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businesses like this one? As long as they’re within our community.”
    Nathan shut his mouth. The youngest Donovan brother might be risk-averse, but their great-grandmother had set a requirement that the company keep the majority of its funds in the area where her family settled five generations earlier. Their Texas roots ran deep and proud.
    “Come up with a set of guidelines,” Aunt Kathryn suggested.
    Connor wondered if she’d always been the peacemaker. He couldn’t remember a time she hadn’t been.
    “Bring it back to us next month. I think we can consider it.”
    Erin looked to Connor. “Fine with me,” he said.
    The Colonel entered, slowly, but without a cane. Connor stood to offer assistance, but was waved off.
    “Where’s your cane—?” Kathryn started.
    “Button it,” he interrupted, “otherwise I’ll give in to your mother. She’s always wanted to see the Panama Canal.”
    “Panama Canal?”
    “Your mother talked to a travel agent. Your cruise isn’t sold out.”
    “Consider it buttoned.”
    “She doesn’t want her mother and I knowing that she’s going to be spending two weeks with Neil Lathrope.”
    “Grandfather!” Erin scolded.
    “Man’s thirty years younger than her. Everyone knows they’re seeing each other.”
    “Thirty-one,” Kathryn said easily.
    “Lathropes only want women for one reason. And it isn’t the money.”
    “Probably true,” Kathryn agreed. “And that’s not all bad. Should have started dating younger men years ago.”
    “I can’t unhear that,” Nathan protested.
    Connor wondered if the stroke had removed some of the Colonel’s polite-society filters. Either that, or it was the privilege that came with age. Five years ago, he would have never said such a thing.
    Once the Colonel was seated, an act that took some time as well as concentrated effort, he asked, “Are we waiting on Cade?”
    “He’s not coming,” Connor replied.
    “He missed last month, too. He has obligations, and being part of the family is one of them. That damnable mother of his—”
    “I’ll call him,” Kathryn said.
    “We talk once a week,” Connor added, grateful his aunt had derailed that rant. No matter how much family mattered to the Colonel, his relationship with Stormy, Cade’s mother, continued to irritate him.
    “That’s not good enough.”
    “Agreed.” Connor nodded. Cade did need to interact more. Their conversations were short, and Connor generally initiated them. Connor understood his brother’s reluctance—he was protective about his mother, and he carried the burden for their father’s death. It didn’t matter that no one blamed him.
    “I want him at the next meeting.”
    “I’ll see to it,” Kathryn promised.
    “Let’s get through this.” The Colonel reached for an agenda. “I have an appointment with my trainer.”
    “You mean physical therapist?” Kathryn asked.
    “No. I hired a personal trainer. She has me lifting weights and building my endurance. Yes, yes, before you become the appointed nagger, the cardiologist, neurologist and a whole host of other names—all ending in ist—said it was okay. I’m going to participate in a five-k walk later this year.”
    “Go, Granddad,” Erin said.
    Connor looked down to hide his grin.
    “I’ll be raising funds for stroke victims,” he added. “I expect you all to sponsor me. The foundation, as well.”
    It wasn’t a question, and they all knew it.
    Kathryn nodded. “Name the amount.”
    “The more people from Donovan Worldwide who participate, the better.”
    “On it,” Erin replied. “I’ll set up a team.” She ran the HR department, and she had a particular interest in wellness programs and getting employees involved in special projects.
    As always, the Colonel’s determination impressed Connor.
    “Now, where were we?” the man asked.
    Erin updated him on the corset shop idea, ending with her proposal to invest in more small, regional loans.
    He nodded. “Of course. Nathan