‘And Bridget is?’
His eyes lifted to hers over the door of the fridge. ‘Not the mother of my sixteen children,’ he said deadpan. ‘She’s my housekeeper. My elderly housekeeper.’
‘Did I ask?’
‘You didn’t have to. Your face is very expressive.’
God, she hoped not because if it was he’d know...he’d know...
‘You look about as exhausted as I feel,’ he said softly.
Carly stared at him and blinked. So okay, he didn’t have a clue how much she wanted to go into his arms right now. This was a good thing.
‘That bad,’ she said, grimacing.
Dare chuckled. ‘You’re still beautiful, Red. You just look like you flew in an emergency chopper from Cornwall to London about eight hundred hours ago—oh, wait. You did.’
Carly gave him a reluctant smile. ‘So did you.’ And yet he seemed no worse for wear at all. Still gorgeous and powerful and so potently male.
Not even fossicking around in a refrigerator could deter his appeal—if anything it made it worse. Daniel had always put himself above such duties, claiming that his hands were too precious to risk injuring them. And why did she feel the need to constantly compare the two men? It wasn’t as if anything was going to happen between Dare and she.
‘Do you want a shower?’
Carly nearly let out a low moan at the thought. She would love a shower but just the thought of getting naked with Dare in the apartment was enough to send her mind into a flap. Then there was the small issue that she had nothing clean to change into. Which more or less defeated the purpose of having one. ‘I’m good,’ she said stoically.
‘You sure?’ He set a dish on the counter top. ‘I can lend you something of mine to wear if you don’t want to put those clothes back on.’
‘Yours?’
‘I’d offer you something of my mother’s but she’s shorter than you and I had her suitcases delivered to Rothmeyer House last week.’
‘I’m happy to sleep in my clothes.’
‘Whatever you want.’ His expression said she was mad and that was pretty much how she felt. But then he shrugged and went back to the fridge. ‘It’s just that I could have them laundered and ready for you in the morning.’
The fact that he was being so reasonable about the whole thing made her feel silly.
‘And I suppose you have a laundry service that runs twenty-four-seven at your fingertips?’ she quipped.
‘Yeah, as a matter of fact I do.’ He smiled. ‘It’s called Dare-o-mat and it’s through that door back there.’
A laugh escaped Carly’s lips at his unexpected humour and he gave her that grin that set off his dimple.
She couldn’t take a breath as she read the way he looked at her. It was the way he’d looked at her so many times before. Right before he kissed her.
Anticipation coursed through her and then her stomach saved her from doing something she’d later regret by grumbling loudly.
‘Or perhaps you’d like to eat first.’
Carly blinked as if that might clear her head. ‘No, a shower...a shower would be great. Exceptional even.’ At the very least it would give her some space to sort her head out.
‘Follow me.’
He led her back through the main room to a spiral staircase she hadn’t noticed.
She followed him up and when he stopped outside a door she was looking around so much that she nearly ran into him.
Her breath caught. ‘Sorry.’
‘No.’ He cleared his throat. ‘That was my fault.’ He stepped away from her. Opened the door. ‘You can have this room. Bathroom is through the other door. Leave your clothes on the bed and I’ll exchange them for a set of mine.’
Carly gripped her bag tighter. ‘Your clothes will be too big for me.’
His gaze was hooded when it meshed with hers. ‘I’ll find something.’
He gave her a brief nod and then closed the door after him. Carly leant against it and let out a pent-up breath. Coming here had been a bad idea, she thought, closing her eyes; a really bad idea.
* * *
Dare stopped at the end of the hallway and tipped his head back against the wall. Bringing her here was a bad idea, a really bad idea.