Carly would speak but she wasn’t sure she could pry her teeth apart to get words out.
If she wasn’t mistaken this Neolithic fool had just accused her of being his grandfather’s mistress. She wasn’t sure what she thought was worse. The fact that he believed her to have been intimate with a man nearly three times her age, or that he thought her a gold-digger.
Incensed beyond all reason, Carly tried to shove her chair back but found she couldn’t because he had effectively caged her by bracing his arms on either side of her chair, his palms flat on the tabletop.
‘Temper, temper, Red.’ His warm breath feathered across her ear. ‘What will Benson think if he comes back and finds you all riled up?’
‘Hopefully he’ll kick you out!’ She knew she’d said the wrong thing by the way his muscles bunched in his arms. Her earlier analogy with that tree came to mind and she swallowed heavily. But instead of breaking her in half he leaned closer.
‘I wanted to kiss you today, Red.’ She jumped as something gently brushed the side of her face. His nose? ‘Out there on that hot, dusty road.’
Carly struggled to swallow. ‘No,’ she said automatically.
‘Oh, yes.’
Carly jerked sideways as he inhaled her scent but that only pressed her up against the solid mass of his opposite shoulder, giving him access to the line of her neck. He was so close she felt enveloped by his heady, male warmth. ‘And you wanted to kiss me too.’
‘No!’ she denied, pulling herself together. ‘You’re a bigger fool than I first thought if you believe that.’ She gave a short, sharp laugh to reinforce her words.
He sniffed behind her ear. ‘You smell sweet.’
Every part of Carly froze except her pulse, which was racing. Was he about to kiss her? If he was...if he was she would...stop breathing.
‘I’m right is what I am,’ he murmured. ‘I think you’d like me to do it even now with the old man in the next room. Should we give him a show?’
Before she could pick up the water jug and dump its contents over his insolent head the door to the dining room swung open. Dare slowly straightened, picked up the wine bottle, and poured her wine as if that were all he’d been doing all along.
Hot colour swept over Carly’s face and she forced a smile to her lips.
‘So sorry for the interruption,’ Benson said, resuming his seat. ‘That was Beckett.’
‘How is he?’ Carly asked, her voice pitched just a little too high. Really she couldn’t care less about Beckett, but he was a safer topic than the man slowly making his way back to his seat as if nothing had just happened between them.
And nothing had, she reminded herself. He was taunting her, that was all, because he was a rude, callous individual with no manners whatsoever. What she wouldn’t give to wipe that superior smile off his face and tell him she’d rather kiss a snake. Only he was a snake, she thought venomously. It was unfair of him to include her in his bad feelings for his grandfather. Making assumptions about her out of hand.
If she had wanted to bring him down a peg or two earlier, she wanted to even more now. Especially as he sat slouched back in his chair, gazing at her as if he were the king of the world. Well, he wasn’t king of her world, and, oh, how she’d like to wipe that crooked grin from his face. He was enjoying her discomfort, damn him.
But to correct his nefarious assumptions would be to disclose her real reason for being here and she’d assured the Baron that she’d keep his secret for as long as he wanted to. And although she felt sure that Benson would be horrified at the conclusions his grandson had drawn she wasn’t going to bring them up now.
And perhaps it would be better to let the arrogant Dare James labour under his misapprehensions about her.
Let him hang himself with them. The embarrassment he would no doubt feel at being so wrong about her—and his grandfather—would keep a smile on her face for days.
Yes. She let out a slow breath. She was going to enjoy watching this arrogant stranger squirm when he found out that, not only was she not a greedy little gold-digger, but that she was probably more qualified than he was.
University... She raised her wineglass in the air and gave him a small toast. She knew all about university and before she was finished with him he would know that she was a woman to look out for. A woman who was not going to be cowed by a man like him ever again.