His mouth firmed. ‘They matter to me!’ he told her fiercely. ‘Damn it, I love you, Gemini—and, difficult as it was to walk away from you last night, I could not in all conscience make love to you until everything else in your life had been settled.’
‘You love me?’ she repeated breathlessly, her heart seeming to falter and then stop, before starting up again, stronger, quicker.
Drakon gave a pained wince. ‘I had not meant to say that to you just yet.’
She looked at him quizzically. ‘Why not?’
‘Because you deserve more. You deserve to be wooed and courted, to be spoilt and cosseted, before I so much as broach the subject of the depth of my feelings for you.’
The beating of Gemini’s heart soared out of control. ‘And what of the depth of my feelings for you?’
He blinked. ‘You have feelings for me? Of course you do.’ A muscle twitched in his jaw. ‘They are feelings of friendship. And gratitude.’
The tears once again began to fall down her cheeks. ‘Yes, of course I’m grateful to you—how could I not be when you’ve done something so wonderfully unselfish for me? And I do believe you’re the best friend I’ve ever had! But haven’t you realised yet that I love you, too?’
His throat moved convulsively. ‘You love me?’
‘So very much, my darling, so very much!’ Her eyes glowed with emotion as she gazed up at him adoringly. ‘Admittedly you can be arrogant and bossy, and you’re incredibly single-minded…’
‘But…?’ He laughed shakily as she listed his faults.
‘But I love you anyway,’ she assured him with an incandescent smile. ‘Drakon, do you remember I once told you that I’ve felt incomplete all my life?’ she said. ‘As if a part of me were missing?’
‘Because you lost your twin.’
‘You complete me, Drakon. Totally and utterly,’ Gemini told him fervently.
Drakon took a deep breath. ‘And I am so consumed with love for you I don’t know how I ever existed without you.’
‘I feel exactly the same way,’ Gemini vowed, before Drakon’s lips claimed hers and there was no more talk from either of them for a considerable amount of time.
‘We must stop now, my darling.’ Drakon drew back reluctantly in one of the armchairs, Gemini nestled comfortably in his arms. ‘I have waited this long to make love with you. I can wait a little longer,’ he insisted as she looked up at him in silent reproach. ‘But first—will you marry me, Gemini?’
Her eyes widened. ‘Marriage, Drakon? Are you sure?’
‘Totally and utterly.’ He firmly repeated her words of earlier. ‘I love you to distraction. I had no idea what loneliness was until I was faced with the thought of never seeing you again, never being with you again.’ His arms tightened about her. ‘Will you marry me and complete me also, Gemini?’
‘Oh, yes, Drakon, I’ll marry you,’ she accepted, before throwing her arms about his neck and kissing him enthusiastically. ‘But where will we live?’ She sobered. ‘At the moment your business and home is in New York, and I live and work here in London.’
Drakon smiled. ‘I am sure that Markos will not mind moving to New York in my place. I will transfer to the offices here, to London.’
Gemini’s eyes were wide. ‘You would do that for me?’
‘My love, have you not realised yet that I would do and be anything for you?’ He gazed down at her with those intense dark eyes.
Oh, yes, Gemini knew exactly what lengths Drakon was willing to go to in order to ensure her happiness. ‘Then perhaps it’s time I made some sort of sacrifice for you?’ she said.
‘In this instance it is not necessary that you do so,’ he replied. ‘Besides, would you not prefer that our children grow up in Bartholomew House?’
Drakon’s children. And hers…Gemini had thought she couldn’t possibly be any happier than she was, but the thought of having Drakon’s children made her feel full to bursting.
‘Do you regret having to give up Bartholomew House?’
He shrugged. ‘To Lyonedes Enterprises it was only ever a piece of real estate, but to you it was always so much more. We will find somewhere else in London to build our hotel. Besides,’ Drakon added teasingly, ‘I haven’t given up anything; Bartholomew House now belongs to my future wife and the mother of my children.’
It was truly unbelievable that she could be this happy. ‘In that case, I would like it very much if you moved to London,’ she breathed softly.
His arms tightened about her. ‘Then it shall be so. And tomorrow we will go out and buy an indecently expensive engagement ring—No?’ he said, when he saw the uncertainty in her face.
‘I—would you mind very much if we used my mother’s engagement ring instead?’ Gemini looked up at him anxiously.
Drakon smiled down at her indulgently. ‘You do not wish for a new and indecently expensive ring?’
She smiled ruefully as she shook her head. ‘We can have new matching wedding bands. But if you don’t mind I would really like to wear my mother’s engagement ring.’
Drakon reached down and picked up the box from where it had fallen when they’d begun to kiss each other, flicking open the lid and taking out the emerald and diamond ring.
‘I will love you for eternity, Gemini,’ he pledged as he slipped the ring onto her finger.
‘As I will love you, Drakon,’ she vowed in return.
Two weeks later, on their wedding night, Drakon carried Gemini into the master bedroom of his house on the island in the Aegean Sea, pushing aside the gauzy curtains around a four-poster bed surrounded by the perfume of dozens upon dozens of rose petals. They lay down upon the covers and made long and beautiful love with each other…
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II BV/S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
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First published in Great Britain 2012
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited.
Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road,
Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Carole Mortimer 2012
ISBN: 978-1-408-97399-8
Table of Contents
Cover
Excerpt
About the Author
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Copyright
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Defying Drakon Page 16