“I am not telling you about Jake’s no-no, Patience Orla McKinnon!” Harmony proclaimed, shaking her head vigorously as her sister’s face crumbled.
“Fine!” Patience mock pouted. “I’ll just use my imagination,” she said, closing her eyes and tilting her face toward the sky. “And in my mind, that man is hung.”
Harmony couldn’t help it. She giggled. “You’ve got a good imagination.”
Cracking one eyelid, Patience smirked. “I knew it. No man can look that fine and not be packing at least seven inches.”
“Closer to nine,” Harmony admitted sheepishly.
“You lucky bitch,” Patience snarled under her breath, throwing a glare at her sister. “On behalf of all sexually frustrated, single women everywhere, I think I have to hate you a little now,” she said grimly as Honor’s car pulled into the driveway.
Rolling her eyes, Harmony waited until Honor pulled behind Patience, parking carefully and turning the engine off before she and Faith slid out of the car. Waving when she saw Honor looking around for them, she called, “Hey! We’re up here.”
“What’s going on?” Honor asked immediately. “What’s so big an emergency that we couldn’t talk about it at the café? And where is Jake?”
“Jake’s not here and hopefully won’t be back for some time,” Harmony answered as her remaining two sisters climbed the steps toward her and Patience.
Faith’s blond ponytail swung in the wind as she jogged up the steps in front of Honor, her hands stuffed in the front pockets of her Tennessee Titans sweatshirt. “How you doin’, sweetie? You sounded off when you called me this morning.”
“According to my sources, she did about nine inches last night. She shoulda sounded thrilled…or in pain. Isn’t anything over seven inches considered just for show and tell? What kinda heat is Cain packing, Faith? We talkin’ pistol or assault rifle?”
Faith’s lips twitched in response. “I’m not gonna talk outta school, but let’s say that my husband has more than enough ammunition to keep my chamber secure.”
“Bitch,” Patience muttered.
Her eyes drifting over Harmony, Patience and Faith with a kind of horrified fascination, Honor shook her head. “Please tell me that this is not what we’re here to discuss,” she demanded, one hand on her hip. Tugging the edges of her peacock blue coat together, she pursed her lips. “I, for one, am not interested in what your men have between their legs.”
“That’s good, but I seriously bet that Zeke…” Patience began, stopped when Faith slapped a palm over her moving mouth.
“Don’t finish that,” she muttered out the side of her mouth. “The Sheriff is a sore subject this morning.”
“Why?” Harmony asked, looking to Honor.
Honor stomped her foot on the wooden step as she drew in a deep breath. “That man! He showed up at the front door this morning and informed me that I was riding to work with him. When I asked him why, he went on about how crime was on the rise and I had to be careful. I told him I was more than capable of seeing to myself and had been doin’ it for years, and that blasted man had the audacity to roll his eyes at me! First thing in the morning! I hadn’t even had my first cup of coffee and…. Oh, blast! The man’s insufferable!”
Harmony’s eyebrows lifted as her gaze shifted to Faith as she took up the story.
“Long story cut real short…our baby sister nearly ran the esteemed sheriff down this morning with her car when she decided she wouldn’t be takin’ the kind offer of Zeke’s escort,” Faith shared, trying desperately not to laugh.
“If he’d offered, I might have considered it, Faith. He ordered. There’s a difference,” Honor bit out sharply.
“Uh huh, sure there is, baby sister,” Faith tsked before turning her attention back to Patience and Harmony. “Anyway, after a high speed pursuit through the thankfully empty streets of our fair town which nearly took out three streetlamps, an innocent Chevy Trailblazer, and old lady Winslow, he finally caught up to her at the diner. When I got to the restaurant this morning, they were squared off like two prizefighters in the ring, and Zeke was yellin’ about arresting Honor for several of her sins. I think they included, but were not limited to, reckless driving, disturbing the peace, and attempted murder of an officer of the law.”
Harmony’s wide, shocked eyes came back to a guilty looking Honor. “Well, you’re still here and not taking up residence in our local jail. How’d you manage to get off the hook?”
“She cried,” Faith answered for her sister before Honor could open her mouth. “Better yet, before Zeke left, he was begging her forgiveness,” she added, unable to contain her amusement as she burst out laughing.
“Well, he should have apologized! He started the whole darn thing,” Honor huffed, her pretty face pinched with irritation. “Besides, I took Miss Winslow a cherry pie to say I was sorry and explain the situation, and she said that she’d have backed the car up and made sure Ezekiel was under the tires if it’d been her!”
“Well, if the man-hater of Paradise County says you were justified, then you surely are,” Patience reasoned, somehow keeping a straight face. Everybody in Paradise knew Miss Winslow had as much use for a man as a gazelle had for a lion…that was to say, none at all!
“If I ever doubted how tightly our little sister has Ezekiel Monroe wrapped around her finger, this morning cinched it for me,” Faith interjected, shaking her head at Honor. “Dear God, I wish I’d had time to sell tickets to that little showdown y’all had this morning. We’d have made a fortune.”
“Oh, enough about this!” Honor sliced a hand through the air. “What in the world are we all doing here? It’s cold and I’m feelin’ about half a brick shy of a load today,” she complained, focusing her gaze on Harmony.
“Well, I’m hopin’ y’all love me as much as I love all of you,” Harmony hedged, looking at the curious faces of her family. “We’re fixin’ to commit a felony, I think.”
“A felony?” the three sisters echoed in disbelief.
“Girls, we’re gonna break into Jacob Stone’s house,” Harmony informed them all.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Quickly filling her sisters in on the reason for her impromptu turn toward the dark side, Harmony explained about the file and the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She concluded with, “Nobody has to go in there with me, but I gotta do this.”
“Rock on!” Patience screeched, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “I’d absolutely break in for you, sis. Forewarned is forearmed and all that shit, right? I totally support your right to be proactive. Besides, we haven’t committed a crime together in a while. I’m in!” She nodded eagerly. “Whatcha need me to do? Offer an alibi? Stand lookout and keep an eye out for the fuzz? You want me to find a brick to throw through the window?” she asked, looking around the mostly bare porch for a missile.
“Ooooohhh! I wanna throw the brick. In the interest of complete honesty, I’m gonna probably wanna throw another one at Jake’s head if we find something incriminating in there,” Faith warned, rubbing her hands together.
Holding up a hand, Honor shot Patience a hard look. “Hold on, Bonnie and Clyde! Nobody is throwing any bricks. At least, not yet. Do you know how much those windows cost?” Honor hissed, jabbing a finger toward the expensive bay window Jake had replaced when he moved into the house. Turning toward her sister, Honor took a deep breath. “Harmony, are you sure about this? I mean, why don’t you just ask Jake about what you saw?”
“Crap,” Patience muttered, rolling her eyes at Honor. “Do you always have to be so freaking reasonable? Just once, volunteer to throw the brick, sis! It’s a liberating experience, I promise!”
Harmony ignored Patience’s complaint and instead focused on her youngest sister. “I thought about it, Honor. But outside of the men in our immediate family, I don’t have the greatest track record in the opposite sex department. I have to make sure that Jake is a safe choice for me and for Heaven. It’s not just my life I’m playing ar
ound with, but hers, too. I’d love to ask him and be sure that he was telling me the complete truth, but I’ve lived long enough to know that no man is gonna voluntarily admit he’s a bad risk or doing something shady on the side.”
“Especially after you’ve already spent the night in his bed bein’ repeatedly serviced by his nine inch snake,” Patience noted with a smirk.
“That, too,” Harmony grudgingly admitted, her lips twitching as Honor made a gagging noise.
Sighing heavily, Honor’s shoulders sagged, but Harmony knew that her baby sister was going to support her when she lifted her head and asked, “Are you sure we need to break into his house? Can’t you just sneak in and take a peek if we find a way to keep him occupied?”
“Thought of that, but while I’m in there, I wanna make sure that there’s only that file to be concerned about; to do an in depth recon, I need him gone. We’ve got to fly under the radar. I know he’s gone now. This is the time to move,” Harmony explained, jerking her head toward the door.
“Good God, you sound like Cain when he starts blathering on in military speak,” Faith interjected with a grimace. “I hate when he does that.”
“Wait,” Honor interrupted, her soft voice hopeful. “I saw Jake offer you a key to his house just last week. And everyone knows that if you have a key, it’s not really a crime. We’d be considered invited guests in a court of law, not burglars,” she surmised, brightening considerably as the thought occurred to her.
“I gave the key back to him,” Harmony mumbled, averting her gaze from Honor’s penetrating stare.
“You gave him back the key,” Honor repeated dumbly, her face dissolving from hope into pained resignation.
“I thought it was too soon for that kind of… commitment.”
Her pink lips turning down in a frown, Honor rolled her eyes at her sister. “But breaking and entering is just another bonding experience for us McKinnon girls.”
“Damn straight,” Patience drawled, her eyes glittering with mischief. “It’s not like it’s the first time…. If I remember, you led the charge when we broke into Momma and Daddy’s closet that year lookin’ for our Christmas presents. And the time we busted into Daddy’s liquor cabinet on your 13th birthday, Little Miss Holier than Thou,” she reminded Honor with a wink. “You weren’t waving a caution flag then.”
“I was a child,” Honor hissed.
Faith laughed as she leaned against the porch railing. “Not the way you downed Daddy’s bourbon, you weren’t.”
“You drank that bourbon with me,” Honor huffed, glaring at Faith. “And this is different. That was family. Jake isn’t family. At least, he isn’t yet. He could very well put us all in the pokey if we get caught.”
Staring at her sister, Harmony whispered, “I need this, Honor. I can’t be wrong again. I can’t risk my heart on a man that could be dangerous. I can’t risk being hurt. Not when I have Heaven to think about.”
Honor’s eyes closed for a second as she processed Harmony’s low statement. When she opened them again, her gaze was clear with intent. “Fine, I’m in! Let’s just do this.”
“That’s the spirit,” Patience agreed with a nod. “We just need to find…”
“We are not gonna throw any bricks or rocks or other projectile missiles through Jacob Stone’s window, Patience,” Honor mandated firmly, casting a glare toward Patience. “Think of something else. And think fast before we start drawing attention,” she ordered, looking over her shoulder toward the main road. “The last thing we need are witnesses.”
“Buzzkill,” Patience muttered. “A brick makes a statement.”
“We only need to make a statement if Jake is guilty of something,” Faith pointed out, reaching out and plucking a bobby pin from Honor’s neat chignon. “Since it doesn’t look like Jake has put in a dead bolt yet and that’s a skeleton key lock, I suggest that we should go with picking the lock. Less fuss, less muss. Who wants to try first?” she inquired with twinkling eyes.
Reaching for the bobby pin, Harmony exchanged a small smile with Faith. “Good idea. See, this is why I invited you guys to the party. You’ve got all the good ideas.”
~~***~~
Fifteen minutes later
“Seriously, I think I should find a rock or something,” Patience informed the sisters as she peered over Harmony’s shoulder where her sister sat, crouched on her knees, fiddling desperately with the lock.
“No rocks,” Honor argued, wincing as another car passed the house on the road ahead.
“No rocks, no bricks, no fun,” Patience growled, mimicking the youngest McKinnon sister. “I swear, Honor, if I hadn’t been at the hospital when Momma and Daddy had you, I’d think you were adopted. You gotta learn to live a little.”
“Well, excuse me all over the place, Patience. I already faced potential incarceration once today. I’m not lookin’ to try my luck a second time,” Honor growled back, tapping her foot impatiently against the wooden planks of porch.
“Jiggle it,” Faith demanded from behind Harmony. “To the left! I thought I heard it click once. Jiggle, Harmony! Jiggle!”
Wriggling the bobby pin in the lock, Harmony ground her teeth. “I am jiggling. Everything I’ve got is jiggling, Faith,” she bit out through clenched teeth as she shook the bobby pin in the lock. Frustrated, she felt like she’d been at this lock for days and was no closer to getting inside than she’d been when she started. Honestly, the rock through the window idea was sounding better and better. Huffing out a sigh, she rolled her shoulders. “I can’t get it,” she moaned.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Honor muttered, coming to stand at Harmony’s side. “Move.”
Looking up at her sister, Harmony tilted her head. “Move?” Surely her sister wasn’t going to try and jimmy the lock. After all, it was one thing to offer moral support to a wannabe intruder, but it was an altogether different thing to participate. She wasn’t sure her baby sister was cut out for a life of crime.
“Yes, move,” Honor snapped, her blue eyes flashing. “Or are you forgetting what Patience pointed out not fifteen minutes ago? That I was the one that picked the lock on both the liquor cabinet and the closet door when we were kids.” she asked when her sister didn’t shift out of the way fast enough. “Besides, our local pain-in-the-ass sheriff already wants me for reckless drivin’, destruction of town property and attempted murder. I might as well add B&E to my rap sheet. I’d hate for the other inmates not to consider me a well-rounded criminal. Maybe it’ll buy me some credibility on the cell block,” she grumbled, taking the bobby pin from Harmony when her big sister scooted over so she could kneel in front of the door.
“That’s the spirit, Peanut,” Patience enthused, using the sisters’ nickname for their youngest sister as she tugged on Honor’s hair. “Now, you sound like one of us.”
“I’m sooooo thrilled,” Honor muttered, concentrating on the door.
Harmony watched Honor press her ear to the door and twist her wrist carefully to the right. Catching her breath as she heard the lock tumble and click, she nearly shouted her excitement. “You got it!” she hissed, grabbing Honor’s elbow as the woman used her other hand to twist the door knob.
“I got it!” Honor announced with a satisfied smile as the door swung open. “Now, let’s get inside before anybody notices the four of us crouched on Paradise’s newest resident’s porch,” she added, getting to her feet and sliding inside the house.
Quickly herding Patience and Faith in the door, Harmony shot one last look over her shoulder at the sky. It remained clear, cloudless and blue, but she could sense it - a storm was brewing on the horizon. Following her family into the house, she shook her head sadly. The rain was on its way. Somehow, she just knew it.
She just prayed like hell that the lightening wasn’t about to strike her twice in a lifetime.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Closing the solid oak door behind her back, Harmony felt the looks her sisters gave her, a wide mixture of alarmed, eager,
and resolved facing her.
“Okay,” Faith said, breaking the silence, “we’re in, Harmony. Where do you want us to go from here, honey?” she asked gently.
Harmony’s gut churned as she looked around the foyer. “I saw the file in Jake’s den. I’ll start there. Maybe you guys could take a walk through the rest of the house?” she suggested, rubbing her suddenly cold hands together.
“How intensive do you want this search to be, big sister? We talking surfaces only or the digging through closets variety?” Patience asked, perching one hand on her hip.
“Surface only… unless we find something in one of the other rooms,” Harmony returned. This felt awful, invading Jake’s privacy, but with her and her kid’s emotional well-being on the line, she wasn’t willing to take chances.
“I’ll take the kitchen,” Honor offered, craning her neck toward the room. “It seems like it would be pretty safe.”
“I’ll take the bedrooms,” Patience said, heading for the stairs.
“I’ll take a look in his formal living room,” Faith offered, spinning on her heel to hurry in that direction.
“Then, we’ll all meet in the den when we’re done,” Honor remarked, sharing a look with the sisters. “You still sure about this, Harm?” she asked, offering her sister one last opportunity to back out of her plan. “Nobody is gonna say one word if you wanna walk out the front door right now.”
“N-no,” Harmony denied with a shake of her head. “It has to be done. I’ll see you in the den when you’re finished.”
The sisters scattered quickly as she voiced her final decision, and Harmony followed Honor into the kitchen. “You think I’m horrible, don’t you?” she asked her younger sister softly, pausing at the door off the kitchen that led into Jake’s office/den.
Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters) Page 24
