The Kincaids: Southern Seduction: Sex, Lies and the Southern Belle

Mr. Parsons shook his head. “Due to attorney/client confidentiality, I’m not at liberty to say.”

The room erupted with heated allegations and threats of legal retaliation from both sides of the table and Lily felt as if the walls were closing in on her. She knew if she didn’t leave, she was going to be physically ill.

“I need … some air,” she said to no one in particular.

Rising to her feet, she stuffed the unopened letter from her father into her purse and blindly ran from the room. She wasn’t certain whether it was the news of her father’s complete betrayal of his legitimate family or the new life growing inside her that caused her to feel sick, but she had to escape the law office.

As she hurried down the hall to the reception area, she wasn’t paying attention and suddenly ran into someone standing as if rooted to the spot. Strong hands immediately came down on her shoulders to keep her from falling and when she looked up, her heart skipped several beats.

Of all the people she could have met up with in the law office, why did she have to run headlong into the owner and CEO of Addison Industries?

Daniel Addison was not only The Kincaid Group’s fiercest business competitor, he was the father of her unborn child. A baby he knew absolutely nothing about.

“Where’s the fire, sweetheart?” Daniel asked as he steadied the woman who, in the past couple of weeks, had treated him as if he had the plague.

“I need … air,” Lily said, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Her unnatural pallor and the desperate look haunting her vibrant blue eyes caused his heart to stall. Yesterday afternoon when he attended Reginald Kincaid’s funeral, he had seen her upset. But this went beyond the grief of losing a loved one. Lily looked as if her whole world was crashing down around her.

“Come on,” he said, placing his arm around her shoulders and leading her toward the office exit.

“My family … I can’t leave,” she gasped.

Stopping at the receptionist’s desk, he quickly told the woman he would call and reschedule his appointment, then instructed her to get word to the Kincaid family that he was taking Lily home. As he led her out the double glass doors and onto the sidewalk, he watched her gulp in the cool January air and knew that she was seconds away from losing her breakfast. Guiding her over to a trash can, he held her long, red hair back while she was sick.

“Please, go away and let me die in peace,” she said when she finally raised her head.

“You’re not going to die, Lily,” he said, gently cupping her chin with one hand while he wiped the tears from her eyes with his handkerchief.

“I’m pretty sure you’re wrong.” She took a deep breath. “Right now I feel like death … would be a blessing.”

“Did you drive your car?” he asked.

“No, I rode … with Momma,” she said, her voice sounding a bit more steady.

He put his arm around her and tucked her to his side as he ushered her toward the parking garage across the street. “Good. I won’t have to send someone back to get it.”

“I can’t leave,” she said, starting to turn back toward the law offices of Parsons, Gilbert and Humbolt.

He held her firmly to his side. “This isn’t negotiable, Lily. You’re upset to the point of making yourself sick.” Opening the passenger door of his diamond-white Mercedes for her, Daniel nodded toward the inside of the car. “Get in. I’m taking you home.”

“You’re being a bully about this,” she said stubbornly.

Daniel shook his head. “No, I’m making an executive decision. Now, will you please get into the car or am I going to have to pick you up and put you there?”

She glared at him. “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me, sweetheart.”

They stared at each other for several seconds in a test of wills before she finally moved to sit down in the leather bucket seat. “Fine. Take me home and then you can be on your way.”

He closed the door and walked around the car to slide into the driver’s seat. “We’ll see about that.”

Considering her emotions at the moment, Daniel wasn’t about to upset her further by telling her that he wasn’t leaving her alone until he was certain she was going to be okay. He might be many things—ruthless in business, arrogant and fierce when he was in competition for a new client and jaded about most things in life—but he wasn’t an uncaring bastard who left an obviously distraught female to fend for herself. Especially when that female was Lily Kincaid.

For reasons he couldn’t explain, he had been drawn to her from the moment he laid eyes on her last fall at the Children’s Hospital Autumn Charity Ball that his mother had helped organize. Young, vivacious and with a zest for life that he found utterly charming, he had introduced himself and asked her to dance, then asked her out to dinner. He hadn’t really expected her to say yes, considering the thirteen-year difference in their ages, but to his delight she had accepted. That had been over three months ago and until the past couple of weeks, they had seen each other almost every night.

When he realized that Lily had fallen asleep, Daniel reached over to cover her delicate hand with his. He hadn’t intended for things to progress between them so quickly, but he couldn’t really say he was sorry they had. She was the most exciting woman he had ever met and the time they spent together had made him feel more alive and less cynical than he had in years. What he couldn’t understand was why out of the clear blue sky, she stopped taking his calls and started making excuses not to go out with him.

As he turned the car into the driveway and drove around the Kincaid family home to the carriage house where Lily had an apartment, Daniel shook his head. He didn’t know what had happened or why she suddenly wanted nothing to do with him, but he had every intention of finding out.

Parking the car, he reached over to trail his fingers along her smooth cheek. “You’re home, sweetheart.”

Her eyes fluttered open and she slowly sat up straight to look around. “Thank you for bringing me home, Daniel. I’m sure you have somewhere else you would rather be.”

Before she had the chance to reach for the handle, he was out of the car and opening the door for her. “Give me your key,” he said as he helped her from the vehicle.

“Really, I’ll be fine.” She shook her head. “You don’t have to see me in.”

“What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn’t see you safely inside?” he asked, smiling.

For the first time since running into her in the law office, she looked him directly in the eye. “Give me a break, Mr. Addison. It’s midmorning and I seriously doubt that there’s a safety issue for you to be concerned with.”

He reached up to trail his index finger along her creamy cheek. “So now it’s Mr. Addison? I thought we were a lot closer than that, sweetheart.”

“I … uh, at one time … I suppose we were,” she said, clearly uncomfortable with his observation.

Daniel had heard about someone looking as if they were a deer caught in headlights, but until that moment he hadn’t seen it for himself. But that was the only way to describe the expression on Lily’s pretty face. She looked trapped and desperate.

The question was, why? What had made her so clearly uncomfortable about being in his presence?

Unfortunately, he was going to have to bide his time until she was feeling a little more in control before he got to the bottom of what was going on with her and why she had ended their affair. The past few days had been a nightmare for her and her family and he wasn’t going to add more stress by interrogating her as to what had changed between them.

Placing his hand at the small of her back, he felt a slight tremor course through her and instinctively knew it had nothing to do with the mild winter weather Charleston was experiencing. Good. At least she hadn’t developed a complete immunity to him.

“I know that all this has been extremely hard on you, Lily,” he said, meaning it. “For my own peace of mind, I want to see that you’re all right before I leave.”

“There’s nothing I can say that’s going to dissuade you, is there?” she asked, sighing heavily.

“No.”

She looked more tired and world-weary than he had ever seen her and he hated that the events of the past several days had suppressed her fun-loving, free spirit. Whether she realized it or not, Lily needed someone to help her get through one of the toughest times in her life and he had every intention of being the one she turned to.

“Why don’t you sit down and put your feet up while I make coffee?” he said when they walked into the living room and he helped her out of her coat.

“No caffeine for me.” Her long wavy hair swayed as she shook her head. “I, um, haven’t been sleeping well.”

“I can understand that.” He nodded as he removed his overcoat, then guided her to the couch. “You’ve been through a lot in the past few days, sweetheart.”