Free Built for Power by Kathleen Brooks

on the list. Bree wasn’t in the office today. No matter what argument Logan put forward, the guard wasn’t going to let him upstairs.
    “Please, I just want to meet with Bree’s assistant.”
    “You’re not on the list and the office is about to close,” the guard said again as he reached for his radio. Logan was sure he was going to be tossed out soon.
    “George, it’s okay. This young man is with me. I can vouch for him.” Logan turned to his rescuer and choked on his thank-you.
    Warning: Cougar on the Prowl was on the front of Shirley’s walker as she shuffled over to where he and the security guard had been talking. George gave Shirley a smile and then went back to guarding the elevators at Simpson Global.
    “Thank you, Shirley. I was just trying to find out where Bree lives. She’s not answering her phone, and I thought it might be nice to take her some flowers,” Logan said a little lamely.
    It had sounded like a great idea when he passed the florist, but now he felt out of place with the huge bouquet in his hands. He’d also started to doubt if he should be taking someone flowers. It had been way too long since he’d been in a relationship, years in fact—since Stacy cheated on him, sending him to England. It wasn’t easy facing your younger brother who was now married to your ex-fiancée with two perfect little boys toddling around. But Bree seemed different. She wasn’t a woman you see for a short time and then forget. She was a woman you found yourself doing anything for—like taking her an obscenely large bouquet of flowers.
    “Of course, dear. Tell me, who are your people?”
    Uh-oh. That was a Southern interrogation technique. “I’m from Charleston, South Carolina. My family is proud to be one of the first families to settle there from England.”
    “You're a good Southern boy, are ya?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Then why are you in England?” Shirley asked with a knowing eye. Somehow she already knew the story, or at least that there was one.
    Logan pasted on a fake smile to hide the fact he was uncomfortable, but by the way Shirley raised one eyebrow he knew she saw through it. “My family, the Wards, is one of the most preeminent families in Charleston. We were brick builders from England and set up shop in Charleston before the American Revolution.”
    “I figured that was y’all. Simpson Construction buys bricks from your family.”
    “If you say so,” Logan shrugged.
    Shirley narrowed her eyes. “Are you not good with your family? Family is important, you know?”
    “I know. It’s my family who doesn’t know that.” Logan took a deep breath. Why was he telling this to an old lady who was probably going to tell everyone else? But one look at her and Logan knew he had to tell his story, or he wasn’t getting Bree’s address. “I met a girl in college and we became engaged. I didn’t go home much because my father kept pressing me to join the family business.”
    “And you wanted to design, not build,” Shirley guessed.
    “That’s right. Whenever I came home, it ended in an argument. My mother would come to me later and try to smooth things over. She was a peacemaker but never stood up for me when I needed it. She never questioned my father and it made me angry so I stayed away.
    “Then I brought my fiancée home. Dinner went just as I figured it would. My father pressured me to join the company, and I told him I wanted to get my master’s in architecture. My father exploded. He disowned me and gave the VP position to my younger brother, Brad. He also announced Brad would receive my half of the company and the inheritance he had always held over my head.”
    “So, you forged ahead on your own. And Stacy?” Shirley asked with no pity in her voice. Somehow that made Logan feel better. It also made him realize he had stopped pitying himself as well.
    “I stormed out of the house in anger. I expected Stacy to follow. She didn’t. Instead I found her in Brad’s bed