A Brother's Honor (Grangers) - By Brenda Jackson Page 0,124
He stood. “Now for what I have to do. And I wouldn’t advise you or Freeman to give me any problems. I will carry this out, and then I’m going to go and take care of Eve. She’s become a liability.”
“You’ll never get away with this,” Jace growled.
“Of course you’d think that. You keep that thought in your mind while I put this bullet through your head.”
Vidal reached for his gun, and the moment he did so, a shot rang out, hitting him in the arm. Federal agents burst through the door, and within seconds, he was overpowered and taken into custody.
An agent rushed over to Jace and another to Freeman to untie them from the chairs. Freeman was handcuffed and taken into custody, as well. Jace smiled when he saw Marcel. “Boy, am I glad to see you guys.”
Marcel chuckled. “I’m sure you are. While Freeman was sitting by the window in plain view, one of my agents, a sharpshooter, has had Vidal within his scope all the while. That made him an easy target and as soon as he picked up that gun, we took action.” Marcel then smiled and added, “You have your brother to thank for putting that tracker on your phone. Unlike other trackers that merely provide a fifty-mile radius, the one you have pinpoints your location precisely. It definitely made finding you easier.”
“I’ll be sure to thank Dalton. He can be a pain in the ass at times, but I think I’ll keep him.”
“You better,” Dalton said, grinning as he and Caden walked through the door. “I’m beginning to like this spy stuff.”
“Jace!”
Shana then burst through the door and ran straight into Jace’s arms. A flood of heat and love encompassed him when he lowered his head to kiss her, not caring that they had an audience. She curled her arms around his neck and slid into his body. She felt right in his arms.
Suddenly, he broke off the kiss, and Shana found herself being steered to a corner of the room for privacy.
“Don’t go too far, Jace,” Marcel called out. “We’ll need you to give a statement.”
Jace nodded before glancing down at Shana. “I am so glad to see you,” he whispered.
“And I’m glad to see you, too. I’ve never been so scared in my life. I never thought Vidal could be so...”
“Evil,” he finished for her. “Neither did I.”
Jace shook his head sadly. “And just to think he’s a man I’d considered trustworthy. He worked for Granddad for years. He was there for us when Dad went to prison and when Granddad died...or so we thought. He’s admitted to skimming off Granger for years.”
He didn’t say anything for a minute and then he reached out and placed his hand on her stomach. “Are you pregnant?”
Shana’s mouth dropped open. “Why would you think—”
“Eve.”
She was almost too stunned to speak. “Eve?”
“Yes. She overheard a conversation you and your sister had at Long Meadows.”
Shana’s head began spinning. “I don’t understand.”
“I’ll explain Eve’s part in all of this later. But please answer me. Do you think you’re pregnant? Do you know for certain?”
Shana drew in a deep breath. This was not how she had planned to tell him, but since he was asking, she would. “Yes. I found out Tuesday when I took a home pregnancy test. That’s what I wanted to tell you tonight. And I was on the pill like I told you. But the antibiotics I was taking affected their potency. I’m sorry.”
Jace pulled her into his arms. “Don’t apologize, baby. I love children and always wanted some of my own. The reason I divorced Eve was because I came home from a business trip early to discover she’d had an abortion. For three years, I’ve been heartbroken over what she did.”
He paused for a moment and then added, “And tonight Vidal had the gall to tell me it was his baby. His baby. He and Eve had an affair, and she had the abortion with his blessing.”
The shock of what Jace had just said almost made Shana’s heart hurt. She couldn’t say anything, and stood there speechless. And then she couldn’t stop the tears that formed in her eyes. How could any woman deceive him that way? Jace was such a beautiful, kind and honorable man.
“Don’t cry, sweetheart,” he said, reaching up and using the pad of his thumb to wipe away her tears. “Nothing Eve can do will ever hurt me again. Only you can do that, because I love you.”
Talk about another shocker. This one almost brought Shana to her knees. He tightened his arms around her. And just in case she didn’t get it, Jace said. “I love you, and I want you, and I want our child.”
His words filled her with joy, and she felt totally elated. “And I love you, too, Jace. I love you so much.”
Jace kissed her again. There was no doubt in his mind that she was the woman meant for him. The woman who had his heart and his love. The woman who was having his baby.
He took her hand as his lips curved into a smile. “Come on, sweetheart. I need to give Marcel that statement, and then we’re leaving. We have a future to plan.”
* * *
Later that night, Shana lay in Jace’s arms. His statement had been given at police headquarters, and they’d both been there when Eve was brought in for questioning. There was nothing the woman could say, since Jace knew the truth.
“When do I get to meet your dad and sister?” he asked her, smiling.
“You get to meet Dad this weekend, but Jules left for Seattle this morning, and no telling when she’ll return. She’s working on a new case.”
He lifted a brow. “A new case?”
“Yes, she’s a private investigator and owns her own company.”
“Is she any good?”
“The best. But then, I would say that because I’m biased.”
Jace didn’t say anything for a minute then said, “I want to marry you, Shana. Not just because I don’t want my child born out of wedlock, but because I love you, and I want you to have my name.”
Shana felt her heart expand with happiness. “You sure?”
“I haven’t been so sure about anything in my life. So, will you marry me?”
She threw her arms around his neck and held his gaze that was so full of love and a mirror of her own. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Emotions ripped through Jace. Since returning to Virginia, he felt as if he’d gained more than any person had a right to claim: a company that had always been his legacy; the kind of relationship with his brothers that he’d always wanted; a beautiful fiancée and a child on the way.
He couldn’t wait to tell his father, and Jace was determined that his son or daughter would get to know Sheppard Granger as a free man, and not a man behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. He, Caden and Dalton would move heaven and earth to make that happen.
He bent his head and captured Shana’s lips with his. This was only the beginning.
* * * * *
Coming in June 2014,
Caden Granger’s story titled,
A SON’S PROMISE
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ISBN: 9781460313152
Copyright © 2013 by Brenda Streater Jackson
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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Table of Contents
Prologue
PART I
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
PART II
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three