A Brother's Honor by Brenda Jackson Read Free Book Online Page A

and looking as if his thoughts were a million miles away. He wondered what was on his brother’s mind. Had Dalton hit a nerve by bringing up Shiloh?
    “Joe Crowder is supposed to be here at eleven,” Dalton said, reclaiming Jace’s attention.
    Joe was the family attorney. Their grandfather’s will was to be read today. Vidal Duncan, the company attorney, was scheduled to meet with them, as well, after the reading. As expected, Titus Freeman had attended the funeral services. If he was aware of the promise the brothers had made to their grandfather, he hadn’t let on. Just as well, since Jace had no idea how the man felt about being ousted from such a high-level position.
    Dalton stood to stretch his legs and, as if pulled by a magnet, his gaze moved across the pastures in the direction of the home where he had lived as a child. “Has anyone gone back there since the day we left?” he asked.
    Jace and Caden followed his gaze. It was Caden who answered first. “I haven’t. Haven’t wanted to.”
    “Neither have I,” Jace said, finishing off the last of his coffee.
    Dalton nodded, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jeans while he continued to scan the area. “Just wondering.”
    * * *
    There were no surprises with the reading of the will. Everything Richard owned he bequeathed to his son, Sheppard. However, Jace, Caden and Dalton shared the handling of those properties and shared the inheritance in case of Sheppard’s death. Since Jace was the oldest, he received a higher percentage than the others, which everyone thought was fair.
    Hannah received the deed to her small cottage on Sutton Hills as well as papers to the car she was driving and a horse she’d grown fond of over the years. And she got a very generous monetary gift that would take care of her for life should she choose never to work again. No one said anything while Joe read through Richard’s requests. On occasion, the sound of Hannah’s sniffing was heard. Richard had been generous to his favorite charities, including the wing at the hospital that bore his deceased wife’s name.
    Joe had barely left when Vidal arrived. The two men were different in looks and stature, but both were born to be attorneys. They had that “this is the way Richard wanted it, so this is the way it is going to be” air about them.
    “So, as you can see from the way your grandfather set things up, Freeman is to step down as vice president the moment you arrive in the office tomorrow.”
    Jace jerked his head around. “Tomorrow?”
    “Yes, the sooner you take over the better.”
    Jace lifted a brow. “What’s the hurry? The company isn’t going anywhere, is it?”
    “No, but it needs your leadership. Granger Aeronautics has been operating in the red over the past year.”
    Jace frowned. His grandfather hadn’t mentioned anything like that to him. “Red? But why?”
    “Richard didn’t know why,” Vidal said, shaking his head. “He wasn’t getting contracts like he used to and was being outbid on a number of projects.”
    “That doesn’t make any sense,” Caden said. “I’m no business brain, but I would think someone as astute as Granddad would have found the problem and—”
    “Whoa, wait a minute,” Dalton said, leaning closer to the table where they were sitting. “Are you saying that Granger Aeronautics is going under?”
    “It’s headed that way unless the three of you can find a way to stop it from happening.”
    Caden looked pissed. “And how are we supposed to do that?”
    Jace heard the anger in his brother’s voice. Although they hadn’t said it, they were wondering the same thing. Had their grandfather made them promise to try to achieve the impossible? Try to save a company that was already failing?
    “I say the three of us vote to get rid of it. Stuart may know someone who might be interested in a merger and—”
    “No!” Jace said, turning on Dalton, with nostrils flaring and his gaze resembling a glacier. “Damn it, we