Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters) by Sarah O'Rourke Read Free Book Online

didn’t answer quickly.  The Sheriff looked more
than capable of ripping the heart out of the other man’s chest and shoving it
down his throat.  “I swear to God, if you’ve upset the fragile balance that
she’s fought to find the past few years, you won’t have to worry about Tanner
and Diego and their would-be infiltration of Paradise.  You’ll be meeting them
in Hell when I kill you myself.”
    Jacob had never
taken the Sheriff for a particularly violent man in the short time he’d been
studying him, but he knew better.  He’d done his research, too, and Jacob
realized there was a seething violence lurking just below the usually
unflappable man’s skin.  It was obvious that Zeke would kill without hesitation
to prevent one ounce of pain to come Honor’s way.  Based on what he’d
unearthed, the man had done it before and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if
the situation called for it.  Jacob wasn’t judging… if he learned that Harmony
had been through something similar, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to maintain his
balance either.  And he’d only known her a few weeks.  But he needed to know
what the fuck he was up against. 
    “I’m an asshole,
not an idiot,” Jacob snapped back with a look of disgust.  “I haven’t said a
word to Honor, nor would I.  All I know is what I read in the newspaper
clippings I looked at while I was researching all the McKinnon women and the
files my agency put together on the family.  Everything I read said she endured
some kind of assault when she was a teenager.  She went missing for a couple of
days, didn’t she?”  He almost regretted his question when he saw the torment
reflected in Zeke’s eyes.
    “They had her
fifty-eight hours and thirty seven minutes,” Zeke replied tightly. 
    The pain laced
through Zeke’s comment struck a chord in Jacob.  It sounded like the sheriff
was in agony, and it spoke to the pain Jacob carried inside himself over his
sister’s senseless death.  “They?” Jacob probed carefully.  He hated to make
the other man rehash something that was blatantly painful, but he had to know exactly
what he was up against in order to break through the walls Harmony had built
around her.  He’d never be able to protect her if she refused to let him into
her life.
    Zeke flinched. 
“Yeah, they .  There were a total of five assailants.  And it wasn’t just
a simple assault.  The editor of our local paper is a good friend of mine.  She
did me a favor and reported a softer version of the truth in the story to
preserve as much of Honor’s dignity as she could.  The truth was that five of those
animals gang-raped her, beat her nearly to death, stabbed her and dumped her naked
and alone in a sink hole and left her there to die.  Two of them have been
dealt with. The other three, Honor couldn’t give us anything on, but their
semen wasn’t found in the rape kit, so we’re not sure if…”  Zeke took a deep
breath and got control of his rising temper. “At any rate, yeah, Stone, Honor’s
so-called assault had a lasting effect on both her and her sisters,” he
managed to bite out.
    “I’m sorry,” Jacob said
softly.  He was.  Nobody deserved what had happened to Honor; especially not
the sixteen-year-old girl she’d been when she’d been brutalized.  Christ, Honor
was petite now, but she must have been tiny then – certainly no match for five grown
men.
    “Me, too.  But you
need to hear the rest.  There was more to it than even that – for both Honor
and Harmony.”  Running a hand over his face, Zeke swallowed hard.  “Jesus, I
haven’t talked about this shit in years,” he muttered. 
    Jacob gave the
other man a sidelong look.  He felt for the guy.  It looked like his memories
were ripping him apart. “Wanna take me up on that beer now?  You look like you
could use it, Sheriff.”
    “Screw the beer. 
I’m gonna need a whiskey,” Zeke declared, rising from the bench and turning to
face