Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters) (35 page)

“Tear the room
apart,” Honor ordered harshly, holding Harmony protectively against her as she
jerked her head toward the desk drawers.  “We’ve found enough to know Jacob
Stone didn’t just happen on this family,” she explained, nodding toward the
scattered photographs and pictures on the desk.  “Not even close.”

Eyes widening as
she took a look at the desk, Patience lifted shocked eyes to Honor.  “Jesus,”
she breathed, picking up a picture of Tanner.  “What the fuck…”

“We don’t know,”
Honor interrupted her sister before Patience could lose her temper.  “We don’t
know anything yet, but we’re going to find out,” she bit out, her words a grim
promise.

Harmony watched in
a state of shock as her sisters dug into Jacob’s desk, pulling out files on
each one of them, Tanner, and a man named Diego Fuentes.

Fingering a news
article about her kidnapping, Honor’s face tightened.  “Whoever Jake is, he
certainly did his research on us.”

Holding up a picture
of a Hispanic man up for Harmony to see, Patience asked, “Do you recognize him,
sis?  He’s in a
lot
of these pictures with Tanner.”

“Never seen him
before in my life,” she denied huskily, eyeing the picture dispassionately as
she wiped the tears off her cheeks.

Patience frowned as
she peered down at the file.  “Based on these pictures, he and Tanner know each
other pretty well,” she noted, showing Harmony a photograph of her ex-husband
with his arm wrapped around the other Mexican man.  “Why the fuck is Jake so
interested in Tanner?  And this Diego guy?” she murmured to herself, studying
the pictures.

“I have no idea,”
Harmony replied numbly, turning toward Faith as the woman gasped behind them.

Standing at the
credenza, Faith took a faltering step backward as she gazed down into the
drawer she’d just opened.  “Uhmmm… y’all need to see this,” she called out in a
voice the shook with equal parts worry and fear.

Walking across the
room on deadened legs, Harmony looked over Faith’s shoulder at what she’d
found.  “Oh, God,” she moaned as her eyes counted the guns lining the long
drawer.  “Who
is
this man?” she whimpered as Patience’s arm went around
her waist.

“Okay, let’s not
panic,” Honor began calmly, turning to face Harmony and taking her shoulders in
her hands.  “You said Jake told you that he was in security….”

“Honor, I love you,
honey.  But, unless Jake is security for the fuckin’ mob or a former mercenary
on holiday in Paradise, no man, in security or not, has guns like those just
layin’ around,” Patience argued, jabbing a finger toward the weapons on
display.  “Those are assault rifles, not BB guns, darlin’.”

“We shouldn’t be
here,” Harmony began to mutter as panic clawed up her throat.  “We need to
leave.  We shouldn’t be here at all.  I shouldn’t have asked you to come here. 
I put you all in danger, and now, we need to go!”

“I would agree with
that,” a deep voice drawled from the doorway.  “Breaking and entering is a
crime in fifty out of fifty states, I believe.  Even if it is your boyfriend’s
house.”

All four sisters
whirled at the sound of that familiar voice, coming face to face with three
very grim faced men, each one staring intently at them. 

Harmony felt her
knees shaking as she tried to take a step forward.  She had gotten her sisters
into her mess and she was going to have to be the one that got them out of it. 
Surely the three men staring at her would understand once she explained… once
they saw what she’d uncovered.

Then they’d help. 
They had to help; they were probably the only men left in the world that she
could trust.

But just as she
opened her mouth, her brother-in-law lifted his hand and shook his head. 
Watching as Cain stepped to the side and crossed the room to Faith, she saw him
lean forward to close the drawer holding the gun stash, whistling as he did. 
“I knew the son of a bitch was well-armed, but I haven’t seen some of that
hardware since I was in Afghanistan,” he noted, shoving the drawer closed with
one hand.

Zeke raised a hand
to tilt back his well-worn cowboy hat and shrugged.  “We’re just lucky that
he’s not had a reason to use any of them yet,” he muttered.  “Even better that
he wasn’t here and thought y’all were intruders,” he added with a pointed look
in Honor’s direction.  “That coulda gone real bad, real fast, ladies.  I’d
rather arrest you all than see any of you in the morgue.  Damn it, every one of
you should know better!” he growled, snatching off his hat to run a restless
hand through his hair.

Abel Turner shook
his head as his eyes narrowed on Harmony’s pale face.  “You alright, Harmony?”
he asked, his voice worried as he took a half step toward the fragile looking
woman.

Alright?  No, she
wasn’t alright.  She was a lot of things, but definitely not alright.  Harmony’s
eyes dilated and she jerked her head as she realized that while the men facing
them were obviously mad, they weren’t shocked.  Not by the fact that she’d
broken into Jake’s house and not by the fact that she was standing here barely
holding herself together. 

“Y-you knew,” she
sputtered, her anxiety giving way to righteous indignation and quickly
escalating toward a fury she’d never felt before in her life as she looked from
Abel’s worried face to the Sheriff’s wary one.  “All of you knew that this…
this
bastard
wasn’t what he was portraying himself to be, didn’t you?”
she yelled, jabbing a finger toward Zeke’s chest as she took a step forward. 

Patience narrowed
her eyes on Abel as she moved toward Harmony.  “What in the hell is going
on
here?  Are you somehow involved in this circus, Abel?”

“Hellion,” Abel
began, holding up a hand to Patience, “This isn’t our story to tell.  We’re
just here to make sure you girls are okay.”

“Bullshit!  This is
family!  And you’ve been claiming for years that you’re that, Abel.  Whoever
knows what the story is should tell it,” Patience snapped.  “And you just
answered my question, you son of a bitch,” she hissed irately, her eyes
promising retribution as she stared him down.

“Yes, Cain,
Patience is right,” Faith bit out as she looked toward her husband, who was guiltily
staring at the wood floor. “Whoever knew what the hell was going on should have
told us, and I’d like to know just how the hell you’re involved in this, too! 
This man has pictures of our
entire
family,” she yelled, gesturing
toward Jake’s desk.  “He’s been looking into all of us!  Did you know about
that?”

“Baby, this is one
of those times that you need to trust me,” Cain whispered, reaching a hand
toward his wife as she jerked away from him, her pretty face set in a hard mask
of angry disbelief.

Honor remained
silent as she met Ezekiel’s pained eyes.  “Oh, they all knew,” she whispered,
reaching for Harmony’s hand and tightening her fingers around it.  “The
question is, why did they choose to keep their
fucking
mouths shut?” she
hissed, her eyes flashing dangerously as they bore into Zeke’s. 

Harmony’s jaw
nearly dropped as she realized how furious her youngest sister was on her
behalf.  She
never
swore.  Everyone knew that.  Looking from Honor’s
irate expression to Zeke’s tight face, she shook her head.  “Doesn’t matter,”
she said, shaking her head.  “I’m done.  I don’t
know
who the fuck Jacob
Stone really is, but I’m finished with him and his twisted games!  You tell him
to stay the fuck away from me … from my daughter… and from my sisters!  You
care about any of us at all, you’ll do that,
Sheriff
,” Harmony sneered.

Blocking her path
when Harmony would have darted for the door, Zeke held up his hands.  “Harmony,
take a second and listen to me…”

“Listen to
you
,”
she echoed incredulously, her hands clenched at her side.  “You
knew
!  I
don’t know what you knew, but you knew something, and you – a man I
trusted
– didn’t warn me that this son of a bitch knew me.  You let me date him, Zeke. 
I fucked him last night!  Did you know that?” she asked with a bitter laugh
lacking any humor to those that heard it.  “I
gave
myself to a man that
has been stalking my family!  The first man I let in after Tanner, and he’s a
fucking psychopath with a shitload of big guns!” she screamed, her entire body
trembling with the force of her emotions.

Zeke’s face paled at
Harmony’s words.  “He wasn’t stalking you, sugar.  I’d never have allowed that
to happen.  You need to talk to
him
, Harmony.  You need to hear Jacob
out and let him explain what’s happening here.  There were reasons…”

“Fuck his reasons! 
I don’t care!  He had plenty of time to
explain
before I let him get
between my thighs,” Harmony screamed, looking around the room.  “You and Cain
and Abel… you’re our family and you betrayed my trust!  So, unless you’re gonna
slap me in handcuffs, get the hell out of my way so that I can get as far from
this bastard and these fucking memories as  I can,” she demanded angrily.

“I’m not gonna
arrest you, Harmony, but I can’t let you leave here in this condition either,
sweetheart,” Zeke said softly, capturing Harmony’s wrist when she would have
bolted past him.  “You’re shaking so hard you can barely stand.  If you got
hurt…”

“Let my sister
go
,
Ezekiel,” Honor commanded, her voice lashing the room like a whip.  “Patience,
you are going to drive Harmony back to the café.  Stop and pick up Heaven on
the way.  Both of you stay there and tell Aunt Orla not to leave until I get
back.  Abel, follow my sisters to make sure they arrive safely.  Cain, take
Faith to the restaurant, too.  For your safety, I suggest you both wait in the
parking lot while the women go inside.   I’ll meet you all there in a few
minutes, but first, the good sheriff and I are going to have a conversation,”
she said, her voice deceptively soft as she glared at Zeke.

“Fine,” Faith
muttered, “But, I’m riding with Harmony and Patience.  I’m afraid I’ll claw my
husband’s eyes out if I’m anywhere near him right now,” she said, her gaze
silently condemning Cain to hell.

“I don’t care,”
Harmony shouted, overwhelmed and desperately in need of an escape route.  “Can
we
please
just get out of here before Jake gets back?  If I see him, my
hand to God, I will rip his fucking throat out and shove it up his ass.  As it
is, being here…remembering…I feel sick,” she begged, looking toward Honor.

Zeke nodded slowly
and released Harmony’s wrist.  “Go,” he agreed hoarsely.

Honor nodded as she
watched her sisters each take one of Harmony’s arms and guide her out of the
room, followed closely by Abel and Cain.  Waiting until she and Zeke were alone
in the room, she raised her chin, lifted her hand and slapped him full force across
the face.  “Liar!” she spat as his face snapped to the left, the hollow echo of
the blow filling the air. “We trusted you. 
I
trusted you.  I asked you
this morning if there was danger,” she whispered furiously, taking a step back
when he righted his head and looked at her.

Rubbing his tender,
now red cheek, Zeke inhaled deeply and lifted his eyes to focus on hers, filled
with pain and confusion.  “I had that coming, but I didn’t lie.  I answered you
honestly.  Crime is definitely on the rise, but it isn’t here in the form of
Jacob Stone.”  Watching her open her mouth, Zeke growled, “If it means keeping
you safe, I’ll do whatever I have to do, Honor.  If breaking your faith in me
is the price I pay, I’ll pay it.  I told you that six years ago.  I meant it
then; I mean it now.  There’s not a single, fucking thing I won’t do to keep
you safe, and by extension, your sisters, too.  You wanna stand there and think
that I’d deliberately hurt any of you for a single second, I can’t stop you.  You
want to hate me for the choices I’ve made; do it.  Won’t change anything for
me.  I protect what’s mine, however I need to do it.  First and always, Honor,”
he replied, his deep voice tender as he imparted his truth on her.

Honor’s lower lip
trembled as she met his intense gaze.  “Damn you, Zeke,” she whispered
tremulously, badly wanting to hate the man in front of her for his secrets, but
knowing, deep down, Ezekiel Monroe
always
had her best interests at
heart.  “Does Jacob have something to do with the reason you’ve been dogging me
and the rest of the girls worse than you usually do?  Is he the reason that you
were at the house this morning?  Are we in danger?  If Harmony…”

Taking Honor by the
shoulders, Zeke shook her gently.  “Listen to me, Honor,” he urged.  “Jacob
Stone is not a threat to Harmony.  He’s not a threat to any of you. He’s…”

“No!” Honor
interrupted quickly, shaking her head.  “I don’t want to know.  Not before
Harmony does.  I’m not going to be one more person that stabs her in the back
by not telling her the truth.”  Swallowing hard, she whispered, “It’s enough to
know that he’s not here to hurt her.”

“Baby, he’d rather
cut off his arm than let something or somebody do her harm,” Zeke assured her
quietly, studying Honor’s pinched face.  “He loves her, Honor.”

“He’s
already
hurt her.  She feels used, and I don’t blame her,” Honor countered, her lips
twisting in a grimace.  “Whether he loves her or not, Harmony isn’t gonna just
forgive this,” she said, turning to gesture at the strewn photographs of her
and the rest of the family.  “I just pray for his sake that he’s got a good
reason for all he’s done and Harmony isn’t armed when he tries to share his
side of the story.  Mark my words, all hell is fixin’ to break loose in
Paradise, Zeke, and if I were you, I’d brace.”  She stepped away from him and
walked toward the door, then turned back.  “In the meantime, I’d call him if
you have his number.  Warn him that there are a whole passel of McKinnons that
would love to have a chat.”