A Man's Promise

That was the same night Shiloh had moved out of her parents’ home and taken a place in town after giving her mother a scalding earful. Her father would have gotten more of the same had he been alive to hear it. But he had died several months ago, probably thinking he had taken all his secrets to the grave. Nonetheless, there was one secret that hadn’t quite made it. And it had been by pure accident that she had stumbled upon the truth.

She saw Sedrick’s concerned expression. “I have moved on, Sedrick. Honest. However, I haven’t forgiven Mom for the part she played in everything. But, rest assured, Caden means nothing to me anymore.” The same way he had let her know that she no longer meant anything to him. He’d even gone so far as to tell her that he couldn’t stand the sight of her. His words had hurt, destroying her already broken and shattered spirit. The words he had spoken that night had been cruel, brutal and so undeserved. She doubted she would ever forgive him for that.

“I hope one day you’ll find it in your heart to forgive Mom, Shiloh. She needs you more than ever. She’s all alone now in that huge house. I wish you hadn’t moved out.”

She felt Sedrick’s words were unfair. “I don’t see you racing to move back home,” she said curtly.

“Only because I need to be close to the hospital. Surely you understand that.”

Yes, she did understand. After medical school, Sedrick had moved back to Charlottesville, whereas she had remained living in Boston after completing college. She’d returned to Charlottesville only after her mother had pleaded with her to come home seven months ago. At the time, her father was dying of lung cancer. She had been home only a few weeks before he’d passed on.

“You and I both know Mom was a bigger puppet for Dad than we were,” Sedrick said, interrupting her thoughts. “Samuel Timmons expected everyone to obey any orders he dished out. And we did.”

“Not all the time,” Shiloh countered. “When we got older, we began thinking for ourselves,” she said, recalling that time. It was after they had both moved away to go to college that they were finally able to begin to really understand how things were at home.

“I regret the day Mom and Dad forbade us to have any contact with Jace, Caden and Dalton Granger. That was wrong. After their father was sent to prison, they probably needed their friends more than ever. Instead, they were ostracized,” Sedrick said.

Shiloh regretted it, as well. One day, the two families had been close, and then the next, her parents had forbidden her and Sedrick to have anything to do with the Grangers. And all because her parents believed Sheppard Granger had killed his wife. They hadn’t wanted their kids associating with the kids of an accused killer. She remembered Mr. Granger as a nice man and, for the life of her, she couldn’t imagine him killing anyone. And she knew that Caden and his brothers were convinced of their father’s innocence.

“Jace was my best friend growing up, and I lost him,” Sedrick said, interrupting her thoughts. “Did I tell you that he didn’t even recognize me that night he arrived at the hospital after his grandfather had that heart attack?”

Yes, Sedrick had mentioned it, and for him to bring it up again meant that he was bothered by it. Shiloh drew in a deep breath, remembering that Caden had been her best friend growing up. And in later years, after leaving for college, she had defied her father’s orders by seeking out Caden, and they had become lovers.

“Well, since you’re certain you’ve moved on, what about Wallace?”

She lifted a brow. “Who?”

“Wallace Aiken. Another heart specialist who transferred in from a hospital in Maryland. He’s a good guy, and I like him. I introduced the two of you last month when you dropped by the hospital to see me. He’s asked about you several times since. He told me last week that he would like to take you out.”

Shiloh couldn’t remember the man Sedrick was talking about, which meant he hadn’t made a lasting impression on her. But then, very few men had, compared to Caden. But not anymore. “Fine. Fix us up.”

Surprise showed on her brother’s face. “You’re serious?”

She chuckled. “Why not? We can start off by double-dating with you and Cassie.”

Her brother and Cassie Mayfield, a respiratory therapist at the hospital, had begun dating a few years ago. As far as Shiloh was concerned, it was time for Sedrick to put a ring on Cassie’s finger. Samuel Timmons hadn’t liked Cassie, saying she was from the wrong side of the tracks. But he hadn’t been able to tear the couple apart. One of his few failures.

“Great! I’ll talk to Wallace and make all the arrangements,” Sedrick said, smiling. “Is this weekend okay?”

She moved back to her desk to check her calendar. She sucked in a hiss between her teeth. She might have spoken too soon. “That’s a week before grand-opening night, and I’m going to have a lot to do this entire week,” she said, glancing over at her brother.

After seeing the I figured you would come up with an excuse look on his face, she quickly added, “But I will make time. It will probably be the last chance I have for some fun before getting really busy at work.”

“Great. And by the way, I’m impressed with how this place is shaping up. I’m glad you’re doing something you enjoy.”

A smile touched Shiloh’s lips. “Thanks, and I do enjoy this, Sedrick. I really do.”

Two

Caden Granger frowned as he gazed across his desk at his younger brother. “You’re kidding, right?”

Dalton released that crazy-ass chuckle that, at times, could grate on Caden’s last nerve. “No, I’m not kidding. Just think of what could have happened to Jace if he hadn’t had that tracking device on his phone.”

Caden didn’t want to think about it. When he and his two brothers had left Charlottesville for college years ago, each had vowed never to return. After college, they had moved to separate parts of the world, living their dreams. Caden was a well-known saxophonist touring in some of the most sought-after cities to sold-out crowds; Jace worked as an attorney for the government in California; and Dalton claimed he worked smarter and not harder by investing his money while living the life of a playboy/boy toy in Europe. In the end, Dalton was the one who’d become a billionaire. Go figure.

He, Jace and Dalton had returned to Charlottesville when their grandfather, Richard Granger, had had a fatal heart attack. It had been a couple of months ago that the three of them had made the deathbed promise to their grandfather to take over the family business, Granger Aeronautics. When they’d done so, they had no idea that in addition to inheriting a failing company, they would have to deal with employees intent on divulging trade secrets and someone they thought they could trust being a killer. The man had actually kidnapped Jace with the intention of ending his life. If it hadn’t been for the tracker Dalton had convinced Jace to install on his phone, Caden didn’t want to think of what might have happened.

“Fine. Put the damned tracker on my phone,” Caden said, tossing a document he didn’t feel like reading back into the in-box on his desk.

Dalton smiled. “I already have.”

Caden’s frown deepened. “You did so without my permission?”

“Yes.”

Dalton eased up out of the chair as if he didn’t have a care in the world, knowing full well that Caden really wanted to kick his ass. Caden might be two years older but, as far as Dalton was concerned, he was in way better shape than Caden. But he knew Caden wouldn’t do any such thing. He and his brothers might give each other hell from time to time, but they always had each other’s backs.

“So, Jace still hasn’t said anything about what’s going on with him and Wonder Woman?” Dalton observed.

Caden shrugged. Shana Bradford, whom Dalton liked to refer to as Wonder Woman, was the person they had hired to help get the company back on a proper footing. She was a real fixer, which was lucky since it was her team that had figured out about the trade-secrets encroachments, as well as Vidal Duncan’s duplicity.

“What’s there to say, Dalton? It’s been obvious from day one that he had a thing for her, although he claimed indifference. After this week’s rescue, I’d say it’s become pretty damned obvious.”

Caden was referring to the fact that the FBI agents were barely in the door to stop Jace’s head from being blown off before Shana had rushed in and thrown herself in his arms. “And I didn’t see him rejecting that wallop of a kiss she laid on him,” he added.

“Me, either,” Dalton chimed in to say, glancing at his watch. He had an appointment that he planned to keep and didn’t intend to be late.

At that moment, the buzzer on Caden’s desk sounded. “Yes, Brandy?”

“There’s a Sandra Timmons here to see you?”

Surprise shone on both Caden’s and Dalton’s faces. Sandra and Samuel Timmons had been neighbors and friends of their parents. When Sylvia Granger was murdered fifteen years ago, and their father wrongly convicted of committing the crime, the Timmonses and a lot of others had forbidden their children to continue to associate with the Granger kids. Caden had been fourteen, Jace sixteen, and Dalton twelve at the time.

“Send her in, Brandy,” Caden said, standing, straightening his tie.

Dalton stood, as well. “I wonder what she wants.”

“I have no idea.”

“Then I wouldn’t see her if I were you.”

Caden glanced over at Dalton. “Why?”

“She’s probably here to tell you to leave Shiloh alone. She’ll probably make threats and get ugly about it. She could take up where old man Timmons left off—thinking we’re nothing but scum.”

Hearing Dalton bring up the name of the one woman Caden wanted more than anything to forget sent a flash of pain through his heart. “First of all, I’m not involved with Shiloh. She’s the last woman I want to have anything to do with.”

“There was a time the two of you were—”