Defying Drakon

‘Is that because you’re hungry? Or because I probably won’t want to eat once you’ve answered my question?’ Gemini prompted shrewdly.

‘The latter,’ he allowed grimly.

Her chin rose determinedly. ‘Drakon, will you please tell me what your intentions are with regard to Bartholomew House?’

He breathed deeply. ‘For the house itself? Very little.’ He gave a shrug of those broad shoulders. ‘For the land it stands upon? Extensive.’

Gemini continued to stare at him, her expression remaining blank even as her thoughts inwardly raced. Bartholomew House was a beautiful three-hundred-year-old four-storey mansion house, standing on half an acre of prime land in the very heart of fashionable London. Land that Drakon Lyonedes seemed to be implying was his main reason for the purchase.

If that was so, then what did he intend doing with the house that stood on that piece of land?

‘Oh, my God!’ Gemini gasped weakly even as she felt the colour draining from her cheeks. ‘You intend to have the house knocked down!’

Drakon scowled darkly as he heard the shocked accusation in her tone.

It was not an entirely incorrect accusation…

CHAPTER FOUR

‘PERHAPS you should sit down before you fall down!’ Drakon rasped harshly as he clasped the white-faced Gemini’s arm to steady her before gently guiding her across the room to sit down in one of the armchairs. Putting his hand at the back of her neck, he pushed her head down between her knees.

Just what he needed. An unconscious Gemini Bartholomew in his apartment!

‘Breathe deeply,’ he instructed gruffly. The hand he held against the slenderness of her nape revealed that she was shaking. Badly!

Breathe deeply? Gemini wasn’t sure how she could be expected to breathe at all when he had just revealed that his company intended destroying the house that had been in her family for hundreds of years! The same house where she had been born and had spent such a happy and carefree childhood…

‘Drink this.’

Gemini raised her head enough to see the full glass of white wine Drakon now held in front of her, reaching up to take it from him before downing the contents in one go. ‘Could I have some more, please?’ she breathed shakily.

‘I do not think—’

‘Drakon, please!’ Gemini rallied enough to look up at him pleadingly through the curtain of her hair.

He shrugged those broad shoulders before taking the empty glass from her shaking fingers and once again crossing over to the bar to refill it. ‘I merely wished to point out that your drinking too much wine will not change anything.’ He walked slowly back across the room.

Gemini’s hands shook as she pushed her hair back over her shoulders before taking the refilled glass from him. ‘I don’t think I particularly care about that at the moment.’

He raised dark brows. ‘Which, unfortunately, will not prevent you from suffering a ha

ngover 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…’