Free A Man's Promise by Brenda Jackson Page B

eye on Dalton. “Try me.”
    Dalton was silent for a minute, then he said, “I hired a private investigator to find a woman for me. I met her in a nightclub, and she left without telling me who she was and how to contact her.”
    “And you hired a P.I. to find her?”
    “Yes.”
    Caden couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re right. I don’t believe you.”

Eleven
    S hana grinned over at Jace. They were on their way to her father’s home, and he’d gotten quiet all of a sudden. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were nervous, Jace.”
    He took his eyes off the road when he brought the car to a stop at a traffic light. “I am. It’s not every day I meet the father of a woman and tell him I got his daughter pregnant and ask for her hand in marriage in the same meeting.”
    Shana smiled. “Take it easy. Dad’s a swell guy. Besides, he’s wanted grandkids for the longest time...as well as a son-in-law. Now he’ll get both. But you better be glad my sister, Jules, is out of town and won’t be here. She would give you a hard time just for the hell of it.”
    She paused a moment and then said, “Your family seems to have taken the news well. Except maybe for Dalton. It was obvious he was kind of put out about it.”
    “You should know Dalton by now. Dalton is Dalton,” Jace said as the car moved forward again. “The thought of my having unprotected sex was beyond his comprehension.”
    “You didn’t tell him what happened?”
    Jace shook his head. “No. It’s none of his business. Let him think whatever he wants, which is Dalton’s way.”
    “Caden seemed preoccupied with something last night. Is everything all right with his band?”
    “Yes, everything is fine with the band. It’s an issue concerning Shiloh Timmons.”
    Shana’s brow bunched. “Timmons? Where do I know that name from?”
    “Probably from seeing it in the listings of all our shareholders. Samuel Timmons was her father, but he died several months ago. All his shares in the company went to Sandra Timmons, her mother. In our board meeting a few months ago, when Titus Freeman tried to take over Granger Aeronautics, Shiloh saved the day by casting her mother’s votes our way.”
    “That was pretty darned nice of her.”
    “Yes, it was. Without those votes going our way, we would have been prevented from running the company the way my grandfather wanted us to.” He paused a moment and then said, “If Samuel Timmons had been alive, he would have voted with Freeman and, to this day, I don’t understand what happened.”
    She looked over at him. “What happened about what?”
    “My parents’ relationship with the Timmonses. They used to be close friends, and we all did things together...which is why their son, Sedrick, and I were close while growing up, and why Shiloh and Caden were close. But after my mother was killed, they, like everyone else, were convinced my father was guilty. They even testified at Dad’s trial about overhearing one of my parents’ arguments when Dad threatened to kill Mom.”
    Jace paused a moment and then said, “Caden, Dalton and I overheard a similar argument. The night before Mom died. But we knew he was upset with her and that it was an idle threat.”
    “Even when she was murdered the next day?”
    “Yes. We were confused about a lot of things, but I think, deep down, none of us really thought Dad was capable of killing Mom.”
    “Not even in the heat of passion like the prosecutors claimed?”
    “Not even then. We knew Dad. As far as I’m concerned, the Timmonses should have known him equally well, and that he’d made an idle threat. It seemed as if for some reason Samuel Timmons wanted everyone to think Dad was capable of killing Mom.”
    He paused again and then said, “And then after Dad was sentenced, the Timmonses and some of the other neighbors—the country-club gang—treated my brothers and me like we had the bubonic plague. They refused to let any of their kids