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

by Sarah O'Rourke

  “Don’t push me, Honor,” Zeke growled, narrowing his eyes on the youngest McKinnon sister. “I’ve still got charges I could press against you. You threatened me with a butcher knife not fifteen minutes ago.”

  “I’ll claim entrapment,” she retorted huffily. “It shouldn’t count if I’m goaded into picking up the knife and using it against you. Besides, I’d get off on temporary insanity. God knows, the entire town is aware you’re driving me crazy!”

  Patience rolled her eyes as she said sarcastically, “So, we’re back to being one big happy family. And we’ll all be working together again,” she commented, looking around at the people in the kitchen. “This ought to be a hoot!”

  Chapter Forty-five

  Three days later, Harmony was beginning to regret her staunch demand to be allowed to return to work. Mondays at the I Don’t Care Café were sheer insanity. Already that day, she’d had to wrangle the bread man into upsizing their order at the last minute, fought the dairy deliveryman for the diner’s standard order of milk, and been forced into helping Honor with employee evaluations and creating the next month’s budget.

  And her day wasn’t done yet.

  She still had to calculate the payroll taxes for their employees, call the accountant for the cafe, arrange for an officiant for the upcoming Miller wedding, and find a free priest for the Sanders baby’s christening.

  It was safe to say that Mondays sucked for small business owners.

  Blowing her hair off her face as she headed for the time clock on the wall to grab their employees’ timecards, she nearly crashed into Jake as he came through the back door. Smiling when she saw him, she felt her shoulders relax slightly. Their argument about coming back to work aside, things between her and him had been good. Better than good, actually. They’d been great. Over the last few weeks, she’d come to feel like she had a partner she could depend on. He was wonderful with Heaven and her sisters. For the most part, he was an easygoing guy unless they were talking about her safety. She was slowly learning to forgive him the secrets he’d kept from her when he arrived in town, and he was showing her every day that he was nothing like Tanner.

  All in all, it was the best relationship she’d ever had. They were both nurturing it, growing it into something that would hopefully last a lifetime.

  So, when Jake steadied her with his hands at her hips and pulled her against him, she went willingly into his arms.

  “Hey there,” she greeted him, lifting on his toes to brush a kiss against his cheek. “I like the new haircut,” she praised, reaching up to touch his now short hair.

  She meant it, too. He looked good. Mouthwateringly good. When he’d mentioned popping over to the barber shop across the road this morning over coffee, she’d nearly spit out her eggs. But seeing the end result now, she was glad she hadn’t tried to talk him out of the haircut.

  “Less thug and more respectable businessman, I hope,” he replied with a sexy grin, wrapping his arms around Harmony’s waist. Glancing at the tattoo sleeve on his arm, he shrugged. “Not much I can do about the tats, though.”

  “The tats are hot. The tats stay or I go,” Harmony declared decisively, offering him a playful smile.

  “Then the tats definitely stay where they are because there’s no way in hell I’m turning you loose. It’d hurt like hell to remove all this ink, anyway,” he returned, dropping his head to steal a quick kiss from her lips. Squeezing the curve of her hip, he winked. “Gotta a lead on some office space from Walter, the guy that cut my hair. He said a shop front opened up the road on the other side of Violet’s Bridal Boutique, and that I should give that Henry Watson guy that Margaret mentioned the other night a call.”

  “That’s great, Jake,” Harmony replied happily, squeezing his shoulders. She loved that he was moving ahead on plans to open his own security firm in town. Sure, he’d bought a house in the area, but witnessing him lay more roots was more than a little comforting. “You should get Honor to call for you. Henry’s my age, but he’s always been a little sweet on her. That’s really not saying much. Half the town is sweet on Honor.”

  “Well, I like Honor just fine, but you’re my dessert of choice. I might do that, though. I think I might need to use every advantage I can get,” he said with a wide smile. “Things are comin’ together, darlin’. Now, if we can just get a lock on Tanner and his merry band of bad guys, we can start moving forward.” Looking around the kitchen, he asked, “You about ready to get out of here?”

  “I wish,” she snorted, watching through the order window as Patience walked in the front door and waved at her. She gave her sister a chin lift in lieu of greeting and turned her attention back to Jake. “I’ve got about a half dozen more items on my to-do list, and Honor wanted to get a start on tomorrow’s pies before you take us home. Want me to make you a sandwich while you wait?”

  “I’m good, baby. I’m gonna go ahead and change those lights out front in the parking lot that Patience mentioned last night. Then, Honor asked if I would take a look at some of the shingles on the roof. That oughta fill my time while you sort out what needs sorted.”

  “Well, you’re becoming quite the go-to guy to the McKinnon girls, Jake. You might wanna watch that. A girl could get attached to that kind of dependability.”

  “That’s what I’m countin’ on,” he countered with a wink, stealing another quick kiss before letting her go and striding toward the front of the café.

  Aunt Orla whistled softly from behind her niece. “Love to see that biker man comin’, but watchin’ him go almost sets my garters on fire. Fine lookin’ man.”

  Giggling, Harmony turned to look at her aged aunt. “You know, you keep talkin’ like that, and Honor’s gonna make good on that threat to find you and Uncle Jethro an old-folks’ home.”

  “Ha! Of all you girls, Honor’s still the one that needs me most. I think Jethro and I are safe for a few more years.” Orla dismissed her with a wink. “Did you call and check in on Heaven and Ice?”

  Laughing, Harmony nodded. “Yep, evidently my four year old has Ice trussed up in a feather boa and tiara. They’re having a tea party. I’d pay money to get pictures of that.”

  “Actually,” Patience announced, breezing into the kitchen in her standard uniform of tight jeans and tee, “I did!” Holding up her camera, she wriggled it in Harmony’s direction. “I made Abel stop and check in before he brought me into work. And let me tell you, your daughter has mad skills if she can convince a tough guy like Zachariah Monroe to wrap a pink scarf around his neck, put a crown on his head, and paint his nails red. I think this is gonna be my new screensaver!”

  Aunt Orla squinted at the small screen picture over the top of her glasses. “Well, I think he can really work pink. Not a lot of men can pull that off, but that one sure gets the job done. Really sets off his muscles.”

  Patience giggled. “Aunt Orla, you’re worse than a hound dog, I swear.”

  “I’m old, not dead,” the woman replied easily. “And I’ve caught you lookin’ a time or two.”

  “Well, I’m young and very much alive,” Patience returned, wriggling her eyebrows.

  “What’s going on?” Honor asked, walking through the swinging door and dumping an armful of dishes at the sink. Wiping her hands on her apron, she walked over to stand at Harmony’s shoulder and stared at the phone screen. “Oh my Lord! Is that Ice?”

  “Uh huh,” Harmony grunted, still giggling. “Look how he’s holding up his pinky from that teacup! He’s gonna make a great dad one day.”

  “Send a copy of that to Zeke’s phone,” Honor demanded as she laughed. “He deserves a chuckle.”

  “Zeke’s already here,” a deep voice replied from behind the women as he strolled through the back entrance. “Jesus, is that my brother?” he asked when he peered over Honor’s shoulder.

  “Yep! The poor bastard never saw Abel lift the camera and when he did, he couldn’t do much but smile with Heaven sitting right there.”

  “You know he’l
l get even, right? And he’s pretty much a trained assassin,” Zeke warned with an amused smile as he dropped one hand to settle against Honor’s back.

  “Ice loves me,” Patience returned in an unaffected voice. “Besides, he knows if something happens to me, I’ve set this baby up to go viral.”

  Rolling his eyes, Zeke looked down at Honor. “Any trouble today?” he asked in a low voice.

  Shaking her head, Honor replied quietly. “It’s been a typical Monday, but nothing that I’d consider out of the norm. Jake has been in and out all morning, but when he wasn’t here, either one of your deputies or Cain was close by.”

  Zeke nodded once, his cowboy hat shifting slightly. “Good.”

  “Jake’s outside replacing those bulbs in the parking lot,” Harmony remarked with a grin at the Sheriff.

  “Yeah, Abel and Cain went out to help him as I was coming back here. Faith was still nursing her flat coke at the counter. I swear if our sister turns any greener, I’m gonna start calling her Kermit.”

  “She’s pregnant, Patience,” Harmony chastised her sister. “Have a little compassion. I can tell you from experience that the road to motherhood is paved with potholes full of morning sickness, hemorrhoids, breast tenderness….”

  “You need to stop before I start hurling.” Patience grimaced with a shudder of contempt. “The whole experience sounds….for lack of a better word, disgusting!”

  “It’s amazing.” Harmony shook her head. “Personally, with the right man,” she said with a look out the doors of the café where Jake climbed down a ladder in the parking lot, “I’d be all for doing it again.”

  “You and Jake have fun with that,” Patience muttered, then turned to strut out of the kitchen. “I personally hope I’m barren.”

  Laughing at her sister, Harmony looked at Honor. “We should pray she never breeds.”

  “Are you kidding? I’ve been offering up that particular prayer since I found her hosing off your daughter in the sink when she was six weeks old,” Honor replied, shaking her head.

  “That wasn’t as bad as the time she called 9-1-1 and told them the emergency was that her niece was exploding from both ends,” Zeke interjected with a long suffering sigh.

  “That was an emergency!” Patience yelled from the front of the café, still able to hear her sisters. “I thought the kid had been possessed by some kinda demonic entity ‘cause the stuff comin’ out of her was by its very definition unholy!”

  “Well, that totally justifies it then.” Harmony giggled, following her sister out to the front of the restaurant. Grinning at her sister, she muttered, “I’m gettin’ back to work.”

  **~~**

  Ninety minutes later, Harmony had figured the payroll taxes, called the accountant with the figures, found a reverend willing to perform the Miller wedding on short notice, and she had a short, but workable, list of Catholic priests in the tri-county area. Stretching her arms above her head, she arched her back and rolled her neck to relieve some of the knots that had taken up residence in her spine.

  All in all, it had been a productive day.

  Rising, she walked out of the office and through the kitchen into the central dining area of the café. She smiled when Jake looked up from his position on a stool in front of the wide counter.

  “We done?” he asked hopefully, his lips quirking up into a sexy grin.

  “I think I am,” she agreed with a nod. Glancing at where Honor stood wiping down the other end of the counter. “What about you? You ready to go, sis?”

  “I’ve still got two cherry pies in the oven in back. Zeke said he’d give me a ride to the house after I pulled them out,” she replied with a nod to where the Sheriff leaned against the wall sipping a cup of coffee, his eyes watching Honor work.

  Nodding, Harmony’s eyes drifted over to where Faith sat at one of the booths against the wall cuddled against Cain’s chest. “You okay?” she called, offering her sister a sympathetic smile. She and Cain had both tried to get Faith to go home earlier, but the poor woman was barely able to move without losing the contents of her stomach.

  “You didn’t tell me that morning sickness isn’t just for the morning,” she accused hoarsely, her face wan and tired. “So far, the only time I’m not sick is when I’m sleeping.”

  “It’ll pass,” Harmony offered knowingly, smiling at Jake as she walked around the counter to join him. “Give it another couple more months.”

  “That’s what I told her,” Cain offered, pressing a kiss against Faith’s temple.

  “Months?” Faith moaned. “Did you say months?”

  Harmony opened her mouth to reply, but her attention was suddenly drawn to the raised voices coming their way.

  “Seriously, Abel, all I did was mention to the girl that she might wanna request your shot record before she dated you! It’s not like I told her you had the clap,” Patience yelled as she stomped into the dining room from the bar. “She asked my opinion about you, and I just answered honestly. Besides, you started it when that stud asked me out last night, and you told him you’d recommend he allow the doctor to get my dosage right before he went out with me!”

  “Uh oh,” Harmony mumbled, leaning against Jake when he slipped an arm around her waist.

  “Oh, good. The three o’clock floor show has started,” Honor remarked dryly as Zeke chuckled.

  “You had that man convinced that I had split personality disorder, Abel!” Patience continued to rail as she whirled to face the red-faced attorney. “He offered me the name of his therapist as a tip!”

  “Hey! I’m pretty sure you have some kind of undiagnosed mental condition, woman! Maybe you wanna do the rest of the world a favor and dial the number on the card! Get that shit upstairs handled before you try and reel in some unsuspecting bastard.” he yelled back. “That woman you ran off is the niece of one of my biggest clients. Bet me she’s not on the phone right now telling her Uncle Arlo that his lawyer has VD!!!”

  Cain howled with laughter just as a loud pop echoed through the diner. Startled eyes glanced around as everyone tried to determine the source of the noise.

  “What was…,” Harmony began to ask as Jake dove toward her knocking her to the ground and rolling her underneath him.

  Trying to lift her head, Harmony heard Zeke’s frantic shout for Honor to get down and watched from the corner of her eye as he leapt toward her, pushing her sister to the floor and covering her with his body the same way Jake shielded her. The sound of shattering glass and gunfire filled the diner, and she could hear Faith’s faint screams. Like a nightmare in slow motion, she turned her head toward the booth where her pregnant sister had been sitting and saw Cain shoving her sister underneath the table, blocking her smaller body with his. Squirming, she tried to find Patience with her eyes. “Patience,” she whispered, trying to crawl from underneath Jake to find her other sister. “Where’s Patience?”

  “Stay down,” Jake barked in Harmony’s ear as glass continued to explode around them, raining down on their bent heads. Pressing more of his weight against her when she tried to move from under him, he kept one hand around his gun and pushed her head down with the other.

  As quickly as the horrible noise began, it stopped, leaving the café eerily silent.

  “Is it over?” Harmony wheezed as Jake came to his knees beside her, gun drawn. “Jake?”

  Jake’s eyes were busy scanning the front of the restaurant. “I think we’re clear, Zeke. Looks like it was a drive-by.”

  Turning her head, Harmony’s eyes went to Honor first. Zeke still shielded her with his body, but now he had her pressed against the counter, his back against her chest as his eyes and gun did their own sweep of the area. Distantly, she heard him talking into his radio, but her eyes were glued to Honor’s frightened face. Blood dripped from a jagged cut on her cheek but she seemed unaware of it. “Are you hit?” she screamed as she shoved away from Jake and began crawling toward her sister.

  Honor blinked. “What? No. I don’t think so,�
�� she denied, shaking her head.

  “You’re bleeding,” Harmony cried, scrambling toward her sister, glass digging into her knees.

  “Stay still,” Jake growled, catching Harmony’s arm before she could move any closer. “Glass is everywhere.”

  Zeke turned sharply to look at Honor, his eyes narrowing as he spotted the crimson blood staining her jaw. Touching her bloody face with gentle fingers, he probed it carefully. “Glass cut. It’s probably gonna need a stitch or two, but she’s alright.” Staring into her terrified eyes, he murmured, “You’re okay, aren’t you, Kitten?”

  Nodding dumbly, she slowly seemed to become aware of her surroundings, her pupils dilating as she jerked forward. “Faith? Patience?” Honor yelled, slapping at Zeke’s restraining hands when she tried to stand up. “Where are they, Harmony?”

  “Faith’s okay,” Cain barked back, keeping his wife pinned under the table. “Just scared.”

  “I’m not scared, I’m pissed,” Harmony heard her sister’s shaking voice object shrilly.

  “Okay, she’s that, too,” Cain amended, shifting partially out of the booth to look at the damage, a gun in his hand, too.

  “Patience is hit!” Abel’s hoarse voice roared from somewhere near the front of the restaurant. “Get an ambulance in here, Zeke! Now!”

  Chapter Forty-six

  Shoving Jake to the side with a strength she didn’t know she possessed, Harmony rushed to the front of the café, Honor on her heels. “Oh my God,” she breathed when she saw Abel straddling Patience’s waist, pressing down on her arm.

  “Get off me!” she heard her sister demand as she twisted her torso beneath Abel’s weight, trying desperately to squirm out from under him. “Dammit! That hurts, you animal! Are you deaf? That freaking hurts! Get. Off. Of. ME!!!” she screamed, lifting her head from the floor to glare at Abel.

  “You’ve been shot,” Harmony heard Abel bite off through clenched teeth, his jaw flexing as he applied pressure to her arm. Swallowing hard as her eyes focused on his hands, stained bright red with Patience’s blood, she dropped to her knees.