Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters) (38 page)

Harmony shot her
daughter a reassuring smile.  Heaven had always been an intuitive child; she
knew her little girl sensed danger – especially with Tanner waving his gun around
at them.  “Shhh… baby.  Everything is going to be okay.  Concentrate on your
coloring, alright?”  Focusing her attention on Tanner, Harmony pleaded, “Don’t
do this, Tanner.  She’s just a little girl.  She’s got no idea what happened
between us.  She doesn’t even know you.”

“Whose fault is
that?  You think I don’t know that little girls need their papas,” Tanner
spat.  “But you tried to rob me of that, didn’t you, bitch?”

“Don’t call my
mommy names!” Heaven yelled, slapping her tiny hands against her coloring book
in a fit of anger.  “You’re a big ole meanie weanie!  Swears are curses and God
hates curses.”

“God also hates
thieves, and that’s what tu madre is.  A thief and a liar.  I
am
your
father, you little brat,” Tanner hissed, staring at his daughter with gleaming
eyes.  “Your puta of a mama stole you from me.  Show me some fucking respect!”

“No, I’m not!”
Heaven argued, her hair flying as she shook her head, “I don’t got no daddy! 
The angels bringed me to Momma from Heaven!  ‘Sides, I already picked my Daddy out,
and he not gonna be you,” she yelled, jabbing her finger toward Tanner.  “He
gonna be Mr. Jake!  I think you is a bully.  A big bully.”

“Heaven, hush,
baby!” Harmony begged, her eyes watering as Tanner grabbed a handful of her
hair and yanked her head back until she met his furious black eyes.

“So, you’re
spreading your legs for some pendejo, are you, Harmony?” he asked against her
ear.  “I hope you’re enjoying him.  Lucky for you, I don’t give a shit.  I only
want what’s mine.”

“Tanner, stop
this,” Harmony hissed as she watched Heaven begin to hop off her stool.  “Baby,
stay still,” she cried out when Tanner lifted the gun toward her child.

“I wanna go,
Momma!  I go now!” she sobbed, pointing toward the door.  “Pwease, we go!”

“Get control of
that little snot nosed brat, Harmony,” Tanner hissed, yanking on her hair again.

“Then let me
go
to her
,” Harmony ground out, struggling against his unforgiving grip as she
watched Heaven’s chest move rapidly up and down, tears coursing down her pale
cheeks.

“Then fuckin’ go
and shut that little bitch the fuck up,” he growled, shoving her viciously
toward her baby with a savage flick of his wrist.

He pushed her so
hard, Harmony fell on her floor in front of Heaven.  Ignoring the shooting pain
in her knees as she snatched her daughter against her, she felt her girl bury
her face in the crook of her neck.  “Shhh, baby, Momma’s got you,” she consoled
her little girl, wrapping her arms around her and squeezing her tightly. 

“We go home, Momma. 
We go Jake’s house,” Heaven babbled, her arms like clinging vines as the
squeezed Harmony’s neck.

“Soon.  I promise,
baby, soon.  But you’ve got to be quiet while Momma talks to this man.”

“He not my daddy,”
Heaven insisted, drawing back to stare at Harmony with wet eyes.  “He never be
my daddy.”

“I know, sweetie, but
you have to be quiet like a church mouse right now.  This will be all over soon,”
she whispered before twisting around to face Tanner.  Scooting across the
floor, she pushed her wiggling daughter into the corner between the
refrigerator and industrial stove and shielded her with her body.  Glaring at
Tanner, she hissed, “Stop this, Tanner!  You’re terrifying her!”

“You might wanna
pay attention to that.  Right now, though,
you
’re the one that needs to
be scared.  I can see that you love my daughter a lot…”

“She’s
not
your daughter.  You have
never
been her father and you never will be,”
she retorted, growing angrier.  “Stop confusing her.”

“I didn’t get a
choice.  You took her from me before she was even born.  You sent your redneck
goons and forced me out of my town.  But I’m back now,” he snarled, reaching
out his free hand to grab Harmony’s chin.  “And now there is nothing you can do
but sit in front of me and flinch.”

“You’re still a
bastard,” Harmony bit out, clamping her lips together to keep from screaming as
he tightened his fingers on his face.  His touch would leave a bruise.  It
always did before when he’d touched her.

“Listen to how your
mama talks to your father, hija,” Tanner sneered at Heaven.  “You never did
learn to respect or honor your husband, Harmony.”

“Ex-husband,”
Harmony spat automatically, pushing her hair off her face as she shifted on her
knees.  “You signed divorce papers.  I have a restraining order, Tanner.  You
need to leave.  Now.  Go and I’ll forget I ever saw you.   We won’t say a
word,” she promised, willing to make a bargain with the Devil himself if it
meant she got this animal away from her child. 

Squatting in front
of Harmony, Tanner smirked.  “Who says I want you to forget me, bonita?  I
want
you to remember.  If you remember and obey me, you might just get to live a
long life with the daughter I helped you make.  If you don’t,” he continued
with a careless shrug, “All kinds of things could happen.  To you,” he remarked
dangerously, nuzzling her under her chin with the gun, “Or, to the little one cowering
behind your back.” He nodded at Heaven over Harmony’s shoulder.

“Don’t threaten
her, Tanner,” Harmony replied, pushing her back against her daughter and
forcing her deeper in the corner.

“So protective.  You
love her,” he noted blandly.  “It’s in your eyes, bonita.  You’d die for her.”

“In a heartbeat,”
Harmony agreed quickly, nodding. 

“Do not worry.  I
wouldn’t kill you, Harmony.  That would be too easy for you and I’d want to
enjoy watching you suffer.  I bet you would be inconsolable if she just
disappeared?” he asked softly.  “If one morning you got up and poof!”  He
snapped his fingers.  “That fast.  Your hija is gone.  It could happen, you
know.  I know many powerful men now that could help me do this.  You get up and
she isn’t in her bed.  You go to her school, and she is no longer at her desk. 
This tragedy happens every single day, I’ve heard.  It would be so easy to take
back what is mine.”

“Tanner,” Harmony
breathed, her stomach clenching at the obvious threat he made.  “She’s just a
baby.  Only a little girl.  Leave her alone.  Leave
us
alone.”

“You have a choice,
Harmony.  This should be an easy choice for you to make if you love this little
one as much as you seem to do,” he commented with a chilling grin, his black
eyes brutal as the bore into hers.  “Very, very easy.”

“What. Do. You.
Want?” she asked, each word clipped as she felt her patience waning.  Enough
was enough already.  This day
sucked.
  She wanted to take her baby, find
a bag of cookies and a nice deserted island in the middle of the ocean.  She
did
not
want to breathe her ex-husband’s rancid breath and listen to his
sneering voice anymore.  Those days were supposed to be
over
.

His fingers
tightened on her face once more and his eyes blazed with hatred.  “I want
what’s mine, but I’ll settle for that little piece of land that your
grandmother left you.  You see, I’m coming back, Harmony.  And I find, that I
need someplace to call home.  Those overgrown acres will do nicely.  You sign
them over to me, and I’ll leave you and your daughter in peace.  You don’t, and
you will find your life become quite uncomfortable.  I’ll demand access to our
daughter.  A father has rights, after all.  It’s past time that I exert mine.”

“No,” she denied,
shaking her head furiously against Tanner’s rough hand.  “You’re
nothing
to
Heaven,” she hissed as her daughter whimpered behind her back. 

“You’re wrong. 
Either submit, or I’ll take her from you.  Legally or another way, she will be
gone
,”
he threatened, his accent growing thicker as he became angrier.

“I can’t give you
what I don’t have,” Harmony replied as his fingers pinched her face.  “I don’t
hold the deed to that land anymore, Tanner!”  Gasping as his hand released her
face only to draw back and backhand her, she felt the white hot sting of the
slap radiating across her jaw.

“Fucking puta!” he
snarled, lifting his arm again to hit her. 

“Momma!!” Heaven
sobbed behind her, her little girl voice clouded with terror.

Harmony’s eyes widened
as she saw the door to the kitchen swing open and Honor walk into the room.

“Harmony, I know
you told the girls that you wanted to be alone, but…” Honor halted abruptly as
she spied her sister in the corner of the room and Tanner swung around to face her,
pointing a gun directly at her.

“Ah, the sweet
sister is here.  Don’t scream, Honor, or I’ll put bullets in all three of you,”
he warned easily, gesturing for her to move toward him.

“Tanner,” Honor
whispered shakily.  Shifting her gaze to where Harmony and Heaven were on the
floor behind him, she whispered, “Are you both okay?”

Nodding, Harmony
swallowed, but her eyes didn’t leave Tanner.  “We’re fine.”

Lifting her chin,
Honor turned her attention back to Tanner.  “There are a roomful of people right
outside that door,” she explained, keeping her voice calm as she tilted her
head toward the swinging door.  “Some of those people are armed.  You need to
go, Tanner, before this turns uglier.  Please,” she added softly.

Harmony stiffened
as she watched Tanner approach Honor, biting her lip when she saw her sister
shudder.  “Tanner, don’t hurt Honor,” she begged, beginning to inch forward on
her knees.  “You’re angry at
me
, remember?  She’s got nothing to do with
this!”  There was no way in hell she was telling him that it was Honor she’d
deeded that land over to in exchange for a percentage of the café.  She’d
happily die first.

“Sweet, innocent
Honor,” he crooned, lifting the gun to run it along the side of her face.  “I
think I missed you the most,” he leaned forward to whisper against her ear,
inhaling deeply.  “Mmmm… you still smell like a ripe peach, chica,” he breathed
against her throat, darting a tongue out to lick her neck.  “So much tastier
than your sister.”

Harmony watched
Honor gasp, her sister’s face going completely pale as her eyes closed, her
beautiful face clenching in revulsion and she suddenly realized what was
happening... what exactly Tanner’s words were confirming.  If she had any
doubts at all, Honor’s low whimper confirmed all her fears.  “You…” she heard
Honor moan faintly.  “Oh, God, it was y-you?  Y-you were one of them,” she
stuttered, lifting her hands to push violently at Tanner’s chest.

Those words… those
horrible, awful words sent Harmony surging to her feet.  She didn’t care about
the danger or the stupidity of her actions.  The only focus her mind had was
getting this animal away from her daughter and sister.  “Get away from her,
Tanner!” Harmony shrieked, reaching for one of the knives in the butcher block
on the stove.  Screaming as she lunched at him, she felt the knife connect with
the arm not holding the gun.

Tanner jerked
violently from her as blood dripped down his arm.  “Bitch!” He backhanded her
with the gun and black dots danced in front of Harmony’s eyes, her vision
swimming as she fell against the counter.  Suddenly screams filled the
kitchen.  Hers, Heaven’s and Honor’s high shrieks brought people flooding into
the kitchen.

Of course, Tanner,
being Tanner, was slippery as a fish.  By the time the first person came
running through the door – Harmony thought it was Abel, but she’d never be sure
– her ex-husband was in the wind.  Vanished.  Fucking gone!   

Again.

“What the fuck
happened?” she heard Zeke shout as she turned, reaching for Heaven with one arm
and snatching the squalling child against her in a grip she knew was too tight,
but she couldn’t help.  Every protective instinct she had screamed at her to
hold her baby as close as possible.  Turning, she saw the sheriff kneeling on
the floor in front of a pale and shaking Honor, his hands reaching toward her
as she cowered.  “Zeke, don’t!” Harmony bit out, knowing the last thing he, or
any man for that matter, should do was touch her sister right now.  “You need
to back off,” she warned softly, holding Heaven close as she crossed the room
to Honor.

“It was Tanner!  He
took off out the back.  He has a gun, but I stabbed him,” Harmony explained
quickly when her sister turned wide beseeching eyes on her.  She knew that
look; Honor wanted her to keep her mouth shut about what had been said.  And
for now, she would.  She could give her sister that.  “That’s his blood.” She
nodded toward the pool of sticky blood on the floor.  “He’s hurt.”

“Fuck!” Zeke
cursed, reaching for the radio at his side as he climbed back to his feet.  
“Abel, Cain, stay with the women,” he growled, giving Honor a long, worried
look.  “I’ll get my deputies on it.”

Harmony tried to
catch her breath as Heaven wrapped her in a strangle hold, her arms and legs
winding around Harmony’s neck and waist like a spider monkey.  “It’s okay,
baby.  It’s all over,” she crooned, rubbing her hand up and down her sobbing daughter’s
back as her eyes went to Faith and Patience, both sisters crowded around her,
Heaven and Honor.