Megan dropped her gaze to the hand he was holding out. “Ah…Megan,” she whispered, finally setting her tiny hand in his.
Matt gently shook it, then looked at Winter and gave an imperial wave of that same hand.
“Shall we ride, then,” he said. “I’m anxious to finally see my land.”
“You bought Bear Mountain without even seeing it?” Winter asked in surprise.
Matt started his own horse toward the parking lot. “I saw a map of it, and aerial photos.” He looked over when she caught up with him. “I could just make out a small cabin in one of the photos, on the shoreline. I thought it might be a good place to build a house, since someone else must have thought so, too.”
“If you don’t mind rebuilding four miles of old tote road,” Winter said. “That cabin is out on a narrow point, and the only access is by way of a winding logging road that travels halfway up and down Bear Mountain.” She gave him another challenging grin. “Or you could park on the main road and hike the mile of shoreline to get to your new home.”
“Or I could just build a road along that shoreline.”
“No, actually, you can’t,” Megan interjected, finally getting Butterball to catch up so that they were riding three abreast up the driveway that led through the woods to Gù Brath. “You’d have to cross a large bog and then build a bridge across Bear Brook where it runs into Pine Lake. The regulations regarding wetlands are strict, and I doubt you could even get a permit.”
Matt frowned ahead of them, then looked at Megan. “So I can’t build anywhere on the shoreline?”
“You can, as long as you keep a large setback from both the lake and any nearby bogs.”
“Or you could build farther up on the mountain,” Winter suggested, drawing his attention. “The trade-off to hearing the waves lap the shore would be to have a really spectacular view.”
Matt nodded thoughtfully. “That might work.” He turned to Megan. “Are the regulations as—”
He suddenly brought Goose to an abrupt halt. “Is that a castle?” he asked, staring at the large structure in front of them.
“That’s Gù Brath, our home,” Winter explained, not surprised by his reaction. She let her gaze follow his, to travel up the towering walls of their stone and granite home. “And it’s a keep, not a castle.
A keep is only part of a castle, usually the central, most secure tower. Our papa and uncles didn’t need a home as big as a castle, so they built a keep.”
“Is that a moat?”
“Not really,” Winter said with a chuckle. “It’s the stream that runs off the mountain, and it’s only on this side of the structure. The bridge you have to cross to get to the door does pull up, though, like a drawbridge.”
It seemed Matt couldn’t stop staring at Gù Brath. “It hardly has any windows,” he said. “And that black stone. What is it?”
Winter shrugged, but Matt didn’t see the gesture. He was busy examining her home. “It’s the rock TarStone gets its name from. It runs in fissures through the gray granite of the mountain, as wide as a football field in some places. The stone was brought down the mountain to build our home some thirty-five years ago.”
Matt finally looked at her. “You called it Gù Brath. What does that mean, and how is it spelled?”
“It’s spelled G-U B-R-A-T-H, and it’s Gaelic for ‘forever.’ Our papa and uncles named their home Foreverbecause they said they were never moving again.”
Matt narrowed his eyes at her, apparently suspicious he was getting only the tourist’s version.
He went back to examining her home. “That section on the left side. That looks newer than the rest of the…house,” he observed.
“That’s our family wing, added twenty-six years ago. The wing has nine bedrooms, a swimming pool, a computer lab, and a really big kitchen.”
Matt looked at her again. “Did I hear right yesterday? There are seven of you MacKeage girls?
I mean women,” he quickly amended with an apologetic grin.
“Yes. Though just Megan and I live at home now.”
“Where do you fall in the birth order?”
Winter widened her smile. “I’m the baby girl.” She nodded toward Megan. “We have a sister named Elizabeth between us, and then there’s Megan’s twin, Chelsea, our twin sisters Sarah and Camry, and Heather is the oldest.”
“All are married but you?”
Despite thinking he was being impolitely curious, Winter decided to continue explaining her family to Matt, so he would know what he was getting himself into—just in case he mightbe thinking of asking her on a date. “Heather is married and living in California with her husband and three bairns. Sarah is married with one bairn, and lives in Scotland. Camry is single and a scientist for NASA in Florida, Chelsea has four boys and is a lawyer in Bangor, and Elizabeth teaches third grade here in Pine Creek.
She has two kids,” she finished with a laugh at his look of awe.
“And when are you and your husband expecting your child?” Matt asked, looking at Megan.
Megan’s face turned three shades of red. “I…I’m not married,” she whispered.
“Forgive me,” Matt murmured. “Seeing your condition, I just assumed—”
“How do you know she’s pregnant?” Winter asked, drawing his attention away from her mortified sister. “She’s not even showing yet.”
Matt shook his head, his smile softening his features, then turned that smile on Megan. “Women have a certain look when they’re expecting,” he softly told Megan. “A beautiful glow.” He reached out and laid a hand on Butterball’s mane, just above where Megan was holding the reins. “I apologize if I’ve embarrassed you. But at the risk of being even more impolite, is the father around?”
Megan, looking down at his hand on Butterball’s mane, merely shook her head.
“Does he know about the child?”
“He knows,” Winter snapped, deciding Matt Gregor was getting much too personal about something that was none of his business. “And Megan is better off without the slimy coward,” she added, using Snowball to crowd Matt’s horse into moving up the trail. “We need to get going or we’ll miss the sunset from Bear Mountain.”
Matt settled Goose back down to a walk, continuing up the forest road just past Gù Brath, and turned to Winter, looking not the least bit apologetic. “I only asked because I have several connections in my business,” he softly told her the moment they were out of Megan’s hearing. “Which allow me to reach people in a multitude of ways. Give me his name, and I can make him show up here tomorrow, vowing his undying love for your sister.”
Winter blinked at him. Was this guy for real? He couldn’t be offering to strong-arm Wayne Ferris.
Matt sighed and shook his head. “Look, I know it’s none of my business. But I hate—” He moved his gaze to the trail ahead. “I had a sister once in the same situation, only at the time there was nothing I could do to help her.” He looked over his shoulder to check on Megan, then back at Winter.
“But I can certainly help your sister, if you want me to.”
“Why would Megan want a slimy coward declaring undying love to her? She’s better off without him.”
Matt grinned. “You have a point. Okay then, give me his name and I’ll make him sorry he ever met Megan.”
Winter found her own smile, thinking of Wayne Ferris getting his comeuppance. “Just like that,”
she said to Matt. “You would go after a man you don’t even know, for a woman you just met?”
“It would be my pleasure,” he said ever so softly, once more checking on Megan before looking back at Winter. “I couldn’t do anything for my sister, but I can help Megan.”
Winter thought about that, about this new facet of the man whose golden eyes she found so compelling. Apparently, he had a personal code of justice he lived by, albeit a tad skewed if he was willing to punish one man for another man’s crime. How interesting. And disturbing.