Charmed by His Love (6 page)

“Because she can’t afford daycare for the twins.” Olivia went back to glaring at Duncan. “After what happened Saturday, Peg doesn’t dare bring her children to work with her anymore.” She looked back at Mac. “So fix this.”

“How?”

“I don’t care how.” She stepped in the shadow of her husband, out of Duncan’s line of sight. “Pull a rabbit out of your hat or something,” he heard her whisper tightly. “Better yet, pull out a nanny. Because I’m not getting on that bus until you fix this.”

Duncan smiled, realizing Olivia was asking her husband to use his magic. And even though she was upset and obviously
desperate, she was also acutely aware that she had an audience.

“You don’t have to whisper, wife,” Mac said. “Duncan knows who I am. All the MacKeages and MacBains and Gregors do.”

“Then
fix this
,” she growled loudly.

“I’m sorry,” Mac said, slowly shaking his head. “It’s not my place to interfere in people’s lives.”

Duncan didn’t quite manage to stifle his snort.

After glaring over his shoulder at him, Mac looked back at his wife. “Peg’s journey is one
she
must walk, Olivia. And for me to magically clear the obstacles in her path would in essence be robbing your friend of her free will. It’s the trials and tribulations people overcome and how they deal with the ones they can’t that define a person.” Mac smiled tenderly. “Just as you are empowering Sophie by letting her save her half brother’s life, you must also allow Peg to empower herself.”

“Yeah, well, that may be how they do things in mythological Atlantis, but in Maine we
help
each other through our trials and tribulations.” She stepped around Mac and went back to glaring at Duncan. “So
you
fix this.”

“Me? Why should I be expected to fix something I didn’t break? She’s your friend; you fix it.”

“I can’t,” Olivia snapped, pivoting away. “Because I have to go spend the next two months in a bus with my ‘divine agent of human affairs’ theurgist husband, who can turn an entire state upside down but apparently can’t help my friend find daycare.”

Duncan actually took a step back when Mac turned on him. “By the gods, MacKeage,” the wizard said quietly—which sure as hell contradicted the wild look in his eyes. “I have no intention of traveling across this country and back with an angry wife. So fix this, dammit.”

“But I didn’t
break it
. I only just met Peg Thompson two days ago.”

Mac glanced at Olivia stomping up the stairs to the lodge, then turned back to Duncan with a heavy sigh and scrubbed his face with his hands. He dropped them, the wild look having been replaced by desperation. “Then help me fix it.”

Holy hell; the wizard was asking him—a mere mortal—for help?

“Only we have to find a way that doesn’t involve the magic,” Mac continued. He folded his arms over his chest, looking thoughtful. “It’s my guess that Olivia is mostly concerned that Peg needs the income, as Olivia’s father, Sam, is more than capable of looking after Inglenook while we’re gone. So I believe if we can find some way for Peg to earn a decent living and still look after her children, then my wife won’t spend the next two months glaring at
me
.”

“Well, hell; if that’s all you need, then consider it fixed,” Duncan drawled. “Peg Thompson owns a gravel pit, and I’ve just spent the last two days trying to talk to her about hauling out of it until I get far enough up the mountain to open my own pit. The money I’ll pay her this spring for stumpage would be more than she could earn in two years. And the best thing is she won’t have to lift a finger other than to cash the checks.” He frowned. “Assuming that horseback of gravel continues running west. When I was there yesterday, I noticed most of the pit was flooded with
seawater
.”

Mac stared at him, clearly nonplussed, and then shook his head. “I specifically cut the fiord along Peg’s land so she would end up with valuable oceanfront property.” He grinned. “I felt the pit would make a good marina.”

Duncan turned to head for his pickup. “So much for not interfering in people’s lives,” he muttered.

“Where are you going?” Mac asked. “I thought we were hiking up the mountain to decide where to position the road.”

Duncan stopped and looked back. “It’ll have to be this afternoon. Right now I need to go place myself in front of the widow Thompson so she can take another shot at me.” He headed for his truck again. “Because with a little more practice, I’m hoping she can finally finish me off and move on to her next victim.”

“MacKeage.”

Duncan stopped.

“I believe you’ll find that vein of gravel takes a sharp turn north rather than continuing west.” Mac hesitated and then stepped toward him, his brilliant green eyes turning intense.
“And I would consider it a personal favor if you kept an eye on Peg and her children for me while I’m gone.”

Duncan stared at Mac in silence for several heartbeats, uncertain if he was being given an imperial dictate or if the powerful wizard was actually asking. He finally nodded and slowly walked away, wondering how he was supposed to keep an eye on a woman he couldn’t even get near, much less one who recklessly attacked a man nearly twice her size.

Duncan pulled his truck up behind the tired-looking minivan and shut off the engine as he stared at Peg Thompson’s house, which appeared to be in rougher shape than her transportation. Although the dooryard was neat to a fault, time and weather and basic neglect had obviously taken a toll on the double-wide mobile home, and he was surprised it hadn’t collapsed under the weight of this past year’s record snowfall.

He climbed out of his truck and carefully looked around like he had yesterday, half expecting to be ambushed again if not by a small tribe of heathens then at least by a dog. But just like yesterday, he was greeted by silence. Which was baffling, since practically every house in Maine—especially if it sat back in the woods and was full of kids—had one or even several dogs in residence to discourage coyote and bear and all manner of uninvited visitors, including two-legged. Only the Thompsons didn’t even seem to have a cat, judging by the squirrels coming and going through the various holes in the eave of the house.

He took the porch stairs in one stride—mostly in fear the steps wouldn’t support his weight—and knocked on the storm door that was missing its top pane of glass. Oh yeah, Peg Thompson would definitely sell him gravel.

Maybe he’d offer to have his crew do some minor repairs on the house when he negotiated the price per yard, as well as point out that she’d have a working gravel pit again after he cleared off the timber and topsoil to expand it. That way he’d not only be sweetening the pot to get access to the gravel he needed, but Mac would see that he really was looking out for Peg. It was a win-win for everyone, including Olivia Oceanus.
And having a wizard’s wife beholden to him was definitely a good thing.

Hell, had he fixed their little problem or what?

Except once again it appeared no one was home, so he couldn’t actually execute the fix. Duncan turned and frowned at the minivan. He could hear an occasional tick coming from the engine as it cooled, and he was pretty sure the van wasn’t an identical twin. So where in hell was she?

Again avoiding the porch steps, he headed around the side of the house, figuring he might as well check out the north end of the pit while he was here. Only he hadn’t made it halfway there before a gunshot suddenly cracked through the air.

Holy hell, now she was
shooting
at him?

Duncan dropped to the ground and rolled behind a rock, then eyed the woods for movement where the shot had come from as he tried to rein in his temper. Protecting her children was one thing, and nearly running him down because she was upset about quitting her job was another, but shooting at him was outright hostile—not to mention certifiably insane.

God dammit, he was pressing charges!

There; just inside the tree line, he could just make out her silhouette. She slowly stepped into a stand of older trees and Duncan saw she had a rifle up to her shoulder to shoot again, her focus trained ahead of her. He took a calming breath even as he frowned. The woman hadn’t been shooting at him, but was hunting something. Only problem being, it wasn’t open season on anything. Unless she was after a coyote that had been hanging around, worried it might be getting too close to her kids.

His respect for Peg Thompson went up a notch. Apparently the lady didn’t discriminate between two- and four-legged threats, but simply went after each with equal fierceness. Yeah, well, the protective mama bear was about to be on the receiving end of an ambush. Duncan rose to his feet and silently worked his way to where she’d disappeared, tamping down a twinge of guilt for turning the tables on her. But then, giving her a good scare might actually make her
think
before she attacked another man nearly twice her size.

He stopped just inside the woods to let his eyes adjust to the shadows the strengthening April sun cast against the pine
and spruce, and slowed his breathing to listen for movement. Only instead of hearing a branch snap or leaves rustle, he heard … Aw, hell, the woman was sobbing again. Duncan silently moved closer, stopping behind a large tree when he saw her kneeling beside the fallen deer.

“I’m sorry. I know it was a r-rotten trick to lure you here with alfalfa pellets,” she sobbed as she held the knife poised over it. “But twelve dollars for a bag of feed is a heck of a lot cheaper than a hundred pounds of beef. I’m
sorry
,” she cried, plunging the knife toward the deer’s neck—only to drive it into the ground because she was shaking so badly. Duncan suspected she couldn’t see very well, either, since she was crying so hard. He watched her wipe her eyes with the sleeve of her sweatshirt, then raise the knife as she sucked in a shuddering breath, apparently steeling herself to have another go at the deer.

He stepped forward and caught her wrist, ignoring her shriek of surprise as he used his grip to pull her off balance when she spun toward him. “Take it easy, mama bear,” he said, capturing her other swinging fist, then deftly sidestepping when she tried to kick him. “I’m not the enemy.”

“Let me go!” she cried, tugging against his grip.

“Not while you’re still holding a sharp object.”

She immediately opened her hand and Duncan plucked the knife away, stifling a smile when she lunged at the rifle, then cried out in frustration when she discovered his boot was holding it down. He picked up the rifle as she jumped to her feet and backed away with her hands balled into fists at her sides.

“You scared the daylights out of me!”

“Yeah, ambushes have a tendency to do that to a person,” he drawled, sliding the knife in his belt at his back. He looked down at the deer between them, then arched a brow at her. “You do know you’re about six months shy of deer season, don’t you?”

Her face went from blistering red to nearly white even as her chin lifted defiantly.

“And they probably heard that gunshot clear into town,” he continued when she remained mute. He canted his head. “Then again, maybe you aren’t worried about the hefty fine
for poaching because you’re sleeping with the local game warden.”

She gave him a thunderous glare and pivoted on her heel and walked away.

Duncan dropped his head with a muttered curse, wondering what he was doing antagonizing her. But dammit, he was still angry from thinking she’d been shooting at him. His stint in the military had ended over five years ago, but some instincts—say, the instinct to survive—didn’t go away when a man took off his uniform.

He sighed to expel the last of his anger, and watched Peg Thompson skirting her flooded gravel pit on her way to her house. “Bring back some plastic bags and any bins you might have,” he called after her. “And a hacksaw,” he added when she stopped and simply stared at him in silence. “You want to stand there and think it to death,” he continued, “or let me help you get this guy cut up before school gets out?”

She continued staring for several more seconds, then turned and started running. Duncan dropped to his knees with a snort and pulled the knife out of his belt. He hoped like hell she
was
sleeping with the game warden, because if he got caught butchering an illegal deer, he was taking the hefty fine out of her first check. And then he intended to take being labeled a poacher out of the contrary woman’s decidedly feminine hide.

Peg slammed into her house and immediately ran into the bathroom and threw up, then collapsed onto the edge of the tub to hug herself. She didn’t know which had rattled her more, that Duncan MacKeage had scared the daylights out of her or that he’d caught her poaching. Low-life criminals shot deer out of season, and if Duncan didn’t turn her in to the authorities he would at least run back to Inglenook and tell Mac and Olivia that he now had proof she was crazy.

Except he’d told her to get some bins and a saw, so did that mean he was going to become an accomplice to her crime? Or was he just being nice to get her gravel?

Only she didn’t have any gravel to sell him, did she, since that stupid earthquake had flooded her pit with seawater. For the love of God, there were actual
tides
.