He made a victorious groan in the back of his throat but she didn’t care because his tongue was in her mouth, his lips claiming hers with long practised strokes that had her melting against him.
She’d simply never been kissed like this before. Never been kissed with such skill and mastery, never felt a man’s lips consume hers with such deep hungry pulls at her flesh, and she was powerless to do anything but give into him, her body arching closer to his to ease the ache that had risen up inside her. Nothing else mattered but assuaging that ache and she clung to his shoulders, her fingers tangling in the overlong hair at the nape of his neck. It was thicker than hers, slightly curly, but she couldn’t really take it in with his mouth devouring hers so intensely.
His hands moulded her torso, running over her back and then finally cupping her bottom and lifting her into him.
His hungry groan reverberated throughout every cell in her body and his sinful mouth took everything she had to offer and demanded more. And Carly gave it without thinking, her legs giving out completely.
Dare held her tighter, his mouth forcing her head back on her shoulders, his hand rising to cup her breast, searching out the tip. Carly strained against him. Strained for the pleasure of that first contact...
With a feral sound Dare wrenched his mouth from hers and thrust her away from him, his breathing hard and fast. He stared at her as if what had just happened were her fault.
‘No,’ he scorned with a shaky laugh. ‘Just no.’
Almost savagely he swung away from her and stormed inside the French doors, thankfully leaving her to pull herself together without him watching.
When she finally caught her breath, Carly didn’t know who she was most angry with. Dare for grabbing her and kissing her or her for responding.
Flustered and furious, she stormed off towards the kitchen to speak with Mrs Carlisle about the lunch menu. She had a job to do, she reminded herself, and standing around arguing and kissing Dare James wouldn’t get it done.
CHAPTER FOUR
‘NO, NINA, DON’T worry about forwarding the investor profiles to my handheld, have them delivered to my apartment. I’ll be back in London by...’ Dare checked his watch. If he left straight after lunch he should make it back by... ‘Six, six-thirty.’ If he opened up the throttle maybe even five.
Shoving his phone back in his pocket, Dare leaned against the balcony railing and took in the view. Green lawns for as far as the eye could see bordered by manicured hedges and a glassy pond set close to the house. A healthy woodland stretched out beyond the house and behind that a church spire pierced the clear blue sky. No, Benson wasn’t doing it tough, he thought cynically.
Unfortunately Dare had needed to tend to some issues at his office all morning so he hadn’t had a chance to corner Benson before his mother had arrived.
Then it had been too late. She’d been enveloped back into her home almost as if she had never left. But she had left, or rather she was forced to leave, and Dare sometimes wondered why she had put up with his father for so many years once it became clear that he wasn’t the man she had thought him to be.
Love, he supposed, with a twist to his lips. It didn’t always come with hearts and flowers. Sometimes it came with pain and desertion over and over and over.
And to think his mother had come from this genteel society; it was difficult for him to grapple with when he thought about how hard his mother had had it over the years. His pride in her grew even more when he thought about how easily she could have sold herself out and returned to the lap of luxury. But she wasn’t that kind of person. She hadn’t had it easy just because she could.
His gut clenched.
There was no way the delectable Carly Evans would be duping his mother out of her inheritance if she decided she wanted it. And he hoped she realised by now that he was not a man to cross.
Of course, if his mother did decide she wanted nothing more to do with Rothmeyer House then the little gold-digger could have it and good luck to her. He supposed in her own way she was earning her money and he could hardly blame his grandfather for wanting to keep her. Hell, after that kiss this morning—
Dare stopped his thoughts dead in their tracks.