“Duncan,” Jacob said. “You got to let us down ’cause we got to get on the bus.”
Peg took a fortifying breath and turned, reaching up to take Peter away from him. Only Duncan stepped back, his grip on the boys tightening. “I’ve got them,” he growled thickly. “You’re not supposed to be lifting anything heavy.”
Peg looked down to hide her consternation as he turned and very slowly walked to the school bus, still carrying the twins. And then she took another deep breath when Charlotte slid her hand into hers.
“You’ll be okay, Mom,” her daughter said as she started leading Peg toward the bus. She gave her a squeeze as she tilted her head up with a smile. “I’m not real sure about Duncan, though.”
Peg pulled her to a stop, then grabbed Isabel’s sleeve to stop her, also. “What am I going to do all day without the boys stuck to me like glue? And you two,” she said, smoothing down each girl’s pretty new jacket. She tucked a strand of hair behind Charlotte’s ear to expose one of her shiny birthstone earrings. “We had so much fun together this summer out on Bottomless and hiking the mountain.”
Charlotte patted Peg’s arm, smiling crookedly. “We’ll be back this afternoon, Mom. And don’t worry; Isabel and I will keep an eye on Pete and Repeat.”
Peg bunched Charlotte’s jacket in her fist. “You don’t let anyone at school call him Repeat, you understand? If you hear them, you go tell the principal.”
“Mommm,” Isabel said, pulling Peg along. “Duncan’s waiting at the door for you to kiss the boys good-bye.”
“Oh. Oh! Peter, Jacob,” she said, rushing to them. She pulled each one down and gave them each several loud kisses. “You both be good, you hear?” she said, gripping their arms as she valiantly held her tears inside. “I promise I’ll be right there at Ezra’s store waiting to pick you up off the bus this afternoon.”
“Mommm, good-bye,” Peter whispered tightly, eyeing the children on the bus eyeing them.
Only instead of setting them down, Duncan walked right up into the bus behind Sophie and Isabel and Charlotte, followed by Mac carrying Henry.
Olivia slid her arm through Peg’s with a laugh. “Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a bus that took the men away all day, too?”
Peg found her first real smile of the morning as she patted her slightly bulging belly. “I swear Duncan spends more time watching me than he does working.” She sighed. “Apparently pregnant women can’t even lift something as heavy as a paintbrush, much less hang curtains. And God forbid I should want to go for a walk in the woods all by myself,” she said with a laugh.
Olivia snorted, patting her own protruding belly. “Mac flew into a panic the other day when I said I was taking Sophie to Bangor to have a mother-daughter day before school started. I swear no fewer than two dozen seagulls followed us all the way down to Bangor and back, the little spies.” She gestured toward the bus—which the men were still on. “Honestly, you’d think Henry was going to Siberia the way my dear sweet husband has been acting all morning.”
Peg shook her head. “I would like to have been a fly on the wall after you took Henry in to be tested for his grade level. I bet no one at school knew what to do with him.” She gave Olivia’s arm a squeeze. “I’m glad you only let them put him ahead two grades. He might be the smartest kid on the planet, but he’s still only six years old. Isabel’s pretty miffed Henry’s starting school in the third grade with Sophie instead of in her class.”
“She can’t be any more upset than Mac is,” Olivia said. “When Sophie showed him some of her schoolwork from last year, he threatened to open a private school for all our children right here at Inglenook.” She leaned closer. “He wanted to bring in a couple of teachers from Atlantis, claiming he was fluent in six languages and doing algebra by the time he was Sophie’s age.”
“He’s a friggin’ wizard,” Peg said on a laugh. “He was probably doing algebra in the womb.” She glanced down at Olivia’s belly, figuring they’d have their babies within a few weeks of each other. “So, when are you going to tell me if you’re having a boy or a girl?”
“When it’s born,” Olivia said. “Mac wants to be surprised, so he’s not peeking.”
They both looked up at the sound of the bus finally leaving, and Peg had to grab Duncan as Olivia grabbed Mac, and the women pulled them over to the side of the road. Duncan had brought his little clan over on the pontoon boat this morning to join the Oceanuses so all the children could meet the bus together for the thirty-mile ride to Turtleback Station on this first day of school.
“The bus turns here,” Olivia explained when Mac frowned at her, “because this is its last stop now that Peg lives across the fiord.”
The men wrapped their arms around their respective wives, Duncan resting his chin on Peg’s head. She smiled when she felt the tension in him as the school bus backed into the Inglenook road then turned and headed toward town, and Peg felt her first tear slip free when she saw Peter and Jacob’s excited little faces looking out the window as they waved to her.
Duncan dropped his arms from around her when the bus suddenly stopped not a hundred yards down the road and the driver’s head popped out a window. “Somebody want to come get this dog off the bus?” he hollered back with a grin.
Duncan took off with a muttered curse, running down the road and disappearing up the ditch side of the bus, only to reappear a minute later carrying Hero as the dog kept whining and frantically struggling to get down.
Mac suddenly ushered Peg and Olivia toward the SUV. “We should probably hurry to the Drunken Moose before all the buns are gone,” he said, opening the back door for Peg before leading Olivia around to the front passenger side.
Duncan tossed Hero in the back, then got in the seat next to Peg. “Let’s go,” he said, his attention on the bus rumbling out of sight down over the hill.
Mac pulled onto the main road without even looking for traffic, and Olivia glanced over her shoulder at Peg, her eyes dancing with amusement. But instead of going around the bus when it pulled over to let them pass, Mac patiently made every stop it did to pick up more children before reaching town. And then, instead of pulling into one of the open parking slots, he stopped right in the middle of the road.
“Why don’t you ladies go in and visit with Ezra,” Mac suggested to Olivia. “There’s a store in Turtleback that Duncan says has the exact pair of work boots I need for the construction site, so I believe we might as well run down and get them right now. We’ll be back in no time, and then we’ll all go over to the Drunken Moose for breakfast.”
Peg figured Olivia didn’t move quite fast enough when she saw Mac unclip his wife’s seat belt, then lean over and give her a quick kiss on the cheek just as her door suddenly opened on its own. “See you soon, honey.”
Duncan pulled Peg out his side of the truck with him, gave her a quick kiss on her forehead, then hugged her. “Ye don’t fret over the boys,” he whispered. “They’ll be just fine,” he said, again making Peg wonder who he was trying to reassure when he jumped in the front seat and Mac took off before he even had his door closed.
Olivia slid her arm through Peg’s and started walking toward the path leading down to the newly reconstructed park at the foot of the falls. “How much do you want to bet they get halfway back here before they remember they went to buy boots?” she asked, pulling Peg down beside her on one of the benches.
Mimicking Olivia, Peg also leaned back, folded her hands over her belly, and shook her head with a laugh that still had a lingering trace of tears. “Aren’t we lucky to have both fallen in love with big, strong, invincible men?”
“And charmed,” Olivia whispered, nudging Peg’s shoulder with her own. “Let’s not forget how charmed they both are.”
LETTER FROM LAKEWATCH
Spring 2012
Dear Readers,
Mother Nature absolutely has no modesty. I can personally attest to this, as for the last several days there’s been a lot of sex going on just outside my
writing studio. I’ve stormed out onto my deck and shouted that I’m trying to write a book here, so could everyone please go get a room, only to be answered by such raucous laughter that I had to slink back inside and close my windows and pull the shades.
Honestly, I swear they shouted right back at me to get a life, lady.
It’s not just those horny mallard drakes all vying for the attention of a single harried hen, either. It’s my dear sweet crows renewing their vows of monogamy while directing maiden aunts and bachelor uncles on building a new nest. It’s a pair of bald eagles trying to get this year’s family started while putting up with last year’s offspring complaining that they’re bored and can’t find anything to eat. And it’s loons showing up with the first crack in the ice large enough to be a landing strip and immediately starting in with their haunting, tremulous calls day and night. It’s male woodpeckers incessantly tapping a metal chimney, hoping there’s a cute little female within earshot. Muskrats, robins, squirrels, skunks, fox, osprey, Canada geese; you name it and LakeWatch has it—all having sex (or trying damned hard to) right there in broad daylight, in plain sight of children walking home from school. Heck, even the frogs and peepers are calling from the bogs before the ice is completely gone from the lake.
I’m beginning to think one of the most powerful forces in the universe is the need to reproduce. Pacific salmon die swimming upstream to lay their eggs. A mama octopus starves tending her brood and is too weak to save herself once her little octopi set off to explore the deep blue sea. Even plants are more concerned with furthering their species than saving themselves, putting their energies into propagation at the first signs of stress. (I believe I’ve mentioned before that I’m addicted to the Discovery Channel.)
Speaking of energy; I must be getting old, because I look at young people and wonder where they get the energy to deal with all the drama involved in pairing up while trying to get their own lives in order. I feel even older still seeing them having babies, when my husband and I need naps after our grandkids come visit for just a few hours.
I digress. Sorry. Back to Mother Nature’s immodesty and how that inspires my writing. I get a lot of raised eyebrows when I say I’m a romance author—usually from the men. The women usually just ask for titles. (When my husband gets one of those raised eyebrows, he just says he does all my research. Honestly, he says that with a perfectly straight face! But it effectively forestalls any more questions, and is quite often met with envy from the men.)
From the prudes I immediately get, “Oh, you write those kinds of books.”
Yes, I do, and I’m damned proud of it. Can somebody please tell me how to tell a story involving two people falling in love and not have sex be part of their journey? Sure, I could have the hero sweep the heroine into his arms and carry her into the bedroom, then have him kick the door closed with his foot to keep the reader out. But honestly, I want to go in there with them, because I’ve discovered you find out an awful lot about people when they’re naked. Stuff you would never find out when they’re all dressed up in their designer-label armor. A sassy-mouthed vixen suddenly becomes self-conscious; a powerful warrior hesitates; a wallflower awakens.
It’s not about the sex; it’s about the love. It’s discovering who is really hiding behind the masks people hold up to the big scary world, and about the truly most powerful force in the universe—that of love rippling with passion and desire.
Birds do it, bees do it; and if those noisy ducks can do it with wild abandon right there on my beachfront, then by God my hero and heroine had better let me—and my readers—sneak into the bedroom while they do it.
We promise we won’t giggle … too loudly.
Until later from a raucous LakeWatch, you keep reading and I’ll keep writing.
Janet
Keep reading for an excerpt
from the next Spellbound Falls romance
by Janet Chapman
Courting Carolina
Available September 2012 from Jove Books
Alec heard the distinct rumble of thunder over the gush of the cascading falls and tossed his shovel onto the stream bank with a muttered curse before vaulting up behind it. He picked up his shirt and used it to wipe the sweat off his face, then turned to glare at the dark clouds rolling across the fiord toward him. “Go around!” he shouted, pointing north with his free hand as he wiped down his chest. But the storm gods didn’t have any sense of humor, apparently, and the hairs on his arms stirred just as lightning flashed on a sharp crack of thunder. “Well, fine, then!” he shouted with a laugh as he bolted toward camp. “Take your best shot, you noisy bastards!”
Alec slipped into his shirt when the wind pushing ahead of the storm took on an ominous chill, and lengthened his stride when he realized he was losing the footrace to the sheet of rain sweeping up the mountain. How in hell had he been caught by surprise? There hadn’t been a cold front forecast to come through or even any clouds in the crisp September sky ten minutes ago. Another crack sounded to his right just as the wind-driven rain hit with enough force to make him stagger, and Alec scrambled to catch himself with another laugh.
But he came to an abrupt halt at the sound of an unmistakably feminine scream, followed almost immediately by an enraged shout that was also human—and male. He held his breath through several heartbeats, trying to discern its direction in the downpour, then took off at a run again, leaving the trail at a diagonal down the mountain. He weaved through the old-growth forest even as he wondered who was out here, as this section of the resort’s wilderness trail was closed to guests until he had all the footbridges and lean-tos in place.
Alec came to a halt again next to a large tree and lifted his hand against the rain as he quickly calculated his odds of saving the woman without getting himself killed in the process. The two brutes attacking her weren’t much of a worry, whereas the large dog racing up the mountain toward them might be a problem.
The woman gave another bloodcurdling scream as she bucked against the man straddling her, and twisted to clamp her teeth over the wrist of the guy kneeling at her head pinning down her hands. His ensuing shout of pain was drowned out by a vicious growl as the dog lunged at the man on top of her, the animal’s momentum sending them both tumbling to the ground.
Okay then, the dog was on her side. Hoping it realized he was also on the woman’s side, Alec drove his boot into the ribs of the man she’d bitten, sending him sprawling into a tree just as lightning struck so close the percussion knocked Alec to his knees. And since he landed next to the woman, he caught her fist swinging toward him, grasped her waist with his other hand, and lifted her to her feet. “Run! Up!” he shouted as he gave her a push. “God dammit, go! The dog and I will catch up!”
She hesitated only a heartbeat, but it was long enough for him to see the stark terror in her eyes as she glanced at the dog before she turned and ran uphill. The guy he’d kicked lunged at her on the way by, and Alec leapt to his feet when he realized the bastard had a knife.
The woman scrambled sideways, crying out as she grabbed her leg and kept running. The man started after her again but suddenly turned at Alec’s roar. Alec caught the wrist holding the knife and drove his boot into the man’s ribs again, twisting the guy’s arm until he felt it snap before plunging the blade into the bastard’s thigh. He then spun around when the dog gave a yelp, only to see it regain its footing and lunge again, this time going after the arm holding a goddamned gun.
Alec slammed into the guy, grabbing his wrist just as the weapon discharged. The dog tumbled back with a yelp, and Alec snapped the bastard’s arm over his knee, causing the gun to fall to the ground. He then shoved the screaming man headfirst into a tree, watching him crumple into a boneless heap before he turned and rushed to the dog that now had its teeth clamped down on the other man’s neck.
“Hey, come on!” he shouted over another sharp crack of thunder. He grabbed the dog by the jowls and pulled it away. “That’s enough,” he said, holding its head fro
m behind so it couldn’t turn on him. “I know you’d like to see them both dead, but they’re not worth the hassle it’s going to cause us. Easy now, calm down,” he said loudly over the raging storm, guiding the dog uphill several steps then giving it a nudge with his knee. “Go on. Go find your lady.”
The dog hesitated just as the woman had, its eyes narrowed against the rain and its lips rolled back, then suddenly took off in the direction she’d run and disappeared into the storm. Alec looked down at the man cradling his broken arm against the knife in his thigh, knelt to one knee, and drove his fist into his face. “Sleep tight, you son of a bitch,” he muttered, glancing over to make sure the other guy was still out before he also headed uphill at a run.
Only he hadn’t gone two hundred yards before he found the woman lying facedown on the soaked forest floor, the dog licking her cheek. Alec approached cautiously, crooning calm words loud enough to be heard over the pounding rain, and slowly knelt on the other side of her. He laid a firm hand on the dog’s raised hackles when it stiffened on a warning snarl. “You’re going to have to trust me, ye big brute. Your lady’s hurt, and I need to see how badly.”
He felt the dog—he suspected it was a wolf or at least a hybrid—tremble with indecision, and Alec slowly reached out with his other hand and touched the woman’s hair, which was plastered to her head. “Easy now,” he said when the snarling grew louder, moving his fingers to her neck to feel for a pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief to find it strong and steady, and carefully rolled her over. “There we go,” he said, releasing the dog when it lowered its head and started licking her face again. Alec slid an arm behind her shoulders and a hand under her knees, and stood up.
He headed uphill until he came to the trail and turned toward camp. “No, heel!” he snapped when the dog stopped and looked back down the mountain. “They’re not going anywhere.” The animal fell in step beside him, and Alec repositioned the woman’s head into the crook of his neck to keep the driving rain off her face, and blew out a harsh breath to tamp down his own anger. Christ, it had been all he could do to keep from killing the bastards himself when he’d caught them brutalizing her.
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