A Lover's Vow. Brenda Jackson

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      “So?”

      “So you’re both driving us all crazy. And since she probably dislikes you as much as you dislike her, I can just imagine what Shana is dealing with.”

      “Not my problem. Like I said, I won’t be coming.”

      “Now that Jace has married Shana, we’re all practically family.”

      “Like hell. That’s like saying that now you’re married to Wine Lady, your in-laws are family, as well. There’s no way Sandra Timmons or Dr. Sedrick Timmons will ever be considered family to me.”

      Caden didn’t say anything for a moment because he was finding it hard to consider them family, too. “I hope that you reconsider coming on Saturday night, Dalton. It would mean a lot to Jace and Shana if you did.”

      Dalton shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “If they feel that way, then I hate to disappoint them. But I will have to.” He glanced at his watch again. “I have a meeting with my security team. I’ll see you later.” He turned to leave.

      “Wait. When you came into my office, you said you thought you were being followed.”

      Dalton turned back around. “I’m sure I’m just imagining things. Both you and Jace recently came within an inch of losing your lives, so I’m starting to get a little paranoid. And I don’t like it worth a damn.”

      * * *

      An hour later, Dalton entered his own office at Granger Aeronautics, the company his great-grandfather, Sutton Granger, had founded. He was sure that when the old man had done so, he’d believed he was starting a legacy for all Grangers to follow. And they had for a while. As expected, his grandfather, Richard, had followed in Sutton’s footsteps, and Dalton’s own father, Sheppard, had done likewise, working beside Richard to build a dynasty to pass on to his three sons—Jace, Caden and Dalton.

      There was no doubt in Dalton’s mind that things would have continued that way if his mother, Sylvia, hadn’t been murdered, and his father arrested for the crime. Jace had been sixteen, Caden fourteen and Dalton only twelve. His mother’s death had hit him hard, but his father’s imprisonment had been even harder. Neither he nor his brothers believed their father capable of killing their mother, but a jury had found him guilty and sentenced him to thirty years.

      Dalton drew in a deep breath. Instead of sitting down at his desk and diving into some of the emails that were mounting up, he walked over to the window and looked out. Nice view, although he thought the ones seen from Jace’s and Caden’s windows were better. Every once in a while, he enjoyed ribbing them about that.

      He stood there a moment, staring out the window and remembering his conversation with Caden. Leave it to Caden to bring out Jules’s one redeeming quality. She was a private investigator and was good at her job. So what? Maybe he did owe her for that, just like he owed Shana for her part in saving Jace’s life. Shit, he didn’t like owing anyone anything. But he did love his brothers, and the thought of anything ever happening to them was too much to think about.

      And it was time for him to pay his father a visit. Jace had gone to see him right before the wedding, and Caden had gone just last week. Caden said their father had asked about him. Dalton needed to go before his father got some crazy idea about why he hadn’t been visiting.

      In a way, Dalton felt guilty. He’d known about his mother’s affair with another man, but he’d never told his dad. He’d been only eleven when he’d found out, and Sylvia had sworn him to secrecy. That had been a huge secret for any kid to carry around, but he loved both of his parents. He often wondered whether his parents would have divorced had Dalton told his father about the affair. Then he could have gone his way, and she could have gone hers and...

      Dalton shook his head. With those thoughts, one would assume he believed his father was responsible for his mother’s death, and that a divorce might have spared her life. That wasn’t the case, since he knew his father was innocent, and that he’d already spent fifteen years behind bars for a crime he hadn’t committed.

      Dalton and his brothers had fulfilled one of their grandfather’s deathbed promises, and now it was time for them to take care of the other. They needed to find out who had really killed their mother so their father could finally be freed.

      He moved away from the window to sit down at his desk. The first thing he needed to do was to call Shana and thank her for the invitation to dinner this weekend and let her know he wasn’t coming. Knowing Shana, she wouldn’t ask why, but she would know the reason. The bottom line was that he didn’t have to put up with anyone he didn’t want to put up with and, at the moment, her sister topped his list.

      A couple of weeks ago at Jace’s wedding, he’d considered putting a plan in place to play Jules the same way she’d played him. Although that idea wasn’t completely off the table, he didn’t want to have anything to do with Jules for the time being.

      Go fuck yourself. She had a lot of damned nerve. No woman had dared ever tell him something like that. He knew he needed to get her out of his mind because, honestly, Jules Bradford really wasn’t important. What he needed to spend his time doing was concentrating on the important business at hand, namely, Granger Aeronautics, and finding his mother’s real killer.

      Jace would be back in the office tomorrow, and Dalton intended to meet with both him and Caden to discuss strategies about the latter issue. Getting their dad out of prison was the most important thing on his mind.

       Three

      Jules slid her car into the first available parking spot in front of the condo where Dalton lived. She called herself all kinds of fool for being here, even though she knew it was necessary if she wanted to talk to Dalton. He’d never answer his phone if he saw her name on the caller ID. “It’s not about you,” she muttered to herself. “It’s about your love for Shana—that’s the only thing that could make you even think about putting up with this bullshit.”

      She and Shana were two years apart and had always had a close relationship. Shana had been just months from turning fifteen and Jules thirteen when their mother had died of pancreatic cancer thirteen years ago. Their father had raised them alone while working as a police detective in Boston. He had retired a few years ago, wanting a quiet life, and had decided to settle in Charlottesville, the place where he and his wife had met while attending college. Jules had been the first to follow their father to Charlottesville, where she established a private investigation firm. Shana had relocated to Charlottesville a few years later.

      The three of them always managed to do things together, even when Jules’s busy work schedule took her out of town, as it often did. But things were somewhat different now. Shana was married, and Jace was now the main planet in her universe, which meant he would be taking up a lot of her sister’s time. And Ben was involved with Mona, something Jules knew she had to get used to. Mona was the first woman her father had been seriously involved with since her mother died, and he rightly deserved to be happy.

      She had called Shana earlier today to welcome her back to town and to find out how the honeymoon had gone...like it would have been anything but great. During the conversation, Shana reminded her about Saturday night, which would be the first dinner party she would give as Jace’s wife. Shana was excited but somewhat disappointed, because she had gotten a call from Dalton saying he wouldn’t be coming. No one had to figure out the reason behind that decision.

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