Defying the Billionaire's Command

Dare’s frown deepened. He needed to talk to Benson himself and the sooner, the better.

‘Dare, where are you going?’

‘To see Benson.’

His mother sighed. ‘Dare, be nice.’

He smiled at her. ‘I’m always nice, Ma, you know that.’

* * *

After searching the downstairs area, Dare found his grandfather in his room with the lovely Dr Evans hovering over him.

‘Dare.’ The old man said his name with a touch of asperity. ‘I’m glad you stopped by.’

He had known he would, Dare thought cynically, guessing by Carly’s taut features that she had no doubt warned him that Dare would be on the warpath. Had she also shared anything else? Like those passionate kisses that had temporarily fried his brain?

Unbidden, his eyes shifted to the king-size bed that was—thankfully—without a wrinkle on it.

‘We need to talk.’

‘Yes,’ Benson agreed.

Carly bent close to the old man’s ear and murmured something that made him shake his head. A wave of possessiveness surged through Dare and he clenched his fists at his sides.

‘It’s not polite to whisper in front of others, Red,’ he said. ‘Didn’t your mother ever teach you that?’

A blush rose up beneath the surface of her skin and all Dare could think about was heat. Hot, she’d been hotter than the surface of the sun and sweeter than sugar.

‘I wasn’t whispering.’

Benson touched the back of her hand reassuringly. ‘I’ll be all right.’

She clearly disbelieved that; her eyes chilled as they met Dare’s.

‘I’ll see you later,’ she murmured to Benson in a voice that, to Dare’s ears, promised untold delights.

Benson watched appreciatively as she walked through the adjoining bedroom door before closing it behind her.

‘Beautiful, isn’t she?’

Dare didn’t blink. ‘Are you sleeping with her?’

‘Direct, as usual,’ Benson said dryly. ‘I had heard that about you.’

Dare’s patience was legendary. Right now it was also non-existent. ‘In the States we appreciate directness. So much more effective than kissing someone’s butt while waiting to get to the real issue. So, are you?’

Benson sighed. ‘Carly is a lovely young woman but you give me far more credit than I deserve. And her far less.’

Dare’s jaw clenched. ‘A simple yes or no will suffice.’

‘No, of course I’m not.’

Dare didn’t think he’d felt this sense of relief when the first dot-com company he’d invested all his teenage savings in had been valued as a unicorn in its first year on the markets.

He swiped a hand through his hair. ‘So how long do you have left?’ Because if Benson wasn’t sleeping with Carly Evans then he’d been right all along and the old guy was sick.

To his credit, his grandfather didn’t pretend to misinterpret him. ‘I don’t know. I have a brain tumour they’re hoping will shrink before they operate.’

A brain tumour? Hell. He almost felt guilty at his earlier cynicism that the old man was dying.

‘And Carly is your oncologist?’

‘No, Carly works for an agency I hired because apparently I need twenty-four-hour monitoring due to my diabetes. It’s not a combination I recommend,’ he said with a flair of black humour.

Dare frowned. ‘Why haven’t you given my mother this information?’ Because he was pretty sure she would have mentioned it if he had.

‘It’s not public knowledge yet, and I wish for Rachel to want to spend time with me because she wants to, not because I’m gravely ill.’

‘You want her forgiveness, you mean.’

‘Yes, I want her forgiveness. I behaved badly all those years ago and I’m man enough to admit it.’

‘You’ve had long enough to think about it.’

Benson acknowledged the comment with a rueful grimace. ‘You don’t pull your punches, do you?’

Dare had lived with a man who used manipulation as a hobby. He wasn’t into games as an adult unless they were inside the bedroom and even then they had to be of the pleasurable variety.

‘Here’s the thing, old man—my mother suffered for years with my father and then for years working three jobs to give me the best start in life. At any time you could have thrown her a bone but you didn’t. That makes you unforgivable in my book.’