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Framing his face in her hands, Lily held his gaze. “You’ll fit in perfectly. You all already have a love of horses, it’s in the blood. Things will all work out, you’ll see.”
His dark brows drew down as if some worry still plagued him. “I pray you’re right.”
* * *
“That was wonderful,” Lily declared as she sat her napkin on the table. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure,” Damon replied with a smile.
Nash hadn’t known what to expect when coming for lunch today, but so far he was pleasantly surprised at how easily he and Lily had slid into the family role...as if they were a real couple coming to his parents’ for a gathering.
With Ian, Cassie and Cassie’s little girl on one side of the long table and Tessa and her husband, Grant, on the side with Nash and Lily, Damon sat at the head like the grand patriarch he was.
The confident man had no clue he’d just hosted his rival.
Nash wished more than anything he and Damon weren’t at odds in the business world. Nash hated lying, hated being someone he wasn’t just to get the prizewinning horses to complete his breeding program. He hadn’t worried about this when he’d first come onto the scene.
He had Lily to thank for that bout of conscience. When he’d set out to get the inside scoop on Damon’s plan after the racing season, Nash had been ready to steal, lie and cheat to get what he wanted. But Lily made him want to be a better man.
Nash had also gotten to know Damon on a more personal level and the elderly man wasn’t too different from Nash. They both knew what they wanted, and both went after it full force...how could Nash fault that? Damon wasn’t the man Nash had originally thought.
Damon had a passion for the sport, just like Nash. The man cared for his family, would do anything to protect them. Nash hadn’t seen that side of him years ago in the circuit. All Nash had known was how ruthless Damon could be. And, honestly, Nash had actually recognized how alike he and his father were.
Trouble now was, Nash was already wrapped so tightly in his own lies. He still wanted those horses, still needed desperately to breed them with his own back on his estate. He’d not had the best seasons lately and he had to do something.
Lily’s hand slid over his leg under the table. “You okay?” she whispered.
Pushing away thoughts of business, Nash patted her hand. “Yeah.”
“Nash, I’d like to talk with you a moment if you don’t mind taking a walk down to the stables with me,” Damon said, not really asking. A man like Damon Barrington didn’t ask.
“Of course,” Nash replied, wondering what the man would want to discuss in private. Had he found out the rest of the truth? Doubtful, but the possibility was always there.
“You’re not seriously going to talk work are you?” Tessa asked.
“Not at all.” Damon came to his feet and handed his plate to Linda who had just come into the dining room. “Ah, thank you. But I would’ve taken my own plate in.”
Linda, the house cook and all around amazing lady to the family, laughed. “Of course you would’ve. I trained you years ago.”
“Go on,” Lily gestured to Damon and Nash. “I’ll help clean up.”
Both Tessa and Cassie both chimed in their refusal for Lily’s help, but Lily stood and started gathering dishes anyway.
“I think we should pitch in, too, Ian,” Grant spoke up as he scooted his chair back. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to face the wrath of my wife if I let Lily do all of this.”
Reaching into the high chair, Ian pulled Emily out and tucked her firmly against his hip. “Actually, there’s a smell coming from our section over here and I’m pretty sure I’m on diaper patrol. You enjoy wrapping up the leftovers, though.”
Lily couldn’t help but get a bit choked up at the easy way this dynamic family all meshed together so beautifully. What would it be like to live here, to have that connection every day? She had her mother and they were extremely close, but Lily wondered how raising a child in LA and bouncing him or her around from film set to film set would affect the outcome of her child’s life.
“Lily?”
Nash’s soft tone, his easy grip on her elbow had her turning. “I’m sorry, what?”
She realized the entire room was now staring at her. Great. She’d thought they’d all scurried out, apparently not.
She’d given off the image of a professional actress when she’d been filming on set here for months, but now they were all looking at her as if she’d sprouted another head.
“I asked if you were okay.” Ian stared across the table at her and seeing him holding his stepdaughter had Lily smiling and nodding.
