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.’