A Man's Promise

by Brenda Jackson

  “I can’t help it. I’ve heard so much about him and—”

  “You’re positive you want to meet him?” Jace asked, interrupting and raising his eyebrows. “Most people actually believe he killed my mom—and that is nothing to be excited about.”

  “But you and your brothers don’t believe that, and that is good enough for me.”

  It was a statement more than a question. “No, we don’t, and I intend to find out who is actually responsible. But every time I talk to Dad about reopening the case to prove his innocence, he freezes up on me. He thinks Mom was into something that went deeper than that affair with Michael Greene.”

  Shana lifted a brow.

  “I have no idea what he was referring to, and he won’t say,” Jace continued. “Do you know what I think?”

  “No. What do you think?”

  “That Dad is against reopening the case because he believes that if we do, it might place us in some kind of danger.”

  “He told you that?”

  “No, but it’s what he’s not telling me that has me thinking that way.”

  Shana frowned. “What could your mom have been involved in that was so sinister that it could lead to her death?”

  “I don’t have a clue, but I’m determined to find out.”

  “Have you talked to your brothers about it?”

  “No. I haven’t even told them what I discovered about Mom’s affair. I’ll have to tell them eventually, although Dad doesn’t want me to.”

  Shana didn’t say anything for a minute, and then she asked, “Do you think he’ll be happy you’re getting married and that we’re having a baby?”

  When the car came to a traffic light, he reached out and took her hand in his, a wide smile spread across his lips. “Just like your father, Sheppard Granger is going to be ecstatic.”

  * * *

  Tess was on break and Shiloh was assisting customers with their wine purchases when she suddenly felt heat envelop her body. She glanced up and looked across the room. When had Caden Granger come in?

  She tried ignoring him as he browsed around her shop but it was difficult to do so. And just like the other day, he was dressed in a business suit that seemed tailored just for his body. At least she wasn’t the only one checking him out. She saw several other women finding it hard to keep their eyes off him.

  Forcing her gaze away, she focused on the woman who had quickly become one of her regular customers, Mrs. Owens. Her husband owned several computer stores throughout Virginia and Maryland. It seemed the Owenses were always entertaining. “Another party, Mrs. Owens?”

  The woman, who looked to be in her mid-sixties, beamed a smile at her. “Yes, another party.”

  Shiloh could tell from the woman’s tone that she wasn’t put out by the prospect of hosting yet another party. In fact, she seemed excited. Shiloh recalled that her mother had been that sort of person. One who had enjoyed hosting all of Samuel Timmons’s parties, and there had been plenty. Owning a slew of retail stores had paid off for her father, and he was constantly traveling to increase his business.

  “I remember when your parents used to give parties. Your mom was the perfect hostess. She was so good at it.”

  That wasn’t the only thing she was good at, Shiloh thought, wondering how many other of her husband’s secrets her mother was hiding. “Yes, she was.”

  “And I understand you’re helping with this year’s ball for cancer research. That’s wonderful. We need more young people to get involved.” The woman looked at her watch and then said, “Well, I’ll be going. I have a few more stops to make.”

  “Have a good day, Mrs. Owens, and I hope you’ll attend my grand opening next weekend.”

  “Harold and I both will be here. I love this place, and you have the best of everything.”

  “Thank you.”

  By now, Caden was standing in line at the cash desk, and there were two customers ahead of him. Shiloh hoped Tess’s break would end so she could deal with Caden, but it didn’t happen. Moments later, he was standing in front of her. He placed a bottle of Riesling on the counter. “Will this be all?” Shiloh asked.

  “Not unless you’re willing to forgive me for all my wrongdoings, Shiloh.”

  Shiloh didn’t say anything, because at the moment she couldn’t. There was so much regret lining his features that she couldn’t stand it. Caden had always been her weakness, to the point that she had risked her father’s wrath for him. He’d had no right to hurt her the way he had.

  She wished there was another customer behind him so she could hurry him on, but there was no one. In fact, most of her customers had either left or were drinking their wine in the outside café, where Donnell was making sure they had everything they could want. In other words, this little scene was in Caden’s favor. But it wouldn’t be for long.

  “I’m short on forgiveness today. I’m all out. Anything else?” she asked briskly, clearly letting him know she wasn’t in the mood.

  “Yes, there is something else. Would you go out with me Saturday night?”

  She stared at him. When would he give up? He really thought they could move on after everything that had happened. It was time for her to let him know she had moved on, but in a different direction. “Sorry, I have a date Saturday night.”

  He didn’t have to say anything. His expression said it all. If she had intended to hurt him, she’d done a perfect job. Now he would know how it had felt when she’d learned he had slept with those women while thinking the worst of her. But, no, he would never know how it had felt for her. Despite that, she had been there for him and his brothers when they could have lost their family business.

  “Anybody I know?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Is your date anyone I know?” he asked. She could hear the anger in his voice, although his tone remained level.

  “I doubt it. But then, I don’t know everyone you know. If there won’t be anything else, I have some work to attend to in my office,” she said as she saw Tess returning from her break.

  “No, there won’t be anything else. For now.”

  Good, she thought, ringing up his order and placing the bottle of wine inside the store’s signature wine bag. He handed her his charge card, and although she tried to be careful, their fingers still touched, and a zing of electricity passed through her.

  Shiloh quickly processed his card and, instead of handing it directly back to him, she wrapped his receipt around it and placed it on the counter beside his wine bag. She plastered a smile on her face. “Thank you for your purchase, Mr. Granger. Do have a nice day.”

  * * *

  Sheppard stood at the window in the prison library and watched as Jace got out of his car. Shep hadn’t slept much last night, wondering why his son had called this meeting and why he was being so evasive about it.

  He lifted an eyebrow when Jace went to the passenger side of that little sports car of his and opened the door...for a woman. And Shep had to say she was a beautiful woman. As he watched the couple, he could tell something was going on between them. It was in the way Jace automatically took her hand in his as together they strolled toward the entrance.

  He then watched as another car pulled up to park beside Jace’s car, and he noted a man sitting inside who made no move to get out. Shep wondered whether it was one of the guys he had hired to protect his sons.

  He felt a presence come to stand beside him. “Looks like your visitors have arrived,” Ambrose said.

  “Yes, it sure looks that way.”

  “It will take them a minute to get through security, and then I’ll bring them on up to the same private room you used before.”

  Shep nodded. “Thanks, Ambrose.”

  Shep turned away from the window and drew in a deep breath, thinking about his sons. The last woman Jace had brought home for them to meet had turned out to be a disaster. And from what Jace had told him, she had betrayed him in the worst way. So for him to be involved with another woman meant he’d m
oved on and had left Eve behind. Shep certainly hoped so.

  He also knew that although Caden pretended otherwise, something had happened between him and Shiloh. Whatever was going on, Shep hoped they got things together. He’d always liked Shiloh and he didn’t blame her for the fact that her parents had forced her to end her friendship with his sons. He hoped his sons didn’t blame her, either.

  His thoughts shifted to Dalton. Sheppard had no idea what woman Dalton was into, and maybe it was best he didn’t know. His baby boy had started noticing girls early and, unfortunately, girls had started noticing him, too.

  Moments later, Ambrose knocked on the door before entering. “Your visitors are here, Mr. Granger.”

  Jace walked in with the beautiful woman by his side. A huge smile covered his son’s face. “Dad, it’s so good seeing you again,” he said, giving him a huge bear hug while Ambrose basically looked the other way rather than reminding them of the rule against physical contact.

  “I’ll be outside the door if I’m needed,” Ambrose said. Shep knew the man would probably wander off, giving him the privacy he felt Sheppard deserved.

  “Good seeing you, too, Jace,” Shep said, looking his son up and down. He looked good. He looked happy.

  “Thanks. And I want you to meet someone. This is the woman we hired to turn Granger Aeronautics around. A woman I can thank, along with Dalton, of course, for saving my life. But most importantly, Dad, she’s the woman I intend to marry next month. Shana Bradford.”

  Shana, who had been hanging back so Jace and his father could have their private moment, walked over to Shep and offered her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Granger.”

  Instead of taking her hand, Shep pulled her into his arms for a hug. “Welcome to the family, Shana. And thanks for your part in saving my son’s life.”

  “We have something else to tell you, Dad.”

  Shep released Shana and glanced over at Jace. “You do? What?”

  A huge smile covered Jace’s features when he said, “You’ll become a grandfather in the spring.”

  It took a second for Jace’s words to sink in, and when they did, another huge smile touched Shep’s face. Emotions he’d never felt before took over. All the emptiness he’d felt when he’d lost his father was being replaced at the thought that he was gaining a grandchild.

  “A grandchild?” His first. He felt overwhelmed. So damned happy.

  “Yes, Dad,” Jace said, grinning and wrapping his arms around Shana’s waist. “A grandchild. Another Granger.”

  Fourteen

  There was a knock on Caden’s office door. “Come in.”

  Dalton walked in, smiling. “It’s all set.”

  Caden leaned back in his chair. “What is?”

  “Our celebration for Jace and Shana. We’re taking them out to dinner Saturday night.”

  Caden lifted a brow. “We are?”

  “Yes. Don’t you remember? I mentioned it this morning, and you said for me to go ahead and plan it.”

  No, Caden didn’t remember. But then, his mind hadn’t been working right since Sandra Timmons’s visit and the bombshell she had dropped. And then there was that incident earlier today when he had dropped by the wine shop. Shiloh had let him know in no uncertain terms that she had not forgiven him. She even told him she had a date for Saturday night. Those words had been like a knife in his heart.

  “Caden?”

  He drew in a deep breath and met Dalton’s gaze. “To be quite honest with you, I don’t remember discussing anything about it with you. But it doesn’t matter. Sorry. What do you have planned?”

  Dalton looked at him strangely for a second before saying, “Dinner Saturday night at the Matador. The four of us. Reservations have been made for six-thirty.”

  “Fine. I’ll be there.”

  He expected Dalton to leave, but when he continued to sit there and stare at him, Caden asked, “Is there something else?”

  “Yes, there is.”

  “What?”

  “I know I can be a pain in the ass sometimes, and—”

  “Sometimes?”

  “Okay, probably the majority of the time, but I care about you, man. You’re going through something, but you won’t tell me shit. I might not have any answers, but I can listen. Besides, I leveled with you about what was going on with me.”

  Caden rolled his eyes. “You really want me to believe you hired a P.I. to find a woman?”

  “It’s true. I know that is so not me, but people do strange things at times. And, like I told you, she was hot.” Dalton didn’t say anything for a moment, and then he asked, “So what’s going on with you and Shiloh? I know it has something to do with her, Caden. You can’t be holding a grudge against her because her old man kept her from being friends with us all those years ago. Samuel Timmons was crazy—we all knew that.”

  “Is that what you think? That I’m holding a grudge against her?”

  “What else could it be when the two of you hadn’t been in contact with each other for years?”

  Caden leaned forward in his chair. “That’s where you’re wrong, Dalton. Samuel Timmons tried keeping us apart, and he succeeded for a while. But Shiloh and I finally hooked up years later when she was in her last year of college, and the band and I were beginning the concert tours.”

  Seeing the look of surprise in Dalton’s eyes, Caden said, “I might as well start from the beginning.”

  Caden began talking, telling Dalton everything, including his and Shiloh’s plans to marry in Vegas, the photographs he’d received and how he had treated Shiloh afterward, believing the worst about her.

  He told Dalton about the night Shiloh had come to Sutton Hills and the mean things he’d said to her. He then told him what Sandra Timmons had wanted when she’d shown up to see him that day—the bombshell she had dropped, and how Caden had been trying to make things right with Shiloh ever since. He even told Dalton about going to see her today and her unforgiving attitude...and her date with someone else this weekend.

  To Caden’s surprise, Dalton listened without saying a single word, not a one. Caden couldn’t even fathom what his brother was thinking since Dalton’s expression was unreadable. When he finished and Dalton still didn’t say anything, Caden asked, “So you don’t have anything to say?”

  Dalton held his gaze. “Oh, I have a lot to say, but first I have a question.”

  “And what is your question?”

  “Where were you and Jace when Richard Granger was giving out his endless lectures about unprotected sex and the use of condoms? Because it seems that somehow along the way, the two of you must have missed that class.”

  Caden stared at his brother, thinking his question couldn’t be a serious one, but when he saw that it was, he answered. “First of all, Jace and I did get those lectures, trust me. However, neither of us was as sexually active as you were in high school, and Granddad knew it.”

  Dalton lifted a brow. “He knew it?”

  “He couldn’t help but know it when you used to brag about your conquests over the breakfast table.”

  “But I spoke in codes so only you and Jace could know what I was saying, and I whispered most of the time. And if I remember correctly, Granddad was ignoring us and reading his newspaper.”

  “And listening to your every word while doing so.”

  “No kidding?” Dalton asked, smiling as if such a thing was good news.

  “Jace and I wondered if you knew. In fact, we thought you were embellishing a lot of the stuff you told us about because you figured the old man was listening.”

  Dalton rolled his eyes. “I didn’t have to embellish anything. I was giving you guys the facts.”

  “And you still wonder why you got more lectures than we did? Let’s move on from that. I want to hear what you really have to say,” Caden said.

  “Okay, here goes. I think you made a real mess of things but that it can be fixed. The reason I say that is because evidently Shiloh still cares about you.”
>
  “I don’t know how you figure that. I told you what happened when I dropped by her wine shop earlier today.”

  “Yes, and she’s still in pain from the hurt you caused her. And the reason I say she still cares for you is because you’re sitting there and I’m sitting here.”

  Caden was confused, and it showed on his face. “I don’t get your point.”

  Dalton rolled his eyes. “The only reason we were able to hold on to this company amid a hostile-takeover attempt was because Shiloh saved the day by voting her mother’s shares in our favor. That was after you did all those mean things to her—like having her ejected from one of your concerts and sleeping around for spite. And even with all that, according to you, she recently attended another one of your concerts, and when she found out the truth about what her father had done, she came to Sutton Hills to tell you.”

  Dalton paused a minute and said, “Shiloh has every right to be angry with you, Caden. But I don’t think she has totally fallen out of love with you. She only thinks she has, and understandably so.”

  Caden stared at his brother. For someone who had never been in love, Dalton was talking as if he were an expert on the subject matter. As if Dalton could read his mind, he said, “You don’t have to know a lot about love to figure out your problem, Caden. You just have to know a lot about women. And they are my specialty.”

  “If what you’ve said is to be believed, how am I supposed to get back into her good graces? How can I make her realize she still loves me as much as I love her?”

  Dalton smiled. “It’s rather simple. Come up with a plan to get her to fall in love with you all over again. If I were you, I would do everything to prove that the two of you belong together, that you still love her and that she still loves you. But most important, remind her that you’re worthy of her love.”