakon sighed. ‘Very well. I apologise unreservedly, Gemini, for not telephoning you myself and requesting a meeting with you.’

      ‘You’re forgiven.’ She gave a graciously acknowledging inclination of her head.

      ‘So this is your favourite restaurant…’ Drakon looked about them appreciatively, finding the warm and cosy atmosphere of the restaurant also to his liking.

      There were red-and-white-checked cloths on the twenty or so occupied tables, with candles alight in empty wine bottles on each one, lots of greenery trailing down from above, brightly coloured pictures of Italy adorning the terracotta-coloured walls, and the delicious smells of garlic and Italian sauces coming from the kitchen were enough to make his mouth water.

      ‘Not what you were expecting?’

      Drakon’s gaze returned across the table to Gemini as he heard the amusement in her voice. Inwardly he acknowledged that nothing about this young woman was what he would have expected from the only daughter of the wealthy and influential Miles Bartholomew. Which, he knew, was becoming a serious problem for him; Gemini was rapidly throwing all his previous experience with women off-balance. Throwing him off-balance…

      He shrugged as he picked up the menu. ‘I’m sure the food here is adequate.’

      She gave an indelicate snort. ‘The food here is fantastic!’

      Drakon perused the extensive menu. ‘What would you recommend?’

      Gemini studied his bent head, noting the way his hair had started to curl slightly as it dried in the warmth of the restaurant. The sharp angles of his face were softened by the warm glow of candlelight, and the silky dark hair visible at the base of his throat where his shirt was unbuttoned instantly made her remember how that soft pelt went all the way down to his—

      ‘Gemini?’

      A blush warmed her cheeks as she raised her startled gaze to meet Drakon’s glittering black one. ‘Anything,’ she answered abruptly. ‘All the food here is good.’

      Those dark eyes continued to study her for long, timeless seconds. Tense, still seconds, when even the chatter of the other diners faded into the background and there seemed to be only Gemini and Drakon in the room, and she found herself totally unable to look away from that compelling gaze.

      Gemini had hoped that if she ever saw Drakon again she would find she had got over whatever madness had possessed her the last time she had seen him—well, the last two times she had seen him! That she would be able to look at him, speak to him, spend time with him and see him for the arrogant, powerful man that he was. And it was impossible not to see those things in him. Unfortunately she knew he was also dangerously seductive; he only had to touch her, kiss her, to send her over the edge of self-control. Something that had never, ever happened to her before, but seemed to happen constantly with him. As she’d said, he was extremely dangerous…

      She straightened, determined to break the sensual spell that once again threatened to engulf and claim her. ‘So, how has your week been?’ she asked with brittle brightness.

      ‘Busy.’ Drakon put down his menu. ‘Yours?’

      She shrugged. ‘The same.’

      ‘There have been no more visits from your stepmother?’

      Gemini gave him a cool look. ‘I’m sure Max has duly reported that there haven’t.’

      Drakon’s mouth thinned. ‘Markos informed me that you were less than pleased at Max’s watchfulness.’

      ‘Did he?’ she mused. ‘Didn’t seem to make much difference to the outcome, did it?’

      Drakon sighed heavily. ‘Would you rather I had left you completely at the mercy of that woman’s vindictiveness?’

      ‘Once again, I would rather you had asked first,’ she said pointedly.

      He raised dark brows. ‘And if I had done so?’

      ‘I would have assured you that it wasn’t necessary.’ She waved an elegant hand. ‘You were the reason Angela went off the deep end in the first place, and with you out of the picture…’

      Drakon gave a humourless smile. ‘Unless it has escaped your notice, I have returned.’

      As if any woman could be unaware of the presence of Drakon Lyonedes! The man only had to enter a room in order to dominate it. A point that was ably demonstrated only seconds later, when Benito came to take their order and completely deferred to Drakon throughout the entire conversation.

      ‘What?’ he prompted when he saw Gemini frowning across the width of the table at him once they were alone again.

      She shook her head. ‘You totally ruined my usual couple of minutes of flirting outrageously with Benito when he comes to take my order.’

      Drakon’s brows rose. ‘You flirt with the waiter?’

      ‘I flirt outrageously,’ she corrected. ‘And Benito is the owner of the restaurant, not the waiter.’

      He glanced across to where the dark-haired, handsome young man was passing their order to a shorter, portly man to take to the kitchen, before resuming his place behind the desk at the entrance to the restaurant. ‘You come to this restaurant because you like to flirt with the owner?’ His gaze was hard and glittering when he turned it back to Gemini.

      ‘No, I come here because the food is excellent—and I like to flirt with the owner,’ Gemini added with a teasing smile.

      Drakon failed to see anything in the least amusing about her obvious attraction to Benito. ‘Your usual male companions must find that very…unflattering.’

      ‘What do you mean by that?’ she asked.

      Drakon scowled. ‘The men you usually bring here on a date.’

      She sat back on the seat, her brows mockingly high. ‘I wasn’t aware this was a date.’

      It wasn’t. At least it hadn’t been Drakon’s intention that it should become one when he had decided he and Gemini must meet again this evening. And yet the two of them were sitting together in a cosy Italian restaurant. At a secluded table for two. With a lit candle in its centre. And an evening of possibilities stretching before them. Yes, it certainly had all of the ingredients of a date, he recognised heavily.

      He shrugged. ‘For the sake of appearances let us say that it is.’

      For the sake of Gemini’s sense of self-preservation she would rather say that it wasn’t! Admittedly she had been the one to instigate this evening’s meeting taking place at a restaurant rather than her apartment, as he had stipulated through his assistant.

      But that was the whole point, wasn’t it? She had made her own arrangements for the evening because she had resented Drakon’s arrogance in issuing that instruction through a third party!

      Except she didn’t seem to have thought it through as thoroughly as she ought to have done. Hadn’t even considered that the two of them sitting here, talking and eating a meal together, would take on all the appearance of a date. Which was a bit late in the day when you considered she’d already allowed him to make love to her. Twice!

      ‘I do hope you intend to give poor Max a couple of hours off, at least, while we eat dinner?’ she said sweetly.

      Drakon instantly recognised her deliberate attempt to remind him exactly why she would never consider their having dinner together as being a date—his arrogant high-handedness in having her watched over by his security team.

      ‘Poor

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