up, and the sadness in her eyes twisted his gut into a knot.

“It’s not that I wouldn’t like it to, but that I … can’t.” She

squirmed for him to let her go, and when he did she took a

deep breath and smoothed down her jacket. “So please

quit trying.”

“No.”

She snapped her head up. “It’s nothing personal, okay? I

just don’t want … I can’t … dammit, I need to stay focused

on my kids.” She waved at nothing. “Maybe in another

twenty years I’l think about having a love life.”

“You’l have forgotten how by then, lass,” he said just to

piss her off—because it was a hel of a lot better than letting

her come up with any more crazy excuses.

Her eyes widened, and within the next heartbeat she had

her I-mean-business scowl in place. “It’s like riding a bike,”

she snapped. “But if you need the practice, I suggest you

try Angie’s Bar in Turtleback on the first Friday night of

every month, when they have strippers come in from

Canada.” That said, she stomped away—causing the

entire deck to shake precariously.

“Peg.”

She stopped with her hand on the storm door, but didn’t

turn to look at him.

“I have to go home for a couple of days to pul my crew

together, so if ye need anything, don’t hesitate to ask Alec

or Robbie. I’l be back on Saturday to see Mac and Olivia

off, and I’l pick you and the children up Sunday morning at

ten for our picnic.”

“No,” she said, stil not looking at him.

“Dress them warmly and in mud boots, and ye might want

to bring them each a change of clothes.”

He watched her lean her forehead on the door. “Please

don’t make me go.”

“Ten o’clock; and I’l have ye al home by sunset,” he said

quietly, the knot in his gut making the walk to his truck

nearly impossible.

By four o’clock Friday afternoon, Peg had decided that

Duncan’s idea of help was foisting her off on Alec and

Robbie. Oh, and leaving her his truck to use—which she

hadn’t because she was more stubborn than he was. She

didn’t dare give the man an inch, knowing damned wel

he’d take a mile before she even knew what he was up to—

including stealing more heartbreaking kisses.

How in the name of God had she gotten herself into this

mess? She’d real y just been minding her business—trying

to make ends meet by poaching deer and stealing coupons

and keeping her van running on duct tape and prayers—

when the earth had shaken and mountains had moved, and

Duncan MacKeage had shown up and started making her

tremble worse than the earthquake had.

Peg watched the boys building an elaborate road system

up from the beach to the driveway using the convoy of toy

construction equipment they’d found lined up on the deck

yesterday morning when they’d gone outside. She’d tried to

thank Robbie, but the man had gotten a sparkle in his

laughing gray eyes as he’d shaken his head, saying he had

no idea how those trucks had gotten there, as he and Alec

had been guarding the property al night. He’d then

pronounced in front of the boys that it must have been a

sneaky girl fairy, since al the boy fairies he knew always

made a lot of noise while making their special deliveries.

It hadn’t been until that afternoon when the girls had

gotten off the bus that Alec had jumped off the excavator

and come down and opened the door of Duncan’s pickup

to show Peg the fairy had also left Charlotte and Isabel a

little something—which she would have discovered that

morning if she’d used the truck. Her daughters were now

the proud owners of some pretty fancy L.L.Bean

backpacks.

Charlotte, being the bright bulb that she was, had quietly

thanked Alec for the special delivery, and Peg had watched

her daughter tug on his sleeve to get him to bend over to

give him a shy kiss on his cheek—which she’d noticed had

darkened as he’d straightened.

Oh yeah, little girls and little boys needed big strong men

in their lives. And dammit, so did she. But desire was a

four-letter word as far as Peg was concerned.

It was also painful as hel .

Duncan MacKeage had walked into her life less than a

week ago, big and strong and handsome and unbelievably

appealing, and here the man had been gone less than forty-

eight hours and she already painful y missed him.

Her desire for Bil y had been a subtle blossoming inside

her over their junior year of high school; Bil y being a bit

slow on the uptake, but quickly getting with the program

once she’d final y managed to catch his eye. They’d been

inseparable their senior year, and had gotten married the

September after graduation—Charlotte being born nine

months and three weeks later.

There was nothing subtle about her desire for Mr. Kiss-

stealing MacKeage, however; in fact, Peg felt somewhat

blindsided by the intensity of her attraction to him.

How was that even possible? How could she meet a man

on Saturday—by attacking him, no less—and already have

her heart aching from knowing she couldn’t act on their

obviously mutual desire? She real y didn’t want to go on

that picnic Sunday, because she real y liked Duncan too

much to lead him on. But tel ing a big strong man that

pursuing her would be detrimental to his health … Wel ,

once the guy quit laughing, he’d probably steal another kiss

just to shut her up. And then he’d set about proving her

wrong, because he real y was contrary.

So basical y the question was, how did a woman go

about discouraging a man she desperately desired?

Because just saying no didn’t seem to be working.

Come to think of it, why was Duncan even attracted to

her, anyway? The guy was sexy as al get-out, and

obviously successful judging by the fancy equipment he

was running; he could have any woman he wanted. So why

was he even bothering with a widow who had four little

heathens? Which, now that she thought about it, was almost

as disconcerting as her desire for him.

“Grammy’s here!” Peter shouted, abandoning his road to

run to the edge of the driveway and stop. Jacob was two

steps behind him, making Peg smile when he also halted

with his toes on the edge of the gravel until the car came to

a stop and they heard the engine shut off. Then both boys

bolted for the driver’s door.

“Gram, come on,” Peter said, grabbing Jeanine’s hand

before she even got her seat belt unfastened. “You gotta

come see al our new trucks!”

“A special delivery fairy brung them,” Jacob said,

grabbing her other hand the moment she got out. “Gram-

auntie, you come, too,” he added with a wave at Peg’s aunt

Bea as she got out the passenger side.

“I’l be right along,” Bea said as she walked over and sat

down beside Peg at the picnic table. “I thought you swore

they’d never play with toy trucks because you didn’t want

them playing with big ones when they grew up,” she said

softly.

“I guess I forgot to tel the truck fairy.” Peg fol owed Bea’s

gaze from the boys to the neatly stacked pine logs sitting

next to the tote road, then up the hil side where Alec was

digging stumps while the bul dozer pushed them into piles.

Alec had introduced her to Duncan’s foreman, Sam Dalton,

just that morning when Sam had arrived in another shiny

wheeler towing the front-end loader that would stay at the

pit to bucket the gravel into the trucks. Oh yeah, Duncan

was settling in for the long haul.

“Who is the truck fairy?” Bea asked.