Fortune in the Stars by Kate Proctor Read Free Book Online

the
renovations would be.
    'You know what they say about a woman's touch,' he
murmured, grinning. 'And flattered though I am that you seem to
consider me capable of doing it all single-handed, I have to admit
there are times when even a genius of my calibre has to consult the odd
expert or three.'
    'You make it sound ominously as though you plan razing the
place to the ground and starting all over,' she groaned, laughing.
    'God forbid!' he exclaimed, his expression pained. 'My
intention is to restore it to what it once was…and not
simply for old times' sake, either. And for that I need all the experts
money can buy.'
    'Why do you say "not simply for old times' sake"?' Dominic
was a highly intelligent man, and self-possessed often to the point of
arrogance. Yet Penny found herself wondering if there weren't a part of
him capable of clinging to the aestheticism of a half-forgotten past.
    'Take the original entrance to the hotel, for example,' he
suggested. 'There were marbled ramps running up both sides of the steps
leading up to it.'
    'Which you plan to restore?'
    He nodded. 'Yes, but by restoring the facade of the
building to its original elegance we also just happen to provide two
ramps capable of accommodating wheelchairs—a most pertinent
consideration in any day and age, wouldn't you agree?'
    'Of course I would—that's fantastic!' she
exclaimed. 'But not something many would have thought of.'
    'To be
honest, I hadn't immediately seen it from that angle,' he grinned,
giving her foot a playful kick beneath the table as she feigned
astonishment at his admission. 'It was Miguel, the hotel manager, who
first spotted it.'
    'Yet Lexy's proved right again,' murmured Penny teasingly.
'The Libran penchant for looking at things from every conceivable angle
really does pay off.'
    'If you say so, though Miguel could be a Martian for all I
know,' he stated, deliberately misunderstanding her, while at the same
time deftly hooking her feet forward with his own and, with no hint on
his face as to what he was up to, trapping her legs lightly between his.
    'Dominic!' she hissed, colour leaping to her cheeks.
    'I must be a masochist—I can't wait for you to
start breaking my heart,' he murmured. 'Besides, I like seeing you
blush.' He then gave his attention to an approaching waiter and ordered
coffee, while at the same time exerting the slightest of pressure
against her calves with his. 'Would you like anything with your coffee?'
    She shook her head, glowering at him. The infuriating
thing was that, ever since the night of his birthday, her blushes were
a sight he had taken to conjuring up at will by sporadically flying off
at a tangent from serious conversation into teasing flirtation. On the
one occasion his light flirtation had been on the verge of progressing
towards open sexual propositioning, he had made the transition with
such delicacy and charm that it had been some time before she had
become aware of its having been made.
    'For a grown man you can be amazingly childish at times,'
she snapped, silently cursing this complete inability of hers to judge
when he was about to unleash this side of him on her—one
which invariably caught her with her guard down.
    'You know, Penny, I sometimes wonder about the men in your
life,' he said softly. 'Something tells me they must be an incredibly
boring bunch.'
    'Why—because they're not childish like you?' she
retaliated.
    'I can assure you, there's nothing remotely childish in my
intentions towards you,' he advised her, completely unruffled. 'I'm
beginning to think it was a stroke of fate that brought you here to
me… I can think of nothing more delightful than rectifying
your intriguing ignorances regarding men.'
    'You—I can't believe I'm hearing this!' she
floundered. 'If you must know, I had to come here to…to
think over a proposal from the man I happen to love.' She wasn't sure
which appalled her more—her ruinously quick temper having
launched her into this, her second lie; or