The Kincaids: Southern Seduction

Although Daniel hated the snobbery and pretentiousness of it all, it was the social order he had been born into and knew exactly how it worked. He had seen many of the old Southern families swallow their pride and encourage their sons or daughters to marry one of the nouveau riche. If they didn’t, their lack of means effectively ostracized them from the wealthy social community.

“So it was advantageous for both families when your mother and father got married,” he said, nodding. “Your dad’s parents went up several notches on the social register and your mother’s family gained someone to help them financially, as well as prop up their position in high society.”

“I think that sums it up perfectly,” Lily agreed.

“How did your dad and Angela get back together?” Daniel asked, wondering how Reginald had managed to find the woman after all those years when he hadn’t been able to before. “And what about her husband? Where does he figure into the equation?”

“Apparently, her parents gave her a choice of marrying Richard Sinclair or giving up her child.” Lily shook her head. “Given no other choice, I would have done the same thing and married a man I didn’t love to keep my baby.”

Daniel frowned. “What about Sinclair? What happened to him?”

“After they married and moved out of state, Angela gave birth to Jack and then several years later, she and Richard Sinclair had a son they named Alan.” She shrugged one slender shoulder. “I’m not sure if it was an accident or if he became ill, but Richard died not long after that.”

“So he’s out of the picture and your dad finds Angela again,” Daniel thought aloud.

Lily sighed heavily. “I don’t know how he did it, but when he found her and discovered that she had given birth to his son, Daddy set up her and the two boys in a house in Greenville. Apparently she had been struggling to make ends meet on her nurse’s salary and life got a lot easier for them when Daddy came on the scene. After that, he starting going on frequent business trips, which were actually visits to spend time with her and her sons.”

Daniel shook his head as he tried to digest the story. “And you found this out yesterday at the funeral?”

A tear slid down her cheek and she bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling a moment before she answered. “Y-yes. But what we learned this morning at the reading of the will just compounded the hurt and betrayal we were feeling about his second family.”

“What’s that, sweetheart?” He couldn’t imagine how the situation could get more complicated.

“Daddy left the majority of The Kincaid Group to Jack Sinclair, while my siblings and I were each given nine percent interest,” she said swiping another tear from her cheek. “My father led RJ and Matthew to believe they would be running TKG one day. How could he betray Momma this way? And, for that matter, how could he betray all of us?”

Daniel didn’t hesitate to stand up, walk over to her and take Lily into his arms. He knew how crushing the loss of her father had to have been for her, but finding out that he had led a secret life for so many years, then handed control of his business to someone the family hadn’t even been aware existed had to increase the emotional pain ten times over. Pulling her against him, he held her as he tried to lend her his strength and support.

His compassion seemed to open the floodgates and he tightened his embrace as she sobbed against his chest. He didn’t like seeing a woman cry. It always made him uncomfortable and at a loss as to what he should do. Lily’s tears made him feel more useless than ever. He wanted to help, wanted to make the hurt she was suffering go away.

Unfortunately, only the passage of time could heal the pain and anguish of losing a loved one. He knew that firsthand from losing his own father to a heart attack fifteen years ago. But the disillusionment she was feeling over her father’s indisputable betrayal might never go away.

“I’m okay now,” she finally said, pulling from his arms.

“Are you sure?” he asked, reluctant to let her go. Although he hated what she was going through, he liked having Lily in his arms.

Nodding, she walked over to the couch, then curled up in the corner of it. “Thank you for bringing me home, Daniel. But I’m really tired. Could you please lock the door as you let yourself out?”

He had been dismissed and it didn’t sit any better this time than it had for the past couple of weeks. But he knew she was completely exhausted from lack of sleep and the emotional turmoil she had been going through. Now wasn’t the time to get into why she suddenly had no time for him.

“I’ll be back this evening to check on you,” he said, reaching for his overcoat.

“I appreciate your concern, but I’ll be okay,” she said, hiding a yawn behind her delicate hand. She snuggled down to lay her head on a plush pillow. “There’s no need for you to go to the trouble of stopping by later. Really, I’ll be fine.”

Shrugging into his coat, he shook his head as he started toward the door. “It’s not a problem. I’ll pick something up for dinner and see you around six.”

He expected her to protest, but when he turned around, Daniel discovered that Lily’s eyes were closed and she was sound asleep. Good, he thought as he walked over to the couch to remove a colorful crocheted afghan from the back, then covered her with it. At least she couldn’t tell him not to bother.

“Get some rest, sweetheart,” he said quietly as he leaned down to kiss her forehead. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”

She murmured what sounded like his name, but she didn’t wake up to protest his returning and, as far as he was concerned, that was as good as her consent.

As he let himself out the front door and walked to his car, Daniel knew he was taking advantage of the situation. Lily had made it perfectly clear that she wanted nothing more to do with him and up until this morning, he had respected her wishes and backed off. But for some reason, he couldn’t let it go, couldn’t walk away without an explanation of why she’d had a change of heart about their affair.

Opening the driver’s door and sliding in behind the steering wheel, he sat and stared at the carriage house for several long minutes. Considering his feelings on love and relationships, he was mystified why it even mattered. Maybe it was the fact that Lily had broken things off between them without telling him why and he was allowing curiosity to get the better of him. Or more likely, it was his stubborn pride that wouldn’t allow him to drop the matter without making her tell him what had caused her to stop seeing him.

Whatever the reason, he was going to help Lily weather the emotional storm of losing her father and the family scandal that was about to erupt. Then he fully intended to get his answers from her and move on.

Two

After waking up to find Daniel had done as she asked and left her alone, Lily frowned at her feelings of disappointment. “Get a grip on yourself,” she muttered as she pushed the afghan aside and sat up.

Daniel Addison was all wrong for her and the sooner she came to terms with that fact, the better off she would be. She had known when they first started seeing each other that it would end one day. It had to. They were exact opposites and wanted entirely different things out of life.

She wanted love, marriage and babies. But after going through a bitter divorce from his wife, Charisma, several years ago, those were the last things Daniel wanted. All he cared about were short-term affairs devoid of deep emotions, commitment and children. And if Lily hadn’t known that from the gossip she had heard at some of the social functions around Charleston, she had certainly found out when his mother took great pleasure in telling her.

A shiver slithered down Lily’s spine when she thought of how poorly she had been treated at the dinner party she and Daniel attended at Addison House, just before Christmas. His mother was, without a shadow of a doubt, the coldest, most unpleasant woman Lily had ever had the misfortune to meet. The woman had even gone so far as to accuse Lily of trying to elevate her social standing by being associated with Daniel—implying that because her father’s fortune didn’t go back several generations, Lily wasn’t worthy of circulating among those considered to come from “old money.”

She shuddered at the thought of ever being near the woman again. But more upsetting was that Charlotte Addison was the paternal grandmother of Lily’s child.

Lily nibbled on her lower lip as she tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach. She was having Daniel’s baby and at some point she was going to have to tell him. But how? How was she going to break the news to a man who had no interest in ever having a child of his own that whether he wanted to or not, he was going to be a daddy? And considering his feelings about children, would he try to get her to end the pregnancy?

She placed a protective hand over her still flat stomach. She truly didn’t think he would ask that of her, but it wouldn’t matter if he did. This baby was hers and she loved it with all of her heart.

Rising to her feet, she wandered into her studio and glanced at the drawings for the latest children’s book she was illustrating. Children were so very important to her and she couldn’t imagine anyone not wanting to have a child to enrich their life.

She released a shuddering breath. It would just be his loss, she thought sadly. Whether he wanted anything to do with the baby or not, it was only right to let him know about her pregnancy, and as soon as she found a good time, she fully intended to do just that.

As she stood there pondering how to go about telling him that he had fathered a child, the phone rang. When she answered, she wasn’t at all surprised to hear her oldest sister’s concerned voice.

“Are you all right, Lily?” Laurel asked.

“I’m fine now,” Lily said, smiling.

She loved her family and the closeness they shared. But she hadn’t told them about her pregnancy and she wasn’t sure how to broach the subject. It was a given they would be supportive, but they were all busy with their own lives and she hated to add her problems to theirs. As public relations director for The Kincaid Group, Laurel was going to have to handle the media frenzy the scandal was sure to cause, as well as get ready for her upcoming wedding. Thankfully, their sister Kara was using her skills as a wedding and party planner to pull it all together for Laurel, but at the same time she was booked up with jobs for her thriving business, Prestige Events.

Lily could always turn to her brothers for advice, but they were no less busy than her sisters. Until today, RJ had his hands full being interim CEO of The Kincaid Group since their father’s death, but she suspected he would soon be turning his attention to a legal battle as he tried to regain control of the business now that Jack Sinclair held the majority of the shares. That left Matt. Poor Matt was so busy trying to juggle his job as director of New Business at TKG and being a single father, that he didn’t have time for himself, let alone to give her advice on how she should handle this new twist in her life.

“You left so quickly this morning, I wanted to make sure that you’re feeling better,” Laurel went on.

“I just needed some air,” Lily said, sorry for the worry she had caused her sibling. “I still can’t believe that Daddy left the biggest part of the company to that awful man.”

“I know,” Laurel agreed, sounding as disillusioned as Lily. “We’re looking into finding who owns the missing ten percent. If we can get whoever it is to vote with us, then as a whole, we’ll have controlling interest in TKG. And at this point, that’s imperative. After you left, Jack smugly told RJ and Matt that he expected a full report of assets, expenses, projected growth and a comprehensive customer list for TKG by the end of the month.”

“What is he going to do with it?” Lily asked, alarmed. Did he intend to sell his shares back to the Kincaids at a ridiculously high price? Or was he planning to split the company and sell it off piece by piece?

“At this point, it’s anyone’s guess what he’ll do with the information.” Laurel’s sigh echoed in Lily’s ear. “But RJ and Matt are going to be busy working practically around the clock to get things together.”

“I can only imagine how frustrated and angry RJ feels about all this.” RJ was not the type of man to put up with Jack Sinclair’s arrogance any longer than it took him to find a way to defeat him.

“RJ doesn’t have a choice,” Laurel said. “But I don’t want you to worry about any of this, Lily. RJ and Matt will figure it out and if there’s a way for us to regain control of TKG, they’ll find it.”

“Asking me not to worry is like asking me to make the sun rise in the west tomorrow morning. But I do promise I’ll try.” A knock on the front door had her walking out of her studio. “I have to go, Laurel. Someone’s at the door. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Love you.”

“Love you, too,” Laurel said, ending the conversation.

Lily put the cordless unit on the charger, then continued to the door. It was probably one of her other siblings dropping by to check on her. After the way she’d fled Mr. Parsons’s office this morning, she really wasn’t surprised. Since she was the youngest in the family, her brothers and sisters had always watched out for her and she loved them all the more for it.

But when she opened the door, she found Daniel standing on the other side with a large paper bag in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. “I was beginning to think you might still be napping,” he said as he brushed past her and walked toward the dining area at the opposite end of the room.

“What are you doing here, Daniel?” she asked, closing the door to follow him.

Looking over his shoulder, he gave her an indulgent smile. “Don’t you remember? I told you I would be back with dinner around six.”

She frowned. “I remember telling you that you didn’t need to bother stopping by, but I don’t recall anything about you bringing dinner.”

“You might have fallen asleep by that time,” he said, pulling cartons of delicious-smelling food from the paper bag to place them on the table.

“Might have?” She shook her head. “It’s more likely that you purposely waited until I had gone to sleep to mention bringing dinner.”

He shrugged as he removed his coat, then walked over to lay it on the back of one of the armchairs. “Either way, I did mention it.” He returned to the table and picked up the bottle of wine. “Besides, you have to eat and I didn’t think you would feel like making something for yourself.”

Even though the food he had brought smelled heavenly and she was ravenous, she wasn’t willing to give in so easily. “I might have plans,” she said stubbornly.

“But you don’t.” He gave her a smile that caused her to feel warm all over. “Now, why don’t we sit down and enjoy this before it gets cold?”

If there was one thing about Daniel Addison that she had learned in the past several months, it was that he never lacked confidence. She only wished she could say the same for herself, especially now that she was going to have to find a way to tell him about her pregnancy.

When he reached for two wineglasses on top of her small liquor cabinet, she shook her head. “I’m going to have a glass of milk.”

He nodded as he removed the corkscrew from the cabinet drawer and popped the cork on the wine bottle. “Considering how sick you were this morning, that’s probably a good idea.”

She didn’t comment as she walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. It would probably be best if he was sitting down when she told him the reason behind her illness this morning and why she wasn’t drinking wine with her meal.

When she returned to the dining area, she wasn’t surprised that he had gotten plates from the china cabinet and was setting their places at the table. He was a man who took charge and was hands on when he saw something that had to be done. A tiny tingle coursed through her when she remembered his hands on her and the magic he created whenever he …

“Lily, are you all right?” he asked, bringing her back to the present.

“Um … of course, why do you ask?” She had to stop thinking about what they had shared in the past because there was absolutely no future in it.

A shadow of concern clouded his dark blue eyes. “You’re not acting like yourself, sweetheart. You seem distracted by something.”

The endearment Daniel always used made her long to go back a few months to when they first began seeing each other and everything was much simpler. His mother hadn’t said those mean things to her and she hadn’t known that her beloved father had been leading a double life since before she was born.

“I was just thinking about how everything was before Christmas.” She shook her head as the gravity of all that had happened settled across her shoulders. “We had no way of knowing that it would be our last holiday with Daddy or that we would start out the new year with his funeral and a family scandal that will undoubtedly be talked about for years to come.”

When Daniel took her glass of milk from her to set it on the table, then reached out to wrap his arms around her, Lily placed her hands on his broad chest to push away from him. Her whole world had changed in ways she could have never imagined and it was almost more than she could take in. But she couldn’t allow herself to be drawn back under his spell.

“Please, Daniel,” she said, trying to hold herself away from him.

“Hush, sweetheart,” he whispered. “You need someone to lean on right now.”

“Not literally,” she said, unwilling to give up so easily.

His deep chuckle sent a shiver straight through her. “I think literal has its merits.”

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?”