Текст книги "Charmed by His Love"

Автор книги: Джанет Чапмен

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ever so slightly. “Would ye care for a little flesh along with

the skin this time?” He slipped his knife deeper into the

next fish to leave a good deal of the meat attached, and

tossed it between him and the pup.

The dog pounced on the prize without hesitation, and

once again swal owed it in one gulp. It stepped closer, its

gaze darting from Duncan to the fish to the knife in

Duncan’s hand, then back to him. Then another step, its

thick yel ow tail wagging a bit more robustly as its pink

tongue made a swipe around its mouth and over its nose.

“It looks like I’m going to have to throw a line in the water

again,” Duncan said with a chuckle. He used his fingers to

pul off a large piece of meat, then held his hand toward the

pup. “Come on, fel a. Come eat your fil .”

The pup sat down and ducked its head with a soft whine,

its tail thumping the moss like a drumming partridge as it

trembled with indecision.

“Be a brave lad and come to me,” Duncan crooned.

“Come on, now.”

The young dog slowly slinked closer, crouching

submissively with its tail tucked between its legs, until its

nose was only inches from Duncan’s hand. Duncan

stretched the rest of the way and turned his hand palm up

so it could get the food.

Again the fish was gone in one gulp, and the pup started

licking Duncan’s fingers with such delicate care that he

chuckled again. “That’s a good boy. Come on and have

some more,” he said, reaching for another fish. “So, do ye

live around here or are ye just passing through?” he asked

as he ran his knife along the backbone and peeled away

the entire side of the trout. “Because I was wondering if ye

happened to know of any special areas.” He handed the

dog the large filet, which required three gulps to get down

this time. “Like a cave maybe, or a grotto, or an unusual y

large tree. Anyplace ye might have felt an unusual amount

of energy.”

The pup’s tail thumped as it canted its head to listen,

even as its large brown eyes remained trained on the fish

on the rock.

“Al right,” Duncan said with a chuckle. “I know it’s hard to

focus when your bel y’s rumbling and there’s food around.”

He started cleaning al the meat off the bones only to watch

it disappear down the pup’s throat as fast as he could hand

it over. “I have the same problem when a pan of apple crisp

is in the vicinity. Sorry, pal, but that’s the last of it,” he said,

holding his empty hands out—which the pup immediately

started licking. Once it had licked off al but Duncan’s

fingerprints, the young dog stepped back to eye him. It then

ducked its head and slinked up onto the edge of the jacket,

flopped down against his side, and rested its chin on

Duncan’s thigh with a doggy sigh. And just like that, with

only a brace of trout and a warm body to lean on, Duncan

realized he and the pup had just formed a bond that God

himself wouldn’t be able to break.

And when he found himself wondering what he’d done to

deserve this, this time he decided it must have been one

hel of a good deed.

Duncan felt his foothold giving way and made a desperate

lunge for the other side of the gaping hole he was trying to

cross, but only managed to slam into the ledge with enough

force to bounce him into nothing but heated air rising up

from only God knew how far below. His muttered curse

ended in a grunt of surprise when he landed a hel of a lot

sooner than he’d expected, the sharp pain jerking him

awake with another shouted curse.

The pup pushed off his side with a startled yelp, making

Duncan protectively grab his ribs as he opened his eyes

and immediately closed them against the bright sunshine

pouring into the clearing. Shaking and sweating and

breathing heavily, he replayed the terror of his dream—

which felt so real that every muscle in his body started

screaming at just the thought of moving.

Christ, he hurt. He slowly cracked open his eyes again

and looked around until he saw the pup standing a few feet

away, staring at him in concern. He slowly reached out a

hand only to turn it back toward himself when he realized it

was covered with bloody scrapes. And then he noticed it

also happened to be sticking out of his shirtsleeve; the only

problem was he couldn’t remember getting dressed last

night.

The pup came slinking over with its tail wagging hard

enough to move its entire rear end and flopped down to

rest its head on his bel y—only to jump away again when

Duncan bolted upright at the realization the sun was at least

two hours high in the sky.

“Damn, I’m late,” he groaned more than growled,

wrapping his arms around his protesting ribs. “I have an

entire crew in place to start hauling gravel today,” he told

the pup, forcing his voice to soften. He sighed and rubbed

his hands over his face. “It’s okay, though, Dalton knows

what—” He stopped in midrub and ran his fingers over the

length of stubble covering his jaw. “Son of a bitch!” he

snarled, dropping his hands away to look down at himself.

His pants and shirt were filthy and definitely looked like he’d

been living in them for at least four or five days, and his new

boots looked like he’d nearly worn off the treads, the

uppers scuffed and cut in places and stained with mud.

He flopped backward with a groan and closed his eyes

as he recal ed the dream he’d actual y lived through,

apparently. He remembered hiking up and down and

across the mountain with the pup like a man possessed,

searching for something he hoped he’d recognize when he

found it; making camp every evening wherever they

happened to be, and eating whatever he could hunt or

catch.

Duncan’s breath hitched when he remembered finding

the cave three-quarters of the way up the mountain facing

the fiord, and how he’d fol owed the pup when it had run

inside as if it had been there before. It had been tight going

for the first ten yards before the cave had opened large

enough that he could stand, and the first thing Duncan had

noticed was that the air had been unusual y warm. The

second thing being that the wal s were glowing, emitting

enough light for him to see the tunnel continued at a

downward incline farther into the heart of the mountain.

He’d also noticed that the snoring had been more

pronounced.

He’d let the pup lead him deeper into the cave, and

estimated they were a good quarter mile inside the

mountain when the floor had simply stopped. Duncan had

tried to look down what appeared to be a chasm, but hadn’t

been able to tel how deep it was because its wal s weren’t

glowing. However, there had been a noticeably hot column

of air whooshing out of it and then suddenly sucking back

in, sort of like … breathing. He could see the glowing tunnel

continued on past the thirty-foot-wide chasm and opted for

the route he could see—assuming he could get past the

hole. Hence the fal that had awakened him from his dream

that had really happened.

He remembered how lying at the bottom looking up had

al owed him to see the hole was about twenty feet deep. He

had then tried to figure out if any bones were broken that

would force him to lie there until he rotted, or if he was

going to be able to escape a hole he suspected had been

carved out of sheer contrariness.

Although he didn’t know how someone with less broad

shoulders and smal er hands would have helped him out of

this particular predicament, he supposed Peg could have

at least thrown him a rope if he’d brought her along—

whereas the pup had only stared over the edge and

whined, dropping an occasional bit of drool on him. Thanks

to his never-say-die DNA, it had taken him nearly half a day

by his estimation to find the combination of foot– and

handholds to climb out, and most of the night to limp back

to his original campsite at the pool.

Duncan scratched the thick stubble on his jaw as he

stared up at the crystal ine blue sky dotted with puffy white

clouds shaped like whales. If he believed the length of his

beard, he’d been on his mountain at least five days. “So is

there a reason the sky’s not fil ed with search helicopters?”

he growled. “I’ve been missing for five goddamned days.

Or are ye al forgetting that I sign your paychecks?”

Hel , Peg could have at least been worried enough to

send someone looking for him. And what was up with Alec

and Robbie? He’d told them he intended to explore his

mountain Sunday night. Granted, Robbie had gone home to

his wife and own little heathens Sunday morning and wasn’t

due back until Tuesday, but this was goddamned Friday,

so where in hel was everyone?

Duncan used his righteous indignation to propel himself

upright again, then set his elbows on his bent knees to hold

his head in his hands. He was going to have to stop

growling at people, he supposed, so they wouldn’t al be

celebrating the fact the boss had gone AWOL.

“Peg could at least be missing me,” he repeated out loud

this time, rol ing onto his hands and knees. He slowly stood

up, then had to grab a nearby tree to keep from fal ing flat

on his face before he final y felt steady enough to limp to the

pool and gingerly sit down. He wrapped an arm around the

pup when it came over and had to lean away when it tried

to lick his face.

“Hey, you’re fattening up,” he said, running his fingers

over its ribs. “Apparently I’ve managed to put some flesh

back on your bones this week.” He hugged the dog to him.

“You’d ral y the troops if I went missing, wouldn’t you,

because we’re buddies now.” He snorted. “And I feed you.”

He nudged the dog away and rol ed onto his side to dunk

his head in the water, then rubbed his face with his hands.

Slowly beginning to feel human again and real y not wanting

to rot here, Duncan stood up and looked around. “I guess

we walk down to the shoreline and hope the scientists are

more interested in studying the fiord than the main body of

Bottomless,” he told the dog as he started fol owing the

stream from where it spil ed out of the pool.

Inglenook was on the opposite shore of Bottomless, but

Peg’s gravel pit was only about two miles up the fiord. “It’s

at least a mile across if we mosey down the shore in that

direction,” he told his faithful traveling companion—the one

that hadn’t abandoned him and had whined encouragement

the entire time he’d crawled out of that hole. “But we’d have

to swim across whale-infested waters to get there.”

Or maybe he could signal whoever was on Peg’s hil side

clearing the top off the new pit. It sure beat the hel out of

walking the entire way around the fiord. His decision made,

Duncan started hiking diagonal y toward where he’d come

ashore five goddamned nights ago, only to have to stop

and cut himself a walking stick when his right knee kept

threatening to give out.

Oh yeah, he must have real y pissed off the magic at

some time; probably when he’d been a ful -of-himself

teenager more interested in nailing every ski bunny that

came to the resort instead of buckling down to learn the

business he was due to take over with the other first-

generation MacKeage males. He final y reached the place

where he’d come ashore and stood staring across the

waterway at the opposite side and snorted. He wouldn’t be

taking over anything anytime soon, since Laird Greylen,

Grey’s brother, Morgan—who was Alec and Ian’s father—

and his own father, Cal um, showed no signs of slowing

down even though Cal um was in his eighties, Grey in his

midseventies, and Morgan was turning sixty-nine later this

year.

But then, the MacKeage men were charmed, apparently,

according to their new resident wizard’s bride, Miss Talks-

a-lot. He couldn’t believe the woman had actual y told Peg

he was old-fashioned.

Christ, he just wanted to fal into a soft bed and stay there

until his body quit screaming. And then he was firing his

entire crew for not coming to look for—

The pup started barking excitedly, snapping Duncan out

of his black mood at the thought it had spotted something.

He started down to what was left of the beach only to have

his knee final y explode in pain, the rest of his descent

made in a tumbling rol that final y ended when he slammed

into an unmovable metal object.

A boat. His goddamned boat! It was sitting high and dry

on a gravel bar the low tide had exposed, and when he

stretched to look over the gunwale he saw his backpack

and sword sitting on the floor right where he’d left them. He

leaned back with a groaned sigh and didn’t even try to stop

the pup from licking his face. What were the chances of his

boat drifting back to the exact same spot? He snorted.

More likely it had been pushed here by a diabolical whale

with a warped sense of humor.

“We’re okay now,” he murmured, final y nudging the pup

away. “I’l have ye back in civilization in an hour. I’m buying

you a fifty-pound bag of dog food and then I’m taking you to

meet a tribe of little heathens you’re instantly going to fal in

love with.” He grabbed the dog’s snout to look him in the

eye. “Ye can have the children, but I don’t want ye making

puppy-dog eyes at the lady, understand? If she’s going to

be fawning over anyone, it’s going to be me. And she owes

me an apple crisp today, so ye don’t get under her fee—”

The sound of a racing engine pushing water made

Duncan stretch to look over the top of his boat, and he

spotted another smal boat heading up the center of the

fiord. It suddenly turned toward him, and he recognized

Alec at the til er.

“Ye have my permission to bite the bastard if ye want,” he

told the pup as he leaned back with another groaned sigh.

“Or if that’s a little too intimidating for you, ye might at least

lift a leg and whiz on his boots.”

The engine slowed to an idle, then shut off, and Duncan

grabbed the pup when it tried to run off just as the boat

scraped to a stop on the gravel bar a few yards away.

“You intend to spend the morning sitting here

contemplating life, Boss?” Alec said, stepping onto the

gravel bar. “You’re late to work.”

“ I’mlate?” Duncan growled. “I’ve been gone five

goddamned days and you’re just now coming to look for

me?”

Alec halted in midstep, his expression going from

confusion to shock. “What in hel happened to you? Ye look

like ye tangled with a bear and lost.”

“I fel . So where in hel have you been for the last five

days?”

Alec went back to looking confused. “Five? I’ve been with

you up until yesterday morning, when I helped ye saddle the

horses for your picnic with Peg.” He finished walking over

and squatted down, then gave the pup a pat. “Who’s your

friend?”

It was Duncan’s turn to be confused. “I found him when I

landed here fivedays ago. So how could you have been

with me yesterday morning when I was lying twenty feet

down in a hole in the middle of my goddamned mountain?”

Alec shook his head and sat down to lean against the

boat beside him. “It’s Monday morning, Duncan.” He

suddenly straightened away to look at him. “You believe

you’ve been here—for Christ’s sakes, ye have a beard.” He

scrambled to his feet and stepped away before turning to

look up at the mountain, and then slowly lowered his gaze

to Duncan. “You did it; you traveled through time just like

Robbie did when he took old Uncle Ian home to the

eleventh century. You just spent five days on your mountain,

but were only gone overnight in this time.”

“Robbie said the magic was turned off here,” Duncan

whispered, hugging the pup as he tried to decide if the

notion thril ed him or fil ed him with terror. “And I couldn’t

find anything that might be considered an instrument of my

power, so I couldn’t have turned the magic back on.”

“Ye must have found something,” Alec said just as softly.

“Because no one grows that kind of beard overnight, and I

swear this is Monday morning.”

Duncan snorted. “I found a twenty-foot-deep hole inside

the mountain.” He looked up at Alec and grinned. “And a

pool that has brook trout the size of salmon.” He lifted the

pup. “And this guy. Or rather, he found me within two

minutes of my coming ashore. I think he’s been stranded

here since the earthquake created the fiord.”

“Can ye walk?”

Duncan shook his head. “My last fal just blew out my

knee. And if my ribs didn’t get cracked when I fel down the

hole, they sure as hel feel like they are now.”

Alec folded his arms over his chest and grinned down at

him. “When did you become a walking disaster? Or should I

say a fallingdisaster?”

Duncan rested his chin on his dog. “It started about half

an hour after I landed in Spel bound Fal s, right about the

time I was attacked by the Thompson tribe.” He snorted.

“And it’s been al downhil from there.” He lifted narrowed

eyes to his nephew. “It’s Mac; I think he’s out to get me.”

“But why? He wouldn’t hand you the contract of a lifetime

and then beat ye to a bloody pulp. He needs you to build his

road and prep the resort site.”

“Personal y, I think marriage has addled the bastard’s

brain,” Duncan muttered. “From what Trace Huntsman told

me at the wedding, Mac not only was a confirmed bachelor,

but a skirt-chaser in just about every century in recorded

history.”

“Like you, ye mean?” Alec drawled past his grin. “Except

for the century part.”

“I don’t chase skirts.”

“No, they chase you.” His eyes lit with laughter. “Ye just

don’t work too hard outrunning them. Or don’t you

remember Jessie’s friend Merissa? And then there was

that woman from Greenvil e who slowly began moving in

with you one bra and panty and bottle of shampoo at a time

last winter.”

“She started getting her mail delivered to my house,”

Duncan growled, even as he felt heat climbing up the back

of his neck. Christ, he hadn’t even realized what she was

doing until he’d tripped over a litter box one morning

despite not owning a cat. “I’m stil finding stuff that belongs

to her. But what in hel does any of that have to do with any

of this?” he asked, waving up at his mountain.

“You said yourself that misery loves company. If Mac is

happily married, he’s going to make sure any skirt-chasing

bachelor he comes across is going to join him in wedded

bliss.”

Duncan set the pup down with a snort. “He doesn’t have

to beat the hel out of me to get his point across,” he said

as he tried to grab the gunwale to pul himself up, only to fal

back with a groan just as Alec rushed forward to catch him.

Alec pul ed Duncan’s arm over his shoulder, then

grabbed his belt and lifted him to his feet. But when he

couldn’t even stand on his good leg, his nephew gave a

sigh as he put his shoulder low on Duncan’s stomach and

slowly hefted him over his back.

“Dammit, my ribs,” Duncan hissed, grabbing Alec’s belt

to hold himself away.

“Then loosen up. Christ, ye weigh a ton,” Alec said on a

grunt as he strode toward the boat he’d driven here. “Since

ye look like you’re about to pass out, I’l tow your boat

back,” he said as he careful y lowered Duncan into the front

seat.

“At least get my sword out of it first. Come on, pup,”

Duncan said, patting the gunwale. The young dog just

stared at him, its tail wagging frantical y as it looked at the

woods then back at him in indecision. “Come on,” he

repeated, patting the gunwale again. “T-bone steaks, little

heathens, a soft bed; come on, pup.”

“Maybe al it wants is to be cal ed something other than

‘pup,’” Alec said, setting the sword on the seat next to

Duncan.

“I’m going to let Peg’s kids name him.”

“Now doesn’t that sound domestic?” Alec said with a

chuckle as he walked back to Duncan’s boat—only to

swerve at the last minute and scoop the dog up in his arms.

“Easy now,” he crooned, carrying it to the boat. “He’s a mite

scrawny, but by the look of those paws he’s going to be a

monster. Besides the obvious lab, what other breed does

he have, do ye think?”

“Hel , the way my luck’s been running, probably polar

bear,” Duncan said when Alec set the dog on the seat

beside him. He pul ed the struggling pup against his side

so it wouldn’t jump out, then cupped its head to his chest

and stroked his thumb over its worried brow. “You’re okay,”

he whispered. “My MacKeage word of honor; as long as

there’s breath in me, you’l always be safe.”

Alec chuckled. “I’m guessing you’l have an easier time

getting the dog to believe that vow than ye wil Peg.”

“Have we left yet?” Duncan snapped. “I’ve got eighteen

men waiting on me.”

Alec walked back to Duncan’s boat and grabbed the

bow to haul it down to the water. “They’re going to have to

wait a little longer, because our first stop is going to be the

closest hospital I can find.”

“I just need a bottle of aspirin, a soft bed, and twenty-four

hours of sleep.”

Alec hooked a rope onto the boat and tied it to the stern

of his, then walked to the front and pushed his boat back

into the water. “Not until after ye have your knee and ribs x-

rayed and get a prescription for something a bit more

powerful than aspirin, I’m afraid.” He jumped in and lowered

the motor and started it. “Dalton already has the crew

hauling gravel to build the pad for our camp.” He arched a

brow. “I do believe you hired the man because he knows

what he’s doing, so let him.” He turned the boat out into the

fiord and slowly increased their speed to bring the second

boat into line behind them, then grinned at Duncan. “And ye

might want to look at how this may be a blessing in

disguise.”

“Blowing out my knee is a blessing?”

“It is if you’re wanting the sympathy of a certain woman.”

Duncan stil ed. Wel hel , he was right. “Works for me,” he

said past his grin as he gave his pup a squeeze. He looked

up at his mountain. “I’l be back, you big bastard,” he

shouted. “So enjoy what’s left of your nap.”

Chapter Sixteen

If working her children and paying them with food was

against child labor laws, then she surely was headed for

jail, Peg thought with a smile as she noticed Jacob and

Peter eyeing their construction toys on the beach. “Okay,

here’s the deal,” she said as she dished generous helpings

of apple crisp into al five of their plates on the picnic table.

“You give me two more hours at the new house after lunch,

and we’l spend the rest of the afternoon playing on the

beach.”

Peter eyed her suspiciously. “Are you gonna play with

us?”

“Yup. I’m getting right down in the dirt and showing you

how to build a proper twig bridge for your road.”

“Two hours?” Isabel whined. “ Mommm, that means I’m

gonna miss my show. And the only time I can watch it is

during school vacation.”

“The weather’s too nice to be watching television, so

even if we weren’t working on the house you’d stil have to

be outside.” Peg shrugged. “But if you don’t want your very

own new bedroom, then I guess you can sit in a chair

outsideand read a book.”

“Me and Repeat don’t gotta have our own new

bedrooms, do we?” Peter asked for the tenth time in as

many months. “I don’t wanna move to that dumb house.”

“Until you start whining for separate rooms, which I figure

wil be in a couple more years, the two of you can bunk

together,” Peg told him for the tenth time. She sat down in

front of her plate of apple crisp—which she’d drizzled with

maple syrup to practice for the one she owed Duncan this

Friday. “In fact, I plan to give you each a set of bunk beds,

so you can have the new friends you’re going to make at

school come for sleepovers.”

“And Sophie can come have sleepovers with me,”

Charlotte said, “just as soon as we move into our new

house.”

“And I can have Henry come spend the night,” Isabel

quickly added.

“Girls don’t have boys sleep over,” Charlotte said before

Peg could respond.

Isabel turned her questioning baby blues on Peg. “Why

not, Mom?”

Yes, why not? Peg was saved from having to come up

with an answer when Duncan’s pickup pul ed into the

driveway, only she saw that Alec was driving and that

Duncan appeared to be leaning against the passenger

door, sleeping.

“Peg, could I speak with you a minute?” Alec asked when

he got out and softly closed his door.

Peg walked over to him as she eyed Duncan. “What’s

up?” She smiled. “Did we wear out your boss on our picnic

yesterday?”

Alec’s returning smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I wish.

No, he’s had a bit of an accident, which is why I have a

powerful favor to ask. Don’t feel ye have to say yes, though,

because I can find … something else to do with him.”

“What happened?” Peg asked, rushing to the driver’s

door to look in the window. The first thing she saw was that

the right leg of Duncan’s pants was split up to his thigh and

his knee was sporting a serious-looking brace. His left

hand was bandaged, there was an ugly purple bruise on his

temple, and he was cradling his ribs in his sleep. She

stepped back in surprise when a dog suddenly poked

between the seats from in back, gave her the once-over,

then crawled onto the console and careful y laid its head on

Duncan’s arm. She turned to Alex. “What happened to

him?” she repeated.

“He fel . His ribs are bruised and he’s banged up pretty

much al over, but at least he didn’t blow out his knee like he

suspected. It’s only badly wrenched.”

Peg clutched her throat in a futile attempt to stop al the

blood from draining from her face. “Was someone chasing

him? Or was he trying to stop someone from sabotaging

his equipment again?”

Alec’s eyes narrowed. “Now why would ye immediately

jump to that conclusion?” He stepped closer and grasped

her shoulders. “Ye need to tel us what happened to your

van, Peg. Tel me,” he softly growled, giving her a slight

shake.

“I … I pushed it into a flooded old slate quarry,” she said,

glancing toward Duncan. She looked back at Alec and

pul ed in a deep breath. “The day you took the boys for me,

I was parked down at the other end of town near the woods

and someone spray-painted the passenger side.”

His hands tightened. “Spray-painted what?”

She dropped her gaze to his chest, the blood rushing

back to her face in a wave of heat. “It … it said land-raping

bitch,” she whispered.

He pul ed her against him and wrapped his arms around

her with a growl. “I’m sorry some coward targeted you

instead of us.” He clasped her shoulders again to bend

down and look her in the eyes. “But I’m even sorrier that you

were too … what, embarrassed to tel us? Or is too

stubborna better word?” he asked, even as he pul ed her

into a hug again. “Aw, Peg, ye real y need to get over the

notion ye can’t ask for our help.”

“I can’t get used to asking for help,” she muttered into his

jacket. She looked up. “And they’re just stupid words, and I

didn’t want …” She slipped an arm free and waved at the

truck. “We both know Duncan would have gone looking for

whoever did it and only added more fuel to the controversy.”

She smiled, trying to get him to smile. “And you guys are a

bigger target than I am.” She sighed when he scowled, and

since her arm was free she patted his chest. “I’m a local, so

the worst they’l do to me is spray-paint a few obscenities.

But you guys are from away, so they won’t care what it

takes to drive you off.” She looked at Duncan, then up at

Alec. “Did he real y just fal ?”

He nodded and let her go, and final y smiled clear up to

his eyes. “It seems to be an affliction he’s only recently

acquired.”

“So what’s the favor?” she asked, even though she was

afraid she already knew.

“They shot him up with a powerful pain med at the

hospital and sent him home with some pil s, and I’m a little

concerned about leaving him alone for the next couple of

days. So I was hoping ye might be wil ing to … babysit him

for me. You can say no,” he rushed on. “I’l understand if ye

don’t want to deal with an invalid.” He smiled again.

“Although he’l be a happy invalid if you keep feeding him

those pil s. But staying with you is the only way I can keep

him off the job site long enough to heal.” He glanced toward

the picnic table. “There’s no school today?”

“This week is spring break, and we’re al working on the

new house together.”

“Then don’t stop.” He grinned. “Duncan can watch.”

Peg walked over to look in the truck. “I guess he can stay

here. I’ve got a big old recliner at the new house he can

sleep in during the day. Is he mobile enough to … to …”

She sighed when she felt her face flush again.

Alec chuckled. “He can take care of himself for the most

part. It’s keeping him away from heavy equipment that I’m

needing. But if he has you and the kids to focus on, then

maybe he’l stay out of Sam Dalton’s hair long enough to

get the camp up and running.” He turned Peg around to

look at him. “I understand your concern for your mum and

aunt now, and we’l keep an eye on them.” His hands

tightened. “And on you. But ye need to tel us if anyone even

saysanything threatening, you understand? We can’t fight

an enemy we can’t see.”

“It’s only a few stupid people.”

“It only takes a few.” His hands tightened again. “You

promise?”

She nodded, then turned away to look inside the truck

again. “Where did he find the dog? It looks like it’s only a

pup.”

“It found him, actual y. He told me he intends to let your

kids name it.”

“Wonderful,” Peg muttered as she walked back to the

picnic table. “Go ahead and drive right up to the new

house,” she said over her shoulder. “I’l meet you there.

Okay, gang, a smal change in plans,” she said to the four

pairs of curious eyes watching Alec climb back in the truck.

“Duncan fel and hurt his knee and ribs, so al of us are

going to be his nursemaids for the next couple of days

while we work on the house.”

“Have you noticed he fal s a lot, Mom?” Charlotte said,

smiling crookedly.

“Yeah, I have. But I’ve been told he’s normal y not so

clumsy.”

“Mom, he’s got a dog!” Peter cried.

Peg turned to watch the pickup drive past and saw Alec

trying to pul the pup off Duncan as it pressed its nose up

to the window, trying to see them. “Yes, he’s got a dog,” she

muttered. “Okay. I want you al to clean up the table and

take everything inside. Charlie, you make sure stuff goes in

the refrigerator. Isabel, put the dirty dishes in the sink, and

Jacob and Peter, you wait to walk to the house with the girls

because the trucks are hauling today.”

Orders given, Peg picked up her untouched plate of crisp

and headed toward the knol with a sigh, wondering what

she possibly could have done to deserve this.

Duncan sat in the large, overstuffed recliner in the middle of

the half-constructed house, grinning like the vil age idiot as

he wolfed down a woman-sized helping of extra sweet