Текст книги "Charmed by His Love"

Автор книги: Джанет Чапмен

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apple crisp and contemplated replacing Sam with Peg as

his foreman. The woman was one kick-ass delegator, and

had even managed to put the pup to work.

Charlotte and Isabel were going through each of the

rooms—which were separated by only studs at this point—

counting the number of electrical switches and outlets on

each wal and writing the number down on a paper attached

to a clipboard. Jacob and Pete were sorting al the scrap

pieces of lumber into two large trash buckets, agreeing and

sometimes arguing over whether a piece was long enough

to be used for something else or should be considered

kindling for their campfires. The pup’s job, apparently, was

to run around the open house and lug any two-by-fours it

found over to the boys.

Granted, Duncan felt a little funny just sitting there

watching everyone work while he stuffed his face with some

of the best damned apple crisp he’d ever had—Lord, he

hoped it didn’t count as one of his eleven crisps—but not

so much that he couldn’t stop grinning. That is, until he saw

Peg climb up a poor excuse for a ladder and disappear

into the attic, then poke her head back down through the

hole.

“Peter, go stand beside that rol of wire over on the back

wal and watch as I pul it up here. If it fal s off the stand, you

set it back on, okay?”

“Okay,” Pete said, running to where she was pointing.

Peg disappeared, and thirty seconds later Duncan saw

the rol of electrical wire start to unwind. Ten seconds after

that it came off the stand and Pete grabbed the broken

broomstick being used as the axle and lifted it back on the

stand—having to perform the job four more times before

the spool stopped.

“Okay, go back to sorting wood,” he heard Peg cal from

the attic.

Duncan looked down when his fork arrived at his mouth

empty and saw it was because his paper plate was empty.

After looking around to make sure everyone was busy, he

lifted it to his mouth and licked off every last drop of maple

syrup, along with some of the paper. He sure as hel

wouldn’t mind if Peg wanted to move in with him one panty

and bra at a time if she made him a weekly apple crisp like

this one, and he wouldn’t even care if she snuck her kids in

with her.

He went back to grinning like the vil age idiot when he

heard muttering drifting down from the hole in the attic, and

laced his fingers over his bel y with a sigh as he felt his

eyelids growing heavy—only to snap them open when

something banged overhead, fol owed immediately by a

rather colorful curse.

“Nobody heard that!” Peg hol ered through the ceiling

insulation. “Keep working.”

Duncan ran an unsteady hand over his clean-shaven

face, wondering how he was going to survive the next

couple of days sitting here waiting for Peg or one of the

children to get hurt.

“Mom,” Charlotte cal ed out as she started climbing the

ladder. “If two wires are coming out of one of the big boxes,

does that count as two switches or just one?”

“I made a place on the sheet for multiple switches,

Charlie; put a check mark down for every double and triple

switch you find. Same for the outlets, but you should find

doubles only in the kitchen.”

“I see it on the paper, Charlotte,” Isabel said. “I think that

word is double.”

Duncan laced his hands over his bel y again once

Charlotte was safely back down the ladder and tried to

think of a way he could persuade Peg to let him have his

crew finish her house beforehe went insane with worry. He

knew this project had become a matter of pride for her, but

surely he could talk her into letting him at least help. Maybe

if he told her a couple of his men were crackerjack

Sheetrockers who needed a little extra work because …

Wel , he could invent them having a baby or something and

needing the money. Hel , he could have her moved in here

in three weeks if he dedicated several of his crewmen to

the job.

Then again, maybe the house fairies could keep making

special deliveries every night until it was done, because

who could argue with fairies?

“Mr. Duncan,” Jacob whispered from right beside him.

Duncan snapped open his eyes with a flinch, realizing the

pain meds were dul ing his senses. “Yeah, Jacob?” he

whispered back, smiling when he saw the boy holding a

fist-sized rock in his open palm.

“I sneaked outside and got this for you to hold. I got a big

one ’cause your hurt looks big, so I thought a smal rock

wouldn’t do no good. You want it?” Duncan reached out, but

the boy pul ed back. “Only you can’t put it in your pocket

when you’re done rubbing it, okay, ’cause it’s too big,”

Jacob continued in a very serious whisper, “and it’l look

like your peanut’s … you know … hard.”

Duncan rubbed his hands over his face to stifle a bark of

laughter, having to love the kid’s determination to keep him

civilized. He final y took the rock with his bandaged hand.

“Then I definitely won’t put it in my pocket,” he said thickly.

He reached into his jeans with his other hand and pul ed out

the worry stone the boy had given him last week. “I do

believe that between the two of these, I should be feeling

right as rain in no time. Thanks, Jacob. I appreciate the

thought.”

“How come you don’t got any kids?”

Okay, it appeared somebody intended to take

advantage of the fact the boss was out of sight. “Wel , I

suppose I should find a wife before I get kids, don’t you

think?”

“So how come you don’t got a wife?”

“Because I haven’t found a woman wil ing to put up with

me long enough that I can ask her to marry me.”

Duncan stifled his smile when Jacob frowned. “What’s

put up with youmean?”

“It means the women can’t handle my tendency to be

bossy, I guess. And I do get a little grouchy sometimes, and

I’ve been told I’m a little scary when I’m angry.”

The boy smiled. “You need to find someone like Mom.

She’s not afraid of no one.” His eyes suddenly widened.

“Hey, she could put up with you long enough for you to ask

her to marry you. And then you could have your own tribe of

kids. No, not tribe,” he said, shaking his head. “What did

you cal your family the other day?”

“A clan.” Duncan glanced toward the attic hole, then

leaned closer to Jacob. “But just between us men, your

mother sort of scares me when she gets angry.”

Jacob’s eyes widened again. “She does?”

Duncan nodded. “Doesn’t she scare you when she gets

angry?”

“Naw,” the boy scoffed, even as he patted Duncan’s arm.

“She’s just trying to act scary when she gets al scowly,

’cause she’s wanting us to be good so people wil know

we’re serverlized. She’s real y al soft inside.” He patted

Duncan’s arm again. “But you gotta act afraid if she scowls

at you, okay, ’cause it makes her feel good.”

“I’l do that,” Duncan said with a large sigh of relief.

“Thanks for tel ing me.”

“So if you ask Mom to marry you, you could come live in

our new house with us. You can sleep with Pete and me,

’cause Mom’s getting us our own bunk beds. That means

we’l have four beds,” he thought to explain.

Okay; apparently Jacob didn’t have the finer points of

marriage pinned down. “That’s very generous of you, but

usual y when people get married they sleep together in the

same bed,” Duncan told him, figuring Peg was definitely

going to get al scowly when the boy gave her that new bit of

information.

Jacob’s eyes widened again and he giggled. “You won’t

fit in Mom’s bed with her. It’s smal like Pete and mine are.”

“Real y?” Duncan asked in surprise.

Jacob nodded. “How come your dog don’t got a name

yet?”

And that was the end of that discussion, apparently.

“Wel , the pup and I just met last night, and I haven’t been

able to think of a name for him yet. Any suggestions?”

Jacob looked at the pup that was trying to carry a piece

of two-by-four lengthwise through the wal studs as Pete

rushed over to turn the board so it would fit. “I think you

should cal him something to do with his color, like Yel ow or

something.”

“Or we could come up with a noble name for him,”

Duncan suggested, just now realizing that leaving this

particular job to the children might end with his owning a

dog named Sue. “Because he’s a real y special dog. He

took very good care of me when I got hurt until Alec found

me. In fact, he was just like a rescue hero, so we should

choose a strong, brave name for him, don’t you think? I’l tel

you what; why don’t you and Pete and your sisters start

making a list of names and then we’l al take a vote.”

“Oh, we can do that,” Jacob said. “Charlotte can write

and everything.” He beamed Duncan a bright smile. “I can

write my name, and Pete can, too. And I can count to twenty

and I know the whole alphelet. You wanna hear—”

“Jacob,” Peg said far too sweetly, causing the boy to

whip his head around. “Mr. Duncan is supposed to be

having a nap, and you’re supposed to be working.”

“It’s my fault,” Duncan said. “I was just asking Jacob to

help me find a name for my new pup.”

“Oh, we could name him Swiper,” Isabel interjected,

rushing through the studs from the kitchen area. “Like the

fox on Dora the Explorer.”

“He’s not a fox and he don’t steal,” Pete said, dropping

his piece of wood and also rushing over. “I think we should

cal him Fetch, ’cause he brings us wood.”

Duncan didn’t even try to hide his grin when Peg scowled

at the sight of her crew abandoning their jobs. “Jacob was

just tel ing me that Charlotte can write and everything,”

Duncan said, “so we were thinking about making a list of

names and voting on them in a day or two.”

“But it’s gotta be a noble name,” Jacob interjected.

“’Cause the puppy’s like a rescue hero.”

“Hey, we can make him a badge just like the one we

made you,” Pete suggested.

“But dogs don’t have wal ets to carry it in,” Isabel pointed

out.

“No, but once we come up with a name,” Duncan offered,

“I could have a metal badge made for him to wear on his

col ar.”

Peg walked over while reaching in her pocket and pul ed

out a smal prescription bottle. “I think it’s time for one of

your meds,” she said far too sweetly. “Charlie, could you

bring Duncan a glass of water, please?”

“You do know there are child labor laws in this country,

don’t you?” he asked while fighting back a laugh.

“You try to unionize them and I’m going to accidental y

misplace your meds,” she whispered, giving him

another sweet smile as she handed him a pil , making

Duncan wonder if the apple crisp had tasted so good

because she’d smiled at it.

“How soon before you’re ready to Sheetrock?” he asked.

His sudden change of subject made her frown. “Um, just

as soon as I finish insulating the exterior wal s.”

“I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but most of my men are

carpenters,” he said. “And when the groundwork side of my

business is slow, we keep busy by building houses. In fact,

we spent al this winter finishing off a mil ion-dol ar camp on

Pine Lake.”

He saw her cheeks flush. “This place might not be

perfect, but it’s completely up to state code and it’s solid.”

“What? No, I’m not implying … I didn’t mean …” He blew

out a sigh. “What I’m trying to say is that I have a couple of

real y good Sheetrockers who wouldn’t mind earning some

extra money working evenings, since they’re going to be

stuck here through the week. And I thought you might be

interested in hiring them to rock and mud the house so al

you’l have to do is paint.”

Her cheeks flushed even more. “Oh. Um, yeah,” she said

with a nod. “That might be a good idea, actual y.” She

smiled somewhat sheepishly. “Because I real y wasn’t

looking forward to handling those large sheets of Sheetrock

al … by myself,” she finished lamely as she shoved his

prescription bottle in her pocket and spun away. “Okay,

everyone back to work.”

“Peg,” he said when everyone scrambled back to their

assignments—after Charlotte handed him a paper cup of

water and also beat a hasty retreat. Peg stopped and

turned to face him. “I’m not the enemy,” he said quietly. He

gestured around him. “And I apologize for that comment the

day you shot … the day I came to negotiate for your gravel.

You’ve done a hel of a job on the house al by yourself. My

crew couldn’t have done any better.”

“Thank you.”

“And thank you for agreeing to let me stay here for the

next few nights.”

Her eyes widened and her face flushed again. “Nights?”

she squeaked.

Duncan frowned, feeling his own cheeks darken. “I

thought Alec … Didn’t he … ?” Wel , hel . “Never mind, I

love sleeping on the ground.”

Peg had her four tuckered-out babies al tucked into bed,

and now she was trying to put the fifth baby to bed without

hitting him over the head with a blunt object to do it. “Oh, for

crying out loud, wil you pul up your big-boy pants and get

over yourself?” she growled, even as she wondered when

her bedroom had gotten so smal . Oh, that’s right; it had

only seemedlarger since the last big strong man had been

in it three years ago. “You’l barely fit in this bed as it is, and

it won’t be the first night I’ve slept on the couch. And there’s

an attached bathroom, so I don’t have to worry about your

shocking my daughters in the middle of the night because

you forgot your pajamas.”

Speaking of which, Peg went into the bathroom and

grabbed her gown and bathrobe off the back of the door

and headed toward the hal way. “Sleep tight,” she said, only

to gasp in surprise when a crutch shot up to block her path.

Duncan hobbled over to replace it with his body. “I

apologize, Peg. I hadn’t considered how difficult it might be

for you to have a man in your house again. I can cal Alec to

come get me.”

“Where’s al your crew staying?” she whispered, not quite

able to lift her gaze above his chest.

“Both Robbie’s and my men have fil ed Inglenook’s

dormitory, and the rest are camping at the new site up the

road to keep an eye on the equipment. Robbie and Alec

are up on your hil side. Look at me, lass.”

“I … I’d rather not.”

He lifted her chin with his finger, his smile softening his

ruggedly handsome features and making him so damned

desirable that if he kissed her right now, she’d probably

pass out before she remembered to punch him in his

already battered bel y.

“My MacKeage word of honor, I won’t ever hurt ye, Peg.”

“You already are, Duncan. I don’t want to want you. I

can’t.” She pul ed in a steadying breath. “I meant it the other

day when I said I need to stay focused on my children.

Maybe in another twenty years I’l be able to think about …

other stuff.”

He leaned his crutches against the wal and pul ed her

into his arms, sighing into her hair as he used his chin to

tuck her head against his chest. “You’re forgetting about the

magic, lass; the benevolent kind that makes anything

possible.”

Oh God, a hug was worse than a kiss, and Peg felt her

eyes start to sting at how big and strong and solid he felt,

and how tempted she was to just lean into him. “I real y

don’t have time to believe in magic right now.”

“Wil ye at least give me a chance to show you what it’s

capable of? And if ye decide that you stil can’t believe,

then I give you my word that I’l … walk away.”

Too late; sometime when she wasn’t looking, Duncan

MacKeage had snuck into her heart, and just the thought of

him walking away already hurt. “How about if I think about

it?” she whispered. She patted his chest and leaned back

to give him her best smile. “I’l let you know … soon.”

He eyed her suspiciously. “How soon?”

She wiggled free and stepped back, clutching her gown

and robe to her chest. “Wel , once I know I can survive

having you as a houseguest without wanting to kil you in

your sleep, I suppose maybe then we could … you and I

could … that we might …”

He grabbed his crutches with a soft laugh and hobbled

toward the bathroom. “I agree; maybe we should see how

the next few days go before ye finish that thought. Sleep

wel , lass.”

Peg stood in the middle of her once again large

bedroom staring at the closed bathroom door and worried

that that had been way too easy. She turned and slowly

walked out of the room, a little bummed that he hadn’t even

triedto steal a kiss.

Duncan stood in Peg’s utterly feminine bathroom, his hands

splayed on the counter as he stared into the sink wondering

how he was going to explain the magic to her if he

couldn’t even get it to cooperate with him. He’d told Alec

what he’d found on his mountain during their ride to the

hospital. The ride to Inglenook to shave and get cleaned up

was a bit blurry, and he couldn’t even remember the ride

from Inglenook to Peg’s. Alec had suggested that he and

Robbie go with him to the cave once he healed and help

him find whatever in hel he was looking for.

Today was Monday, and his parents were coming Friday

afternoon to spend the weekend—he hoped like hel the

camp trailers waiting to be delivered were in place by then

–so he figured he’d better be healed by Thursday night.

Too bad he couldn’t just go spend a week on the mountain

to heal and come back tomorrow morning.

Come to think of it, he seemed to recal making that very

suggestion to Alec on the ride back from the hospital. Alec

had laughed and said that would ruin their plan of letting

Peg fawn al over him—just before his nephew had gotten

serious and said that theyweren’t going back to that

mountain without Robbie, since their clan Guardian knew

more about the magic than either of them did.

Duncan sighed and turned on the faucet and splashed

water on his face, trying to wash away the fuzzy sensation

the pain meds were causing. He stared at himself in the

mirror and frowned, remembering Alec tel ing him about

Peg’s van just before she’d met them at her new house.

Land-raping bitchsome bastard had spray-painted. Hel ,

he didn’t blame her for deep-sixing the van, but he stil

couldn’t get past the horror of her pushing it into a flooded

old slate quarry al by herself, then walking out a muddy

road in a cold, pouring rain and hitching a ride to Inglenook.

Forget contrary; Peg Thompson needed a goddamned

keeper.

And why in hel did the woman sleep in a twin bed?

Chapter Seventeen

Duncan expel ed al the air in his lungs to unwedge himself

from the narrow cave and then ran the beam of his flashlight

over the rock above it, looking for signs of weakness in the

granite. “Dynamite would probably work.” He grinned over

at Alec. “So I take back every disparaging thing I said

about your going into military demolition. If I get some

dynamite off the blasting contractor I hired for the road, can

you get me in there,” he asked, waving the flashlight at the

hole, “ withoutbringing the mountain down on top of us?”

“You can’t be serious,” Robbie said before Alec could

respond. “Are ye insane, Duncan? You detonate even a

smal charge inside this mountain and you’re going to wipe

northern Maine and half of Quebec off the map. Can ye not

feel the strength of the energy pulsing through the rock?”

Duncan sat down and stretched out his throbbing right

leg as he leaned against the granite, rubbing his face with a

muttered curse. They were so goddamned close. It had

taken most of the night to get past the chasm, and then al

day to explore the labyrinth of tunnels on the other side

before they found what Duncan hoped like hel was the

instrument of his power. Only they couldn’t reach it because

they were al too broad-shouldered to fit through the

remaining twenty feet of cave. And they couldn’t actual y

see what they were trying to reach because the tunnel

started curving sharply to the right just five feet in.

Something was in there, though, because al three of

them could feel it.

“I knew we should have brought the pup,” Duncan

muttered. “He’d fit in there.”

“And once he did, then what?” Robbie asked, sitting

down across from him. “Are ye forgetting the other part of

Mac’s suggestion, that you bring along someone with

smal er hands?” He gave a derisive snort. “I’m guessing

whoever goes in there wil need opposable thumbs. Ye

might as wel accept the obvious: Mac’s determined that

you involve Peg in the acquisition of your power.”

“But why? Then I’l have to admit I’m a hel of a lot more

than just charmed, and the rule is we don’t expose the

magic to anyone other than our spouses. And I don’t need

that bastard choosing who I marry, or even that I marry at

al . He’s supposed to be protecting our free wil , and yet

he’s hel -bent on not giving me any choice whatsoever.”

“Mac has no say about our mates,” Robbie said, shaking

his head. “Only Providence does, and then only to make

sure the paths of two people destined to be together

eventual y cross. It’s up to us to recognize the gift we’re

being given.” He grinned. “But our resident wizard does

have access to the knowledge contained in the Trees of

Life, so he must have discovered that Peg and you are

meant for each other and he’s merely trying to … help.”

Duncan hung his head in his hands even as he wondered

why he wasn’t more disturbed by the notion it had been

written in the stars that Peg would be his. Because despite

having a hard time picturing himself as some poor

woman’s husband, marrying this particular one meant he

also became an instant father. He snorted. “So what in hel

do you suppose Peg and her kids did to deserve me?” he

muttered to no one in particular. “I’m the last per—”

The ground beneath them suddenly heaved in a rippling

shrug just as a distant rumbling came from deep below. “I

don’t know about you guys,” Alec said, scrambling to his

feet with a laugh, “but I’m thinking we’ve overstayed our

welcome.”

“We’re right behind you,” Robbie shouted as the rumbling

grew louder.

Duncan scrambled to his feet, but stopped to take one

last glance at the end of the cave. “I’l be back you contrary

bastard, and ye better be on your best behavior for my

woman,” he growled, turning away from the blinding light

that suddenly shot from the narrow passage, the sound of

raucous laughter pursuing him up the tunnel.

The three of them reached the chasm and gingerly

scrambled across the bridge they’d built out of smal logs

that morning, and they didn’t stop running until they stepped

out under a nighttime sky that was actual y darker than the

cave had been.

“Do ye smel that?” Robbie asked, looking around.

“That’s smoke.”

Duncan also looked around from the vantage point of

their being three-quarters of the way up the mountain. “But

it’s not a campfire.”

“There,” Alec said, pointing. “Down across the fiord, do

ye see that faint glow?”

“Christ, that’s the pit!” Duncan snarled, already making

his way into the trees. “They must have torched our

equipment.”

“Nay, that’s not diesel fuel,” Robbie said from right

behind him. “That’s the smel of a structure fire.”

A chil unlike any he’d ever experienced ran up the length

of Duncan’s spine, propel ing him through the darkness like

a man pursued by demons—or rather like a man who

suddenly knew the terror of losing al that he loved in an

instant.

Peg stood beside her truck on the tote road overlooking

her pit, numbed nearly insensate as she watched the

flames shooting into the night sky beyond the knol .

“Please, Mrs. Thompson, won’t you at least sit in the

truck where it’s warm?” Sam Dalton once again petitioned.

“I’m fine, Sam,” she murmured as she glanced behind

her to see her children also watching the fire—the girls with

an arm wrapped around each of the twins and the pup’s

nose pressed up against the glass between them. She

looked back toward the flashing red strobes of the fire

engines, hearing the distant shouts of men rising above the

heavy whine of pumps pul ing water out of the cove.

She’d awakened to pounding on her door a little over an

hour ago and opened it to a man she didn’t know. Her

house in the woods was on fire, he’d told her, and he

wanted her and the children out of her home on the chance

the fire might spread. He’d also told her they’d already

cal ed 911, and that the rest of Duncan’s crew was on their

way from the campsite up the main road.

Peg had immediately gotten the children dressed and

sent them to stand up on the tote road next to the fiord while

she had run to the garage with her arms ful of blankets.

She’d driven the SUV over to the road and parked it out of

the way, leaving it running with the heater on and her

children safely inside. She’d spent the last hour keeping

watch for Duncan, a little bummed that he hadn’t come

looking for her. But then, she hadn’t seen him or Alec or

Robbie since they’d climbed in Duncan’s truck at four this

afternoon—no, yesterday afternoon, as it was already

breaking dawn.

“It could be an electrical fire,” Sam said hesitantly,

obviously at a loss for how to deal with her. “That happens

more often than you know on homes under construction.”

“There wasn’t any power running to the house,” Peg said

as she continued watching the fire ravage three years of

desperately hard work. “I had the temporary service cut off

several years ago and used a generator when I needed

power.”

“Duncan had six men staying on the hil side,” Sam said,

“and not one of them heard anything. The two guys on

watch said they didn’t know anything was wrong until they

saw the flames because the breeze was blowing away from

them.” The older man sidled closer and final y just wrapped

an arm around her. “With the firemen here now, they’l be

able to keep it away from your home,” he assured her, his

hand patting her arm. “And the fire marshal wil find out what

started it.”

Not that it mattered, Peg thought as she stifled a sigh;

because accidental or arson, her nearly finished house

would stil be burned down to its foundation.

Sam’s arm tightened protectively when a boat suddenly

came roaring into the cove from the fiord and slammed

almost ful length up onto the beach before three men

scrambled out and started running toward the knol .

“Duncan!” Peg shouted when she recognized them in the

dawn light. She broke away from Sam and ran down the

knol . “We’re up here!”

The men stopped and turned and started running toward

her, Duncan stopping just in time to catch Peg when she

threw herself into his arms.

“Christ, I’ve never been so scared in my life,” he growled,

hugging her tightly as he threaded his fingers through her

hair to hold her against his chest. He tilted her head back.

“Where are the children?” he asked thickly as he gazed up

past her. She felt his chest expand and deflate on a sigh,

and he squeezed her against him again. “I thought your

goddamned house was on fire.”

“My new house is,” she said into his jacket, his arms

tightening when she shuddered. She wiped her eyes and

leaned back. “I brought the kids up here in case it spread.”

She buried her face in his chest again and wrapped her

arms around him, only at the last minute remembering his

sore ribs. “Can … Wil you just hold me a minute?”

“Forever, lass.” He pressed his face to her hair and

squeezed her again. “Promise me everyone’s okay; that

the children are al okay.”

“They’re fine. Your men alerted us.”

“What in hel happened?” he growled as he lifted his

head, although his hug didn’t lessen—and Peg realized he

wasn’t growling at her. “There were supposed to be two

men on watch at al times.”

“There were, Boss. And the first sign that anything was

wrong was when they saw flames shooting out of the

new house.”

Duncan leaned away to look down at her. “I need to see

the children,” he said, his voice thick again as he started

toward the truck with his arm around her. “They must be

scared out of their minds.”

Suddenly drunk with relief that he was here, Peg gave a

semihysterical laugh. “Peter said he didn’t want to move

into that dumb old house anyway.”

Duncan veered to put a tree between them and the truck

and stopped, turning to palm her face and brush his thumbs

over her damp cheeks. “I’l build ye a new house.” He

lowered his lips just shy of touching hers, the flashing lights

reflecting his intense gaze. “And have ye al moved in within

a month.” He kissed her then, she suspected to keep her

from protesting, and Peg wrapped her arms around his

waist and melted into him to kiss him back—then nearly fel

over when he suddenly straightened.

“ Nowye respond?” he growled, grabbing her hand and

heading up to the truck. “Hel , if I’d known that was al it

would take, I’d have torched the goddamned house myself.”

He opened the rear hatch. “Come here, you heathens, and

let me see for myself that you’re okay,” he said, catching

Jacob when the boy threw himself at him. He tucked Peter

up against his other side and pul ed first Isabel then

Charlotte closer and gave the four of them a hug that lasted

a ful minute.

Peg used the sleeve of her sweatshirt to wipe her eyes in

time to see the pup trying to squeeze into the group

embrace just as another pair of strong arms eased her

back against a solid chest. “I’m sorely glad you’re al okay,

lass,” Alec said, giving her a gentle squeeze. “I swear to

God that was the longest boat ride I’ve ever taken.”

Peg craned her head around to look up at him. “Where

did you al go in a boat?” Alec dropped his arms and

stepped away when Duncan turned to lean on the bumper

with Peter and Jacob in his arms, so Peg asked him. “What

were you guys doing out on the fiord?”

“We climbed a mountain on the other side,” Duncan said,

“so we could get a look at where we’re laying out the resort

road from that perspective.”

“At night?”

He shrugged, shrugging both boys. “There’s enough of a

moon to see the contours better than in the daytime,

actual y. We were three-quarters of the way up one of the

mountains when we smel ed smoke and saw the glow of

flames.”

Peg looked toward the fiord, then toward her house that

was nothing but bil owing smoke now, and then she looked

directly at Duncan. “The wind’s blowing in the wrong

direction for you to have smel ed smoke over there.”

“It must be blowing in that direction higher up,” he said,

giving her a wink.

“Your … You look like you haven’t shaved in a couple of

days.” Peg turned to Alec. “So do you,” she said, even as

she realized it couldn’t be true, since she’d just had lunch

with them yesterday when her mom and aunt had fed both

Robbie’s and Duncan’s crews here at the pit.

“We do go through a lot of razors,” Alec drawled, rubbing

his grinning jaw.

“Why don’t ye shut off the truck, Peg,” Duncan said,

straightening to stand with the boys in his arms. “And bring

those blankets so we can al sit out here together and watch