Defying the Billionaire's Command

by Michelle Conder

  ‘What’s up, George?’

  ‘Sir, a Mr Beckett Granger is here to see you.’

  Dare frowned and almost told him to tell Beckett to take a hike, to use one of Carly’s expressions.

  Then he thought better of it. Better to talk to Beckett here than at the hospital.

  ‘Send him up, George.’

  And what about Carly? he wondered. Was she falling in love with him too?

  He recalled the breathy little sighs she made when he touched her, the way she moaned his name, the smile she’d given him when he’d woken up this morning that had nearly blinded him. Was that just lust or was it—?

  ‘What the hell are you playing at?’

  Distracted as he was, Dare wasn’t even aware that he’d opened his front door until a very angry Beckett dressed in a pinstripe suit and smelling like a men’s fragrance counter pushed past him into his home.

  Dare swore under his breath and caught up with him in two strides but by then he was already in his open-plan living room.

  ‘What do you want, Beckett?’

  Beckett swung round. ‘Nice digs. Glad someone can afford them.’

  Dare stared at him. ‘I repeat, what do you want?’

  Beckett took his time answering. ‘So I tried to log in to my computer this morning only to find that I’ve been banned from accessing certain parts of the business.’

  ‘I hope you didn’t bother Benson with that,’ Dare snarled, knowing their grandfather wasn’t fit for that kind of discussion just yet.

  ‘I wasn’t allowed because his watchdog said he was sleeping. But I figured you’d know all about it. And I’m right, aren’t I?’

  ‘We can discuss this later. At my office. If you call my PA she’ll make an appointment for you.’ And if he ever called his mother a watchdog again, Dare would deck him.

  ‘I don’t want to make an appointment. I want an explanation. Now.’

  ‘I’m not prepared to discuss it,’ Dare said.

  Not until he’d spoken to Benson to see how his grandfather wanted to play things. This wasn’t Dare’s issue and, while he’d followed Benson’s instructions to have BG’s second-in-command take over as acting CEO, he wasn’t about to further isolate Beckett without first knowing what damage he could do. ‘And now you can—’

  ‘Why, Dr Evans,’ Beckett simpered as he glanced behind Dare. ‘How very...unexpected.’

  ‘Beckett? What are you doing here?’

  Having heard voices, Carly had come to investigate and now wished she had taken the time to dress in more than one of Dare’s T-shirts because Beckett was openly staring at her legs. And her breasts.

  Carly folded her arms across her chest, gazing from one man to the other, and wondering if she shouldn’t make herself scarce.

  ‘It would seem that we have the same taste in women,’ Beckett murmured and Carly very definitely thought about making herself scarce.

  ‘Excuse me?’ Dare’s quiet question was lethal.

  Beckett paused before smiling. ‘I have dibs.’

  Carly frowned. ‘Don’t be rude, Beckett,’ she said sharply, remembering that she still had his necklace in her handbag.

  Beckett ignored her in favour of Dare. ‘Or is Grandfather just up to his old matchmaking tricks again? He really fell for our doctor here,’ he informed Dare. ‘I suppose he doesn’t care which grandson ends up with her.’

  Carly felt herself blush. Beckett was being a complete plonker. ‘There was never anything between us, Beckett,’ she said coldly.

  ‘Oh Carly.’ Beckett thumped his chest with his fist. ‘You wound me.’

  ‘Just because you’re angry about what’s happened at BG Textiles doesn’t mean you have to make this personal,’ Dare bit out.

  Carly smiled. His defence of her warmed her heart.

  ‘Besides,’ Dare continued, ‘I think we have more important things to discuss. Like your insider-trading efforts.’

  Insider trading?

  Carly’s eyes flew to Beckett’s. If Dare was right, then Beckett could be in a lot of trouble.

  Beckett’s face took on a mottled hue. ‘Don’t you dare try to tarnish my name to get the inheritance for yourself,’ Beckett spat.

  ‘As you so rightly pointed out when you walked in, I don’t need Benson’s inheritance. Nor do I need to try and tarnish your name. You’re doing a good job of that all by yourself.’

  ‘Sometimes I wish I had been born two centuries ago,’ Beckett spat, ‘because then I’d call you out for that slur.’

  Dare gave him a bored look. ‘Don’t fret it. You would have lost.’

  ‘You absolute, utter—’

  ‘I suggest you leave without saying another word, cousin,’ Dare broke in softly.

  ‘Or what?’ Beckett seethed. ‘You’ll take something else from me? Or hit me, perhaps? Go on, I dare you.’

  Dare yawned.

  Carly planted her hands on her hips. ‘If he doesn’t I might,’ she warned. ‘There’s absolutely no need for any of this, Beckett.’

  Beckett turned to her, his expression tenderly forlorn.

  ‘Allow a man to express a little outraged jealousy, Red. I did find you first.’

  Red!

  He had never called her that before.

  Carly noticed Dare take a step in Beckett’s direction and shot forward. ‘Wait.’ She held her hand up to Dare and turned to Beckett. ‘Don’t move and don’t say another word,’ she instructed. Then she rushed from the room and pulled the velvet box out of her bag, wishing she’d remembered it at the hospital the previous day.

  ‘This is yours,’ she said, pushing the velvet box into his hand. Her eyes flashed to Dare as he stood by the front door, unconsciously noting his lethal stillness.

  ‘I gave it to you.’ Beckett glared down at her and Carly wondered how she had ever thought he was handsome.

  ‘I don’t want it.’

  Beckett sneered at her. ‘Not now that you’ve snared the bigger fish.’

  ‘Get out, Beckett,’ Dare said with icy fury.

  Beckett had given her the necklace! Dare could barely believe it. His senses reeled, his mind shrouded in a red haze so thick he could barely see through it.

  He could feel adrenaline coursing through his system like in the old days when kids used to laugh about his loser father.

  He took a deep breath and did his best to ignore the beating of his blood that wanted him to beat the crap out of his insolent cousin. If Beckett didn’t leave by the door soon, he’d find himself using the window; a much quicker way to the sidewalk.

  ‘Goodbye, my lovely Carly. It seems I’m being asked to leave.’

  Beckett strolled towards Dare, a swagger in his step. He stopped and shook his head at Dare as if he felt sorry for him.

  ‘Come in, spinner,’ he said softly, laughing when Dare slammed the door in his face.

  Taking a deep breath, Dare turned towards Carly. She looked beautiful and shaken standing in his living room wearing only his shirt.

  He frowned. Hadn’t she heard their voices? Didn’t she know better than to come into a room wearing only a T-shirt?

  He glanced at his well-stocked bar and wondered if it was too early in the day to have a drink.

  ‘I never liked him,’ Carly said, hugging her arms around her waist.

  Dare looked at her. Why had she felt the need to tell him that? Was she feeling guilty about something? Like sleeping with his cousin right before moving on to him?

  Had she lied to him?

  The adrenaline hadn’t left his body and he felt edgy and unsatisfied. Maybe he should have hit his cousin after all.

  ‘Come in, spinner.’

  Beckett’s mocking words knocked around inside his head as if they had been
shot out of a pinball machine.

  Was Carly really duping him as Beckett had implied? He didn’t want to believe it, but he couldn’t deny the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  ‘You liked him well enough to take the necklace,’ he said easily. Too easily.

  ‘Sorry?’ Carly blinked at him and then her brows drew together. ‘Would you mind repeating that?’

  Dare paced away from her. Maybe that hadn’t been the best thing to say given how tightly he was strung. ‘I need some time to think.’

  ‘About what?’ She wet her lips as if she was nervous. But what did she have to be nervous about?

  Red. Beckett had called her Red.

  Dare’s teeth ground together. Had he called her that in bed? But no, Carly had claimed that she hadn’t slept with him.

  ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ she asked carefully. ‘You don’t actually believe there was something between me and your cousin do you?’

  Dare rubbed a hand across his forehead, tried to collect his thoughts. Unfortunately they were scattered like freshly fallen leaves. ‘I don’t know what to believe.’

  Carly stared at him. ‘I already told you that Beckett gave me the necklace because he wanted me to go out with him.’

  Dare stared at her. Rubbed his forehead again. ‘Did my grandfather mention that he wanted us to get together?’

  Carly flushed and Dare knew that he had.

  ‘Not really.’

  His eyes homed in on her like a heat-seeking missile locking onto a target. ‘But he did mention it.’

  ‘It was a joke.’

  ‘Not one I find funny,’ Dare said softly.

  ‘You can’t seriously be giving Beckett’s hateful comments any credence,’ Carly said incredulously. ‘Dare, he was trying to get a rise out of you.’

  Dare turned to her. He wasn’t. He wasn’t at all, but... ‘What I’m struggling to understand is why a man who is in so much debt he’d throw his grandfather’s company to the wolves, would then go and give a woman a necklace worth a small fortune.’

  Carly felt a cold sensation slither into her stomach. ‘What you mean is,’ she said woodenly, ‘why does a man give a woman he’s not sleeping with a necklace worth a small fortune?’

  A muscle ticked in his jaw. ‘So why does he?’

  Carly felt so sick she could barely breathe. ‘I already explained it to you once,’ she said slowly. ‘He asked me out. I said no. The necklace was... I don’t know...some sort of enticement, I suppose. I never asked him.’

  Dare’s gaze wouldn’t meet hers and Carly knew then that he didn’t love her. Because how could you love someone you didn’t know? Someone you didn’t trust?

  Carly was just about at the bedroom door when Dare grabbed her arm and swung her towards him.

  ‘Where are you going?

  ‘I’m leaving.’

  ‘We’re having a conversation.’

  ‘No, we’re not,’ she fumed. ‘You’re conducting an investigation.’

  ‘I asked one question,’ he said, as calmly as possible. ‘Which apparently you don’t want to answer.’

  ‘I did answer it.’ She tipped her chin up. ‘Tell me you believe me.’

  A heavy silence followed her request and Carly had her answer. How, she wondered, had she ever imagined she was in love with this man who was exactly like her ex?

  A sob caught in her throat and she quickly stifled it.

  ‘Now where are you going?’ he asked irritably.

  ‘I told you... I’m leaving. Do you need me to repeat that as well?’

  Dare ran a hand through his hair. ‘I just want the facts, Carly. Is that too much to ask?’

  Carly clenched her teeth. ‘How many times?’

  ‘How many times what?’

  ‘How many times do you want your precious facts until you believe them? Because once wasn’t enough. Will twice do? Maybe three times. A hundred?’

  Dare swore under his breath. ‘Look,’ he began reasonably. ‘I could have made a mistake.’

  Carly shook her head. This time she wouldn’t be cowed by a man. ‘Well, while you could have made a mistake, I did.’

  Dare watched her storm into his bedroom and he headed for the balcony. He looked down at the garden below. Breathed deeply. Tried to get his head together. It didn’t work; if anything he felt more confused. Was she telling the truth or was she lying because she thought it was what he wanted to hear?

  When he heard his front door slam that old sick sensation from his childhood returned and he gripped the balustrade in front of him and told himself that he’d done nothing wrong.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  THAT WAS SOMETHING he was convinced of right up until he’d snatched up his helmet and straddled his bike, intending to hit the open roads. Which was when the sick feeling was replaced with a sense of hollowness.

  She’d left him. She’d really walked out. And why? Because she had an unreasonable temper. No man in his right mind would want to put up with that. And what had she expected him to say after he’d seen her return Beckett’s necklace? After the way Beckett had smiled at her? The way his cousin had laughed at him?

  All Dare had wanted was the facts. What the hell was wrong with that? Nothing—that was what.

  Except obviously there was, or he wouldn’t be feeling this hollow. This empty. Nor would he be sitting on his stationary bike, breathing in petrol fumes in his underground garage.

  Dare grimaced. From the moment he’d met her Carly Evans had twisted him up and turned him inside out until he hadn’t known which way was up. But not anymore. If she didn’t want him then he didn’t want her either. Only he did...

  He shook his head. He needed to get home. Home to the Smokies. Whenever his father had gone off chasing rainbows Dare had usually spent a couple of days camping amongst the raccoons and bears. Not that he’d ever seen a bear. Much as he’d tried. Sometimes he’d been so hurt he’d wanted to fight one with nothing but his bare hands. During those times he’d felt as if he could have ripped a bear’s head off.

  But why couldn’t he take what she said at face value? He knew the answer: people often said one thing and meant another. His father was a case in point, but there had been others. Other women who had said they loved him, but really they had loved his money and status.

  But how would he know if Carly had told him the truth? The fact was a man could only really ever rely on himself. He knew that.

  He shoved the helmet on his head and kicked the stand up. First he’d go for a ride to clear his head, and then he’d stop off at the hospital before heading to the office. God knew his PA didn’t know what to make of all this time he was having off. Then he’d think about what to do about Carly.

  Right now though, right now he was too humiliated to contemplate it. And why wouldn’t he be? If their situation had been reversed, if she’d discovered a woman’s earring, or say a pair of panties wedged down the side of his sofa he wouldn’t mind if she gave him the third degree. In fact, he’d expect it!

  Not that he’d probably see her all that often. Not once he returned to the States next week. Because all that baloney about loving her? It was called hot sex. Hot sex that had fried his brain and had him building castles in his head, not unlike his father had done with his scams.

  Dare shook his head at his own gullibility. Then he pulled out his phone and punched in her number. When she didn’t answer he gritted his teeth and left a message, ending with instructions to call him.

  Shoving the phone back in his pocket, he roared out of the garage and headed for the hospital.

  Unfortunately his mood hadn’t improved much by the time he pulled up. When he didn’t find a missed call from her it turned a little more grim.

  He barely took any notice of the hospit
al staff and visitors who scrambled to get out of his way as he stalked through the hospital corridors. Then he wondered if she would be waiting for him in Benson’s room, to apologise to him for being so unreasonable.

  That made him smile. If you could call the twist of his lips a smile.

  He paused outside his grandfather’s room, took a breath and pushed open the door.

  Other than his grandfather, reclining in bed watching the TV, the room was empty.

  As soon as he saw him, Benson clicked off the TV.

  ‘Dare.’ The old man’s eyes watered and he brusquely cleared his throat. ‘It’s good to see you.’

  ‘And you,’ Dare said. ‘How are you?’

  ‘As good as can be expected.’

  Dare let out a slow breath ignoring the way his gut felt like it was full of rocks. ‘So what do the doctors say?’

  ‘They don’t know a lot yet,’ Benson said. ‘The biopsy results still have to come through.’

  The conversation moved on to how annoying it was sleeping in a hospital what with the nurses coming in every fifteen minutes to check his vital signs and on to the lunch menu until Dare couldn’t stand it anymore.

  ‘Have you seen Carly today? Is she with my mother?’

  Benson blinked and Dare realised he’d spoken over top of him. ‘Sorry. I just... I need to speak to her.’

  ‘Your mother has gone shopping and Carly stopped by a short time ago, but now she’s gone.’

  ‘I can see that.’ Dare smiled with the patience of Job. ‘But where? And when will she be back? Her cell phone is switched off.’ He said the last as if that explained everything. Really it only explained that she didn’t want to talk to anyone. Or her battery had run flat.

  ‘She’s not coming back,’ Benson said.

  Dare frowned. ‘But she still has a week to work out her contract.’

  ‘Her contract was only until my operation.’

  ‘But surely you’ll need post-op care or whatever they call it?’

  ‘Yes, but Carly is a highly trained doctor. I could hardly be lucky enough to get her to extend her services.’