see the cuff again, and her eyes suddenly widened and she
snapped her gaze to his. “Hey, does that mean this is my
instrument of power? Can I … do stuff, too?”
Duncan pul ed her into his embrace to hide his horror
even as he gave a bark of laughter. “Absolutely not. Ye
have to be borna magic-maker,” he blatantly lied. Holy hel , just the idea of Peg being able to do stuffsent chil s down
his spine—just like it had Ian’s, his nephew had said, when
he’d realized Roger de Keage had given Jessie a smal
staff.
“Then why do I have to wear a bracelet?” Peg muttered
against his chest.
“For the same reason you’d wear a wedding band; to
know who ye belong to.”
He felt more than heard her sigh. “You are so old-
fashioned.”
“And charmed,” he whispered against her hair, giving her
another squeeze. “Let’s not forget what a bastard I’m going
to be growing old with you. Are ye ready to go home now,
Peg?”
She tilted her head back to look up at him. “You can’t …
um, actlike a husband or anything,” she said, her cheeks
flushing again, “until after we’re married in a church in front
of the children. Wait; how am I going to explain to them that
I just up and decided to marry you out of the blue? We
haven’t even gone on a real date.”
Wel , if she wasn’t quite reconciled to the fact they
already were married in the eyes of Providence, at least
she was acknowledging they weregetting married. “Jacob
already gave me permission to ask you,” he said past his
grin. “And he even offered to let me sleep in one of the bunk
beds you were going to buy him.”
“When did he say that?”
“The first day I was in that recliner in your new house. He
told me I didn’t have to be afraid when you get all scowly,
because you’re real y al soft inside.” He pul ed her toward
him, stopping just shy of their lips touching. “So I guess ye
better go talk with your preacher when we get back this
morning and see if he can marry us this evening,” he
finished, just before kissing her.
And damn if she didn’t kiss him back—until his words
apparently sank in and she reared away. “This evening!”
She must have seen he was serious because she went
perfectly stil . “But Mac gave Olivia at least a week to put a
wedding together.”
“Do I look like Mac?” he asked quietly.
“You … You’re big and scary like he is. How about this
coming Saturday?”
“I’m sleeping with my wife tonight, with or without a formal
wedding.”
“We need a license.”
“I believe you’l find it’s already on file at the county
courthouse.”
“How?” she asked on a gasp.
“By magic.” He pul ed her against him and held her head
to his chest, preparing for a real y big gasp. “And your new
house—that I’mbuilding—wil be over here, Peg, and you’l
be watching sunsets from our kitchen window instead of
sunrises.”
She didn’t gasp, she snorted. “Are you forgetting I have
four children who’l be riding on a school bus this fal ?”
“I’l build a road around the fiord.”
That got him his gasp. “It would have to be at least twenty
miles to reach here, and that’s only one way! The bus isn’t
going to drive that far for four children.”
“Then you can take them into town by boat to meet it.”
“And in the spring and fal , when the ice is rotten?”
“Bottomless is saltwater, Peg,” he said, smiling over the
top of her head when he realized she needed to voice al
her concerns out loud—or at least let him know what he
was getting himself into. “It’s not going to freeze.”
This time he both heard and felt her heavy sigh. “The kids
are never going to get their friends to come for sleepovers.
First their parents wouldn’t let them stay over because I live
in a fal ing-down doublewide, and now they’re not going to
let them because I’l be living in the middle of nowhere.”
“I’l make sure they come.”
She tilted her head back. “You can’t fix everything,
Duncan.”
“Watch me,” he said, giving her a wink just before setting
her beside him. He stood up, then held out his hand. “Come
on, wife,” he said just to piss her off. “The sooner we
get home, the sooner you can start planning today’s
wedding.”
Except instead of taking his hand, she started tugging on
the cuff above her wrist, and Duncan reached down and
lifted her to her feet. “Are ye deliberately trying to offend
Providence after it gave ye such a wonderful gift?”
She stopped tugging and scowled at him. “Providence
gave me this bracelet?”
“Nay, it gave you me,” he said, grabbing her hand just as
a soft rumbling laugh echoed through the tunnel. “Did your
mother warn ye about your family curse before you married
Wil iam Thompson, Peg?” he asked as he led her toward
the entrance.
“Yes. But I was eighteen, and al eighteen-year-olds
believe bad stuff only happens to other people.”
“Did ye tel himabout the curse before ye married?”
She gave a soft snort. “Bil y said it was going to take a lot
more than some dead old biddy to scare him off. One night
we even went to the cemetery where Gretchen Robinson is
buried and he peed on her grave.” She pul ed him to a stop.
“I’l marry you today if you promiseyou’re not going to die.”
“I’m not going to die for a long, long time, Peg, I
promise.”
“But how can you be so sure?” she whispered.
“Because last night when we were making love—
the fourth time, I think—I saw ye lying beneath me al
beautiful and fil ed with passion. You were … oh, eighty
years old, I’m guessing.” He caught her shoulders when she
reared away with a gasp. “It was the magic’s way of letting
me know everything wil be okay.”
“You saw me at eighty? Naked?”
He took her hand and started walking again to hide his
grin. “Ye looked damned good, too, lass, al flushed with
pleasure. But ye might want to hold on to that other pair of
jeans I bought ye, because I do believe they’re eventual y
going to fit.”
This time she gasped loud enough that the whale
probably heard it down in the fiord. Duncan knew his
mountain certainly did when Peg shot past him with a yelp
of surprise.
“Ohmigod, something just patted me on the ass!”
Chapter Twenty-three
If she lived to be a hundred and two—which Peg was
beginning to worry might be a real possibility—she couldn’t
imagine herself being any honest to God happier. She was
six weeks pregnant according to Robbie’s mum, Libby,
who besides being a surgeon also was a less technical …
healer. That’s why a feather could have knocked Peg over
when Libby had said she was having a son, considering
she’d been less than a week pregnant at the time.
She’d met Libby and Michael MacBain when Duncan
had taken his new little clan of heathens to Pine Creek the
weekend after their rushed Monday evening wedding so his
big clan could throw them an old-fashioned wedding
reception. That’s when Libby had told Peg that not only was
she having a boy, but that she was carrying only one.
“Guaranteed,” Libby had said, a smile curving her lips as
she’d added, “This time.”