“I’ve missed you, sweetheart,” he said, easing away from the kiss. “I’ve missed holding you like this.”
“Me, too.”
Lily could have denied that she had missed him, but what was the point? Her response to him had been every bit as eager as it had always been and there was no sense in her lying to either one of them.
“What happened, Lily?” he whispered close to her ear. “Why did you stop seeing me?”
“Please, not now,” she begged, not wanting reality to intrude. She kissed the exposed skin at his open collar. “Could we please leave this for another time?”
Just when she thought he was going to press the issue, he leaned back and, staring down into her eyes for several long moments, finally nodded. “It can wait for now.” He gave her a smile that made her feel warm all over. “Why don’t we check out the carriage house, then lock up and go back to your place.”
“It sounds like we have a plan, Mr. Addison,” she agreed. “You can drop me off and then go home.”
He gave her an exasperated look, but didn’t comment.
She knew he was confused by her insistence that she wanted to be left alone, then her allowing him to hold her, kiss her. But she was doing her best to distance herself from him and if he wasn’t such a source of temptation for her, she would be able to do that. Unfortunately, from the moment he took her into his arms at the Autumn Ball, she had discovered a weakness within herself that she hadn’t known existed. Whenever Daniel touched her, she seemed to lose a will of her own. It was something she needed to work on—had to work on—or risk losing her sanity when he found out about the baby and lost interest in her.
When they entered the carriage house, they found that her father had turned it into a studio with huge floor-to-ceiling windows to let in plenty of natural light. “It looks like your dad had planned on an artist using this,” Daniel said, giving her a knowing wink as they looked around the spacious work area.
Lily had a hard time blinking back her tears. It was clear her father had her in mind when he’d commissioned the renovations of the property, meaning that he had planned for some time to make her childhood dream of living here come true.
“When I was a little girl, Daddy used to take me to White Point Gardens across the street. We would sit for hours on one of the benches staring at this place and I would tell him stories I made up about the princess who lived here.”
“I’ll bet she had red hair and blue eyes,” Daniel teased, walking up behind her to put his arms around her.
She nodded as she indulged herself just one more time and leaned back against him. “The princess would stand in the cupola and look out at Charleston Harbor.”
“What was she looking for?” His deep baritone vibrated against her back and caused a delightful fluttering in her lower belly.
“She was watching for her prince to sail into Charleston Harbor and come home to live with her in the castle,” Lily answered.
“Of course,” he murmured close to her ear. “Any princess worth her salt always waits for her prince, whether he’s sailing up in a ship or riding a big white horse.”
“Now you’re making fun of me,” she said, smiling as she turned in his arms to face him.
“Maybe just a little,” he said, grinning. “Have you ever thought of writing children’s books, instead of just illustrating them?”
“My father always thought I should,” she said, doing her best to stifle a yawn. She had missed the afternoon nap that she had been taking since becoming pregnant. “But since college, the major children’s publishers have kept me so busy illustrating for others, I haven’t had time to think much about it.”
“You should,” he said, kissing her forehead. “Now, why don’t I walk you to my car and then I’ll go back and lock up. You’re starting to look pretty tired.”
She nodded as they left the carriage house. “It has been a long day.”
While Lily waited in the car for Daniel to return from turning off lights and locking the house, she couldn’t help but think about what her father had said in his letter. She was a strong, capable woman who he was confident would make the right decision about the mansion. He hadn’t insisted that she keep the property, but he had everything in place for her, anticipating that she would want to.
Staring up at the stately home, she knew it was foolish for one person to even contemplate living alone in a house with more than ten thousand square feet of living space. But her father had spared no expense in getting it ready for her. He had given her her dream and, wise or not, she was going to take it.
“I’ve made a decision about what I’m going to do with the mansion,” Lily said when Daniel returned to the car.
“And just what might that be?” he asked, starting the car and driving it down the driveway to the street.
“It’s going to take me a week or so to make arrangements, but as soon as I can get things packed up, I’m going to move in and live here.”
Four
For the next week after touring the mansion with Lily, Daniel found himself embroiled in a labor dispute with the dockworkers that left little time for anything but a few hurried phone calls and a standing order at the local florist for a daily bouquet of flowers to be delivered to her apartment. Lily hadn’t asked him to stop calling and seemed to appreciate all of the flowers, but they still weren’t completely back to where they had been with their affair before Christmas. That was the first thing he intended to remedy as soon as possible.
It would already have been taken care of by now, if not for the snag that had developed with the labor force. He had thought he and the union president had worked things out the day he had taken Lily to the aquarium, but apparently the rank and file had other ideas. Just that afternoon, he had been able to come to an agreement with the dockworkers and anticipated being able to spend a lot more time with her.
Unfortunately, tonight was not one of those times. In one of their phone conversations, Lily had explained that she would be babysitting her nephew on Thursday evenings for the next few weeks, while her brothers worked on getting reports ready for Jack Sinclair. So what was he going to do with his evening?
As he sat at his desk contemplating his options, his cell phone rang. “Daniel Addison,” he said, answering the call.
“Daniel, I’m so glad I caught you.”
“Hello, Charlotte.” At her request, he hadn’t called her “Mom” or “Mother” in years.
“I haven’t talked to you since Christmas Day and I was wondering when I may expect a visit,” she said in her usual formal tone.
“I’m free this evening,” he answered, deciding not to put her off. He did want to talk to his mother about the night of the dinner party and what she might have said to Lily. This evening seemed as good a time as any to do that.
“I think that would be marvelous, Daniel. Shall I have Cook set an extra place for dinner?” she asked.
Barely able to keep from rolling his eyes at her pretentiousness, he sighed heavily. “Sure, why not.”
“I’ll expect you at six then.” His mother ended the call as she always did, without saying goodbye.
Twenty minutes later, as he drove to the home he had grown up in on East Battery Street, just half a mile from the Beauchamp mansion, Daniel couldn’t help but think about how vastly different his childhood had been from Lily’s. She had been raised in a loving home with several brothers and sisters, who remained quite close as adults.
He,