HIS Series Box Set (Books 4-7)

by Sheila Kell

  As readers, if you are interested in learning more about Diamond Blackfan Anemia, I have provided their link - http://dbafoundation.org/.

  THE CRACKLING FLAMES of the campfire had nearly died down when the real conversation began. Blake Hamilton’s sons, along with foster son, Jake Cavanaugh, sat on the ground contemplating their futures without their big brother. With graduation from high school around the corner, Jesse had been accepted at the University of Maryland, and they were celebrating with a camping trip. It was only on the back of their Silver Spring, Maryland property, but they were alone. Or at least they thought they were.

  Blake didn’t mean to be a voyeur. He’d actually come looking for his daughter, Emily, who hadn’t been happy her brothers got to camp out, and she wasn’t permitted to join them. To her, there was no such thing as a “guys’ night” for her brothers.

  He’d spotted her behind some bushes with Trent McKenzie, the son he wished with all his heart he could claim publicly. But he’d made a deal with Trent’s mother which allowed him to see the boy grow up even though he had to keep silent about his origins. It constantly wrenched his heart out when his wife turned Trent away, increasing the suffering from his mistake. No. Not a mistake. Trent had never been a mistake.

  The two were peeking in on the group of campers, so his interest has been piqued as to what the topic happened to be and whether it would be deemed appropriate for her ears. The ones around the fire were healthy, good-looking, girl-chasing boys after all.

  But they weren’t talking about girls—not at the moment, anyway. They were worried about what would happen when Jesse left. The truth was, they didn’t need Jesse like when they were younger. When Blake had been too busy with his career to be the type of father they’d needed, Jesse had watched over his brothers.

  It wrenched at his heart that Jesse took on the role. Blake should’ve been there more. He should’ve been the father they’d needed. Going through so many nannies should’ve clued him in they needed him when he’d been working to secure future elections for himself.

  He’d made individual time for all his kids, but watching them, he realized it hadn’t been enough. It might be too late to be that father to Jesse, but things would change before it was too late for his younger children.

  Using a stick to draw in the dirt beside him, AJ wore his favorite Orioles T-shirt and sighed heavily. At ten years old, AJ was buddies with an eleven-year-old Jake. Because of when their birthdays fell, they were in the same grade, and when he’d enrolled Jake, he’d managed to get them in the same class.

  As a hothead, AJ was apt to jump first and figure out he shouldn’t have later. When he wasn’t jumping into the fire, he believed the world was his playground. Maybe the family spoiled him too much. Whatever the case, Jake had a solid head on his shoulders and wouldn’t allow AJ to lead them astray. “I thought we’d always be together.”

  Children usually believed that. The children had thought that of their mother before she’d passed from cancer.

  “We’ll be together, just not living in the same house,” Jesse said.

  One of the twins snorted, and Jesse’s head whipped toward them with a deadly gleam in his eyes. Brad and Matt, who’d just turned thirteen and sported black eyes, were still ornery and fighting over everything.

  Blake shook his head at both the insolence of the snort and the stupidity of how they’d acquired those injuries. They’d broken each other’s noses over a girl. At their age. So what that she’d kissed the both of them and then told each the other was a better kisser. They had to lighten up and stop being so randy if they were to survive high school girls.

  As their father, he found the whole of the situation amusing—although he’d never admit it—but he’d also been resigned to how things could be until the two developed a thick skin so childish pranks by a mere slip of a girl wouldn’t affect them.

  Heaven help them all when the two were grown. One could hope that as they matured, so did their tastes, and in a different direction so they weren’t both looking at the same girl.

  “AJ, I need to go to college.”

  “But why?” his youngest son whined.

  Seeming to try another tact, Jesse asked, “AJ, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

  “A policeman.” He straightened his shoulder with pride radiating from them. “But I’m going to live here,” he hurriedly added.

  “What about college?”

  After AJ’s inability to accept Jesse leaving for college, Blake couldn’t understand where his eldest son planned to lead this conversation

  Another sigh from AJ. “If I must.”

  The boy had no clue. Blake would have someone drag his ass to class every day in college if that was what it took for him to gain an education. As Jesse had found out, going to college—or not—wasn’t negotiable in the Hamilton household.

  “I’m going. If I can afford it.” Jake pulled his knees close to his chest and rested his arms across them. His jeans looked as if they could be short. It was hard to tell since in that position anyone’s pants would pull up that way. The boy was growing fast. “I hear there are ways.”

  Oh, he’d go to college and it’d be paid for but not from Jake’s criminal father. Blake wouldn’t allow Jake to be someone who fell through the cracks once he turned eighteen and foster care ended.

  “What do you want to be, Jake?” Jesse asked.

  “A policeman.”

  This, Blake knew. After having his father pulled off him by an officer, it had been a single focus of the kid.

  “But I want college too,” Jake added.

  “I know.” Eagerness flowed through AJ’s words. “We can all be policemen together. Have our own unit at BPD. Dad could make it happen. I know he can.”

  Blake almost busted out laughing at that. The kid had a bit too much faith in his father, but if that was what they wanted, he’d work his ass off to make it happen. Anything for his kids.

  Jesse shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. Besides, I think I’m going in the army after I graduate.”

  What the fuck? Blake’s heart nearly stopped. This was news to him. He didn’t know what to think. Pride. Fear. No, pride. His son knew what he wanted and was competent. Definitely pride. He only wished he’d been told first.

  “What?” exploded from a sixteen-year-old Devon in a black T-shirt and jeans with holes in them. The boy was smart as a whip and could do almost anything with a computer. Blake saw MIT in his future and a recruiting call from either the CIA or NSA. From what Blake had heard from Jesse, instead of worrying about college and a future career, Devon was enjoying all the attention he received from the girls in high school.

  Jesse picked up a wood chip and tossed it into the fire, watching it get devoured by the flames. “Yeah. I’ll do ROTC and join. Hopefully one day they’ll ask me to be a U.S. Army Ranger.”

  His pride in his son grew twofold.

  “I want to be a SEAL.”

  Blake couldn’t believe those words came from Matt. The young man, when not connected with Brad, was the opposite of what he expected of a SEAL. They were big, badass men who ate nails for breakfast. Matt was calm and peaceful. A hostage negotiator seemed more his speed.

  “Like they’d take you,” Brad taunted and leaned into Matt, shoving him with his elbow.

  “What about you, Brad?” Jesse asked.

  The teenager always tried to act big and bad around them, but Blake knew the real Brad, and he was gentle and kind.

  Keeping the twins separated seemed key. When the time came, he’d push for different colleges. That should do it since those years helped make a man. If they didn’t beat the shit out of the other one before then.

  “I’m going to be a bodyguard.” He bowed up his scrawny chest wearing a shit-eating grin. “I’m going to protect hot movie stars and supermodels.”

  Everyone laughed. The kid did like to be comic relief.

  “Why can’t you all just be policemen with me and Jake?�
� AJ whined.

  Blake wanted to go out there and soothe AJ and explain how they were all different, but he held his ground and left it to Jesse since he wasn’t supposed to be there.

  “Well, because we all want different things,” Jesse explained.

  “But there has to be a place we can all work together,” AJ insisted.

  Brad stood. “We could all work for Dad,” he turned and shot over his shoulder. Blake thought he’d been noticed. Instead, Brad took off in a different direction. “I gotta take a piss.”

  “I don’t want to work for Dad. I want to wear a badge and protect people.” AJ’s voice took on that annoyed tone it did when he wasn’t getting his way. Usually they tried some way to please him.

  In this, they couldn’t help him because there was no way they could all work together. Even protecting people.

  Just about to step away, thinking the conversation had ended, AJ jumped from his place. “I know. We can have our own company. Then we can work together.”

  Knowing this would go nowhere, he turned to make his way to Emily and take her inside. As he neared them, he heard his seven-year-old daughter tell Trent, “I’m going to join them too.”

  “Aw, Em, they won’t want a girl,” said Trent in all his eleven-year-old wisdom.

  She stuck out her chin in defiance and launched her hand on her hip, the tips of her fingers sliding under her pink top. “They will,” she insisted. “I’ll be Jake’s wife, so they’ll have to take me.”

  Jake’s wife? What the fuck? He’d best watch those two.

  Trent shook his head and rolled his eyes but said nothing to such a ludicrous statement.

  That made him wonder what else he’d missed not being around much.

  “And they’ll take you too.”

  “I can’t. I’m not a Hamilton.”

  If only he knew….

  Grinning, Trent added, “And I’m not marrying Jake.”

  She scrunched up her mouth to show her displeasure. “Jake’s not family either.”

  “True, but he’s like family. Me? My mom works for your dad.” He frowned. “I’m like the hired help.”

  That shot an arrow through his heart. He almost stepped out and broke the news, but at the last minute, he held back, keeping to his promise.

  “I don’t care and neither will they,” Emily insisted.

  “Come on, let’s go home before someone misses you.” He reached out his hand, and she clasped her small one in his. So trusting.

  Blake took an alternate trek back to the house to avoid Emily and Trent. His mind spun the whole way. Wouldn’t it be great if they all stayed together and did own a company of their own? He couldn’t be happier or prouder if that ever happened.

  Seventeen years later

  U.S. SENATOR BLAKE Hamilton always thought he’d be ready for anything that came his way. He’d once been a member of a black ops team, albeit short-lived. As a senator, he’d flown into dangerous territories where he had to wear a flak vest and helmet to greet troops. He’d faced down angry constituents who didn’t agree with his stance. After his first few years in office, dealing with senior executive leadership was a cakewalk. Meeting with foreign leaders hadn’t even thrown him off his game. He’d been raised as a senator’s son, and he knew what it took to be a good senator, and he emulated it to the best of his ability.

  Raising six boys and one girl—albeit with a host of nannies and other workers—had only added gray to his dark hair. Being a single father after their mother died had freaked him out initially, but the advice he’d received from his father guided him. Handle everything with love and compassion.

  So, he had. And he’d handled everything else with the strength of his character and his resolve to be a good man.

  Then came Elizabeth Page.

  It’d been another fundraiser he’d agreed to attend with Drew, a fellow congressman, not paying much attention to the cause, just grateful he hadn’t had to don his monkey suit. The tux got entirely too much wear as far as he was concerned. Instead, he’d worn his favorite Brioni dark gray suit, prepared to meet the woman who had Drew in knots.

  As the evening had progressed, he’d learned the cause was Diamond Blackfan Anemia Awareness. It sickened him to hear of the destruction of this horrible disease. And while not widespread, it wasn’t picky when it sought its victims.

  After committing to a hefty donation, he turned his head to find this angel gliding toward him and Drew. Her long white gown shone as she passed the lights, glittering like pixie dust. With her blonde hair pulled up in some up-do thing women did, her long, slender neck called to his lips. His gut rotated into knots of desire. He had to meet this beautiful woman. Had to get to know her.

  Reaching out her hands as she approached, she clasped both of Drew’s outstretched hands and squeezed them.

  “Senator Shelby, it’s so great that you could come.”

  “I wouldn’t miss a chance to see you, my lovely.”

  Shell-shocked, Blake stood there, trying to take in this lovely creature and… he couldn’t even think it without wanting to toss his cookies. This couldn’t be who Drew had been raving about for weeks now. It couldn’t. She had to be his.

  “And”—she turned to Blake with a beautiful smile, but still spoke to Drew—“who is this?”

  That was a slap in the face. He’d been in politics for more than twenty years. He’d chaired more committees than he’d like to have done. His name and face were always plastered in the news. He was the fucking Senate minority leader.

  Clearing his throat to speak for himself, he thrust out a hand to clasp hers. “I’m Blake Hamilton.” Let her figure out if he was an important donor or not. If the name didn’t knock sense into her, he had an uphill battle. At least from what he could tell from their initial interaction, she hadn’t shown Drew any different emotions than she showed him.

  “It’s nice to meet you.” She shook his hand with a soft one he could imagine running all over his body. “I’m Elizabeth Page.” After dropping her hand, she waved it as if to encompass the area. “Thank you for attending tonight. I’ll be glad to answer questions.”

  Although he’d learned plenty beforehand, he’d ask question after question to keep her close, to hear her voice, to catch a drift of her scent when he could. “What’s the short overview of the disease?”

  Her smile dimmed some with her response. “Diamond Blackfan Anemia is a disorder of the bone marrow. In Diamond Blackfan Anemia, the bone marrow malfunctions and fails to make enough red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the body’s tissues.”

  “Is there a cure?”

  Her smile disappeared all together. “Sadly, no. Which is why foundations such as mine are so important. Building awareness and helping fund research are crucial in our attempts to beat this disease.”

  They spoke more in depth about her foundation. With each fervent word she spoke, her passion about the project exploded to the surface as her face glowed and a light burned bright in her eyes. Her response stirred him and made him wonder if she’d be this passionate in bed.

  Before that night, he hadn’t been enjoying a robust sex life. Months ago, his latest mistress had wanted marriage, and he’d refused, so she’d walked. He imagined—knowing her—she expected him to come running back with his tail tucked between his legs when he realized how much he missed her. He only missed sex. She’d even taken the fun out of it until it was just plain old screwing.

  He’d come to the realization that was all there was at his age. Hell, it wouldn’t be much longer, and he’d have to have pills to get it up. At least that was what he’d been told. Right now his dick worked fine. It just needed a good, warm place to park itself.

  After the event, he’d gotten out of Drew that there wasn’t a relationship between him and Elizabeth. Never before had he thought to put a woman over friendship, but with her, he would do it. He informed Drew that he planned to make a play for her. Laughing, his friend told him that she’d yet to choose anyone
vying for her attention so Blake could waste his time beside him and others.

  After years of working together, Drew should know that Blake didn’t waste time, and he didn’t lose.

  IT had taken a few months, but with a full-court press to gain Elizabeth’s attention, he’d won. It hadn’t been easy. She didn’t play coy, but she hadn’t wanted a relationship—with anyone. She’d been quite happy with her solitary life. But he hadn’t given up and finally Elizabeth was his.

  They’d been seeing each other ever since. They hadn’t been a public couple, preferring to keep their relationship secret, but they’d been seen together at several events over the past year. A few people had figured out something was happening, but preferred to speculate with their friends instead of asking.

  And if they had asked, he’d have told them the truth—he’d fallen head over heels in love with her and planned to make her his wife. As far as he knew, she had no idea he was that serious about their relationship. Sure they’d said they loved each other, but the heads-over-heels crap hadn’t been discussed. He considered that the final level before taking the plunge—something he swore he’d never do again after his marriage to Camilla.

  He wouldn’t allow his mind to divert to his late wife. Marriage would work with Elizabeth. He just knew it. As for his kids, Elizabeth would be their stepmother, even though they were too old to have one, so he wanted their approval. Since he made all his calls and Facetime with his kids all about them, they hadn’t met Elizabeth and Blake hadn’t spoken of her. Even if his children didn’t approve—which he couldn’t see how since she was absolutely perfect—he’d still propose, but he’d prefer their blessing.

  So, he set up a family affair at their Oxford home to introduce Elizabeth to his children and grandchildren. Her future children and grandchildren by marriage. He’d have a day with her with no hectic social or work calendar to intrude, then the entire family was arriving. Then, proposing.