‘And you,’ Dare said. ‘How are you?’
‘As good as can be expected.’
Dare let out a slow breath ignoring the way his gut felt like it was full of rocks. ‘So what do the doctors say?’
‘They don’t know a lot yet,’ Benson said. ‘The biopsy results still have to come through.’
The conversation moved on to how annoying it was sleeping in a hospital what with the nurses coming in every fifteen minutes to check his vital signs and on to the lunch menu until Dare couldn’t stand it anymore.
‘Have you seen Carly today? Is she with my mother?’
Benson blinked and Dare realised he’d spoken over top of him. ‘Sorry. I just... I need to speak to her.’
‘Your mother has gone shopping and Carly stopped by a short time ago, but now she’s gone.’
‘I can see that.’ Dare smiled with the patience of Job. ‘But where? And when will she be back? Her cell phone is switched off.’ He said the last as if that explained everything. Really it only explained that she didn’t want to talk to anyone. Or her battery had run flat.
‘She’s not coming back,’ Benson said.
Dare frowned. ‘But she still has a week to work out her contract.’
‘Her contract was only until my operation.’
‘But surely you’ll need post-op care or whatever they call it?’
‘Yes, but Carly is a highly trained doctor. I could hardly be lucky enough to get her to extend her services.’
‘So that’s it? You’ll never see her again.’
‘I hope not. She’s a lovely young woman. I’ve grown fond of her.’
Dare frowned. ‘How fond?’
Benson’s eyebrows shot up. ‘What do you mean?’
Dare shook his head. He no longer cared if his grandfather had tried to implement some Machiavellian plan to set him up with Carly. ‘Never mind,’ Dare said, irritated with himself. ‘You were about to say something.’
‘Only that I believe Carly already has a new job to go to. And speaking of work issues, I’ve been meaning to ask your advice about how to handle the whole Beckett situation.’
‘I’ve got my PR people working with yours,’ Dare said distractedly. ‘Did you know that Beckett gave Carly a necklace?’
‘What? Another one?’
Dare turned back to find his grandfather frowning. ‘How many did he give her?’
‘I know he gave her one with a large ruby in it.’
‘That’s the one I’m talking about.’
Benson shook his head. ‘That boy doesn’t know the value of money. What fool gives a woman a precious necklace to try and entice her to go out with him?’
Dare swallowed. ‘So she never went out with him?’
Benson laughed. ‘Of course not.’
Heart beating too fast, Dare saw his life flash before his eyes. ‘Many women would consider it a sizable inducement.’ But even as the words left his mouth he knew that Carly wasn’t one of them.
‘Not a woman like Carly.’
No, Dare thought, shoving his shaking hands into his pockets, not a woman like Carly.
He’d been wrong. Again.
And suddenly his smug message replayed in his head. He was a bigger fool than he’d given himself credit for. A stupid, hard-headed fool.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. If she hadn’t hated him before, she no doubt would after listening to that.
‘Dare, are you quite all right?’
Dare nearly choked on his own stupidity, and knew he had no one to blame for his mistrust but himself. Beckett might have infected him with his venomous words, but Dare had made it easy for him, hadn’t he? Because, as much as he’d tried to deny it, he hadn’t trusted her; she’d been right about that. What she didn’t know was that he didn’t trust anyone.
‘Dare, you’ve gone very pale.’
Dare stared at his grandfather without really seeing him. Being pale was the least of his concerns. How he was going to win back the only woman he had ever loved was much more important.
‘I’m in love with Carly.’
Benson beamed. ‘That’s fantastic.’
‘No, it’s not,’ Dare said tonelessly. ‘I stuffed up.’