“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.”
“Personally, 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 Greenville 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 still finding stuff that belongs to her. But what in hell 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 hell out of me to get his point across,” he said as he tried to grab the gunwale to pull himself up, only to fall back with a groan just as Alec rushed forward to catch him.
Alec pulled 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’ll tow your boat back,” he said as he carefully 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 frantically 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 all it wants is to be called 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?”
“Hell, the way my luck’s been running, probably polar bear,” Duncan said when Alec set the dog on the seat beside him. He pulled 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’ll always be safe.”
Alec chuckled. “I’m guessing you’ll have an easier time getting the dog to believe that vow than ye will 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 stilled. Well hell, 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’ll 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 all five of their plates on the picnic table. “You give me two more hours at the new house after lunch, and we’ll 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 still 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 outside and 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 will 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 pulled 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 carefully laid its head on Duncan’s arm. She turned to Alex. “What happened to him?” she repeated.
“He fell. His ribs are bruised and he’s banged up pretty much all 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 all 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 tell us what happened to your van, Peg. Tell 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 pulled 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 pulled 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 tell us? Or is too stubborn a better word?” he asked, even as he pulled her into a hug again. “Aw, Peg, ye really 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’ll 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 really just fall?”
He nodded and let her go, and finally 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 pills, and I’m a little concerned about leaving him alone for the next couple of days. So I was hoping ye might be willing to … babysit him for me. You can say no,” he rushed on. “I’ll understand if ye don’t want to deal with an invalid.” He smiled again. “Although he’ll be a happy invalid if you keep feeding him those pills. 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 all 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’ll 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’ll keep an eye on them.” His hands tightened. “And on you. But ye need to tell us if anyone even says anything 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, actually. 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’ll meet you there. Okay, gang, a small change in plans,” she said to the four pairs of curious eyes watching Alec climb back in the truck. “Duncan fell and hurt his knee and ribs, so all of us are going to be his nursemaids for the next couple of days while we work on the house.”
“Have you noticed he falls a lot, Mom?” Charlotte said, smiling crookedly.
“Yeah, I have. But I’ve been told he’s normally not so clumsy.”
“Mom, he’s got a dog!” Peter cried.
Peg turned to watch the pickup drive past and saw Alec trying to pull 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 all 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 knoll 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 village idiot as he wolfed down a woman-sized helping of extra sweet 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 wall and writing the number down on a paper attached to a clipboard. Jacob and Pete were sorting all 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 roll of wire over on the back wall and watch as I pull it up here. If it falls 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 roll 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 call 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 hell 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 village idiot when he heard muttering drifting down from the ho
le in the attic, and laced his fingers over his belly with a sigh as he felt his eyelids growing heavy—only to snap them open when something banged overhead, followed immediately by a rather colorful curse.
“Nobody heard that!” Peg hollered 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 called 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 belly 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 before he 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 … Well, he could invent them having a baby or something and needing the money. Hell, 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 dulling his senses. “Yeah, Jacob?” he whispered back, smiling when he saw the boy holding a fist-sized rock in his open palm.
Charmed by His Love Page 22
