“Zeke called, told me to grab my sniper rifle and haul my ass down here ASAP. Not gonna lie, I’m not used to hearing Ezekiel sound rattled. Last time I heard him sound like that…” he trailed off, shaking his head. “Anyway I think I was gassed up and in the truck thirty minutes later. Since my younger brother doesn’t make it a habit of calling me for help, I did my best to make good time up here from Knoxville. The only thing my brother shared was that a whole passel of trouble has landed in Paradise and my favorite gals’ doorstep,” Ice noted with a hard look at Abel. Settling Patience back on her feet, he leaned his lean, rangy body against the doorframe and pulled the beaten and worn grey Stetson off his head. His shaggy black hair fell over his forehead and he pushed it back with an impatient hand as he looked between Patience and Abel. “Slade had to wrap some shit up on the construction site, but he was gonna be right behind me. I think he got a phone call thirty seconds after I did. Since we were both on the same job, we decided I’d come ahead of him. Either one of you wanna fill me in on what’s going on?”
“Still can’t get over the fact that you’ve gone from Green Beret to construction worker,” Patience mumbled, shaking her head. “Isn’t that like culture shock or something?”
“It’s kinda a nice reprieve from shootin’ people and gettin’ shot at, Baby Girl. And you’re avoiding my question,” he remarked pointedly, his grey eyes pinning hers. “What the hell is happening here?”
Patience remained silent, and she was rarely without something to say.
Turning his attention to Abel, Ice raised an eyebrow. “Abel? You wanna share? Honest to Christ, you’re all starting to freak me out here.”
Abel exchanged a long look with Patience before replying, “Tanner Suarez is back, Zachariah. He’s back and he’s brought trouble with him.”
“What kind of trouble?” Ice asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn’t need to ask who Tanner was; all of Paradise County knew the story behind the son of a bitch that had wrecked Harmony’s life.
“The only kind there is. The bad kind,” Patience muttered. “He pinned Harmony, Heaven and Honor in here today, roughed Harmony up and threatened her.”
“Harmony’s with her man now. Zeke carried Honor back to the house. Faith and Cain are already home with Heaven,” Abel further explained.
Blinking, Ice raised an eyebrow. “Wait a second,” he ordered, holding up a work roughened hand. “Harmony’s got a man now? Is this the Jake Stone I’ve been hearing about?”
Patience nodded. “Yeah, although it’s in question whether he’s still her man or not. I’d dump his ass like a hot potato if I found out a man was spying on me and my family.”
“Huh?” Ice’s eyes went back to Abel.
“Long story. It’ll get clearer when we get all the family in one room,” Abel informed Ice grimly. “But you haven’t told him all of it, Hellion.” He stared hard at Patience, waiting for her to comment. “What happened to Harmony is bad, but what we learned from Honor…”
“We don’t know anything yet, Abel! None of us has really gotten to talk to Honor yet. You can’t draw assumptions based on a few things she muttered. She’d had a fright.”
“Cut the shit, Patience” Abel said softly. “I was here this afternoon. Standing right here in this kitchen, I heard what Honor said. I saw her face. You did, too. Everybody but Zeke witnessed what happened, and somebody is gonna have to tell that poor bastard about it. That man,” he remarked, pointing a long finger toward Zeke’s brother, “is probably gonna be the only guy in a tri-county radius that can lock Zeke down when he finds out the truth.” Seeing Patience open her mouth to reply, he shook his head. “Argue with me all you want, but you know – I know you know deep down in your heart that Zeke has gotta be told about this shit tonight. Hell, when he finds out we’ve been sitting on this shit an afternoon, all hell is probably gonna break loose.” Watching a crack form in the hard mask Patience wore, Abel took a step toward her. “Hellion,” he said softly, “You know I’m not talking out of my ass here.”
“We’re not sure, Abel,” Patience whispered, staring at the floor as uncharacteristic tears pooled in her eyes.
“We’re sure, Patience,” Abel countered softly.
Straightening, Ice’s body stiffened. “What the hell are you two jabbering about?” he asked, his voice deceptively quiet. “What the hell does Tanner have to do with Honor? Harmony, I get. I understand that, but Honor?”
Reaching behind him, Abel grabbed the bottle of Jose Cuervo that Patience had dropped on the counter. Holding it out to the other man with one hand, he gestured at one of the stools around the large metal baking table. “You’re gonna need to sit down and take a shot, Zach, because you’re not gonna like what I have to tell you.”
~~***~~
Honor McKinnon and Ezekiel Monroe
Zeke’s SUV
5:07 pm
Easily navigating his vehicle through Paradise’s version of rush hour traffic, Ezekiel Monroe frowned as he studied Honor McKinnon out of the corner of his eye. Statue-still, she sat next to him with her hands folded demurely in her lap, her trim legs crossed and her pretty face an expressionless, unreadable mask. Only the fact that her right thumb kept relentlessly rubbing the top of her left hand gave away her inner turmoil. The action was one of her few tells. Not many would notice it since it wasn’t as obvious as biting one’s lip or twirling one’s hair, but it was there and he’d seen it. Of course, he wasn’t most people. No, he’d was a man that had spent years cataloguing Honor’s every movement and reaction.
And she was giving herself away whether she was aware of it or not.
Switching on his turn signal, he pulled onto the country road that would carry him to the McKinnon homestead. “Honor?” he called quietly, turning his head to look at her. “Honey, you need to tell me what happened back there at the café.”
“I think you already know what happened back there, Ezekiel,” she challenged softly. “In fact, I think you probably know more about it than myself and Harmony combined being as you seem to have developed a rather close relationship with Jacob Stone,” she informed him tonelessly, keeping her eyes glued to the windshield.
“Honor, I’m an astute enough lawman to recognize when somebody is deflecting my questions,” he reminded her softly. “I’ve been doing this a long time and I know you know that I’m a patient man. I’ll wait you out. I won’t like it, but I’ll do it. What did Tanner say to you all, Kitten?” he asked, keeping one eye on the road and one eye on her.
“I have asked you repeatedly not to call me that,” she snapped, her teeth grinding as she turned her head to glare at him.
Zeke’s lips twitched when he watched Honor’s lips purse. Pleased when her face finally registered some kind emotion, even if it was irritation, Zeke grinned. “Can I help it if it suits you? Sweet as spun sugar one minute, spitting and hissing at me the next.”
Honor rolled her eyes before facing front again. “I still hate it,” she muttered, frowning when Zeke pulled the SUV to the side of the road. “What the devil are you doing?” she asked, gripping the door handle with one hand as she shot him a bewildered look.
“Waiting you out,” Zeke informed her easily, crossing his arms over his chest as he met her stare with a hard look of his own. “Told you, I’m patient, Honor,” he reminded her as he watched her swallow and her eyes dart to the road.
“Ezekiel, put this automobile in drive and take me home,” Honor demanded tightly as her free hand gripped the seatbelt across her chest.
“Tell me what Suarez said that had you looking like you’d seen a ghost when I got in that kitchen with you,” he countered, watching as the color leeched out of her face and her eyes glazed.
“Take me home. I want to go home,” Honor replied faintly.
“Honor, sweetheart, I need to know….”
“You saw him! He was hurting Harmony,” she said shrilly, her words bouncing in the cab of the truck. “He was scaring Heaven to death. I think
that was enough to turn my face pale, don’t you? Instead of sitting here wasting valuable time asking me stupid questions, why don’t you get out there and find him before he hurts somebody else?”
“Honor, I’ve got men out all over the county searching for the son of a bitch,” Zeke returned calmly, reaching for Honor’s hand.
Honor recoiled from his outstretched hand with the force of a bullet, throwing her body against the SUV’s door. “Don’t touch me,” she ordered sharply, her high voice piercing the silence in the vehicle.
Letting his hand drop to the armrest between them, Zeke’s face tightened and his gut clenched at the very real fear he saw etched on Honor’s face. Her chest rose and fell quickly beneath the seatbelt, and God help him, she looked on the verge of hyperventilating. “Honor, tell me what’s happening here,” he urged, carefully keeping his voice low and soothing as he watched her sink her teeth into her full lower lip. “You know I’d never lift a finger to hurt you.”
Honor fought to get her rapid breathing back under control and it felt like dragging air into her lungs took what little energy she had left. “Please, Zeke,” she whispered, lifting a shaky hand to rub her temples. “It’s been a long, awful afternoon. I just want to go home. Will you please take me home now?”
Staring at her for a long, tension filled minute, Zeke slowly nodded. “I’ll take you home, Kitten,” he averred huskily. “You’ll get some rest and then we’ll try this again, okay?”
Honor simply turned her head to stare out the window, neither affirming nor denying him. Sighing heavily, Zeke shifted the SUV into drive and silently reminded himself that all good things in life were worth the wait.
And Honor McKinnon was definitely the very best thing in Zeke’s life.
Chapter Thirty-eight
Pulling the Little Mermaid bedspread over her daughter’s sprawled sleeping body, Harmony planted her forearm in the twin bed beside Heaven’s arm and leaned forward to brush another kiss against the girl’s temple. Staring down at her baby, Harmony was grateful that Heaven slept deep and peacefully.
No one would argue that it had been a traumatic afternoon for her little girl, but she appeared to be handling it in stride. Heaven had awoken from her nap not long after Jake and she had gotten back to the house, and no one there had wasted time spoiling her. She’d cuddled, Jake had played, and her sisters had stuffed Heaven with every junk food known to man. Her upsetting day had ended okay, though; the preschooler had eaten the fries from the Happy Meal her Uncle Cain had brought her, sitting in Jake’s lap while her eyes had been glued to her newest movie obsession, Frozen.
Jake had waited until Heaven began drooling in her sleep to believe she was actually out for the night and Harmony’s lips twitched as she remembered the way he’d seemed to hold his breath as he tucked her underneath the covers. With a light touch on her shoulder, however, he’d left her alone with her child, almost as if he sensed that she needed some time to come to terms with what had happened today.
Now, staring at her daughter’s slack face, with her little hand tucked underneath her chin, Harmony allowed herself to be relieved. Heaven was safe; they both were. Outside milling around the front yard and inside the house were a whole host of family and friends that were ready and willing to take on her battle, and more were on the way. Zeke had stationed deputies outside of the house, and one was assigned to stand outside of Heaven’s bedroom window. Harmony had heard Slade come in as she’d been following Jake to Heaven’s bedroom, and Abel had mentioned that Margaret, a longtime family friend and also Abel’s paralegal, was also going to stop by. She was actually looking forward to seeing the free-wheeling redhead. Now, Maggie was a woman that she doubted even Tanner Suarez would cross on a bet.
Honestly, Harmony was grateful for any distraction that shifted her attention from the shit storm that had descended over her family. She tried to tell herself not to worry; that everything would be okay. Faith had a loving, devoted husband in Cain. Ezekiel would give his last breath for Honor. And despite their acrimonious relationship, Harmony knew Abel would do anything in the world for Patience. Most importantly, no matter what happened to her, she knew that her sisters would always make sure her child was safe and loved. And if the look on Jake’s face when he’d dropped a kiss against Heaven’s forehead before leaving the bedroom was any indication, her little girl had changed his life, too. He’d find a way to move mountains if it meant keeping her safe.
She still wasn’t sure what to do with her mixed feelings about him. It would take time and energy she couldn’t afford right now to sort through that tangle of feelings, but she suspected he wouldn’t remain patient long. Hell, if the looks he’d been shooting her all afternoon every time she withdrew from him were any indication, he wasn’t exactly patient now. She wasn’t exactly rebuffing him on purpose, but that old adage, ‘Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me’ kept running through her mind any time he got too close.
Adjusting the covers one more time over Heaven’s still body, Harmony whispered, “Everything is going to be okay, baby. Momma loves you.”
Hearing the door open a crack behind her, she turned toward the sound. “Darlin’, people are starting to gather.”
Giving her daughter one last look, Harmony nodded before getting carefully back to her feet, careful not to jostle her daughter. Stepping into the hallway, she pulled the door almost closed and turned to find Jake leaning against the wall. “Have you been out here the whole time?”
“Told you I wasn’t gonna leave you alone, Harmony. I meant it,” Jake reminded her in a hard voice.
Harmony felt her blood begin to boil in her veins. “I hardly think I need a bodyguard inside my own home. In case you haven’t looked around, I’m surrounded by people that care about me. You can go, Jake.”
“Not leaving,” Jake declared simply, his face shadowed in the faint light from the hallway lamp.
“I need time, Jake” Harmony ground out, her body going solid in the face of his obstinacy.
“Take it,” he offered agreeably. “Still not leaving.”
“Time which doesn’t include you breathing down my neck, dogging my every footstep like some kind of love starved puppy,” she elaborated on a hiss.
“Sorry, can’t give you that.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I’m. Not. Leaving.”
She wanted to curse and swear at him. She even opened her mouth in preparation to blast him back to Hell and gone. Unfortunately, however, she had a sleeping daughter in the bedroom behind her that she needed to keep in that bed, and she closed her mouth abruptly. By the faint grin playing around his lips, he knew all this; the look on his face told her that he didn’t mind using her situation to his advantage. He had her; he knew she wouldn’t do anything to disturb Heaven, damn him. “This isn’t over,” she promised, whirling to walk angrily toward the kitchen, aware that he was following on her heels.
“Bet your ass it isn’t over,” she heard him rumble behind her. Harmony gasped when she felt his warm hands catch her hips and pull her back against his chest. She was never quick enough to outrun him; she wasn’t sure why she even bothered.
“Harmony, after this family discussion, you and your sisters need to have another kind of talk with Honor. Tonight. Patience has already…medicated Honor’s tea. Cain says it won’t knock her out, but it’ll take the edge off her enough so that it’ll be easier for her to talk.”
Turning, Harmony’s jaw hung open. “You had them dose my sister?” she whisper-yelled, stiffening in the circle of his arms. “Isn’t that nine kinds of illegal? Being a DEA agent, I’d think you, of all people, would frown on the action!”
“It’s Honor’s prescription, Harmony. One that Patience and Faith shared that she’s had for years.”
“She doesn’t use it,” Harmony snapped, angry for her baby sister.
“Maybe, but it’s always been here if she needs it,” Jake reasoned. “She’s going to need it tonight, darlin’. We need to know what Ho
nor remembers.”
“Why?” Harmony asked suspiciously.
Jake stared at her for a long second. “Honestly?” he asked quietly, lifting a hand to touch the ugly bruise on her cheek. “There are a lot of reasons, but the primary is that what she tells you decides who’ll put the final bullet in Tanner Suarez. Me or Zeke. One of us has earned that right; it’s just a matter of which one of us deserves it more.”
“Zeke doesn’t even know,” Harmony whispered worriedly. “Hell, none of us are sure what Honor remembered today, if anything.”
“Well, you and your sisters are gonna find out. Then, Zeke’s gonna know. No man in this house is gonna keep that kind of secret from him, Harmony. Not with the way we all know he feels about her,” he warned. “If Zeke kept that kind of shit from me, I’d beat him to death, and he’d agree that he had it coming. I am not going to offer that man any less than he’s given me. I like the man too much for that; but more, I respect him. So do the others, only more so because they’ve known him longer. He’s gotta be told.”
Harmony flinched and looked away. “I love Zeke. He’s always been there for us, but Honor won’t like it.”
“Probably not,” he agreed. “That still doesn’t change anything. He deserves to know the truth about what happened to his woman, whatever that is.”
“If you value your life at all, for the love of God, never, ever let Honor here you say that shit,” Harmony muttered.
“What shit?”
“She’s Zeke’s woman.” Harmony informed him with a shudder.
“Newsflash, babe, she is Zeke’s woman,” Jake replied evenly. “I’m newer than a shiny penny around here, but even I know that.”
Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters) Page 32
