Fortune in the Stars by Kate Proctor Read Free Book Online Page A

that she had only just
managed to stop herself childishly adding 'so there!' to her mendacious
claim.
    'Aha—the truth at last!' he laughed. 'And the
mere fact you had to think it over, let alone leave the country to do
so, should have told you your answer is no,' he pointed out, with the
air of one stating the completely obvious. 'What exactly was he
proposing, anyway?'
    'Marriage,' she exclaimed indignantly.
    'Oh, dear, you really do have problems don't you?' he
murmured with patently false sympathy.
    'And what exactly is that supposed to mean?'
    'You have to admit that you responded to my kisses the
other night with a lot more enthusiasm than would be expected in a
woman in love—with another man, that is.'
    'I was drunk, for heaven's sake!' she almost shrieked.
    'Of course you weren't drunk,' he responded dismissively.
'You had a couple of glasses of wine on an empty stomach—'
    'Could we just drop this?' she cut in angrily, an
unpleasant sense of foreboding warning her that she was going to regret
this second lie a great deal more than the first.
    'But of course,' he replied, the epitome of cooperation.
'What would you like us to talk about instead?'
    She glowered across the table at him. 'Can't we just go?'
    'I've just ordered coffee and, being a creature of habit,
I'd like my customary couple of cups of it after lunch.'
    Creature of habit he most certainly was not, she fumed
silently. In fact, he was so completely unpredictable that she was
beginning to wonder if he had ever done the same thing twice in his
entire life.
    'Juana tells me we're in for rain,' he continued sociably.
    Penny felt herself tense automatically. The weather was
hardly a contentious subject, but she had few doubts that he could turn
it into a full-scale debate if he so chose.
    'I'm surprised you decided to come here at a time when the
weather isn't reliable,' she muttered.
    'Why not? I rather like rain,' he replied. 'And anyway, as
this is a working holiday, I had no option to come other than when the
hotel was closed for the season.'
    'Well, Lexy will be here any day now,' she continued, her
unspoken 'thank heavens' taken care of by her tone.
    'Do I bring out the worst in you, Penny?' Dominic queried
softly, his eyes capturing hers in that a way she found impossible to
draw free from.
    'Yes… I'm afraid you do,' she admitted
deflatedly, suddenly inordinately conscious of the still-unchanged
position of their legs, and desperately willing her cheeks not to burn
yet again. 'Dominic, are you really going to run your grandfather's
business?' she asked, clumsily changing the subject. 'What about your
own business?'
    He paused as the waiter brought and served the coffee.
    'I've had to run down my workload in Paris, but my
partners are prepared to fill in for me as long as is necessary,' he
told her. 'You see, my grandfather didn't exactly saddle me with a
corner shop…it's a worldwide conglomeration.' He paused, the
grim remoteness so evident whenever he spoke of his grandfather
returning to his face. 'It's far too big a concern for one man to have
the powers of veto over decision-making as he had. I'm not denying he
had an astute business brain—but he could also be vindictive
and divisive when experts, who had every right, questioned the
advisability of some of his interferences.'
    'And the business suffered?'
    'Yes—though with profits so vast it's not
something immediately apparent.' He drained his coffee and signalled to
a waiter for more. 'In the past six months, since my grandfather's
death, I've been working towards placing autonomy where it belongs in
the company—that is, in the hands of those paid to do the job
and who, in my opinion, do it admirably. Besides,' he added, suddenly
freeing her legs, 'all of this extra work interferes with my play.'
    'Why do you say it's conditioning that makes you refer to
yourself as a playboy?' Penny asked.
    'Do I say that?' he demanded, shrugging when she nodded.
'Lexy and I inherited our paternal