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And Lily didn’t even like him, let alone consider him family.
In fact, she seemed downright leery of him and his intentions.
Hell, she’d barely touched him, and the look on her face…you’d have thought he was a snake about to strike.
Then again, who could blame her? She hardly knew him, and she’d just been kidnapped and held hostage for four days. That would make anyone cautious.
He sighed, turning toward her makeshift picnic. This food would do for tonight. Tomorrow, he’d have to find a way to get them a real meal. With meat. And cheese.
A man couldn’t exist on berries no matter how ripe.
His horse happily munched on hay, and with his skin now dry, he reluctantly shrugged back into his shirt.
Could he purchase them new clothing?
The act would likely put them in more danger, but it was tempting, nonetheless.
Crossing to the wool blanket she’d laid out, he sat down, prepared to wait.
She came back in a few minutes later, looking less disheveled and even more reserved as she tentatively sat on the corner of the blanket and broke the bread in half, handing him the larger section.
He stared down at the piece in his hand. “Did they feed you in that carriage?”
She nodded. “Once a day.”
He grimaced, then handed the bread back to her. “I’ll take the smaller piece.” Ash would never allow a woman to suffer for his comfort. The very idea of it made his stomach twist. He’d been his mother’s protector most of his childhood. That engrained the tendency deep into a man’s soul.
She cocked her head to the side. “You’re much larger than me. You need it more.”
His brows furrowed. “I’ve also been far better fed the last several days.” And then he lifted the bread higher.
Slowly, she took the offered piece and then handed him hers. But instead of bringing the bread to her mouth, her hand sank into her lap. “When I was little, my mother and I would sometimes run out of food. She’d do the same for me, despite being larger, saying that I needed it more because I was growing.”
Ash felt that jolt deep in his gut. It was a reaction he recognized. He’d felt it often with his mother when his father did something particularly callous. “You ran out of food?”
Her head lifted, her chin taking on a jaunty angle. “You know that my half-brother Baxter is a bastard.”
“As is Arabella.”
Her eyes widened the slightest bit. “I assumed. I am too, obviously. My father was a busy man.”
What was wrong with men? An odd thought, he knew, considering he was one. And it wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy a variety of partners. But he’d decided long ago not to make too many promises he’d inevitably break and hurt everyone involved. His father had taught him that lesson well and now it was one of his hard and fast rules in life.
“The dark duke is rumored to have had many lovers.”
Lily nodded. “And more than a few mistresses.”
That niggled in his chest in a completely different way. His father had had a mistress. It was common among the men of the peerage. And while he’d sired a single son with his wife, he’d had several children with the other woman. They had been his real family.
Of that, Ash was certain.
“Your mother. Was she one of his mistresses?”
“Mm-hmm,” she answered, beginning to eat her bread. “Until he grew tired of her.”
“He didn’t love her, then?”
One of Lily’s shoulders rose. “I don’t remember. My memories of him were from when I was very little, and even then, I don’t think we interacted much. If I were to guess by the way he treated us after he’d moved on, I’d say no. And from what Bash and Baxter say, he loved no one but himself.”
