Man of Honor (Passion in Paradise Book 4)

by Sarah O'Rourke

  Pressing her lips together, Honor’s eyes glittered dangerously as they met his. “Perhaps it would be better if you went back to sulking in silence,” she advised sharply as she lifted her chin. “Unless, of course, you’d like to be permanently evicted from my bedroom, Sheriff.”

  “Like hell, Honor,” Zeke grunted, dropping his hands to his hips.

  “We’ll see,” Honor retorted with a look that plainly said she’d already seen his future and it involved a pillow, a blanket, and the couch.

  “You’ve got to be able to understand my frustration here,” he urged, appealing to her sense of logic and reason.

  “I clearly do not,” Honor snapped.

  Oops… clearly, he’d forgotten that pesky attributes like logic and reason didn’t factor into the picture when a mad McKinnon woman was provoked. Aggravated, Zeke ran a hand down his face. “Woman, you are trying my patience,” he ground out as he pondered how a morning that had started off so well had devolved into this convoluted waiting game.

  “Sheriff, you’ve been testing my restraint for years,” Honor countered dryly, staring him down without the slightest hint of remorse. “You’ve waited eight years to find a solid lead on my case, Ezekiel,” Honor stated softly, “Surely you can handle a few more minutes.”

  “I just wish I understood why you were so determined not to interrupt this bitch’s morning plans. Sherry left you there, Honor. I can’t comprehend how you can just sit there as calmly as if you were waiting for a Sunday sermon to start. It makes absolutely no sense to me. I’m ready to tear her hair out for the pain she’s responsible for bringing you. Hell, I’m ready to tear my own hair out for not seeing what a total bitch I was involved with. But you… you look as cool as a cucumber.”

  “I think we both know I’m anything but cool, Zeke,” Honor replied gently. “You were there last night. You can see the evidence on your neck that I’m not exactly over what happened to me.”

  Tugging the collar of his shirt over the fading marks, Zeke frowned. “Then how can you cut this bitch so much slack.”

  “Zeke, I’m truly not and I don’t mean to make it seem like I am. I’m furious with her. She played a role in the worst days of my life. I hate that anyone could be that cruel. But dragging her out of school in front of her son – who, by the way, had NOTHING to do with any of this - won’t change anything about what happened to me eight years ago, but it could scar her child for life witnessing something like that. I’m not gonna let either of us have to endure that kind of guilt. We’ve been waiting for years to find a clue to who else hurt me. We can wait a few minutes longer.”

  He was on the verge of opening his mouth to argue when the intercom buzzed on his messy desk. Shooting a look toward Honor that said they were far from finished with their chat, he hit the speaker button on his phone. “Yeah, Carline,” he greeted his secretary gruffly. “What do you need?”

  Honor scowled. “Be nice,” she mouthed.

  Shoulders sagging, Zeke hung his head. Honest to Christ, the shit Honor chose to get herself riled up over would never cease to amaze him. She was fine with letting one of the bitches indirectly responsible for her suffering have extra time with her kid before she got some answers from her, but God forbid he be abrupt with his secretary. From the look on her annoyed face, that kind of behavior might end up getting him banished to the barn to sleep tonight.

  Honest to God, nothing made sense today. Down was apparently up now and north had suddenly decided to go south. The insanity was everywhere.

  “I just thought you’d wanna know. Deputy Hightower has arrived and escorted Mrs. Anderson to Interrogation Room One, Sheriff.”

  Hearing Sherry’s married name, Zeke felt a purely predatory smile pull at his lips as Honor audibly inhaled. “Wonderful. We’ll be there shortly. Thank you, Carline,” he said before releasing the button and looking at where Honor still sat. Eyes going to his woman, he noted that she’d gone pale and still. Moving quickly to her, he knelt in front of her chair. “Honor?” he murmured.

  “This is really happening, isn’t it?” she asked out loud. He could tell by the distant look in her eyes that she wasn’t really asking him a question so much as she was trying to wrap her head around the fact that the moment where they confronted one of her torturers was upon them.

  “Kitten, you don’t need to do this,” he said. “Let me go get us the answers we need. This can be done without you putting yourself through any more pain. I’ll get Deputy Hightower to give you a ride back to the café and you can spend your afternoon cooking up a storm with Sunshine and Miss Orla,” he offered hopefully, desperately wanting to spare her what was bound to be a drama filled interrogation. If he knew Sherry, she’d drag this out for as long as she possibly could, and there was no reason he could see for Honor to endure that. None at all.

  “This is my fight,” Honor whispered as she finally shifted her eyes to his face. “I can’t walk away from it just because it’s going to be a difficult confrontation.”

  “It’s our fight, and I’m more than capable of fighting it for both of us,” he corrected firmly, reaching for her hand and linking their fingers together. “I want to fight it for both of us. Let me protect you from this.”

  Honor shook her head, lifting a hand to his clean shaven cheek. “I love you so much for wanting to do that for me.”

  “You’re mine, Kitten. Of course I wanna shield you from anything that could hurt you. I didn’t back then. I drove away,” he reminded her, his deep voice jagged and coarse. “I fucked up, but I swear to God, it won’t happen again.”

  “Zeke, you are the noblest man I know. I’m the luckiest woman in the world to be able to say that you belong to me, but you’ve got to stop blaming yourself for being human. What happened to me wasn’t your fault. You’ve got nothing to make up for here.”

  “Honor…” Zeke muttered, hanging his head.

  “You are the most decent and honorable man I’ve ever known, and every time I see you do this to yourself, it makes me want to cry. Because I don’t know how to convince you that you’re as blameless as I am in this whole thing.”

  Zeke shook his head and lifted his eyes to hers. “Baby, you can’t. You can’t because I bear some of the responsibility.”

  “You know how much I hate vulgar words, but I have to say that’s just fucking horseshit,” she announced. Her soft voice was so prim and proper even while she spewed those filthy words, and he couldn’t help his laugh. Hearing that word come out of her pink lips was like seeing the Easter Bunny smoking a joint. Those kinds of things just didn’t happen in everyday life.

  Tapping his index finger against her pursed lips, Zeke shook his head. “That’ll be enough of that filthiness. My woman doesn’t say those kinds of things,” he chided as her eyes flashed.

  “Then my man needs to remember to place blame where it’s deserved and not carry it on his own very broad shoulders,” she countered, settling her hands over the shoulders in question before she leaned forward in her chair to press her lips to his.

  Zeke kissed her gently but deeply, relishing the feel of her freely given affection. For so many years, he’d dreamed of this closeness with her, and now that he finally had it, he was greedy. “I think that’s the first time you’ve called me your man,” he finally murmured against her damp lips when he finally convinced himself to release her mouth from his.

  “Is… is that okay?” she asked a bit uncertainly as she drew back a few inches. “You are mine, aren’t you?”

  “Hell, yes, I’m yours,” Zeke growled, leaning forward to kiss her hard on the lips. “Always, Honor. Even when you didn’t want me to be, I was yours.”

  “I was confused. Scared. But I’m seeing things clearly now. I’m yours, and I know that I finally arrived exactly where I’m supposed to be, Zeke. Now, let’s go see what Sherry knows so we can deal with it and then get on with our lives.”

  Nodding, Zeke rose to his feet and offered Honor his hand. “Alright,” he murmured, drop
ping a hand to her waist as he guided her out the door and down the hallway. “Remember, you’ll be observing the interrogation through mirrored glass. You’ll be able to see us, but she won’t be able to see you. I’ll have an earwig in my ear so I’ll be able to hear if you need to share something with me, and Jeb will be with you the entire time. Okay?” he asked, gesturing toward the small closet-like room beside the room where he’d be questioning Sherry.

  “I understand, Zeke,” she acknowledged quietly as Zeke opened the door for her, nodding her greeting to Deputy Jeb Hightower as she stepped inside the tiny room.

  “Morning, Miss Honor. Sheriff,” Jeb said, addressing them in a low voice as he frowned at the woman on the other side of the glass. “As you can see, I got Mrs. Anderson placed in Interrogation and I’ve already got the cameras recording, but it’s clear she’s growing antsy,” he said, nodding toward the glass.

  Turning to look at where Sherry paced restlessly from one end of the small, windowless room to the other, Zeke scowled. “She say anything when you picked her up?”

  “Just the usual ‘What’s the meaning of this? I have rights,’ crap that everybody spouts when we pick ‘em up,” Deputy Hightower replied with a glower of his own. “I stuck to the line you gave me, though. Just told her you had some questions regarding a cold case you were working on and had received some intelligence that she might have some useful information. When she heard that, she clamped down on her outrage real fast. I could tell her nerves kicked in when she started fidgeting like crazy in the back of the squad car.”

  “Anybody witness you picking her up?” Zeke asked as he pulled the metal chair in the corner toward the glass for Honor to sit.

  “Nope,” Jeb denied. “Followed her home from the elementary school and picked her up at her house. Her husband had already left for work and I didn’t spy a neighbor in sight,” he informed his boss as he passed him an earpiece.

  Putting the wig into his ear one-handed, he shot Jeb a pleased look. “Good job, Hightower.”

  “Thanks, boss,” Jeb murmured. “Sheriff, I don’t wanna overstep my boundaries, sir, but are you sure you don’t want me in there with you. I know this is a little… personal for you,” he elaborated uncomfortably.

  “I’m sure,” Zeke replied. “I appreciate the concern, son, but I’ve got this. I’d rather have you in here watching over Honor for me.” There was no way in hell he was going to allow anyone in that room to interfere with how he went about getting answers no matter how well-intentioned the suggestion was.

  “Understood, Sheriff,” Deputy Hightower confirmed with a nod.

  “You both know that I AM a grown woman that can competently mind herself, don’t you?” she complained grouchily, glaring between the two men.

  Zeke grinned at Jeb. “She’s become a mouthy little thing since I put a ring on her finger, hasn’t she?”

  Jeb wisely remained silent but his lips did quirk at the corners as he directed his gaze to the woman still anxiously pacing behind the glass.

  “You can just hush up that nonsense, Sheriff. Don’t you have some criminals to ferret out for me? I’d like to see my tax dollars work for me, please,” she requested tartly, flapping a hand toward the other room.

  Knowing she was using scorn and derision as a protective shield, Zeke let her smart mouth have that play. Bending, he brushed his lips to hers. “I can hear everything you say through the mic in my ear. If you have a question or need me to know something, do not hesitate to interrupt.”

  Swallowing hard, Honor stared into his eyes with a slightly panicked gaze. “This could be it, Zeke.”

  “Maybe,” he confirmed. “For now, let’s just take it one question at a time.”

  Honor nodded. “One question at a time,” she repeated.

  Stealing another quick kiss, Zeke straightened and shot a meaningful look at Jeb as he took the file the other man held out to him. “Take care of my girl,” he ordered, his fingers tightening around the folder in his hand.

  “Yes, sir,” Jeb replied as Zeke turned toward the door. His hand was on the doorknob when he heard Honor call his name. Turning, he met her set face.

  “Make her regret this, Zeke. Make her sorry.”

  Offering her one jerky nod, Zeke quickly left the room and stepped into the hallway. Taking a deep breath to center himself as he closed the door to the viewing room behind him, he took the two necessary steps to bring him to the entry to his interrogation room. Cracking his neck before reaching for the door handle, he felt the familiar rage he’d been carrying around for eight years churning in his gut and let it fuel him. The woman inside the room ahead of him had callously chosen to abandon a young girl to a pack of hyenas eight years ago because of petty jealousy. Shaking his head as the rage sank deeper into his bones, he let that feeling energize him.

  And as he shoved open the door to the room where Sherry waited and stepped inside, slamming the door loudly behind him, he knew it was long past time for a reckoning.

  “Zeke!” Sherry yelped, jumping slightly as the door banged closed. “You scared me to death,” she accused, obviously startled by his sudden appearance.

  “Sit down, Ms. Anderson,” Zeke demanded tersely, pointing at the plain wood chair tucked under the long conference table. “We have a lot to go over this morning.”

  “Ms. Anderson?” Sherry repeated in surprise. “You’re being awfully formal, Zeke. I know you have a fiancé now, but I think you can call a woman that you used to sleep with regularly by her first name. How is Honor anyway? I haven’t gone by the café in forever. Since Dan got his promotion to Vice-president of Operations over at the bank and joined the country club, we’ve been eating there when we eat out,” she shared with a slightly condescending smile.

  Zeke merely stared at her, his mouth pressed in a straight line.

  “Zeke?” Sherry called huffily, dropping her hands to her hips as she tapped her heel impatiently against the tiled floor, “What in the world is going on? Why are you looking at me like I’m some kind of bug under a microscope?”

  Zeke ignored the question, wanting to keep the woman as off balance and unsure as possible. “Ms. Anderson, I’ve asked you once to sit down,” Zeke noted blandly, keeping his voice low and steady as he moved purposefully to the opposite side of the table and sat down. “Now, I’m requesting you sit for a second time. Please sit down. If I need to repeat myself for a third time, I’ll consider you a hostile interviewee, bring a deputy in with us during this interview, and ask him to cuff and secure you to the table while we have this discussion. Is that how you want to play this?” Zeke asked, looking up at her with an unreadable expression.

  Sherry’s jaw dropped at Zeke’s threat, but she moved quickly to the chair he indicated across from him and sat down. “Zeke, why in the world are you being so formal with me?” she asked as she settled herself in her chair, clasping her hands on top of the table.

  “Because, this is a formal interview with local law enforcement, Ms. Anderson,” Zeke returned succinctly, offering her a cool impersonal smile as he flipped open the file Jeb had handed him on the way out the door. It contained a transcript of the DVD Honor had received. He’d read it more than once, and every time he had, he’d grown angrier at the woman now sitting in front of him.

  “Zeke, you’re makin’ me nervous,” Sherry said with a nervous laugh. “Maybe you should tell me why Jeb Hightower hauled me in here this morning. I had a lot of stuff to do and don’t appreciate having my entire day disrupted like this. I only have a few hours before my boy, Toby, gets out of school and I still need to shop for groceries, stop by the pharmacy, and pick up Dan’s dry cleaning. I don’t have time for whatever game you’ve got going here. Then, to add insult to injury, to be kept waiting in this room like a common criminal….well, let’s just say that if my husband hears about this, he’ll be making a phone call to the Mayor. You know with him being on the board at the bank, they’ve gotten to be quite good friends. They play golf together every other Satu
rday, Zeke,” she blustered at him petulantly, shifting uncomfortably in her seat as she looked around the sparse room. “Honestly, whatever you wanted to talk about could have been said in your office, and you could have just called me to come in for a visit. It certainly wasn’t necessary to send one of your deputies out to bring me here.”

  “You done yet?” Zeke asked in a bored voice. “Because I really could care less about your laundry list of errands, Ms. Anderson.”

  “Ezekiel, my name is Sherry, damn it! Use it,” she cursed angrily.

  “I’m aware of your name,” Zeke returned calmly before he leaned forward to brace his elbows on the table and clasp his hands together. “To answer your first question, I had Deputy Hightower detain you this morning because I didn’t want to risk you avoiding a summons from my office to come in and speak with me. You see, you and I have some important matters to discuss.”

  “What matters?” Sherry snapped. “Since we haven’t spoken in ages, I don’t see what we could have that needs to be discussed.”

  “How about the past, Ms. Anderson. Are you amenable to taking a walk down memory lane?”

  “You wanna chat about the past?” she questioned incredulously, her brown eyes widening as she tossed her rich brown hair over her shoulder. “I thought that deputy said you wanted to ask me some questions about a cold case you were working on,” Sherry replied, shooting Zeke a suspicious look.