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

possessed her to turn hostile. Why should she care if the man had looked incredulous and then suddenly angry when she’d told him she was finishing the house Billy had started for his family? She was proud of what she’d accomplished, dammit, and Duncan had no business assuming she couldn’t put a roof over her children’s heads
all by herself
.
    “Yeah, well,” she muttered, driving the knife into the meat, “you men aren’t all you think you’re cracked up to be, either. Everyone loves a hero except for the wife and kids he leavesbehind when he gets himself killed trying to save a bunch of stupid buildings in some stupid town.”
    Which was another reason she was staying a widow—even if it meant sleeping in an empty bed for the rest of her life—because she’d be damned if she was going to let her children get their tender little hearts broken again.

Chapter Five

    “Here’s an idea,” Duncan said as he stopped to wait for Mac to come up beside him. “Why don’t you ask Olivia’s father to keep an eye on Peg Thompson and her children while you’re gone? Sam seems like the sort of man who relishes a challenge.”
    Mac’s eyes lit with interest. “What did she do this time?”
    Duncan headed up the mountain again. “Do you know she owns a high-power rifle and apparently isn’t afraid to use it?”
    Mac pulled him to a stop. “Peg shot at you?”
    “No,” he growled as he started walking again. “She shot a deer.” He tapped his finger to his forehead. “Smack dead center between the eyes. The damn animal was dead before it even hit the ground.”
    “Why? Is hunting season not usually in the fall?”
    “I gathered from what Peg told the deer as she sobbed all over it that a bag of feed is a hell of a lot cheaper than a hundred pounds of beef.” Duncan deliberately slowed his pace when he realized he was getting angry all over again. “Apparently the woman’s so desperate that she’s willing to risk jacking deer out of season.” He frowned over his shoulder. “Did you know she’s been finishing off the house her husband started building before he died? All by herself?”
    Mac pulled them to a stop when they reached an open ledge and shot him a grin. “Are you that much of your father’s son, Duncan, that you believe the house is going to collapse because a woman is building it?”
    “She’s climbing ladders and messing with electricity and plumbing torches
all by herself
. She could fall and break her neck or set her clothes on fire, and her kids would be the ones to find her.”
    Mac gestured dismissively. “Since the beginning of time, widows have been doing whatever is necessary to provide for their children.”
    Duncan turned away, striding to the center of the ledge as he remembered Peg inserting
prostitution
for
destitution
. “Yeah, well, I don’t want her breaking her neck on my watch.” He shot Mac a glare. “Because the last thing I need is to find myself trying to explain what happened to a pissed-off theurgist at her funeral.”
    Mac arched a brow. “Is it Peg’s neck you are worried about or yours?”
    “That woman is reckless and stubborn and too damned proud; and from what I’ve seen so far, those are her
good
qualities.”
    “Then you, my friend, are either blind or dead. Peg’s beauty and courage and generous heart clearly outshine her more … spirited qualities.” Mac folded his arms on his chest, his silent regard causing the fine hairs on Duncan’s neck to stir in alarm. “You’re attracted to her,” the wizard said quietly.
    “I just met her.”
    “And that scares you.”
    “I am
not
afraid of Peg Thompson.”
    “No, you’re afraid of your attraction to her.”
    Knowing he wasn’t going to win this crazy argument, Duncan tried anyway. “I’m a thirty-five-year-old red-blooded male who’s been attracted to more women than I can count, so what makes you think Peg is different?”
    “You tell me.” Mac’s eyes filled with amusement.