“I’m not wil ing to risk having it cave in,” he said, gently
prying her hands off, then holding them against her angry
tugging. “Not when it could happen while your children are
out here playing, like it did just now.”
“Wait, what about the scientists?” she said. “The other
day Steve told me they have an unmanned rover, so I’l go
to Inglenook and ask him to bring it here to look at the
slope. He can drive their boat right into the pit.”
Duncan shook his head. “It would likely take them an
entire day to bring a rover in here, when I can be in and out
of the water in ten minutes and have the problem fixed in an
hour. Robbie,” he said, turning away as he went back to
unbuttoning his shirt. “Radio Alec from my pickup and have
him bring down the excavator.” He glanced over his
shoulder when Peg muttered a nasty little curse of her own
under her breath, and arched his brow. “Maybe ye should
take your boys inside for their naps.”
She started to spin away in disgust, but gasped instead
when he shed his shirt and she saw the large bruise on his
side and several smal cuts on his arms and back. “Did you
fal down the mountain naked?”
He turned in surprise and looked down at himself, then
rubbed a tiny cut on his ribs with a grin. “It’s a very tal
mountain.”
“And yet your jacket doesn’t seem to have so much as a
scuff mark,” she said, gesturing at Jacob stil wrapped up in
his leather jacket in Galen’s arms.
Duncan walked over to sit on the picnic table and started
taking off his boots. “Just be a good lass and go in the
house, Peg,” he said as she walked toward him, “and let us
men do our work.”
“Dammit,” she softly hissed in deference to the men
standing behind her as mute as fence posts, she assumed
because they were trying to decide if their new boss real y
was as tough as he looked or certifiably insane. Heck, even
Peter was speechless for once. “This is crazy. You don’t
have to prove anything to Galen and the others.”
He glanced up in surprise, then took off his socks, stuffed
them in one of his boots, and stood up. “Did ye know a
person can see the entire length of Bottomless from the top
of the mountain, and al the way to Canada in the other
direction?” he asked. “If the weather’s nice I could take you
and your children up to the summit this Sunday if you’d like,
and we could bring a lunch.”
Peg dropped her gaze to his chest—which was quite
naked, she couldn’t help but notice—and also tried to
decide if he real y was as tough as he looked or insane.
Not because it appeared he was going swimming with or
without her permission, but because she’d swear he’d just
invited her on … No, he hadn’t just asked her and her kids
on a picnic, because that real y, real y was insane.
“I … The kids would like that,” she heard herself say,
deciding shewas insane.
“Take the boys inside, Peg.” He lifted her chin with his
finger, either because her staring at his chest unnerved
him, or he wanted her to see his smile. “And try not to worry,
okay? I real y do swim in mountain ponds for sport.” His
eyes took on a decidedly wicked sparkle. “Although I
usual y prefer to do it naked.”
Peg spun around and was halfway to Galen before she
heard Duncan’s quiet chuckle. She snatched Jacob away,
settled him on her hip to take hold of Peter’s hand and
marched to her house, hoping the stupid idiot caught
pneumonia!
No, wait; then he couldn’t take her and the kids up the
mountain Sunday.
Yeah, wel , she hoped Duncan MacKeage liked shaved
venison sandwiches, because that’s was she was packing
for their picnic.
Chapter Seven
“I think I’ve done a real y dumb thing,” Peg said, sitting with
her back against the picnic table as she stared across her
newly reconstructed beach at her nearly barren hil side. She
looked over at Olivia. “I agreed to let Duncan take me and
the kids up the mountain this weekend to see the view and
have a picnic.”
Olivia’s eyes widened in surprise, and Peg flinched when
her friend suddenly threw her arms around her with a soft
squeal of delight. “Oh, Peggy, that’s the smartest thing I’ve
heard come out of your mouth since last Saturday.” She
leaned away. “Wait; how can going on a picnic possibly be
dumb?”
“Give me one good reason it can possibly be smart.”
“Wel , you’l get to see why we’re building the resort up
there,” Olivia said, letting her go. “And you’l get to spend
the day with an adult male you’re not actual y related to.”
She leaned closer. “My first outing with Mac was an ice
fishing picnic, and look where that led.”
Peg jumped to her feet. “I don’t want anything to lead
anywhere! I swore on my husband’s grave three years ago
that I was never, ever fal ing in love again.”
“Shh, the kids wil hear you,” Olivia said, nodding at the
beach and pul ing Peg back down beside her. “I’m pretty
sure Duncan only asked you to go on a picnic, not fal in
love with him.” She folded her hands on her lap. “But I
remember swearing never to fal in love again, myself.”
“How’s that been working for you, Mrs.Oceanus?”
Olivia gave her a sidelong glance and slow smile. “Pretty
damned wel , actual y.” She looked at their children building
sand castles—Charlotte and Isabel and Sophie building
one and the twins and Henry building their own. “It’s working
pretty wel for Sophie, too. I hadn’t realized how much a little
girl needs a man in her life.”
“She had John,” Peg reminded her.
“Grampies aren’t the same as dads. Sophie’s … Wel , I
don’t ever remember her going to John with a problem.”
Olivia turned on the seat to face Peg. “Just the other day I
saw her and Mac sitting in the gazebo, just talking. And that
night when I asked her what they’d been talking about, she
told me she’d asked Mac how she should deal with a boy at
school who kept cal ing her Sexy Sophie.”
“Sexy Sophie? I hope he told her to punch the little snot in
the nose.”
Olivia’s eyes crinkled with laughter. “No, my sweet, dear
husband told my sweet, innocent daughter to thank the little
snot for the lovely compliment and then ask him out on a
date.”
“Oh, for the love of— I hope you punched Macin the
nose.”
“Actual y, it worked,” Olivia said, sounding even more
amazed than Peg was. “It appears Mac was eight years old
once, too, and obviously remembers how boys that age
think. Because despite my warning Sophie that it was
probably going to backfire on her, the next day when the
little snot cal ed her Sexy Sophie and she thanked him and
asked him out, the kid ran away so fast that he knocked
over the food scrap bucket in the cafeteria.” She smiled
smugly. “And his mother had to be cal ed to bring him a
change of clothes.”
“Mac told Sophie to cal his bluff. I never would have
thought of that.”
“Exactly,” Olivia said with a nod. “Now do you understand
what I’m saying? Men see the world differently than we do,
and kids need both perspectives. So how can your children
and youspending the day with Duncan be a dumb thing?”
Peg dropped her gaze. “But what if they start liking him?”
she whispered, lifting her head again. “He’l be
coming around here at least al this spring, and what if they
get attached to Duncan?” She stood up, crossing her arms