Текст книги "Charmed by His Love"

Автор книги: Джанет Чапмен

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“Do you remember the night of the fire when Robbie and

Alec and I arrived by boat, and ye noticed we al had the

beginnings of beards?”

He saw confusion replace some of her fear as she slowly

nodded.

“That was because we’d been on the mountain across

the fiord for two and a half days even though we’d left you

just the afternoon before.”

“That’s not possible.”

“It is for the magic, lass. Because remember I told you

that even if ye don’t believe, the magic goes about its

business anyway?”

She dropped her gaze to his feet again, saying nothing—

only to suddenly scramble toward him when something

gently bumped the boat and surfaced right beside them.

“Ohmigod, what is that?”

She was squeezing his neck so tightly, Duncan couldn’t

help but smile that she was more afraid of things that went

bump in the night than of him, apparently. “That would be a

big old whale with a warped sense of humor.” He pried

himself free, then turned Peg to put her back to his chest

and wrapped his arms around her. “He’s just wanting to

meet you, since I’ve told him al about this amazing woman

I’ve been trying to catch the eye of.” He tightened his arms

against her trembling. “I’m not sure if this is the same one

or not, but a friend of Mac’s from Midnight Bay told me

about this giant whale named Leviathan. Trace said he

actual y met Leviathan up close and personal one day, and

that the beast is quite … friendly. He’s not going to hurt us,

Peg. He’s just wanting to say hel o.”

“P-please take me home,” she softly petitioned.

“In the morning,” he repeated, lowering her to sit between

his legs. Keeping a hand on her shoulder, he reached back

and started the engine. “I promise to have ye home before

your children wake up.”

So with Peg huddled on the floor in front of him hugging

herself and occasional y rubbing her forehead, Duncan

resumed his trip at ful throttle, not slowing down until he

spotted the once again ful y formed beach. The whale

slipped back from keeping pace with them when Duncan

shut off the engine and lifted the motor, and silently sank

beneath the surface as they drifted up onto the gravel.

Peg didn’t move, and apparently wasn’t even wil ing to

look at him. Duncan walked past her and climbed out and

dragged the boat farther up onto the beach, then grabbed

the rope on the bow and tied it to the closest tree. He took

his sword out and slipped it on over his shoulders, then

grabbed the backpack and extended his free hand. “Come

on, Peg.”

She stil didn’t move except to curl into a tighter bal .

“The sooner we get going, the sooner you’l be home,

lass.” He sighed when she stil refused to move. “And the

more cooperative ye are, the less of a bastard I’l be.”

She final y lifted her head. “You promised never to hurt

me.”

“I’m trying to keep that promise by keeping you safe, but I

need to get hold of the magic to do that.”

“W-what’s the favor you want from me?”

He dropped his hand. “There’s something I’m needing

that’s in a cave up on the mountain behind me, but my

shoulders are too broad to reach it. Wait; you aren’t

claustrophobic, are you?” he asked, just now realizing that

might be a problem. “Because there’s about twenty or thirty

feet of the cave that’s quite narrow.”

She immediately nodded. “Yes. Yes, I’m scared to death

of tight places,” she blatantly lied. “I just freeze up and can’t

move.” She lowered her gaze and shrugged her shoulders.

“So I guess I can’t help you, so you might as wel take me

home.” But curiosity apparently getting the best of her, she

looked up again. “Um, what is it that you wanted me to get

for you?” she asked, her gaze lifting to the mountain behind

him. “Gold? Or tourmaline? Did you find a gem mine or

something?”

“I doubt it’s gems,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m not

exactly sure what’s in there because I can’t actual y see it,

because the cave curves too sharply.”

“Then how do you know something’s even there?” she

snapped.

Duncan ran a hand over his jaw to hide his grin, glad to

see she was final y tired of being afraid. “I just know. I can

feel its energy.”

She snorted and settled back against the side of the

boat and hugged her knees to her chest. “Then I guess

you’re going to have to ask some narrow-shouldered fairy

to crawl in there and get it for you.”

“Christ, you’re contrary,” he muttered, dropping the

backpack. He walked along the boat, reached in, plucked

her out, and stood her on her feet, then bent to get right in

her face. “We can do this the hard way if you insist, just so

long as you realize we’re not leaving here until I have what I

came for—even if it takes a month. You real y want to be

away from your children that long?”

“Fine,” she growled, jerking away and striding toward the

woods. She waved over her shoulder. “Just so yourealize

that I’m pressing kidnapping charges against you the

moment we get back.” She stopped and turned and even

pointed a finger at him—which he happened to notice was

trembling. “And I’m chaining off the pit, and if I ever see you

on my land again, I’m digging out my shotgun.”

That said, she spun around and strode up into the trees,

and Duncan final y let his grin escape as he wondered how

long before Peg realized she didn’t know where to go. He

walked over and snatched up the backpack and fol owed,

only to find her standing in the middle of the bed of moss

hugging herself as she looked around.

“The cave’s three-quarters of the way up the mountain,”

he said, dropping to one knee beside her and opening the

backpack. “I’ve brought ye a change of clothes and some

sturdy boots that you might want to put on before we start

the hike up.”

She turned to face him and stepped back. “You’ve had

this planned?”

He pul ed a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt out and set

them on the ground. “For a few days,” he said with a nod.

He looked up at her. “I came over here twice before; first

trying to find what I was looking for, and then with Alec and

Robbie. The first trip is when I found the pup and also when

I fel into a hole inside the mountain. The last time was the

night your house burned. I had hopes of reaching my …

instrument of power without involving you, but it seems Mac

has made that impossible.”

She took another step back. “What does Mac have to do

with this?”

Duncan sat down and patted the moss beside him.

“Come here, Peg, and I’l tel you a fantastical tale that

might help make sense of what we’re doing.”

She did sit down, but on the other side of the backpack.

“If you think I’m going to– What is that noise I keep

hearing?” she asked suddenly, looking around. “It sounds

like breathing or … snoring or something. Only it’s seems

to be coming from everywhere.”

Duncan rol ed to his knees in front of her. “You can hear

that?” He grabbed her shoulders. “Truly, Peg, you can hear

the mountain?”

She shrank away from him. “The mountain?” she

whispered, looking around again. “You think it’s breathing?

You … you hear it, too?”

He pul ed her into his arms and kissed the top of her

head. “Ah, lass, ye have no idea how relieved I am that you

can sense the mountain’s energy.” He tilted her head back,

although he couldn’t see her that wel because they were in

the woods. “That’s the magic, Peg. That’s what I’ve been

talking about.” He hugged her to him again. “And you can

feel it.”

“Mountains don’t breathe,” she muttered, pushing against

his chest. She bent her knees when he let her go and

wrapped her arms around them, apparently to keep him

from hugging her again. “Mountains are inanimate objects

made of rock and dirt and granite.”

“Tel the good people of Spel bound Fal s they’re

inanimate,” he said with a chuckle, sitting down beside her.

“Because I’m pretty sure some of these mountains picked

themselves up and movedabout a month ago.” He rested

his arms on his knees and looked toward the fiord.

“Nothing’s inanimate, lass; quantum physics has already

proven that much. Everything, even something as solid as

granite, is nothing but pure energy.” He gestured behind

him even though he wasn’t certain she could see it. “This

mountain is very much alive, but at the moment it’s …

napping.”

“Okay,” she said with a snort. “Now you’re just messing

with me.” She picked up the clothes he’d set beside the

pack and scrambled to her feet. “I have no idea why you’re

so al -fired determined to make me believe mountains

breathe and there’s something on this one that you– Um,

Duncan?” she suddenly whispered in midsentence. “How

did you pick out what size clothes to bring for me?”

He frowned up at her; enough moonlight reflecting off the

water for him to see that she’d dropped the shirt and was

holding the jeans up by the waist. “I guessed, mostly. I wear

a thirty-eight waist, and figured since you’re about half my

size that you’d wear an eighteen or twenty.”

“You got me size twentyclothes?” she cried. She

stepped up and held the jeans spread open in front of his

face. “Do you honest to God think my ass is that wide?” she

growled, shaking the pants at him.

Duncan snagged them out of her hands so she would

quit hitting him with them. “I thinkthat’s a loaded question coming from a woman,” he growled back, even as he held

the pants up and realized they’d likely fal off him. “Why in hel are they bigger than mine if the number is less than half

my waist size?”

She snatched them back. “Because women don’t like

wearing big numbers on our asses.” She shook the jeans at

him again. “Did you even unfold them to see if they at least

looked like they’d fit me?”

Duncan dropped his chin to his chest to hide his grin.

Christ, she was in a ful -blown rage, and al over the size of

a pair of jeans. But at least she was through being afraid of

him—although she may be planning his death, he realized

when she hurled the jeans at his head.

“Did you even look at them?” she repeated.

“Not closely,” he muttered, tossing the pants over his

shoulder into the trees. “Wait, check out the other pair. I had

the salesgirl go get them when I realized I should bring two

changes of clothes, and I told her that you were just about

her size. Maybe she grabbed smal er ones. Here,” he said,

opening a side pocket on the pack and handing her a

headlamp. “Put this on so you can see what you’re doing.”

She turned on the light, slid it on her head, and adjusted

the straps, then pointed the three LED bulbs directly at him,

making Duncan have to lift his hand before he went

permanently blind. “Thanks,” she said far too cheerily,

turning to look down into the top of the pack—which

thankful y took the lights off him.

He heard her sigh just before she sat back on her heels

holding the other jeans and blinded him again. “The only

reason you’re not dead right now is because the salesgirl

was a size smal er than me.” She straightened to her knees

and trained the light into the pack again, then reared up

with a gasp when her hand came out holding a box.

Duncan closed his eyes when he saw what she was

holding. “I … ah … I had a worry that it might be your time of

the month.”

“Please tel me you didn’t buy this stuff from Ezra,” she

whispered.

“Nay, I shopped in Turtleback Station.”

She dropped the box on the moss with a snort, then

pul ed two pairs of thick wool socks out of the pack, another

sweatshirt—that he was afraid was size twenty—and final y

the boots. She peeled back the tongue on one of them and

shone the light inside before tossing them down. And then

he heard her gasp again as her hand emerged with a pair

of panties dangling from her finger.

“These you get in a size four?” she growled, blinding him

with light as she shoved the scrap of lace in his face.

He snatched the panties away and shoved them in his

pocket. “What in hel size do ye wear, then?”

He didn’t know how she did it, but her nose lifted in the

air even while she stil managed to keep the headlamp

blaring at him. “Women do not discuss their sizes with men.

I can’t wait to see what you got me for a bra,” she said,

training the light down inside the pack again.

Duncan tried to stifle his chuckle but out it came anyway,

although he was afraid it sounded more nervous than

humorous. “I didn’t get ye a bra.”

“Because?” she asked far too softly.

“Because last time I checked I was a red-blooded male,

and for us bras are just one more confounding obstacle

we’ve got to get past.”

That little comment was met by silence as the lamp’s

beam dropped toward the ground, only to suddenly shoot

up into the forest as she scrambled to her feet. “I’d better

go change,” she said.

Duncan jumped up to cut her off and pul ed her into his

arms. “You’re perfectly safe with me, Peg,” he quietly told

her as the beam il uminated his chest. “I would never force

myself on you.”

“Yeah,” she muttered. “You’ve even stopped stealing

kisses.”

“Did ye ever consider I might be waiting for you to steal

one from me?” He pul ed the light off her head when its

beam hit him smack in the eyes and tossed it on the ground

as he took a calming breath. “Sometimes a man needs a

little encouragement.”

“We can’t be together … that way, Duncan. It’s not that I

real y don’t want to, but that we … just can’t.”

“Because our making love might kil me?” He snorted.

“Trust me, Peg; what I’m about to show you wil make your

family curse look like a parlor trick.”

“Olivia toldyou about my curse?”

“No, Mac told me after Olivia told him.”

“She told Mac?”

Duncan smiled at the horror in her voice. “What, do ye

honestly believe that husbands and wives don’t share their

concerns for a friend with each other? Tel me, did you

keep secrets from your husband?”

“Um … I guess not.”

Duncan prepared himself for a real y big gasp this time.

“So ye never told him about the kiss from the ski patrol er

who got you safely down off TarStone eleven years ago?

Were ye not dating your future husband at the time?”

Only instead of gasping, she went as stil as a stone.

“How do you know about that?” she whispered, the horror

back in her voice. “Ohmigod. Ohmigod,” she repeated

louder, suddenly struggling to get free.

Duncan crushed her against him with a laugh. “I guess

we know what sort of impression I made on you that day,

don’t we?” He threaded his fingers through her hair and

tilted her head back, turning serious. “Do you have any idea

how many nights I lay awake thinking about the bonnie lass

I let get away? Ye haunted my dreams for years.” He

lowered his mouth to hers. “Ye stil do,” he murmured,

capturing another “Ohmigod” when he kissed her.

Not that she participated—as usual. In fact, this time she

gave him a punch in the bel y and started talking the

moment he lifted his head.

“It was you,” she cried. “Even after I told you I’d gotten

separated from my boyfriend, you kissed me again.”

“Ye had such a kissable mouth, lass. Ye stil do,” he said,

pul ing her more firmly against him when she tried to punch

him again.

“You gave me a card with your phone number.” She

snorted. “You actual y had cards made up to … What? To

hand out to every female you rescued?”

“I saw ye slip it inside your bra when you thought I wasn’t

looking,” he said, struggling to hold back his laughter.

“Only so I could show my friends what an arrogant, no-

good, rotten—”

He kissed her again, partly to shut her up but mostly to

taste her fire. She might not remember their kiss al that

fondly, but he sure as hel did. Because even being the

skirt-chasing idiot he had been at the time, he’d recognized

that the young girl was different; her taste and smel and

contrariness at not kissing him back, her not agreeing to

meet him that evening because she had a boyfriend, and

refusing even to give him her name.

Christ, talk about Providence having two people’s paths

cross; he’d searched every damn square inch of the resort

for a week after finding her lost and hurt and crying in the

woods several hundred yards from the trail, even chasing

down every female he saw wearing a bright pink knit hat.

But a damn lot of women wore pink hats, he’d quickly

discovered to his frustration.

Duncan’s attention suddenly snapped back to the woman

he was kissing right now when he realized she’d wrapped

her arms around his waist and was kissing him back. Lord,

she tasted as good as he remembered when her lips

parted and her tongue tentatively touched his. And that’s

when he knew why her apple crisps were so sweet,

because he caught himself wanting to lick every square

inch of her.

“Ohmigod,” she said in a winded whisper, breaking it off

and burying her face in—did she just lick his neck? “We

can’t do this, Duncan.”

“Okay, we won’t,” he said, grinning over the top of her

head.

He was surprised she even knew the cuss word she

muttered under her breath, and decided he better not kiss

her again, afraid he wouldn’t stop until they were both

naked and sweaty and too exhausted to move. Speaking of

which, he noticed she didn’t seem in any hurry to move right

now, and in fact actual y snuggled into him.

“Is this cave very far from here?”

“Nay, it’s only about five miles to the entrance.”

Her head reared back. “Five miles? Al uphil ? It’s going

to take al night to get there. Wait, how far from the entrance

to whatever the thing is I’m supposed to get?”

He shrugged. “A little over a mile down.”

She scrambled away with a smal shriek. “Down? Inside

the mountain?” She started backing away, and Duncan

could see in the beam of the headlamp lying on the moss

that she was shaking her head. “I’m not going a mile

underground. Ohmigod, if I wasn’t claustrophobic before, I

certainly am now just thinking about it.”

“It’s a real y big cave most of the way; only the last twenty

or so feet are tight. There is one area we had to build a

bridge across, but other than that the going is easy and not

al that steep.”

“Can’t you just get a long, flexible stick to reach whatever

you’re trying to get?”

“Sorry. I thought about sending the pup in, but Robbie

believes it’s going to require someone with opposable

thumbs,” he said, smiling when she stepped into a beam of

moonlight and he saw her scowl. “I told ye that Mac made it

impossible for me to reach all by myself.”

“Again, what does Mac have to do with any of this?”

Duncan walked over and picked up the jeans and

sweatshirt and handed them to her. “Change your clothes

and boots, and on our hike up the mountain I’l tel ye

everything I know about Mac.”

Apparently not believing him, he saw her chin take on a

stubborn tilt. “Tel me one thing about him now.”

“Okay. Maximilian Oceanus is a theurgist. Or in laymen

terms, a wizard, with the power to move mountains and turn

freshwater lakes into inland seas.”

Chapter Twenty

Peg was finding it difficult to dress in complete darkness—

she wasn’t about to use the light with Duncan sitting twenty

feet away—what with her hands not wanting to cooperate.

The only problem was, she didn’t know if she was shaking

from being kidnapped, or from realizing the reason the

name MacKeage had been familiar is that it had been on

the card the kidnapping kiss-thief had given her eleven

years ago. Because she real y couldn’t be this rattled from

Duncan’s tel ing her that Mac was a wizard, because that

was absolutely impossible.

What had Olivia cal ed it? Earth-shaking, mountain-

moving, anything is possible magic—which meant her best

friend had knowingly married a friggin’ wizard.

And Duncan needed her help to find something buried

inside a mountain so he could get hold of some of that

magic for himself. Magic that Mac had hidden in a place

that would force Duncan to kidnap her because she had

less broad shoulders and smal er hands—and opposable

thumbs—and could climb into a real y narrow twenty– or

thirty-foot cave a friggin’ mileunderground to get it for him.

Okay. If this wasn’t the most bizarre dream she’d ever

had, then she was tripping out on plumber’s glue or contact

cement fumes or something. Yeah, her house hadn’t burned

to its foundation; she was hal ucinating and just imagining

al this weird stuff—including, she hoped to God, her

beautiful new truck being a mangled wreck.

“Do ye need some help?” Duncan asked way too

pleasantly.

Peg gave a snort just as she final y managed to get the

one-size-too-smal jeans zipped up and fastened. She then

slipped the hooded sweatshirt over her head, only to

discover it came down to her knees and the sleeves hung

six inches past her hands. “Jeesh,” she muttered, rol ing up

the sleeves as she walked over to the backpack and sat

down. “Why would anyone think just because a woman

might be a size twenty that she has goril a arms?”

“Ye look like a kid playing dress-up,” Duncan said,

holding the beam of the headlamp toward her at an angle

that didn’t shine it in her eyes. “I’m real y sorry that I messed

up on the sizes, Peg. Are the pants okay?”

“Sure, they fit perfectly as long as I don’t breathe. I’m just

glad the salesgirl wasn’t a size three.” She pul ed off her

knee-highs and slipped on the wool socks, then grabbed

the boots and pul ed them on and started lacing them.

“What did you mean when you were trying to get me out of

the boat that you need the magic to keep me safe?”

There was what Peg considered an ominous pause

before he answered. “I can’t say exactly, as it’s just a

feeling I have that our little run-in with Dubois tonight won’t

be the last.” He reclined back on an elbow and toyed with

the headlamp even while keeping its beam trained on her

feet. “I don’t like that he’s targeting you, and I have a worry

that an army of sheriffs won’t be able to find him if he

doesn’t want to be found. Ye said he’s a logger, so he

knows these woods better than anyone.”

She stopped lacing. “And you think if you have

whatever’s in the mountain that youcan catch Chris?

Duncan, you can’t just take the law into your own hands like

that.”

“No,” he said, sitting up. “But I can make damn sure the

bastard doesn’t get close enough to harm you—or your

children. And with the magic, I’m fairly certain I can do it in a

way that’s … wel , that’s inoffensive to Providence.”

“Providence?”

“That would be the power of life, lass, the very heartbeat

of the universe.” He grinned. “And ye don’t ever want to piss

off Providence, so you make sure the magic ye work is

always for the benefit of mankind.”

“But didn’t your father tel me you flew helicopters in Iraq?

How do you reconcile the benevolent magic you and Olivia

keep talking about with being a soldier?”

He snorted. “War is completely devoid of magic.” He

grinned again. “But ye may recal I mentioned that a strong

arm is sometimes needed to help benevolence along.” He

started toying with the headlamp again, working the straps

and making the beam wobble through the darkness. “I may

have been raised a warrior, but I’ve never relished the

fight.” He swept the beam through the treetops above them.

“I much prefer to battle the elements in God’s cathedral. Ye

like the outdoors yourself, Peg; I’ve watched you spend

every day at your beach that ye could, and see you teaching

your children to embrace nature.” He dropped the lamp and

rose to his knees in front of her, and clasped her hands in

his. “That’s why I wasn’t worried about bringing ye here to

hike a living, breathing, magical mountain with me, and

have ye sleep on the ground and drink from its springs and

eat the food it wil ingly provides. You and I are kindred

spirits, Peg, and that’s a gift I’d given up on ever finding.

Wil ye give me a chance to prove that together we can be

stronger than a curse? If not for yourself, then would ye do it

for Charlotte and Isabel?”

“What do they have to do with … us?”

“Together we can make sure your girls are given the

chance to grow old with the men they love.” There was

enough light for Peg to see his smile. “And also your mum

and your aunt Bea. Wouldn’t ye like to see them find love

again as wel ?”

“You’re using my familyto persuade me to have sex with

you?”

His smile widened and he nodded, and Peg was sure

she saw a sparkle come into his eyes. “We MacKeages

can be real bastards like that sometimes, especial y with

the women we love.”

His hands tightened on hers when she flinched on an

indrawn breath. He let her go to cup her face.

“Yes, ye heard correctly; I love you, lass.”

“You can’t,” she barely managed to whisper. “We’ve

known each other a week.”

“Nay, more than two.” He pul ed her toward him even as

he leaned closer. “But it’s been two weeks and eleven

years for me,” he murmured just before he kissed her.

And Peg was instantly transported to a mountain forest

where she’d sat crying in the snow—lost and hurt and

scared to death—when this big, strong, and way too

handsome man in a TarStone ski patrol jacket had

appeared out of nowhere and dried her tears, assured her

that her ankle was only sprained, and then pul ed her into

his arms and kissed her. Oh, she remembered Duncan

MacKeage, right down to how he’d made her insides

clench and her mouth go dry and her heart pound so hard

she’d thought she was going to pass out, only to then wake

up to find it had been nothing more than a wonderful y

exciting dream—just like she must be dreaming now.

Had he real y said he loved her? Out loud?

He was kissing her like he loved her more than just

wanting to have sex with her.

She probably should kiss him back. But honestly, she

was terrified that loving Duncan would kil him.

His kiss ended with a sigh and he leaned his forehead

against hers. “I hope ye consider yourself lucky that I’m a

patient man, lass, with a healthy enough ego that your lack

of response doesn’t send me into a hopeless depression.”

“Excuse me. Did you say patient?” she whispered

against his mouth as she fought a smile—because it was

either smile or burst into tears. And hadn’t she already

learned he would pounce on any sign of weakness? Okay,

maybe two weeks waslong enough to get inside a guy’s

head. “This from a man who turned my life upside down

within minutes of arriving in town,” she growled when she

felt his thumbs lowered to the pulse on her neck, “and who

made me sel him gravel too cheap and go on a picnic I

didn’t want to go on, threatened to take the flat of his sword

to my backside, tricked me into buying a truck for my own

good, kidnapped me, bought me size twenty pants and size

four panties but no bra, and … Should I go on, or are you

going to kiss me to shut me up—again?”

“Are ye wearing a bra now?” he asked way too quietly.

“No.”

She was flat on her back and he was settled between her

legs before she even managed to gasp. “I had every

intention of waiting,” he said thickly, “but I can see you’re

quite eager to experience the consequences of my finding

you outside after dark missing some important clothing.”

He brushed the hair back from her face with a gentle hand

and kissed her softly on the lips, then lifted his head. “Say

ye want me, Peg. Give me permission to make ye mine;

right here, right now, in this great cathedral.”

“I want you so much it hurts, Duncan, but I’m scared.”

“My word of honor, ye can’t kil me by loving me. You can

only do that by not letting me prove I’m more powerful than

a curse.”

“How … But how can you know that for sure?”

“I was born knowing. Go quiet, lass; can ye not feel the

mountain humming through every cel in your body?” Except

he apparently mistook her trying to feel the mountain for

hesitation, and she heard him sigh again as he dropped his

forehead to hers. “I’l tel ye what: It’l take us about two

hours to reach a pretty little pool at the base of a gushing

waterfal . Ye spend the hike listening to my magical tale,

and tel me then if you want to continue on to the cave or …”

This time hehesitated. “Or if ye want to make camp and

share the one sleeping bag I brought.”

About an hour and forty-five minutes into their hike, Duncan

felt like he’d been walking for two weeks and eleven years.

He’d spent most of the trek tel ing Peg how Mac’s father,

Titus Oceanus, had built Atlantis on which to cultivate his

Trees of Life; about the drùidhs—some of whom he was

related to—and their role in protecting the Trees, one such

species growing right here in Maine; about Robbie

MacBain’s role as clan Guardian; and his, Robbie’s, and

Alec’s fathers and Laird Greylen actual y being eleventh-

century highland warriors.

Peg had quietly listened for the most part while asking

only the occasional question, but had grabbed his pack and

pul ed him to a stop when he’d mentioned the time-

travelers. Her big blue gaze—looking more fearful than

disbelieving—had risen to the hilt of the sword on his back,

and she’d asked if he could just disappear one day like the

elder MacKeages had from their families eight hundred

years ago. He’d assured her it wasn’t any more likely to

happen to him than it could to her, and suddenly there had

been no more questions or any more soft snorts of

disbelief, even after ending his long-winded tale with why

he needed her help to attain his cal ing.

With the last fifteen minutes of their trek being made in

complete silence, Duncan both assumed and worried that

Peg was trying to decide if they would continue up the

mountain tonight or bed down together in the sleeping bag

–preferably naked—by the pool. He hoped she chose the

latter, as it was important to him that she believed that

together they could break her family’s curse beforeshe

witnessed the ful extent of the power he was about to gain.

Because, hel , he was just red-blooded enough to want his

woman to want him for himself rather than what he could do.

Had Mac had that same worry with Olivia? He knew Ian

had captured Jessie’s heart before she’d discovered the

truth about him, because Duncan had outright asked his

nephew last weekend. Ian had grown amused and in turn

had asked Duncan if he wanted to spend the rest of his life

wondering if his woman had a believer’s heart before he

had to hit her over the head with the magic to open her

eyes.

But Peg could hear the mountain breathing, which meant

she must be a believer deep down inside where it counted,

and he was also fairly certain that neither his mountain nor

the whale would have so openly welcomed her if they didn’t

know her heart.

He was the only one who didn’t know a goddamned

thing, apparently, which was why he needed Peg to wil ingly