offer me two fifty, you can just go back and tel her that I
don’t want or needher charity.”
“Aw, Peg,” he said, letting her go and stepping away. “I
don’t think Olivia even knows I want to buy gravel from you.”
Peg bal ed her hands into fists to counter the tingling in
her arms from where he’d held her. “Then why did you offer
me twice the going rate?”
“Because the going ratejust rose in direct proportion to
your pit’s proximity to the new Bottomless Sea, or don’t you
realize the building boom that’s going to fol ow that
underground saltwater river here? Hel , a year from now
you’l be kicking yourself for sel ing me gravel for only two
bucks a yard.”
“Two fifty,” Peg quickly corrected, her heart pounding
with excitement again.
“God dammit, you were expecting to get a dol ar.” He
stepped toward her. “Two dol ars even, and I’l throw in
a couple of days’ labor from my crew to make some minor
repairs on your house.”
She had to crane her neck to look him in the eye
because he was so close, and she shook her head. “Two
twenty-five a yard and I get the logs from the hil side. And I
want them neatly stacked in my driveway so I can have a
portable sawmil come cut them into lumber.” She shot him
a tight smile. “You can have the pulpwood.”
He folded his arms over his chest, his eyes narrowing.
“I’ve already worked out my deal with the logger I’ve hired to
clear the road up the mountain.”
“Then renegotiate with him. I want those sawlogs.”
“Okay, if you’l settle on two dol ars a yard.”
Peg pointed at the hil side. “That gravel is al that’s
standing between me and prostitution,” she growled, only to
cover her mouth with a gasp when his jaw slackened.
“Destitution! It’s al that’s standing between me and
destitution!” she cried, splaying her hands to cover her
blistering face.
“Okay, then,” he said, sounding like he was fighting back
laughter, “for the sake of men everywhere, I’l give you two
twenty-five a yard for the gravel, along with any logs we cut
on your land.” She jumped in surprise when he lowered her
hands and held them in his. “And I’l do some repairs on
your house,” he continued, the amusement in his eyes
contradicting his serious tone, “for your promise not to
attack me again—or any of my crew.”
Peg was tempted to give her promise aftershe kicked
the laughing jerk.
Apparently he was a mind reader, because he suddenly
let her go and stepped back, then held out his right hand.
“Deal?” Only just as she started to reach out, he pul ed it
back. “With exclusive rights to your gravel,” he added, al
trace of amusement gone. “If I’m going through the trouble
of expanding your pit, I want to be the only one hauling out
of it.”
Hel , for two dol ars and twenty-five cents a yard he could
camp out in her pit for al she cared. She extended her
hand. “Deal.”
He shook it, then swapped it to his left hand and started
leading her back up the knol . “We’l get the deer in your
freezer, and then I have a purchase agreement in my truck
that I need you to sign.”
“Um … don’t take this the wrong way, okay?” she said,
moving to the other side of the deer and kneeling beside
the bin once he let her go. “But am I supposed to keep
track of how many loads you haul?” She felt her face
redden at his intense stare. “I … My husband never sold
stumpage because he wanted the ful price he got by
hauling the gravel himself, so I’m not real y sure how this
works.” She shrugged. “I’ve only sold an odd load here and
there in the last three years, when someone needed to
patch a camp road or fix their driveway.”
He knelt down with a heavy sigh. “I know you don’t know
anything about me, but even if you weren’t a personal friend
of Mac and Olivia’s, I value my reputation as an honest
businessman a hel of a lot more than a few stolen loads of
dirt. I’l keep track of every load that leaves your pit and
personal y deliver you a tal y slip and a check every Friday
afternoon. And when I’m done hauling I’l make sure your pit
is safe, so you won’t have to worry about any steep banks
caving in on your children.”
Peg dropped her gaze. “Thank you,” she said, pul ing
another bag out of the box.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, okay?” he said,
amusement in his voice again. “But can you tel me what
precipitated your family’s little attack on Saturday? I got the
impression you al thought I was some man who had scared
your son.”
“Jacob—he’s the younger of the twins—had a run-in with
one of the scientists the day before, and it was al I could do
to get him back to Inglenook that morning. From what
Jacob told me, the guy caught him trying to climb up on the
submarine and pul ed him off and started dragging him
toward the lake, saying he was going to use him for shark
bait. Jacob’s only four, and the poor kid believed the
bastard.”
Duncan stopped cutting, the look in his eyes making Peg
lean back. “That morning you said you thought I was
Claude; is he the bastard?”
“I … I’m not sure. But one of the interns told me Claude
doesn’t have much use for kids. Or women,” she said with a
smile, hoping to get that look out of his eyes. She reached
out and touched his arm when she saw his jaw tighten. “It
doesn’t matter anymore, Duncan. Jacob’s not going back
to Inglenook while the scientists are there.”
He started cutting steaks off the deer again, rather
aggressively, she noticed. “You’re not afraid that keeping
him away from Inglenook might only make it worse? Kids
have a tendency to build things up in their minds if they’re
left to fester, so shouldn’t Jacob face his scary man and
see he’s nothing more than a bul y?”
“Do you have children?”
He grinned tightly. “Not that I know of.”
Peg sighed as she set the bag in the bin, wondering how
Duncan was stil a bachelor wel into his thirties … unless
he was married.
He held out his hand. “I need the saw.”
Nope, no ring. But then, Bil y hadn’t worn a wedding
band, either, because they were dangerous around
machinery. “This wil have to do,” she said, handing him the
cleaver, “because it would take me at least an hour to find a
hacksaw in the pile of tools in the garage.”
She watched his face darken slightly as he started prying
on a shoulder socket. “Mac told me your husband was
kil ed in a construction accident three years ago,” he said
quietly as he worked. “I recal hearing a few years back
about an excavator rol ing into a river some thirty miles from
here.” He stopped to look at her. “Was that him?”
She nodded. “Bil y was trying to free up an ice jam that
had wedged against a bridge and was causing the river to
flood the town above it, when the ground gave way under
his excavator. It … it took them two days to find his body.”
He went to work on the deer again. “I’m sorry. I can’t even
begin to imagine what it’s like to send someone you love
off to work in the morning and not have him ever come
home again. What are ye planning to do with the sawlogs?”
Peg blinked at the sudden change in subject, then held
open another bag for the pieces of stew meat he was
cutting off the bone. “Bil y started building us a new house
back over that knol about two months after the twins were
born,” she said, nodding behind her. “It was al framed up
and weather-tight, and he’d just started on the interior when