“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