Charmed by His Love by Janet Chapman Read Free Book Online Page A

still look after her children, then my wife won’t spend the next two months glaring at
me
.”
    “Well, hell; if that’s all you need, then consider it fixed,” Duncan drawled. “Peg Thompson owns a gravel pit, and I’ve just spent the last two days trying to talk to her about hauling out of it until I get far enough up the mountain to open my own pit. The money I’ll pay her this spring for stumpage would be more than she could earn in two years. And the best thing is she won’t have to lift a finger other than to cash the checks.” He frowned. “Assuming that horseback of gravel continues running west. When I was there yesterday, I noticed most of the pit was flooded with
seawater
.”
    Mac stared at him, clearly nonplussed, and then shook his head. “I specifically cut the fiord along Peg’s land so she would end up with valuable oceanfront property.” He grinned. “I felt the pit would make a good marina.”
    Duncan turned to head for his pickup. “So much for not interfering in people’s lives,” he muttered.
    “Where are you going?” Mac asked. “I thought we were hiking up the mountain to decide where to position the road.”
    Duncan stopped and looked back. “It’ll have to be this afternoon. Right now I need to go place myself in front of the widow Thompson so she can take another shot at me.” He headed for his truck again. “Because with a little more practice, I’m hoping she can finally finish me off and move on to her next victim.”
    “MacKeage.”
    Duncan stopped.
    “I believe you’ll find that vein of gravel takes a sharp turn north rather than continuing west.” Mac hesitated and then stepped toward him, his brilliant green eyes turning intense.“And I would consider it a personal favor if you kept an eye on Peg and her children for me while I’m gone.”
    Duncan stared at Mac in silence for several heartbeats, uncertain if he was being given an imperial dictate or if the powerful wizard was actually asking. He finally nodded and slowly walked away, wondering how he was supposed to keep an eye on a woman he couldn’t even get near, much less one who recklessly attacked a man nearly twice her size.
    Duncan pulled his truck up behind the tired-looking minivan and shut off the engine as he stared at Peg Thompson’s house, which appeared to be in rougher shape than her transportation. Although the dooryard was neat to a fault, time and weather and basic neglect had obviously taken a toll on the double-wide mobile home, and he was surprised it hadn’t collapsed under the weight of this past year’s record snowfall.
    He climbed out of his truck and carefully looked around like he had yesterday, half expecting to be ambushed again if not by a small tribe of heathens then at least by a dog. But just like yesterday, he was greeted by silence. Which was baffling, since practically every house in Maine—especially if it sat back in the woods and was full of kids—had one or even several dogs in residence to discourage coyote and bear and all manner of uninvited visitors, including two-legged. Only the Thompsons didn’t even seem to have a cat, judging by the squirrels coming and going through the various holes in the eave of the house.
    He took the porch stairs in one stride—mostly in fear the steps wouldn’t support his weight—and knocked on the storm door that was missing its top pane of glass. Oh yeah, Peg Thompson would definitely sell him gravel.
    Maybe he’d offer to have his crew do some minor repairs on the house when he negotiated the price per yard, as well as point out that she’d have a working gravel pit again after he cleared off the timber and topsoil to expand it. That way he’d not only be sweetening the pot to get access to the gravel he needed, but Mac would see that he really was looking out for Peg. It was a win-win for everyone, including Olivia Oceanus.And having a wizard’s wife beholden to him was definitely a good thing.
    Hell, had he fixed