The Kincaids: Southern Seduction. Kathie DeNosky

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СКАЧАТЬ 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 СКАЧАТЬ