A Lover's Vow

“Play you?”

“Yes. Play games with me.”

“Is that what she did?”

“Hell, yes. That night she brushed me off, but then told me to find her. So I did. I hired a private investigator to find her, and when I did, she acted all shitty, like my finding her was no big deal, and she didn’t want to be bothered when she knew the score. I found her for a reason.”

“And that reason?”

Now it was Dalton who rolled his eyes. “Damn it, you know the reason, and she did, too. I found her, and she didn’t deliver. Her entire attitude sucked. And then she showed up at that club a second time just to remind me about what I wasn’t getting.”

Caden didn’t say anything for a long moment. He knew his brother. He was still hot behind the collar about an incident that happened a few months ago. Dalton took holding a grudge to a whole other level. Unfortunately, the woman he loathed was Shana’s sister.

He drew in a deep breath, glad that Jace was back from his honeymoon and would be coming into the office tomorrow. There was only so much of Dalton that Caden could handle at times. When he, Jace and Dalton had left Charlottesville years ago for college, all three had sworn never to return permanently, only for visits. Having their father charged with their mother’s death years earlier had left deep scars. After college, Jace had settled in LA and worked for the state of California as an attorney; Caden had pursued his dream of making it big in the music industry. His love for his saxophone had earned him his first Grammy at twenty-seven. He’d spent most of his time touring the country and playing his sax to sold-out crowds. And as for Dalton, after a stint in the NFL, he left the US for Europe and made a name for himself as a playboy and boy toy. Because of good investment decisions, Dalton was the one who’d become the billionaire. The one who believed a person should work smarter, not harder. And the one who liked to whine about practically anything. Like he was doing right now.

The three of them had returned to Charlottesville when their grandfather, Richard Granger, had suffered a fatal heart attack. What they hadn’t counted on was making a deathbed promise to him to take over the family business, Granger Aeronautics. They hadn’t expected a failing company, one deep in the red. But they had made the promise and rolled up their sleeves. Hiring Shana’s crisis management firm had been the smartest decision they could have made. She’d discovered employees divulging trade secrets and helped expose someone they thought was a family friend as a killer.

“Caden, are you listening to me?”

No, he wasn’t really. But he knew he should. This issue Dalton had with Jules wasn’t good and could cause lots of problems in the long run. “Yes, I’m listening,” he lied. “You were talking about Jules. Let’s look at this logically for a moment, Dalton. Have you considered the possibility that when you did find Jules that you came on a little too strong? That maybe you were too focused on what you expected? You probably walked into her office with a hard-on.” The look that suddenly appeared on Dalton’s face let Caden know he’d guessed correctly.

“So what if I did? Like I said, she knew the score,” Dalton countered.

“And you would have taken her right there in her office.”

Dalton shrugged unashamedly. “I had no problem doing that. It would have saved time.”

Caden shook his head. It was hard to believe the audacity of his brother at times. As the youngest Granger, Dalton had grown up spoiled and pampered...especially by their mother. Things came easily for him, at times too easily. As a result, he often had an air of entitlement about him. “And you assumed she would feel the same way you did?”

“Don’t see why not. She did challenge me to find her. Besides, spontaneity is the spice of life, Caden. But I wouldn’t expect you to understand that. You’ve been living in Shilohville for too long.”

A smile couldn’t help but touch Caden’s lips. “And what does Shiloh have to do with this?”

“Admit it. You’ve loved your wife forever, even when you were kids and didn’t know what love was. Granted, the two of you were apart for a few years, thanks to her bastard of a father, but you never hired anyone to find her. You didn’t go to bed every night dreaming about what you would do to her when you did. You never—”

“Okay, Dalton, I get the picture, although I don’t agree with everything you’re saying. No man should expect a woman to put out on their first date. Hell, it wasn’t even a date. You just showed up at her office. I can just imagine how surprised she was to see you there.”

“She should have known I would eventually find her. She should have expected it, and she should have been ready—definitely more accommodating. Instead, she all but gave me her ass to kiss, and for that reason...”

Caden listened as Dalton continued with his tirade; coming out with crap he hoped like hell his brother would regret saying later. One thing was for certain; Jules Bradford had pissed him off big-time, ruffled a few of those manly feathers. He wouldn’t be surprised if she had been the first woman to do so, definitely to this degree.

“I happen to like Jules,” he broke in to say. When Dalton gave him a look that was sharper than glass, he added, “After all, she did find out who tried to kill me. And it didn’t take her much time to do it.”

“Fine. Shana’s Wonder Woman, your wife is the Wine Lady and Jules is Miss Whirlwind. If she hadn’t figured things out, someone else would have.”

“Not me, for sure,” Caden said, remembering the period of time he was trying like hell to forget.

“Then you owe her. I don’t,” Dalton said, easing out of the chair.

“Shana’s dinner party this weekend should be interesting with both you and Jules there.”

Dalton glanced over at Caden. “No, it won’t be, because I don’t plan to attend.”

Caden frowned. “Why?”

“We just discussed it. I tolerated Jules’s presence at the rehearsal and the wedding, but I’ll be damned if I’ll be in the same room with her again when I don’t have to.”

“But this will be Shana’s first dinner party that she’ll be hosting as a Granger.”

“Won’t be her last. Maybe she should have stayed a Bradford.”

Caden just stared at Dalton. He knew that although Dalton wouldn’t admit it, he liked Shana a lot. And he probably disliked her sister just as much. “At some point, you and Jules need to forget the past and move on. Shana is her sister, and Jace is your brother.”

“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.