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Unfortunately, Daniel was much stronger and the more she pushed, the closer he drew her to him. Suddenly too emotionally exhausted to resist any longer, she rested her head against his broad chest. Just for a moment, she wanted to forget that the past few weeks had happened and pretend that her life was the same as it had always been—carefree and happy.
But the feel of his hard muscles against her cheek, the steady beat of his heart and the solid strength of his arms around her, caused a longing to build inside her that had nothing to do with comfort and support. She had missed this man more than she had thought was possible, and it would be in her best interest to put distance between them.
Looking up into his navy eyes, Lily started to pull away, but just as a night creature often became trapped in the headlights of an oncoming car, she couldn’t seem to look away as he slowly began to lower his head. He was going to kiss her and, for the life of her, she couldn’t remember why she shouldn’t let him. But the sudden rumbling of her stomach reminded both of them that she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast.
Daniel took a deep breath, kissed her forehead and smiled. “It would probably be a good idea if you eat something, sweetheart.”
“I think you’re right,” she said, thankful that hunger had intervened and kept her from doing something she would regret later. The last thing she needed to do was fall under his spell again. Stepping back, she turned to pull out one of the chairs at the table and sat down. “What smells so delicious?”
“When I stopped by Miss Pauline’s Southern Cupboard, I wasn’t sure which you would prefer, baked chicken or roast beef,” he said, seating himself at the head of the table. “So I got both.”
“I’m positively starved,” she said, meaning it. She might have been sick every morning for the past couple of weeks, but every evening, her appetite seemed to return with a vengeance. “I think I’ll have a little of both. I love Miss Pauline’s food.”
“We also have mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, corn fritters and fresh-made corn bread,” he said, reaching for her plate. “And be sure to save room for apple pie.”
“It all sounds heavenly,” she said, watching him fill her plate. “I have some vanilla ice cream in the freezer that would be fantastic with the pie.”
They both fell silent for several minutes as they enjoyed the delicious food. But the longer Daniel watched Lily eat, the more fascinated he became. They’d shared many meals, but he didn’t think he had ever seen her quite so hungry. She was eating like a longshoreman after a full day’s work at the docks of Port Charleston.
“When was the last time you ate?” he asked, watching her put another corn fritter on her plate, then reach for the carton of green beans.
She nibbled on her lower lip a moment as if trying to decide what to say. “I couldn’t stand the thought of breakfast this morning,” she said tentatively. “I only had a few crackers and a cup of tea. Then I slept through lunch and only woke up about an hour before you arrived with dinner.”
He could understand her inability to eat earlier in the day. Knowing that she was going to come face-to-face with her father’s second family for the reading of his will was enough to cause anyone to lose their appetite. And as exhausted as she had been, Daniel wasn’t at all surprised that she had missed lunch. But it appeared she was making up for it now.
“Don’t forget to leave room for the pie and ice cream,” he said, smiling as he watched her enjoy another bite of roast beef.
“I know that the amount of butter Miss Pauline uses when she cooks is probably not the most healthy. But she has the best food in South Carolina.” He watched Lily smile blissfully as a forkful of the buttery mashed potatoes disappeared into her mouth.
“I don’t think it does any harm to eat like this occasionally,” he said, amazed that she still had room for another bite of corn bread. “It’s having food like this every day that isn’t good for you. It clogs arteries and can add several pounds.”
As soon as he said it, Daniel wished he could call the words back. If he had learned nothing else in his disastrous marriage, it was definitely not to mention gaining weight to a woman.
Lily slowly laid her fork on the edge of her plate and gave him a penetrating look. “Do I look as if I’ve gained weight?”
Damn, Addison! Way to stick your foot in your mouth. How are you going to talk your way out of this one? Mentioning weight gain to a woman was the best way in the world to have her hand a man his head on a silver platter.
“I didn’t say you looked like you had gained weight,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “Just that if a person ate this way all the time, they would.”
Instead of tearing into him for mentioning weight at all, as he thought she would, to his surprise Lily smiled as she shrugged one shoulder. “I suppose gaining a little weight isn’t the end of the world.”
It was all Daniel could do to keep his mouth from dropping open. If he had made the same blunder with Charisma, his ex-wife would have made his life a living hell for at least a month and it would have cost him an expensive piece of jewelry or a whole new wardrobe of designer clothes to pay for his sins. Then, every time they had any kind of disagreement, she would have dragged his comment on gaining weight into the fray. But Lily seemed to take it in stride and didn’t act at all concerned about it. Amazing!
Deciding there was no sense in pushing his luck any further, he stood up to carry their plates into the kitchen. “I’ll get the pie and ice cream.”
“I’ll help,” she said, starting to rise from her chair.
Smiling, he shook his head. “Just sit there and relax. You’ve had a rough day and although I’m lost about most things in a kitchen, I’m pretty sure I can handle dipping a scoop of ice cream onto a piece of pie.”
When he returned a couple of minutes later and placed the dessert in front of her, Lily smiled as she picked up her spoon. “For a man who doesn’t know his way around a kitchen, you did pretty well. It looks delicious.”
He chuckled. “I’m afraid this is as far as my culinary skills go. Why do you think I took you out to eat all those times?”
“I really hadn’t thought much about it,” she said, closing her eyes as she savored the combined flavors of vanilla, cinnamon and apple.
As Daniel watched, her expression changed to one of pure pleasure and he couldn’t help but remember the times he had seen a similar look come over her as he made love to her. A spark ignited in his lower belly at the thought of how responsive she had been, how passionate.
He swallowed hard and tried to think of something innocuous. He might have succeeded had it not been for Lily slowly licking a drop of melted ice cream from her lips. The action reminded him of other talents she had with that perfect little tongue and had him shifting to relieve the mounting pressure of his suddenly too-tight trousers.
When had the simple act of eating a piece of pie become so damn erotic?
“Don’t you want yours?” she asked, unaware of his wayward thoughts.
Daniel stared down at the dessert in front of him. Oh, he wanted, all right, but it wasn’t pie that he was craving. It was the memory of her delicious body pressed to his that fueled his hunger and caused his mouth to feel as if it had been stuffed with cotton.
Taking a gulp of his wine, he forced his body to relax. He had no doubt that at any other time, he would find Miss Pauline’s pie quite tasty. At the moment, it might as well have been a piece of rubber on his plate.
“Are you okay?” Lily asked, reaching over to steal a spoonful of his ice cream.
Nodding, he did his best to focus on Lily and her seemingly insatiable appetite. She had finished her pie and ice cream and now it appeared she was starting on his.
“I’m not all that hungry, why don’t we share?” he said, picking up his spoon. He dipped it into the melting ice cream, then held it to her lips.
Her eyes met his as she opened her mouth and he immediately knew he had made a huge error in judgment. In all of his thirty-eight years, he didn’t think he had experienced anything more provocative than having her gaze locked with his as her lips slowly closed around the bite of ice cream. His libido kicked into overdrive, reminding him that it had been the better part of three weeks since they had made love.
“I really hate to cut the evening short,” he said suddenly, making a show of glancing at his watch. “But I just remembered I have to make an overseas call as soon as the Japanese markets open.”
Lily had been on an emotional roller coaster for the past several days, and taking advantage of a woman’s vulnerability to seduce her had never been his style. But if he didn’t get out of there and damn quick, that was exactly what was going to happen.
“Thank you for bringing supper,” she said, placing her napkin on the table beside her plate. “It really was delicious.”
“It looked as if you might have been happy with my choices,” he said dryly.
Confident that he had his body back under control, Daniel rose to his feet, quickly helped Lily clear the table, then walked into the living room to find his coat. “I’ll come by tomorrow to see how you’re doing.”
Lily followed him to the door. “Thank you for your concern, Daniel. I do appreciate it. But it really isn’t necessary. It may take some time, but I’m going to be fine. Really.”
It appeared she was back to giving him the brush-off and that didn’t sit well with him one bit. Turning back, he didn’t think twice about reaching up to run the back of his hand along her smooth cheek. As he searched her upturned face for what she might be thinking, Lily swayed ever so slightly and leaned into his touch. He could tell it wasn’t a conscious action on her part, but it was all the indication he needed that she still desired him. Taking her into his arms, he gathered her to him.
“Daniel, don’t—”
“Hush, sweetheart,” he said, brushing her mouth with his. He intended to remind her of how responsive she had always been to his touch.
Teasing her with feathery kisses, he nibbled at her perfect lips to test her willingness to allow him to continue. When she moaned softly and brought her hands up to his chest to grasp the fabric of his shirt as if to steady herself, elated satisfaction coursed through him. Whatever her reason had been for trying to distance herself from him the past few weeks, it wasn’t because she no longer wanted him.
As difficult as it was, Daniel fought the urge to deepen the kiss. He had proven his point and although he fully intended for them to become lovers once again, he wanted to build her frustration to the degree that she could no longer deny her need for him.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Lily,” he said, untangling her fingers from his shirt to take a step back.
The confusion on her pretty face and the disappointment she couldn’t quite hide caused him to smile and, before she had the chance to find her voice and protest, he opened the door and stepped out into the cool January night. His body throbbed with longing and Daniel knew as surely as he knew his own name, he was in for a miserable, sleepless night. But in the long run, it was going to be well worth whatever hell he had to go through to have Lily back in his life and in his bed.
He just hoped he didn’t go completely insane before that happened.
Staring at the closed door, Lily couldn’t believe the myriad of emotions roiling inside her. She had wanted Daniel to actually kiss her, not just tease her to the point of utter frustration. But that was exactly what had happened and her disappointment that he hadn’t kissed her senseless led to a deep annoyance with herself for wishing that he had.
She shook her head as she turned to walk into the kitchen to load the dishwasher. She couldn’t believe how easy it would have been for her to throw common sense out the window and lose herself in Daniel’s arms. Thank heavens he had backed off and hadn’t taken things any further. She wouldn’t have been able to resist him and that was something she had to do at all costs. Calling a halt to their seeing each other had been one of the hardest things she had ever done, but it was the only way to ensure she didn’t suffer more hurt when he found out about the baby and walked away. They wanted different things in life, and it was best to stop now before she lost her heart completely.
But that didn’t explain why she had failed to let him know about the baby when he noticed her voracious appetite. It had been the perfect opportunity to explain why she ate more than usual and that she fully expected to gain weight as her pregnancy progressed.
Her pregnancy hormones had to be responsible for her mixed emotions as well as her reluctance to let him know he was going to be a father. Either that or it was the dread of telling him and knowing for certain that his interest in her would come to a swift and permanent end.
Sighing, Lily started the dishwasher and wandered into the living room. She supposed she should work on the new children’s book she had been commissioned to illustrate. But when the family had been informed that her father had died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at his TKG office, she had put work on hold and hadn’t been able to concentrate on it since.
She still couldn’t believe all that had happened over the past several days—especially what had taken place during the reading of her father’s will just that morning. But as she thought about her father’s betrayal of his legitimate family, she remembered the letters Mr. Parsons had given to them. She had forgotten about them after running into Daniel at the law office.
Lily stared at her purse, which was lying on the end table, and her hand shook when she finally worked up the courage to reach for it. She wasn’t at all certain she was prepared to read her father’s last thoughts to her. But then, she didn’t think she would ever be ready for what was probably his final goodbye.
For several long moments after retrieving the envelope from her bag, she simply sat there holding it while she stared at her name in her father’s handwriting on the front. Given all that she had learned about him in the past several days, could she even believe what he had to say to her?
Finally, she decided that whether she believed what he had written or not, the only way to know would be to open the envelope. Taking a deep breath, she turned it over and, using her fingernail, lifted the sealed flap. When she pulled out the letter and unfolded it, her breath caught on a sob when she noticed the date. It was only a few days before he died.
My dearest Lily,
One of the greatest joys in my life has always been that you thought of me as your knight in shining armor. Whether it was chasing away the monsters from your closet when you were three, kissing a skinned elbow to make the hurt go away when you were eight or listening to your hopes and dreams as you got ready to go off to college, every second of the time we spent together has been very special and I never wanted you to see me as anything but your hero. Unfortunately, Lily-girl, I’m just a man with a man’s faults.
By now you’ve discovered that your dear old dad had feet of clay and wasn’t quite the champion you thought me to be. I never meant to disappoint you and I hope one day you can find it in your heart to forgive me for my weaknesses. No matter what you hear about me and my transgressions, please know that the bond between us was not only real, but very precious to me.
One of the many things that you and I shared together was a love of the historic district of Charleston. That’s why I’m leaving you the Colonel Samuel Beauchamp House in the Battery. It’s one of the city’s finest examples of Southern architecture and I know from the Saturday afternoons we spent in White Point Gardens when you were a child that it’s your favorite. You may meet with a bit of resistance from the former owner, Charlotte Addison, but stand your ground, Lily. You’re a strong, capable young woman and whatever decision you make concerning the property, I know it will be the right one for you.
I love you, Lily, and I have no doubt that without me you’ll find the strength to weather whatever challenges life brings your way. From the moment you were born, you have been my little princess—the ray of sunshine that brightened my life and I feel very blessed that you are my daughter.
With love,
Daddy
Tears streamed down Lily’s face as she slowly folded the letter and returned it to the envelope. Deep down she had known that the closeness between her and her father couldn’t have been a lie, but the hurt and disillusionment of the past few days had overshadowed their relationship and caused her to question what she knew in her heart to be true. No matter what he had done, her father had loved her.
Unfortunately, it was going to take her some time to get past his handing over controlling interest in TKG to Jack Sinclair, while more or less cutting his legitimate children out of the picture. Lily sighed heavily. Then there was his betrayal of her mother, even though Elizabeth Kincaid didn’t seem to be nearly as upset about the disturbing revelations as Lily would have thought.
“What were you thinking, Daddy?” she murmured aloud.
As she sat there wondering what her father could have possibly thought to accomplish by what she could only describe as inexcusable choices, something she had read in the letter caused her to catch her breath.
Quickly removing the letter from the envelope, she reread what her father had left her and the name of the Beauchamp mansion’s former owner—Daniel’s unpleasant, ill-tempered mother. Dear heavens, what had he gotten her into?
Three
After a miserable couple of hours waiting for her morning sickness to subside, Lily sat with her elbow propped on her art table, her chin cupped in her palm. She wasn’t accomplishing anything by staring off into space, but she couldn’t seem to settle down to work. All she had been able to think about since reading her father’s letter the night before was what she was going to do with the Beauchamp property.
She had never been inside the structure, but from the outside the beautiful four-story antebellum mansion had always captured her eye. With three levels of piazzas overlooking White Point Gardens and Charleston Harbor beyond, she was almost certain that the Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse and Fort Sumter could be seen in the distance.
She smiled wistfully. As a child, whenever she had passed by the stately double house, she had imagined how wonderful it would be to stand in the cupola on top of the tall roof and pretend to be a princess, surveying her kingdom below. And now the home she had thought to be as grand as any castle was actually hers.
What on earth was she going to do with it? It was such a big house and she didn’t need all that space. Of course, when the baby came there would be the two of them, but it was still going to be much more room than they would need.
As she pondered what to do with the mansion, she was reminded of her father’s warning. What had he meant when he told her that she would meet with opposition from Charlotte Addison? What was that all about?
Deciding she wasn’t getting anything done anyway, Lily left her art table and walked over to the laptop on her desk. With everything being accessible online these days, she should be able to find out some of the mansion’s history and the connection that Daniel’s mother had with the place. A few of the homes in the Battery had been passed from one generation to the next, never being occupied by anyone outside of the family who built them. A sense of dread began to settle in the pit of Lily’s stomach.
Her suspicions were confirmed when the first link she clicked on was a twenty-year-old article on homes in the Battery. According to the reporter from the Post and Courier, Charleston’s newspaper, the mansion had been in Colonel Samuel Beauchamp’s family since it was built in the late 1700s. It went on to read that the home had been passed down to his descendants and, at the time the article was written, belonged to Mrs. Charlotte Beauchamp-Addison, who anticipated keeping it in the family when she eventually passed it on to her son, Daniel.
A chill traveled the length of Lily’s spine. No wonder Charlotte Addison had treated her so poorly when she had shown up with Daniel at the dinner party. She obviously resented the fact that Reginald Kincaid, one of the nouveau riche, as the woman had called him, had purchased her ancestral home. Lily had been condemned simply because she was his daughter. If the mansion had meant so much to her, what could have possibly caused Charlotte to sell it to him?
Lily suddenly caught her breath. Did Daniel know about all this? Was he aware that her father had bought the home he was supposed to own one day and could that be the reason he had become interested in her to begin with? Had he hoped to somehow use his association with her to get the Beauchamp mansion back into his family?
Frowning, she nibbled on her lower lip. She didn’t think that was the case. He had told her on more than one occasion that he loved the new condo he’d bought after his divorce. It was close to the Addison Industries office building and within walking distance of Charleston’s French Quarter.
Trying to unravel her tangled thoughts, Lily jumped when the phone rang. “Hello Matt,” she said, recognizing her brother’s office number on the caller ID.
“Lily, could you do me a favor and watch Flynn one night a week for the next several weeks?” Her brother sounded rushed and she could only imagine the tremendous amount of stress he was under after hearing that Jack Sinclair was going to be in control of The Kincaid Group.
“Of course,” she said, smiling. “You know how much I love my nephew.”
“Great. RJ and I are going to be working late for who knows how long and I’m trying to line up babysitters,” Matt explained.
“What nights do you need me?” Lily asked. She loved spending time with Flynn and found that playing with him had inspired some of her best illustrations.
“Are you free Thursday evenings?” he asked. “Laurel is watching him Mondays and Kara has Tuesdays and Wednesdays covered.”
“That’s fine. What about the weekends?”
“He’s going to spend Friday nights and all day on Saturdays with Mom.” Lily heard him shuffle papers and realized Matt was trying to work and arrange child care at the same time. “I’ve already told RJ that Jack Sinclair can wait on the reports he wants until hell freezes over if need be, but Sundays are mine with Flynn and I’m not going to give that up for Sinclair or anyone else.”
“Good for you,” Lily said, meaning it. “Is there anything else I can do to help?”
She heard her brother sigh heavily. “Not unless you can figure out a way to add several more hours to the day.”
“Sorry, Matt, but I don’t think anyone has figured out how to do that just yet. What time do you need me on Thursday evenings?” When he named a time, she added, “Please take care of yourself. Whatever is going to happen, it’s not worth sacrificing your health.”
“Thanks, sis,” he said, sounding tired. “I’ll try to keep that in mind.”
After ending the call, Lily started to return to her worktable to try to get something done, when the phone rang again.
“Good afternoon, sweetheart,” Daniel said cheerfully. “I’m about five minutes away. Would you like to start setting the table for lunch?”
“Daniel, I’m not sure—”
“Have you eaten yet?”
