Silent As A Stone: Heart of Stone Series #10 Read online

  SILENT AS A STONE

  K.M. SCOTT

  Silent As A Stone is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  2019 Copper Key Media, LLC

  Copyright © 2019 Copper Key Media, LLC

  Kindle Edition

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  Published in the United States

  ISBN-13: 978-1-941594-94-0

  Cover Design: Patricia Maia at Maya’s Teasers & Designs

  Silent As A Stone

  The next generation of the Heart of Stone series continues with Silent As A Stone, a STANDALONE featuring Diana and Cole’s story!

  Innocent. Sweet. Diana Stone, the last of Tristan and Nina’s triplets, struggled from the day she was born. Never as confident as her brother or as strong as her sister, she was the brainy Stone child with her eye on one day sitting on the highest court in the land.

  Until a horrible accident left her broken and trapped by her fears.

  Cole Knight has known Diana for what seems like forever. Her brother’s best friend, he’s been told by Ethan that Diana is off limits since junior high. But he’s been drawn to that forbidden fruit for years.

  Once, Diana gave him her heart at a time when he needed it the most. Now, as he looks at her as a man and not a boy anymore, can he give her what she needs most so they can find happiness forever this time?

  NOTE: While Silent As A Stone is in the Heart of Stone series, this book, along with Hard As Stone and Set In Stone (both available now) are all STANDALONE BOOKS and can be read individually on their own. The number in the series is included only for retailer purposes, not reading purposes.

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  Click on the covers below to learn more about the series:

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  About the Book

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  About All of Me

  About Blood Ascendant

  About the Author

  Books by K.M. Scott

  Books by Gabrielle Bisset

  Chapter One

  Diana

  To anyone looking me, I must seem very much like my sister and brother. Tressa is a more glamorous version of me, and Ethan…well, he’s what I like to think I might be if I’d been born his brother instead of his sister. Confident and sure, they are every bit the children of Tristan and Nina Stone.

  I used to be that way. At least I like to think so. That was so long ago I’m not sure when I’m remembering if my mind is playing tricks on me. Maybe I didn’t act with as much confidence as the belief that I had everything in front of me.

  College. Boyfriends. Good times.

  It all lay ahead of me. After finishing my second year of college, I knew I wanted to go into law. My mind had a sharpness back then that a lawyer needs.

  And then everything happened, and my dream of someday sitting on the Supreme Court faded away with every day I stayed in that coma and every day after that. My doctor tells me I’m wrong about that. My time in a coma left no permanent brain damage, so that shouldn’t stop me from pursuing my dream.

  In fact, the casual observer would say I have nothing holding me back. I’m physically in great shape. Well, not supermodel shape, but my body isn’t broken in any way that would make going back to school any sort of a challenge. My legs work. I can write and type just fine. My eyes have perfect 20/20 vision. I have no hearing loss.

  Even more, I have the Stone family money, so there’s not a university in the world I can’t afford to attend. My God, if I told my parents today that I wanted to go back to school, they’d probably buy me a house and hire a full household staff to wait on me hand and foot in that new home.

  No, it isn’t physical or mental ability or even money that keeps me from being the person everyone in my family wishes I could be. It’s me. Or rather, it’s my fear.

  See, on the outside, I look like Ethan and Tressa. We’re triplets, so that’s not surprising. I resemble my mother whereas they resemble my father, but it’s obvious with even a casual glance that we’re related.

  But it’s the inside that’s different. Some days I try to blame it on the fact that I not only look like Nina Stone but behave like her too. My sister and brother have the competitive spirit that my father possesses. It makes the three of them truly believe they can take over the world, and when they do, no one’s surprised.

  My mother’s different. Softer and kinder, she never wanted to rule the world like them. That she has is a by-product of what she really wanted.

  My father. And not for his money or power. She fell in love with the man whose chocolate brown eyes made her forget the rest of the world existed. At least that’s what she’s always said when she tells the story of how they fell in love.

  I’ve always been more like my mother. That’s why my father was so protective of me. Not that my shaky beginning in life helped. While my brother and sister came out ready to take on the world, I didn’t have that fighting spirit and faltered on my first day. They weren’t sure I’d make it to a second day.

  I did, and even though the story of our birth always made me out to be weaker, I never felt that way until after the accident. I’d been the smart one out of the three of us. While Ethan could charm the birds out of the trees and Tressa could outmaneuver anyone she ever met, I had the brains. It was those brains that would lead me to the highest court in the land someday.

  Since the accident, all my brain seems to want to do is tell me that I can’t do it. Do what? Everything. Go outside. Be in a car. Meet new people. Go on a date.

  Be happy.

  But I haven’t given up. I may look like Nina Stone, but I’m also a fighter like Tristan Stone.

  Tressa and Killian’s engagement party had been billed as the party of the year by those in the know in the media, which meant it mushroomed into something much bigger than even either one of them had planned. I had to attend since not having her only sister there would be noticed by everyone, so even if I didn’t want to, I had no choice.

  It never occurred to me to miss it, though, and not because my parents, Ethan, and Summer had to talk me into it, like they thought. I loved Tressa and seeing her happy made me happy, and although I hadn’t spent much time around Killian, the few occasions we had the opportunity to talk had convinced me he adored her like she deserved.

  That didn’t mean I intended on playing the part of hostess with the mostest, moving among the guests and flashing a smile as I schmoozed with them. I left that job to my pa
rents while I stayed on the sidelines near the carriage house. At any ordinary party, my staking out a place so far away from the main house might appear rude, but with the hundreds of party guests milling about on the estate grounds, I just seemed like one who’d chosen wisely and found a shady place to enjoy the festivities.

  Killian’s teammates, larger than life men who towered over many of the other people around them, showed up in force, much to my father’s delight. A huge football fan, he looked so happy to interact with the players that I couldn’t decide if that smile he wore was because one of his children was celebrating her engagement or because he got to spend time with his favorite team.

  I had to give it to Tressa. She swore all the way back in junior high when boys were all I could think of that she’d never marry until she found someone as strong as her. I always figured that meant she’d be single forever, but in Killian she found that strong man.

  She’d spent years pushing men away for not being exactly what she wanted, and now she was getting married. In a strange way, it gave me hope that someday I might have that kind of happiness. I pushed people away, for different reasons, of course, but maybe there was that one person out there for me too.

  From across the lawn, someone waved their hand frantically, and I shielded my eyes from the sun to get a better look at who it was. Summer. My brother’s girlfriend who should have been his wife by now, she was also as much a part of our family as any of us Stones. After the first time we met, she’d made it her mission to get me out of my hotel room and back into the real world, as she said. My being there at that party was a testament to how successful she’d been.

  Dressed in a white dress and wearing her hair up in a bun, she looked as beautiful as anyone my brother had shot in his days as a photographer. Walking toward me, she smiled and waved again.

  “You’re smarter than the rest of us, Diana! You got the best shady place around.”

  She stopped in front of me and waved her finger up and down my body. “That dress looks so good. I knew it as soon as you tried it on that you had to get that one. Blue is your color, especially true blue. It brings out the blue in your eyes. How are you doing over here? Do you want me to have Ethan bring you a glass of something?”

  Turning back to look at the party, she said, “He’s following behind me, or at least he was a minute ago. Maybe he got waylaid by someone.”

  “No, I’m good. I stashed some iced tea in the refrigerator inside, so I’m set.”

  Summer turned back to face me and shook her head. “See? I would have never thought of that. You’re so smart. So did you see the grand entrance when Tressa and Killian came out onto the lawn? The sound of those football players alone probably made the neighbors call the police with all their hooting and hollering. Who knew guys could get so excited about an engagement party?”

  As we laughed at the truth of what she said, Ethan strolled across the grass toward us. Dressed in a black suit I knew he hated wearing, he looked as casual and relaxed as he always did, no matter what he wore. My brother had cool down to an art form.

  “How is it you always know where to hang out so you get to enjoy the action but don’t have to be a part of it?” he asked me as he stopped behind Summer and slid his arms around her waist.

  “You know me, and don’t pretend that you don’t love being in the middle of things like this. You and Tressa are like identical twins with that kind of thing.”

  He shrugged and chuckled at my on-the-mark analysis of him. Nuzzling Summer’s neck, he smiled. “Fine, but I have to say in my defense that’s who I used to be. Now I’m seeing the wisdom of how you two like to live. The unobtrusive life is for me.”

  Summer teased him about his life before her as I thought about his characterization of how I lived. Unobtrusively. It sounded like a way of life some billionaire would choose to avoid people interested in his money.

  If only that was the reason I lived like I did.

  “Isn’t Killian perfect for your sister?” Summer asked as she looked over toward where Tressa stood in a black sheath dress that hugged her body perfectly. “I can say I was there when they first began. That night at the charity auction. I knew she liked him, even though she refused to admit it. I saw it right then and there when their eyes met.”

  Ethan shook his head. “From what my future brother-in-law told me, she made him work hard to get her. To hear him tell it, there was no eyes meeting and then they fell in love. Tressa put him through his paces, which I tend to believe more than your romantic story about love at first sight.”

  Elbowing him, Summer frowned. “I’m telling you I saw it that first night. Tressa is Tressa, so she made him work, but I know what I saw when she first saw him and she was head over heels in love with him that very night.”

  “Diana, I think we need to clear up some misconceptions about our sister for Summer here,” Ethan said with a smile as he hugged her to him. “Tell her about the time Tressa made that guy in high school carry her books home while she got a ride home. And then she cancelled on him because he didn’t call at the time he said he would!”

  Summer’s eyes opened wide, but we all knew how Tressa was. That made her finding someone she could be happy with all the more wonderful, though.

  “Your parents look so happy too. Look at that smile on your father’s face.”

  We looked across the lawn to see my parents enjoying the party. My father beamed a smile, and a twinge of sadness pinched at my heart because I knew he never looked like that when he was around me. All his moments with me were filled with worry and concern, never lighthearted laughing and smiling like today.

  Nudging my arm, Ethan got my attention and smiled. “Don’t worry. The only thing I’ve ever done to make our parents happy is finding Summer.”

  “Don’t minimize how proud they are of you. No matter what you think, even Daddy is proud of you and always has been,” I said quietly.

  My brother nodded and forced a smile. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two people walking toward us, and before I could figure out who it was, Ethan yelled, “Cole! Get over here, man!”

  Cole Knight, my brother’s best friend since grade school, and now one of the most successful club owners in New York City, according to Ethan. Tall and muscular, he looked every bit the athlete he did in high school when he played football and baseball, although his dark brown hair was cut shorter now and didn’t hang in his eyes. Dressed in a dark suit with a white shirt and a black tie, he reminded me of some kind of gangster today, though. Considering his family’s history, it seemed appropriate.

  “We’ve got a who’s who of New York here today, for Christ’s sake. You Stones always did know how to put on a party,” he said as he shook hands with Ethan.

  “Good to see you here, man. I knew you wouldn’t miss a party like this. You’re like my father, a businessman through and through.”

  Cole threw his head back and laughed. “Like I’d have to sell anything here. Half the crowd doesn’t do the club scene, and the other half is in my place every night. I’m here because I had to see for myself that Tressa is really getting married.”

  Summer and I exchanged glances as we waited for Cole to introduce the woman with him. Clearly much younger, she looked irritated about something. Her skimpy pale yellow dress barely covered her breasts, which looked as if they strained against the silky fabric and would bust loose at any moment. A gorgeous woman with short brown hair, she had a sexiness about her I couldn’t deny.

  For his part, Cole seemed happy with her. At least it seemed so by the way they held hands.

  Finally, after he and Ethan got through with their guy joking around, he sheepishly looked around and said, “I’m sorry. Diana and Summer, this is Rachel. Rachel, this is Diana Stone, Ethan’s sister, and Summer, Ethan’s girlfriend.”

  “Hi. So this is your family’s place? Pretty swanky.”

  I hated the word swanky. It sounded stupid, and there were so many other words that conveyed how gorgeous my p
arents’ home was.

  Smiling, I happily let Summer chat this woman up while I slowly began to hate her as much as I hated swanky.

  Then, as if the universe wanted to punish me for my evil thoughts about how much I disliked Cole’s girlfriend, my mother called Ethan and Summer over to meet someone she was speaking to, leaving me standing there with Cole and Swanky Chick. We all just stared at one another, none of us having anything to say, and I imagined they wished someone had called them away too.

  “So, how’ve you been?” Cole asked me in a low voice as the three of us looked at the party going on nearby.

  “Good. You?” I answered politely, wishing Ethan and Summer would return and save me from this conversation.

  “Good. Good. The club’s doing great. You know how it is.”

  I had no idea how it was. Not a single word of what he said was supposed to do anything but fill the dead space. Each word he uttered was the dictionary definition of meaningless small talk. I knew Cole to be so much more than this boring person standing in front of me, so I couldn’t help but be surprised.

  Rachel tugged on his arm once and then a second time a minute later before whispering far too loudly, “When are we blowing this place? You told me we’d only stay for a little while.”

  Cole looked over at me and cringed before he himself whispered loudly, “We haven’t been here for that long. I’ve known Ethan’s family since I was a kid. I can’t just duck out a few minutes after arriving.”

  Fighting every urge to turn around and walk inside the carriage house to get away from the awkwardness playing out in front of me, I pretended like I didn’t hear anything they said. When she stomped her foot and told him she wanted to leave right now and then stormed away when he said they couldn’t, all I wanted to do was run away.

  Cole’s shoulders sagged. Turning around, he looked at me sheepishly and smiled. He didn’t have to be embarrassed. At least he had a date for this party.