Read Online Charmed by His Love by Janet Chapman - Free Book Online

was fighting back laughter, “for the sake of men everywhere, I’ll give you two twenty-five a yard for the gravel, along with any logs we cut on your land.” She jumped in surprise when he lowered her hands and held them in his. “And I’ll do some repairs on your house,” he continued, the amusement in his eyes contradicting his serious tone, “for your promise not to attack me again—or any of my crew.”
    Peg was tempted to give her promise
after
she kicked the laughing jerk.
    Apparently he was a mind reader, because he suddenly let her go and stepped back, then held out his right hand. “Deal?” Only just as she started to reach out, he pulled it back. “With exclusive rights to your gravel,” he added, all trace of amusement gone. “If I’m going through the trouble of expanding your pit, I want to be the only one hauling out of it.”
    Hell, for two dollars and twenty-five cents a yard he could camp out in her pit for all she cared. She extended her hand. “Deal.”
    He shook it, then swapped it to his left hand and started leading her back up the knoll. “We’ll get the deer in your freezer, and then I have a purchase agreement in my truck that I need you to sign.”
    “Um … don’t take this the wrong way, okay?” she said, moving to the other side of the deer and kneeling beside the bin once he let her go. “But am I supposed to keep track of how many loads you haul?” She felt her face redden at his intense stare. “I … My husband never sold stumpage because he wanted the full price he got by hauling the gravel himself, so I’m not really sure how this works.” She shrugged. “I’ve only sold an odd load here and there in the last three years, when someone needed to patch a camp road or fix their driveway.”
    He knelt down with a heavy sigh. “I know you don’t know anything about me, but even if you weren’t a personal friend of Mac and Olivia’s, I value my reputation as an honest businessman a hell of a lot more than a few stolen loads of dirt. I’llkeep track of every load that leaves your pit and personally deliver you a tally slip and a check every Friday afternoon. And when I’m done hauling I’ll make sure your pit is safe, so you won’t have to worry about any steep banks caving in on your children.”
    Peg dropped her gaze. “Thank you,” she said, pulling another bag out of the box.
    “Don’t take this the wrong way, okay?” he said, amusement in his voice again. “But can you tell me what precipitated your family’s little attack on Saturday? I got the impression you all thought I was some man who had scared your son.”
    “Jacob—he’s the younger of the twins—had a run-in with one of the scientists the day before, and it was all I could do to get him back to Inglenook that morning. From what Jacob told me, the guy caught him trying to climb up on the submarine and pulled him off and started dragging him toward the lake, saying he was going to use him for shark bait. Jacob’s only four, and the poor kid believed the bastard.”
    Duncan stopped cutting, the look in his eyes making Peg lean back. “That morning you said you thought I was Claude; is he the bastard?”
    “I … I’m not sure. But one of the interns told me Claude doesn’t have much use for kids. Or women,” she said with a smile, hoping to get that look out of his eyes. She reached out and touched his arm when she saw his jaw tighten. “It doesn’t matter anymore, Duncan. Jacob’s not going back to Inglenook while the scientists are there.”
    He started cutting steaks off the deer again, rather aggressively, she noticed. “You’re not afraid that keeping him away from Inglenook might only make it worse? Kids have a tendency to build things up in their minds if they’re left to fester, so shouldn’t Jacob face his scary man and see he’s nothing more than a bully?”
    “Do you have children?”
    He grinned tightly. “Not that I know of.”
    Peg sighed as she set the