Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters) (7 page)

“
Fuck
!”
Jacob cursed succinctly, anger permeating the thick air around him as he reached
for the glass of whiskey that Zeke had stolen from him a few minutes ago.  He
drained it in a single gulp.  Hell, he’d envisioned a lot of scenarios
concerning Tanner’s relationship with Harmony, but this hadn’t been one of
them.  And none of that had been in the dossier he’d received from the DEA.

“Yeah, that about
sums it up,” Zeke remarked, watching Jacob closely.  “I think you can see now
why I’m gonna have a problem with any plan that involves dragging Harmony back
into a nightmare she woke up from a long time ago.  Let it be over for her,
Stone.”

“You think it’s up
to me?” Jacob barked, his hand flattening against the polished wood of the
table.  “It’s not.  All any of us can do is stand between her and those
bastards, Zeke, because the DEA is not gonna back off this operation.  There’s
too much at stake.” 

“Don’t pretend with
me,” Zeke denied, his shoulders stiffening as he leaned forward.  “You came
here for revenge, Stone.  I might not be a genius, but even I can do the math
on that one.  You think Harmony won’t figure that out, too?  You think she
won’t assume exactly what I did… that you were gonna use her as a pawn in this
little chess match you’ve got goin’ on with the cartel?  Look, I’m sorrier than
hell about your sister, but…”

“Leave my sister
out of this,” Jacob retorted as he glared at the sheriff.

“I’m just sayin’ it
like it is,” Zeke returned evenly, unwilling to let the other man off the hook.

“Things have
changed,” Jacob declared flatly.  “Harmony is mine, and I’ll protect what’s mine.”

Zeke offered Jacob
a long, measured look, silently assessing him.  “Those are words we take real
serious around here, Stone.  You make that kind of claim on a woman in this
town, you sure as shit better mean it and be ready to stand behind your word.”

“I never say
anything I don’t mean.  Better yet, I’ll always back up what I say.   If
Fuentes and Suarez want to fuck with Harmony and Heaven, they’ll go through me
first, and not many people have ever done that.”  It wasn’t boasting; it was
just the simple truth.  Jacob would move heaven and earth to keep both his
girls safe.  He hadn’t realized how far he’d go before, but he did now.

“You gonna share
this claim you’re making with Harmony?” Zeke raised an eyebrow.

“Harmony will know
where I stand tonight,” Jacob answered tersely, his hands clenching as he
watched Zeke smirk at him.

“I bet.  You gonna
tell her who you really are?” the Sheriff fired back.

“When I’m ready,
I’ll tell Harmony everything.  Not before.”

Zeke rolled his
eyes as he let out a disgusted snort.  “Great, another idiot in my midst.  You
know, Faith’s husband, Cain, tried this strong, silent bullshit, and he almost
lost her before he ever got a ring on her finger.  Faith forgave him, but not
before she made him crawl over broken glass to earn it.   With her past, I
don’t know if Harmony will be that generous, Stone.  I was really hoping that
you weren’t gonna be this much of a dumbass.  Tell the woman the fucking truth!”

“I’m not lying
about anything; I’m just not ready to bare my soul yet.  You let me worry about
how much to tell Harmony and when.  All I’m askin’ of you is to keep your mouth
shut for now.  When the time is right, I’ll share my story with her and my
reasons for every choice I’ve made.  For now, I’d rather just concentrate on
getting to know her and building her trust.”  Fuck, Jacob had never wooed a
woman before, but it looked like he’d be taking a crash course in it now. 
Whatever, she was worth it.

“Let me get this
straight.  You say you wanna build the trust between you two.  You realize that
when she finds out you’ve been keeping this shit from her… shit that could
affect both her wellbeing, her child’s safety, and her sisters’ lives… that
trust will be blown to hell and back, right?  You ever seen a McKinnon lose her
mind?  It ain’t pretty, man.”

“My hope is she’ll
realize that everything I did was for her
and
her family’s own good,” Jacob
muttered back at the Sheriff. 

“Yeah, Cain said
that same thing not very long ago... the whole, ‘It’s for your own good’ line. 
It worked out fantastically.  Good luck with it.  They’re famous last fuckin’
words, moron,” Zeke grumbled under his breath.

“Can I trust you to
keep your mouth shut or not, Zeke?” Jacob asked impatiently, ignoring the
warnings.  “You’ve got my word that I’ll keep Harmony and Heaven safe.”

Zeke pressed his
lips together as he glared at Jacob.  “I won’t say anything,” he finally said. 
“But, I won’t lie either.  If she comes to me and wants to know the score, I
will
not
lie to that woman.”

“Fair enough,”
Jacob declared with a short nod, recognizing the truce was the best he was
going to get.  “Are we done here?  I’ve got a beautiful woman waiting for an
unforgettable first date.”

The sheriff held up
one hand, stalling the other man’s departure.  “Just one more thing.  I need to
bring Cain and Abel Turner into the loop, Jacob.”

“What?” Jacob
snapped, eyes narrowing as he shook his head.  “Are you crazy? We need to keep
this shit tight, Zeke.  And by that, I mean…”

“I don’t care what
you mean,” Zeke cut him off, leaning forward in the booth to get nose to nose
with the other man.  “You just dropped the bomb on me that not one, but two
threats are headed toward a McKinnon sister.  Now, you ain’t from around here,
but I can tell you that any threat headed for one of them threatens all of
them, asshole.  They’re a package deal.  And by that I mean that every one of
them would die for the other three.  If one is in danger, then they
all
are because none of those ladies are gonna allow their sister to face danger
alone.  Cain and Abel Turner are both my friends.  Cain’s married to Faith for
fuck’s sake, and Abel has been keeping an eye out for Patience since the girl
was in pigtails.  They’re honorable men that are both more than capable of keeping
their mouths shut and doing their part to protect those women.  They’ve each
got a vested interest in this.   They won’t compromise whatever plan is in
motion, but they’ll damn sure do their best to make sure the rest of the girls
are safe, too.  I’m telling them,” he declared resolutely.

“Jesus, man,” Jacob
groaned, running a tired hand down his face, the Sheriff’s tone brooking no
argument.  He didn’t have time for this bullshit.  The more people that knew
about the operation in play, the higher the risk that the whole operation could
go sideways.  These motherfuckers were slippery bastards, and this was the
closest the DEA had ever gotten to finally dealing a crippling blow to the
cartel.  Not to mention, Harmony was waiting for him.  Finally, he had a chance
to get all areas of his life into sync, and this was happening.

“It isn’t a
request; it’s a deal breaker.  We’re not negotiating terms.  You want my silence?
This is my price.”  The sheriff’s voice was unwavering as he stared at Jacob.

Meeting the
sheriff’s blazing eyes, Jacob knew that the other man wouldn’t be intimidated
by threats of charges from interfering with a federal investigation.  Zeke’s
hard gaze said he wouldn’t be swayed at
all
because this was about folks
he considered his family.  The one thing Jake had learned about these people
that lived in this tiny corner of America was that family trumped everything
else.  Always.

There were no
exceptions.

If he was ever
going to get to see Harmony tonight, he was gonna have to agree to the stubborn
pain in the ass’s demands.

“Fine,” Jacob
clipped out, regretting the words as soon as he said them.  “But you make sure
they know that this is a sticky situation.  Runnin’ their mouths to the wrong
person could mean somebody’s life.  The agency has a man on the inside.  Think
about that.”

“My boys know how
to keep their mouth shut.”

“Alright, then. 
I’ll let you know if I get any more information.  Appreciate it if you’d do the
same,” Jacob replied in a low voice as he threw a twenty on the table between
them to cover their drinks.

 “I can do that,”
Zeke agreed with a short nod.

Jacob rose from his
seat, his tight, worn jeans stretching with the movement. “Then I think we’re
done here.”

“Listen, Stone,”
Zeke said quickly as he shifted his hat back into place. “One last thing.  With
everything I shared with you, I think you know that I’ve put a certain level of
trust in you.  I wanna offer you one last piece of advice…go slow with her. 
She’s been through a lot.”

The noise of the
bar seemed to increase in that moment, and Jacob took a step closer.  “I hear
you, man,” he acknowledged, “but slow isn’t really in my wheelhouse.  What I
can promise you is that I’ll take care with her.  I didn’t come to Paradise
expecting to find a woman that would mean anything to me.  I sure as fuck
didn’t plan on finding the one that could mean everything to me.  Now that I
have, I’ll do whatever it takes to protect her.”

“See that you do, Agent
Stone.  You see that you do.”

And on that last
warning, Jacob spun on the heel of his motorcycle boot and headed for the
door.  There was nothing more he could add to what he’d already said that would
make a believer out of Ezekiel Monroe, and he had far better things to do with
his time than waste his breath.

Besides, he’d
always believed actions spoke louder than words anyway.

 “This is
hopeless
,”
Harmony McKinnon growled as she struggled to pull the form-fitting violet
sweater over her head.  “Why can’t I just wear jeans and a tee shirt?” she
asked her sister, Faith, over her shoulder as she unsnapped the black skirt and
wriggled the tight material over her hips.  “I’ll take comfort over style any
day of the week.” This was the third skirt she’d tried that had fit like a
second skin, and she decided then and there that she seriously needed to skip
tomorrow’s pie selection.  “Jake already knows what I look like.”

Rolling her eyes,
Faith ignored the snort from their other sister, Patience, and kept flipping
through the hangers in Harmony’s closet.  “It’s your first date in over seven
years.  You’re dressing up,” she decreed, pulling out a wine colored low cut silk
shirt and scrutinizing it.  Holding it up for Patience to see, she tilted her
head.  “Well?” she asked as she shoved her blonde hair over her shoulder.

“Too red.  That
color will make her look like a high-class hooker – which, if you wanna like a
hooker would be the way to go…but still, doesn’t she have anything in a teal in
there?” Patience asked, looking over Faith’s shoulder into the closet.  “Blue
will make her eyes pop.”

“Our sister is NOT
going out dressed like a whore!  Honor would tackle her to the ground before
she cleared the door.  But, I do agree with you about the blue,” Faith muttered
as she resumed digging in the closet again.

“Oh, for crying out
loud!” Harmony barely stifled a groan.  Clad in a pink bra with little
embroidered flowers sewn into the fabric and a pair of matching panties, she
flopped back on the bed and watched as her two siblings continued to rummage
through her limited wardrobe.  She’d been modeling outfits for her discerning
sisters for the past half-hour and even she could agree that her choices were
somewhat sparse.  As a working single mother, she really had two choices from
which to pick… her normal work uniform of blue jeans and colorful tees or her
mom uniform of yoga pants and colorful tees.  “Why am I even doing this?  I
should just call him and cancel,” she muttered more to herself than to her
siblings.

They must have
heard the self-doubt in her voice because both women turned to look at her with
narrowed eyes that promised retribution if she mentioned canceling again.

“You are NOT
backing out on this date,” Faith denied, pointing a finger at Harmony just like
their mother had done when they were younger.  “You need to do this, Harm. 
It’s not healthy to keep avoiding relationships like you do.”

“Faith’s right. 
You need to get laid, sis,” Patience added with a decisive nod as she crossed
her arms over her chest.

Faith huffed,
shoving her sister’s shoulder.  “I didn’t say
that!
”

“Well, I
did
say that,” Patience returned with a wicked grin.  “Have you seen the ass on
that man?  You could bounce a quarter off him and make yourself fifty cents! Seriously,
Harmony, that is one Grade A piece of man meat that you’ve got interested in
you.  I’m betting he’s packing some serious heat below the belt.”  Her sister
shivered for effect and winked at Harmony.

Faith glared at
Patience before ordering sternly, “Ignore Patience’s raging hormones.”  Her
eyes glazed over slightly as she added, “I just think you need to get back out
there, Harmony.  You’re never going to meet ‘The One’ if you’re hiding in this
house with Heaven and Honor.  Jake is a nice guy…”

Oh, goody… her
sister was going to blather on about the elusive ‘One’.  Harmony sighed as she
listened with half an ear as her sis continued to go on and on about all of
Jake’s wonderful qualities.  She couldn’t deny that she agreed with most of
what Faith said.  After spending the last several weeks chatting with the
mountain of a man, even she couldn’t argue that she was definitely attracted to
him.