Ready, Willing and Abel (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnon Sisters Book 3)

by Sarah O'Rourke

  “Zeke’s been stayin’ at night for the last week or so,” Honor confessed hoarsely. “He refuses to leave,” she mumbled, staring at the floor.

  Patience leaned forward in the bed. “What?”

  Lifting her tearstained face to look at her sister, Honor nodded. “He won’t leave, Pitty Pat. He says he’s done seein’ me look as pale as a ghost and that until I get caught up on my rest, he’s stayin’ on the couch.”

  “You don’t dream when Zeke’s in the house, do you?” Patience asked, already knowing the answer.

  “No, I don’t dream with him there, but now that I know he’s goin’ around snoopin’ through my things…” Honor trailed off.

  “He’s worried, Honor,” Abel said, defending Zeke. “I know it’s no excuse, but when a man sees a woman he cares about sufferin’, then there’s not a whole lot of lines that he won’t cross to try to help her. I’m guessin’ his need to find a way to help you trumped your need for privacy. He mighta done wrong, but he did wrong with the best of intentions.”

  “Listen to Abel,” Patience recommended with a hard look at her man, “He’s got quite a bit of experience in this area. He’s certainly made enough mistakes with me when he was actin’ in my ‘best interests’. Cut Zeke some slack. And if you don’t like the therapist that you have, we can find you somebody else. I know for a fact that there are a whole boatload of medications that they can try to help you sleep.”

  Honor’s shoulders drooped. “I know,” she admitted under her breath. “Zeke said the same thing. He even offered to find me somebody to see.”

  “Sounds like a man that’s willin’ to do anything to help you,” Abel gently pointed out.

  “He just feels guilty that he didn’t save me all those years ago and he thinks my nightmares are all his fault. I’ve told him a million times that he doesn’t need to feel beholden.”

  “Then maybe that’s not what he’s feeling,” Abel remarked, gauging Honor’s reaction, or lack of reaction as the case was.

  “At any rate, if y’all came to stay, he’d probably go home,” Honor assumed, sounding a shade too hopeful for Abel and Patience’s liking as the pair exchanged a look over Honor’s head.

  “On second thought,” Patience stated, “It just doesn’t make much sense to move and set up all this baby furniture twice. I mean, really, if we’re going to outfit our nursery, I just want to do it once, don’t you, Abel?”

  “It’s like we’re sharin’ a brain, Hellion,” Abel returned with a grin, thankful that Patience had reached the same silent conclusion he had. Which was, whatever plan Zeke had to help Honor, he’d kill whoever screwed it up. And if the man had been stayin’ with her for a week and not said anything to anybody, then it was obvious he didn’t want the family interfering with his strategy.

  Patience nodded at him. “We still need to come up with a plan though,” she said, looking around the room. “As much as I hate to admit it,” she continued grudgingly, “Honor has a point. This place isn’t really conducive to life with twins.” Seeing her baby sister’s smug look, she growled, “Don’t gloat, Peanut. It isn’t an attractive look.”

  “It’s attractive enough when you get to do it,” Honor grumbled.

  Clearing his throat to get the sisters attention, he smiled. “I have a solution that will work and I’ll share it on one condition,” he offered, staring at the woman carrying his babies – and the woman he hoped would one day carry the last name his children would have. His solution was the first step in making that happen.

  “What is it?” Patience questioned warily.

  “You can’t get mad,” Abel replied evenly.

  “Good luck with that,” Honor murmured as her eyes went from Abel to Patience.

  “What did you do?” Patience asked guardedly.

  “It’s nothing bad, I swear. And it’s something I know you’ve always wanted,” Abel shared mysteriously.

  “What have you done, Abel?” Patience bit out as she watched Honor back away toward the door. “Freeze, Honor,” she ordered. “You might have to help me dispose of a body if I don’t like what he says.”

  “I bought a house, Patience,” Abel revealed bluntly. “I remembered you saying a few summers ago how much you wanted to live somewhere that had a pond where you could go skinnydippin’ any time you wanted. So, when James Bestway put his place on the market last month, I put in a bid for it. He accepted last week. The place is ours. You’ll only have to swim with the fishes in the pond if you want to since the place also has a pool.”

  Abel’s heart quickened as he watched Patience’s eyes widen and glaze over with shock. He knew she was thinking about the large, sprawling two story brick house that sat up on a bluff overlooking the countryside. The place was undoubtedly gorgeous. Surrounded by majestic Black Walnut trees, the house itself had a total of six bedrooms and five bathrooms, a formal living and dining room, an eat-in kitchen with a cute little breakfast nook in the corner, and a wraparound porch that offered a panoramic view of the town. The best part, in his opinion, was the property. In the backyard, there was both an in-ground pool and a hot tub and as you walked further back on the land, there was a natural pond, a workable barn and enough land that his kids could have a couple of horses once they were old enough to ride. It was the ideal spot to raise a family.

  “Oh my God,” Patience gasped, blinking rapidly as she stared at him.

  “I think you hit the jackpot, Abel. Patience has always loved that place. Nice move!” Honor congratulated him as Patience remained mostly speechless.

  “I…You…We’re really gonna live there? This isn’t some kind of mean trick?” Patience finally managed to stammer.

  “No trick,” Abel vowed, pulling the key ring to the place out of his pocket and tossing it to her. “That’s your set of keys. I’ve got a crew coming in next week to do a few repairs and slap fresh paint on the walls. I was worried about choosing the colors you’d like, but now that you know, you can do it,” he explained, more than a little relieved that he wouldn’t have to guess what Patience would like. That was a mission riddled with land mines, and he was glad to avoid it if he could.

  “On that note, I think I’m gonna go, big sister,” Honor declared with a small laugh at her still stunned sister’s face. “I’ll schedule some interviews for next week and we’ll talk to them up here together. You’ll be able to move these boxes to the new house, won’t you, Abel?”

  “Absolutely. In fact, I thought I might pay some of these guys a little extra if they’d just put the furniture together for us. I can always move things around once we move in if Patience doesn’t like the way things are arranged. The guys have already agreed to help move my stuff over, so I doubt they’d say no to putting together a couple of cribs. The good news is the place should be ready in a couple of weeks, and then we can move over to the new location well before the babies arrive. That okay with you, Hellion?”

  Still staggered by what Abel had done for them, Patience nodded wordlessly.

  “I feel like I should take a picture to preserve this moment,” Abel said to Honor as he saw her to the door. “It’s not often that we get to witness a completely silent Patience McKinnon.”

  “I actually think this might be the first time,” Honor confided in a hushed voice, giving her shaken up sister one last amused look. “You did good, Abel. When she finally finds her tongue again, don’t let her tell you otherwise.”

  “Thanks, Honor,” he murmured, kissing the younger woman’s cheek before closing the door and turning to see Patience still frozen in the middle of the bed.

  “Well, it’s just you and me again, kid,” Abel called, trying to draw her out of her stupor.

  Patience jerked her eyes to where he stood and audibly gulped. “Abel, I think we need to talk.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Abel had bought them a house. That infuriating, bossy, beautiful man had actually bought them a house!

  And not just any old ordinary house.

&nbs
p; Oh, no. Not her man!

  It was THE house. The one that always starred in every single one of her girlhood fantasies (the ones she routinely denied having).

  Watching as he ambled toward the bed, she reached out to grasp his hand, jerking him down beside her. “Are you insane? That place you just purchased had to be out of any price range we could afford, Abel. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not be in debt until our kids have kids! Seriously, it must have been a fortune and the McMansion hasn’t even sold…”

  Abel’s snort of amusement cut her off. Narrowing her eyes, she lifted her chin. “What?” she asked, realizing that there was plainly something she didn’t know. “What am I missing?”

  “Patience, did you even look through any of my bank statements when I put you on my account last month?” he asked as he settled himself against the mountain of pillows she kept in the bed.

  “Of course not. I didn’t even want you to put me on those stupid accounts,” she returned huffily. “I told you I had my own money. I didn’t need access to yours, too.”

  “And I told you that the mother of my children was going to have direct access to my money. Besides, I already made you the sole beneficiary of my life insurance and estate if something should ever happen to me.”

  “La-La- La-la,” she sang, shoving her fingers in her ears as he spoke. She knew it wasn’t exactly a mature reaction to what he was saying, but she didn’t care. She simply couldn’t listen to Abel talk about dying. The idea of not having him was enough to send her into a panicked meltdown, and she just didn’t have time to have one of those today. The agenda was already packed with the lecture she’d be giving him on buying them the house of her dreams.

  “Okay, okay,” Abel conceded, pulling at her hand away from her ear by the wrist. “You win. I won’t talk about beneficiaries or death, but I do want you to listen to me about the money, Patience. It’s important. Especially since you’re worried about it, and you don’t need to be.”

  “Of course I need to be, Abel. I can’t afford a house like that. I can’t even afford half a house like that!” she chattered nervously, blowing her hair out of her eyes. “I mean, maybe if I sold a kidney or a lung on the black market or something, but on a normal day in an average month? Never!” she continued to jabber.

  “The house is paid for already, Patience,” Abel stated evenly.

  “What are we going to…wait,” Patience ordered sharply as Abel’s comment registered. “What did you just say?”

  “There is no debt because the house has been fully paid for,” he reiterated blandly, lifting a hand to tuck a hank of her tangled hair behind her ear. “You can quit panicking.”

  Patience closed her eyes and counted to ten, praying for the strength to resist killing Abel. When she opened her eyes again, she decided that she should have counted to twenty. “What do you mean there’s no debt? That place must have cost at least a million dollars with the land it had attached to it.”

  “One point five, actually,” Abel returned carelessly as he reached over to draw a handful of papers out of the nightstand he’d commandeered as his own when he’d started spending the nights with her months ago. Dropping them in her lap, he pointed at the statements. “Those papers reflect just a portion of what I’m worth, Hellion,” he said with no conceit or arrogance. His words were simply a statement of fact.

  Frowning, Patience began to flip through the documents, quickly learning that they were the last months’ bank statements on several accounts that were in Abel’s name.

  Several very fucking healthy accounts, she thought to herself as the numbers kept getting larger. “Oh my God, Abel! You’re loaded!” she exclaimed, finally looking up into his unimpressed face.

  “It’s just money, Patience.” He shrugged. “Doesn’t really mean all that much, babe.”

  Patience scoffed. “It does if you don’t have it,” she retorted.

  “Maybe, but you do have it,” he countered, nodding down at the sheath of papers. “And more, besides.”

  “First, this isn’t my money. It’s yours,” she objected strongly, her back going straight and her chin firming as she spoke.

  “It’s ours,” Abel insisted, shaking his head at her rebellious expression. “Woman, we are together now. Hell, not just now, but forever! What’s mine is now yours. And our kids, of course. Besides, there’s not as much in those accounts now since I paid for the house out of them. Some of the funds will be replenished when my old place sells, but not all of it. It’s okay, though, I’ve got a few other bank accounts and quite a few successful investments. We’ll be more than comfortable.”

  “Abel, I know you’re a successful man and all, but how…. How did you accumulate all this wealth?” she asked huskily, unable to believe that she’d never known about this. In a town as small as Paradise, a person’s worth wasn’t exactly a secret. Everybody knew everybody else’s business.

  “I was hired to represent a group that had a class action law suit against a company that shall remain nameless quite a few years ago. The company we were suing didn’t want the scandal and decided to settle out of court with us. I negotiated a tidy sum for my clients. I got a sizeable percentage of the settlement as well, invested it wisely, and you’re looking at the results. I’ve never really needed it for anything, so I never touched it,” he explained humbly. “It grew into the balances you see,” he continued, tapping the top page with his index finger.

  “Wow,” Patience murmured.

  “I donate to a few charities every year, but mostly I’ve just let the money accumulate. So, I want you to quit worrying about money, okay? I have my own law firm, money saved in the bank, and investments. But honestly, if either of us ever decided to not work another single day in our life, we could do it.”

  “That’s nuts. I could never just sit on my ass,” Patience denied before dropping her gaze to her huge belly. “Well, unless a freaking doctor puts me on bed rest. Then, I’m pretty much stuck.”

  Abel chuckled and dropped a kiss against her pouty lips. “It’s not forever. You’ll be free in just a few months.”

  “I guess,” Patience grumbled, leaning her head against his shoulder.

  “Are we good about the house?” he asked softly.

  “I love that place, Abel,” Patience admitted quietly. “If you say we can afford it, then I’m honestly thrilled to get the chance to live there with you and the kids.” There’d been a time when she’d never have been able to make a confession like that to him. But, as they’d spent the last few months cementing their relationship, she now knew without a doubt that he was what she wanted. Where once she’d found him shallow and sarcastic, she now knew that while he could be both those things, he was so much more. Kind, generous, and surprisingly supportive of all her dreams, Abel proved each day that he was in this thing with her for the long haul.

  “Yes!” Abel yelled, doing a fist pump and happy dance at the same time.

  “You look ridiculous,” Patience laughed a few minutes later when his excited movements still hadn’t ceased. “You act as though you’ve never seen me be reasonable before.”

  “Yeah,” he scoffed. “I’m not touching that remark. I’m just happy that you and I can finally agree on a place to raise our family,” he announced, laying his palm against her belly. “I love you, Hellion.”

  “Hmmm, let’s see if you love me when I have you cleaning out gutters and mowing lawns next summer.” Wincing as one of the babies kicked against their father’s hand, Patience groaned. “I swear, Abel, I think one of these kids has a future as a linebacker in the NFL.”

  Chuckling as another series of kicks made his hand bounce against Patience’s rounded stomach, he shook his head. “Not to alarm you, babe, but it feels like you might have an entire future first string in there, Hellion.”

  “Bite your tongue,” she moaned, collapsing on her back as the twins continued their acrobatics inside her. Turning her head to look at his fascinated face staring at her baby bump,
she ran her fingers through his hair. “So, have you had any more of those threatening letters delivered to the firm? It’s been a couple weeks since you told me about the last one,” she prodded, waiting for him to look up at her.

  Shaking his head, Abel muttered, “Not talking about that with you today, babe.”

  Catching his arm when he would have gotten off the bed, Patience gave him a threatening look. “We promised to be open with each other,” she reminded him.

  “And I also promised the good doctor not to say or do anything that could cause you to be the least little bit upset. We are at the mercy of the blood pressure gods and goddesses,” Abel countered. “And admit it, babe. The doctor holds the most power in our relationship right now, and we both know that.”

  “He’s a big worrywart,” Patience mumbled, then suddenly narrowed her eyes as she turned her attention back in Abel’s direction. “Wait. So whatever it is that you won’t tell me will upset me then. Start talking, jackass, or I’ll call Zeke and get the dirty details all by myself. He, at least, still fears me more than Dr. Daniels. You are a lost cause.”

  “There’s no dirt or details for you to worry about, Patience.” Abel smiled benignly as he readjusted them both in the middle of her bed. Sighing, he dropped an arm around her shoulder. “No more letters. All’s quiet on the western front and all that shit.”

  “Why don’t I believe you?’ Patience pushed up so she could turn to face him directly. When he shifted ever so slightly so as not to meet her direct gaze, she pointed accusingly. “You’re hiding something. Spill or I pick up the phone and call everyone I know until I get the answers I need.”

  “Fuck,” he muttered, running a hand down his face. “I’m tellin’ the truth; I haven’t received any more threats…but Zeke, on the other hand, got a note warning him to quit looking under rocks better left where they are.” Seeing Patience’s perplexed face staring back at him, he shrugged. “I know. It’s some cryptic shit. The strange thing is, Zeke said he hasn’t poked his nose in Esteban’s affairs in over a month. We’re startin’ to think we might be barkin’ up the wrong tree.”