Duncan also looked around from the vantage point of their being three-quarters of the way up the mountain. “But it’s not a campfire.”
“There,” Alec said, pointing. “Down across the fiord, do ye see that faint glow?”
“Christ, that’s the pit!” Duncan snarled, already making his way into the trees. “They must have torched our equipment.”
“Nay, that’s not diesel fuel,” Robbie said from right behind him. “That’s the smell of a structure fire.”
A chill unlike any he’d ever experienced ran up the length of Duncan’s spine, propelling him through the darkness like a man pursued by demons—or rather like a man who suddenly knew the terror of losing all that he loved in an instant.
Peg stood beside her truck on the tote road overlooking her pit, numbed nearly insensate as she watched the flames shooting into the night sky beyond the knoll.
“Please, Mrs. Thompson, won’t you at least sit in the truck where it’s warm?” Sam Dalton once again petitioned.
“I’m fine, Sam,” she murmured as she glanced behind her to see her children also watching the fire—the girls with an arm wrapped around each of the twins and the pup’s nose pressed up against the glass between them. She looked back toward the flashing red strobes of the fire engines, hearing the distant shouts of men rising above the heavy whine of pumps pulling water out of the cove.
She’d awakened to pounding on her door a little over an hour ago and opened it to a man she didn’t know. Her house in the woods was on fire, he’d told her, and he wanted her and the children out of her home on the chance the fire might spread. He’d also told her they’d already called 911, and that the rest of Duncan’s crew was on their way from the campsite up the main road.
Peg had immediately gotten the children dressed and sent them to stand up on the tote road next to the fiord while she had run to the garage with her arms full of blankets. She’d driven the SUV over to the road and parked it out of the way, leaving it running with the heater on and her children safely inside. She’d spent the last hour keeping watch for Duncan, a little bummed that he hadn’t come looking for her. But then, she hadn’t seen him or Alec or Robbie since they’d climbed in Duncan’s truck at four this afternoon—no, yesterday afternoon, as it was already breaking dawn.
“It could be an electrical fire,” Sam said hesitantly, obviously at a loss for how to deal with her. “That happens more often than you know on homes under construction.”
“There wasn’t any power running to the house,” Peg said as she continued watching the fire ravage three years of desperately hard work. “I had the temporary service cut off several years ago and used a generator when I needed power.”
“Duncan had six men staying on the hillside,” Sam said, “and not one of them heard anything. The two guys on watch said they didn’t know anything was wrong until they saw the flames because the breeze was blowing away from them.” The older man sidled closer and finally just wrapped an arm around her. “With the firemen here now, they’ll be able to keep it away from your home,” he assured her, his hand patting her arm. “And the fire marshal will find out what started it.”
Not that it mattered, Peg thought as she stifled a sigh; because accidental or arson, her nearly finished house would still be burned down to its foundation.
Sam’s arm tightened protectively when a boat suddenly came roaring into the cove from the fiord and slammed almost full length up onto the beach before three men scrambled out and started running toward the knoll.
“Duncan!” Peg shouted when she recognized them in the dawn light. She broke away from Sam and ran down the knoll. “We’re up here!”
The men stopped and turned and started running toward her, Duncan stopping just in time to catch Peg when she threw herself into his arms.
“Christ, I’ve never been so scared in my life,” he growled, hugging her tightly as he threaded his fingers through her hair to hold her against his chest. He tilted her head back. “Where are the children?” he asked thickly as he gazed up past her. She felt his chest expand and deflate on a sigh, and he squeezed her against him again. “I thought your goddamned house was on fire.”
“My new house is,” she said into his jacket, his arms tightening when she shuddered. She wiped her eyes and leaned back. “I brought the kids up here in case it spread.” She buried her face in his chest again and wrapped her arms around him, only at the last minute remembering his sore ribs. “Can … Will you just hold me a minute?”
“Forever, lass.” He pressed his face to her hair and squeezed her again. “Promise me everyone’s okay; that the children are all okay.”
“They’re fine. Your men alerted us.”
“What in hell happened?” he growled as he lifted his head, although his hug didn’t lessen—and Peg realized he wasn’t growling at her. “There were supposed to be two men on watch at all times.”
“There were, Boss. And the first sign that anything was wrong was when they saw flames shooting out of the new house.”
Duncan leaned away to look down at her. “I need to see the children,” he said, his voice thick again as he started toward the truck with his arm around her. “They must be scared out of their minds.”
Suddenly drunk with relief that he was here, Peg gave a semihysterical laugh. “Peter said he didn’t want to move into that dumb old house anyway.”
Duncan veered to put a tree between them and the truck and stopped, turning to palm her face and brush his thumbs over her damp cheeks. “I’ll build ye a new house.” He lowered his lips just shy of touching hers, the flashing lights reflecting his intense gaze. “And have ye all moved in within a month.” He kissed her then, she suspected to keep her from protesting, and Peg wrapped her arms around his waist and melted into him to kiss him back—then nearly fell over when he suddenly straightened.
“Now ye respond?” he growled, grabbing her hand and heading up to the truck. “Hell, if I’d known that was all it would take, I’d have torched the goddamned house myself.” He opened the rear hatch. “Come here, you heathens, and let me see for myself that you’re okay,” he said, catching Jacob when the boy threw himself at him. He tucked Peter up against his other side and pulled first Isabel then Charlotte closer and gave the four of them a hug that lasted a full minute.
Peg used the sleeve of her sweatshirt to wipe her eyes in time to see the pup trying to squeeze into the group embrace just as another pair of strong arms eased her back against a solid chest. “I’m sorely glad you’re all okay, lass,” Alec said, giving her a gentle squeeze. “I swear to God that was the longest boat ride I’ve ever taken.”
Peg craned her head around to look up at him. “Where did you all go in a boat?” Alec dropped his arms and stepped away when Duncan turned to lean on the bumper with Peter and Jacob in his arms, so Peg asked him. “What were you guys doing out on the fiord?”
“We climbed a mountain on the other side,” Duncan said, “so we could get a look at where we’re laying out the resort road from that perspective.”
“At night?”
He shrugged, shrugging both boys. “There’s enough of a moon to see the contours better than in the daytime, actually. We were three-quarters of the way up one of the mountains when we smelled smoke and saw the glow of flames.”
Peg looked toward the fiord, then toward her house that was nothing but billowing smoke now, and then she looked directly at Duncan. “The wind’s blowing in the wrong direction for you to have smelled smoke over there.”
“It must be blowing in that direction higher up,” he said, giving her a wink.
“Your … You look like you haven’t shaved in a couple of days.” Peg turned to Alec. “So do you,” she said, even as she realized it couldn’t be true, since she’d just had lunch with them yesterday when her mom and aunt had fed both Robbie’s and Duncan’s crews here at the pit.
“We do go through a lot of razors,” Alec drawled, rubbing his grinning jaw.
“Why don’t ye shut off th
e truck, Peg,” Duncan said, straightening to stand with the boys in his arms. “And bring those blankets so we can all sit out here together and watch the firemen work.”
“Please put the boys down, Duncan,” she said when Alec headed to the driver’s door to shut off the truck instead. “Your ribs aren’t healed enough to hold them.”
“I’m right as rain, Peg,” he said, his eyes lighting with the first rays of sun peeking over the mountains across the fiord. He gave the boys a jostle. “In fact, I do believe I’ve never felt better in my life.”
Charlotte and Isabel jumped out of the back, dragging the blankets with them, causing the poor pup to tumble out of the truck with a yelp of surprise. Duncan walked over and set the boys down, took one of the blankets and folded it lengthwise on the ground, and then sat down on it. He leaned against the truck and patted the blanket on either side of him. “Come on, people; I need to borrow some of your body heat.”
Peg stood blinking at him as Alec walked up to her. “What he’s needing is to hold ye all, lass,” he said softly, giving her a nudge. “It was a hell of a boat ride.”
Robbie came striding up the knoll just as all four children did indeed cuddle up to Duncan, apparently needing him as well. Robbie silently shook his head at Peg to let her know her house was a complete loss, then looked at Duncan. “There’s something I think ye might want to see,” he said quietly.
“Whatever it is can wait,” Duncan said, snagging Peg’s hand. He moved Jacob and Peter onto his lap and pulled her down beside him. “Charlotte, hand me that other blanket, would ye, lass?” He then tucked Charlotte up against his side next to Isabel and covered them all with the blanket, wrapped one arm around Peg and one around the girls, and pulled them all together with a sigh—the group hug completed when the pup landed on top of the blanket and flopped down with a doggy sigh of its own.
“Go away, you two,” Duncan said to Alec and Robbie, who were both grinning at the picture they must have made. “We’ll be right here when Jeanine and Bea have breakfast ready.” He sighed again when Peg tucked her head in the crux of his shoulder. “Just have them feed the firemen before they feed our crews.”
Oh yeah, Peg thought with a sigh of her own; a hug from a big strong man was exactly what they all needed this morning.
Chapter Eighteen
Since her beachfront was full of men gathered around a campfire, Peg sat on her deck steps waiting for Duncan to get through talking to his newly returned crew before she rode into town with him to attend the hastily scheduled Sunday night meeting. Folks in and around Spellbound Falls had decided it was time to openly discuss the little resort problem that seemed to be growing into a big problem, considering the fire marshal had declared her early Friday morning fire had been arson.
There had still been puffs of smoke wafting up from the ruins of her burned-down-to-its-foundation house when Duncan had Peg’s property turned into Fort Thompson; complete, she was afraid, with armed guards. Honestly, all that was lacking were cannons, and she wouldn’t be surprised if one of those showed up in the back of someone’s pickup next week. Three of the ten bunkhouse trailers and Duncan’s own private trailer slated for the camp up the road were now parked at her pit instead, all plumbed into her newly expanded septic system—she had no idea how he’d gotten that permit in only six hours—and tapped into her well.
Come to think of it, Peg couldn’t remember Duncan asking her permission, either, but she wasn’t complaining because she liked feeling safe when she flopped into her tiny bed, which Duncan had finally vacated Thursday. Except now he was sleeping on the other side of her bedroom wall in his private bunkhouse—that he’d perfectly aligned so their bedroom windows faced each other.
Peg’s neighbors to the west weren’t very happy with all the activity so close to their … garden, although Evan and Carl had come over to say they certainly didn’t mind waiting until that gosh-dang arsonist was caught before they put out this year’s crop of hardy seedlings.
Her children were taking losing their new house fairly well, with no obvious signs of distress or lingering fear, likely because all the activity had created quite a distraction. Well, that and Duncan’s parents had been spoiling them rotten for the last two days.
Callum and Charlotte MacKeage had arrived Friday afternoon, only to have their son introduce them to Peg and the kids then rush back into the chaos issuing orders—after, that is, he wolfed down half a pan of maple-glazed apple crisp smothered in whipped cream. Callum had also eventually moseyed away, and Peg had watched in awe as he’d pulled a virtual town of small buildings out of the back of his truck, carried them down to the beach where Peter and Jacob were playing, and the three of them had gotten really serious about the twins’ construction project.
Charlotte had divided up what was left of the crisp among Peg, her girls, and herself, and they’d spent the afternoon ignoring the fortress being built around them as they’d all gotten to know one another. That’s why Peg didn’t have any problem letting Callum and Charlotte babysit her heathens tonight while she went to the town meeting with Duncan. The meeting that was slated to begin in two hours, she realized as she glanced down at her watch, which meant they needed to leave now if they wanted to stop by the Drunken Moose first.
She fidgeted with the strap of her purse as she watched Duncan in the last rays of the setting sun quietly talking to his men sitting around the campfire. His feet were slightly spread as he stood with his arms folded over his chest in a stance of authority, and Peg felt her insides suddenly clench.
Damn, her desire for him was starting to get out of control, and Peg was worried she was going to act on it one of these days. She sighed, resting her chin on her fists as she continued watching Duncan. He hadn’t stolen any more kisses since the morning of the fire, when he’d gotten all growly because she’d finally kissed him back. Granted, her house had been burning down to its foundation at the moment, but he’d felt so solid and strong and invincible, and she’d been so scared and needy. All she’d wanted to do was lose herself in the passion that had been building inside her for the last three nights he’d been sleeping in her bed, while she’d been out on the couch wanting to be in there with him.
Peg stood up when she saw him striding toward her and slipped her purse over her shoulder with a fortifying breath. She walked to her SUV, brushing down the front of her old spring jacket in an attempt to appear nonchalant. The last thing she needed was for him to see how scared and needy she still was, considering this was the first time since their picnic, when Duncan had declared she wouldn’t always have the twins stuck to her like glue, that they would actually be alone together.
Peg dropped the truck keys into his outstretched palm without so much as even a scowl and climbed in the passenger side of her SUV when he politely opened the door. Because honestly, not only did she know better than to argue with an old-fashioned man, she kind of wanted to pretend this was a date, even if they were only going to a town meeting. But taking her to the Drunken Moose for a piece of Vanetta’s famous blueberry pie first was sort of like a date, wasn’t it?
At least it was according to Charlotte, who’d managed to find a pair of actual dress slacks in the back of Peg’s closet, and then insisted Peg wear the top from one of her funeral outfits with them along with the small pearl earrings her short-lived stepdad had given Peg for her wedding. So she was dressed like she was going on a date, she decided as she watched Duncan walk around the front of her truck, even though he was wearing jeans, a heavy chambray shirt under his leather jacket, and work boots.
He climbed in behind the wheel with a chuckle when he caught her glancing toward the house. “Your babies will be fine. They have the movies Mom brought that they can watch together, and if those fail, Dad’s one hell of a storyteller.”
“Actually, it’s your parents I’m worried about,” she said with a sigh. “Peter and Jacob like to pretend they’re each other just to mess with people, and sometimes Isabel can be … well, Isabe
l.”
“I believe they can handle your heathens,” he drawled as he turned the truck onto the main road and accelerated.
Peg folded her hands on her lap so he wouldn’t see them trembling as she once again reminded herself this was not a date. “They really didn’t have to stay a day longer than they’d planned. My mother-in-law said she could watch the kids tonight.”
“Mom and Dad are in no hurry to leave.” He smiled over at her. “When Dad saw my crew returning this evening, he said he wanted to stay and watch the big boys play with the big toys tomorrow.”
“I can’t believe he got down in the dirt to help the twins expand the town they’re building. You said he’s eighty-two.” Peg shook her head. “I think that’s a flat-out lie, because that would mean he was what … nearly fifty when you were born?”
“Forty-eight, actually. Dad is Mom’s second husband and I’m her second family. In fact, Alec’s mom is my half sister, which makes my mom his grandmother and me his uncle. And his dad and my dad are cousins, so Alec and I are also cousins.” He grinned at her again. “We’re all just one big happy clan. Now, about your new house; have ye decided yet to let me build it?”
“You don’t think you’d be spreading yourself too thin, what with building a road and then the resort site itself up on the mountain for Mac?”
He waved the fingers on his hand holding the steering wheel. “I can do it all. Like I said, the men will welcome the extra income. And I agree you should set the new house on the tote road overlooking the fiord. The old site was good, but that was before you had oceanfront property.”
Peg leaned back against the headrest with a sigh. “Yeah, I like the idea of building it there so we’ll be able to watch the sunrise from our kitchen table.” She glanced over at him. “And with the insurance money, I might be able to afford to have you build a house for me. As long as you let me do the electrical wiring,” she added, smiling when she saw his jaw go slack.
Charmed by His Love Page 24