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 sel 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 wel
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 real y 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.
Hel , had he fixed their little problem or what?
Except once again it appeared no one was home, so he
couldn’t actual y 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 hel was she?
Again avoiding the porch steps, he headed around the
side of the house, figuring he might as wel 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 hel , now she was shootingat him?
Duncan dropped to the ground and rol ed 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, wel , 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
actual y make her thinkbefore 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, hel , the woman was sobbing again.
Duncan silently moved closer, stopping behind a large tree
when he saw her kneeling beside the fal en deer.
“I’m sorry. I know it was a r-rotten trick to lure you here
with alfalfa pel ets,” she sobbed as she held the knife
poised over it. “But twelve dol ars 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 wel ,
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 pul 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 stil 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 bal ed 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 stil 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 cal ed 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 pul ed the knife out of his belt. He
hoped like hel she wassleeping with the game warden,
because if he got caught butchering an il egal 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.
Chapter Four
Peg slammed into her house and immediately ran into the
bathroom and threw up, then col apsed 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
tel 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 sel him, did she, since
that stupid earthquake had flooded her pit with seawater.
For the love of God, there were actual tides.
Peg stood up and stepped over to the sink to splash