“I’m not saying anything,” Olivia muttered. “I’m just asking

that if curses are real enough to actual y kil people, then

why wouldn’t magic—the good, benevolent kind—be just as

real?” She squeezed her hands again. “That wasn’t a

rhetorical question; tel me why you choose to believe

you’re cursed but you can’t seem to believe Duncan could

be … what was that word I used the other day? Charmed,”

she said with a nod. “Why can’t Duncan be strong and

powerful and charmed enough to beat your family curse?”

Peg was back to blinking at her.

Olivia nodded again. “I thought so; you can’t come up

with one good reason, can you? That’s because if your

family curse real y does exist, then something with the

power to break it must also exist.” Olivia folded her hands

on her lap again and looked down at the men. “You want to

know what real magic is, Peg? It’s finding love when you

didn’t even know you were looking for it. It’s honest to God

passion. And it’s joy and peace and contentment. It’s lying

in bed with a big strong man, waiting to kiss him awake the

moment dawn cracks so you can make him think you

command the sun.” She lowered her voice to a whisper.

“But mostly, real magic is realizing you have the power to

overcome anything, even the fear of having your heart

broken again.”

Olivia stood up when she saw the kids running across the

parking lot and looked down at Peg with a warm smile.

“You’re made of the same stern stuff I am, Peg; which

means there isn’t a man walking this earth who’s big and

strong and scary enough to send either of us running.” She

bent down to get her face right in Peg’s. “So the next time

Duncan MacKeage steals a kiss, you either kiss the pants

off him or punch him in the bel y. And when I get back in two

months,” she growled, the look in her eyes making Peg

lean away, “if I find you stil lying in Bil y’s casket instead of

Duncan’s bed, I swear I’m going to show you a whole other

kind of magic that’s going to make your family curse look

like a blessing.”

Peg ran trembling fingers through her hair when Olivia

turned and headed to intercept the children as they ran

toward the huge RV parked next to the lodge. Okay, then;

she guessed she knew how her friend felt, now didn’t she?

Peg looked at Duncan standing with his arms folded over

his chest glaring at Mac, and damn if her insides didn’t

suddenly clench and her mouth go dry and her heart start

pounding so hard she thought she just might pass out.

“What do ye mean you can’t help me find out what’s going

on?” Duncan asked as he glared at Mac. “You’re a damned

‘divine agent of human affairs’; it’s your job to help us poor,

struggling mortals.”

“I gave my word not to use the magic for a while.”

“Gave it to whom?”

“My wife.”

Duncan snorted. “Tel Olivia her friend is in danger. I’m

sure she remembers Peg Thompson, the woman whose

problem she commanded me to fix—which I did.”

Mac shoved his hands in his pockets. “I also vowed to

Providence that I would give the good people of Maine time

to recover from my little … event.”

“So you turn an entire state upside down and then just

disappear for a couple of months while the dust settles?

Tel me, Oceanus; if you protect the drùidhs who protect the

Trees of Life, then who in hel protects us from you?”

The wizard shot him a grin. “Whoever has the brain and

brawn and skil —and courage—to take me on.”

“I believe you left out one important requirement,

because whoever that idiot is would also need some

powerful magic.”

“Have you even gone to visit your mountain?”

“How? Swim? Somebody shoved it on the other side of a

damned fiord.”

Mac arched a brow. “I thought at the time you were

making an unwise choice, but then I assumed there was a

reason you wished to be off the beaten path.” He grinned

again. “I guess you’re going to need a boat. I do believe my

grandfather-in-law has boats to rent. Though come to think

of it,” he said, his grin disappearing, “you could probably

buy a yacht with what you’re charging me to build fourteen

miles of road and five timber bridges.”

Duncan looked in the direction of Mac’s glance and saw

Olivia herding Henry and Sophie up the stairs of the RV as

Peg’s children stood waving at them, and Peg—Duncan

frowned to see her sitting on the lodge steps, hugging

herself as she stared at him. He looked back at Mac. “Talk

to your wife about what I’m charging, as she’s the one

insisting the road looks as if it’s been there since the

beginning of time and that I seed its edges with wildflowers.

And building timber bridges is an art.”

The wizard placed a hand on his shoulder. “Go visit your

mountain, Duncan, and sit in silence and feel the power it

wants to give you.” He shook his head. “There is one smal

thing standing in your way of claiming it, though. Wel ,

maybe two things. First is your refusal to accept that you

even have a cal ing, much less your wil ingness to own it.”

Mac’s hand on his shoulder tightened when Duncan

snorted. “And two,” the wizard continued, the look in his

eyes making Duncan go very stil , “the … instrument of that

power is hidden somewhere on your mountain, but when

you do find it I’m afraid you may not actual y be able to

reach it.”

“Christ, is there a reason ye can’t just come out and say

what you’re trying to say and not speak in riddles?”

Mac shoved his hands in his pockets again. “Even I must

fol ow the rules, MacKeage.” His grin returned. “But that

doesn’t mean I can’t bend them to give a couple of contrary

mortals a nudge in the right direction. So back to your

mountain; if you wish to claim your power, you’re going to

have to bring along someone to help you. Say, someone

with less broad shoulders and much smal er hands,” he

said, looking toward the lodge steps.

Duncan stiffened again. “If she doesn’t think I’m crazy

now, she sure as hel wil when I ask her to please help me

get … what? A staff? Amulet? Gemstone?” He snorted. “A

bottomless satchel of bunny rabbits?”

“Your father found a way to ease your mother into the

magic. Maybe you should ask Cal um to help you with Peg.”

“Or maybe I’l just ask your father to help me protect your

resort while you’re off on vacation. I believe your buddies in

Midnight Bay know how to reach Titus.”

“Good luck with that, my friend,” Mac said with a chuckle.

“It was Dad’s idea to send you on this quest, claiming the

kind of power you’re about to receive must be fought for to

be appreciated.” He placed his hand on Duncan’s shoulder

again. “It was my idea, however, that you not be able to do

it all by yourself, by requiring you to ask a mere slip of a

woman to help you claim your … prize.”

Duncan’s chest tightened to the point that al he could

do was glare.

Mac gave his shoulder a hearty slap. “I’l be back in two

months, eager to drive my wife up our road so we can wave

across the fiord at our new neighbors,” he said with a laugh,

sprinting to the RV. “Godspeed, MacKeage.”

Duncan stood staring after him, wondering if he shouldn’t

just climb in his pickup and run a gauntlet of road-stupid

moose back to Pine Creek and stay there.

God dammit, he hadn’t done one thing to deserve this.

And dammit again, neither had Peg.

Duncan reclined on his elbow in front of the smal campfire