needy she stil was, considering this was the first time since

their picnic, when Duncan had declared she wouldn’t

always have the twins stuck to her like glue, that they would

actual y be alone together.

Peg dropped the truck keys into his outstretched

palm without so much as even a scowl and climbed in the

passenger side of her SUV when he politely opened the

door. Because honestly, not only did she know better than

to argue with an old-fashioned man, she kind of wanted to

pretend this was a date, even if they were only going to a

town meeting. But taking her to the Drunken Moose for a

piece of Vanetta’s famous blueberry pie first was sort of

like a date, wasn’t it?

At least it was according to Charlotte, who’d managed to

find a pair of actual dress slacks in the back of Peg’s

closet, and then insisted Peg wear the top from one of her

funeral outfits with them along with the smal pearl earrings

her short-lived stepdad had given Peg for her wedding. So

she was dressed like she was going on a date, she

decided as she watched Duncan walk around the front of

her truck, even though he was wearing jeans, a heavy

chambray shirt under his leather jacket, and work boots.

He climbed in behind the wheel with a chuckle when he

caught her glancing toward the house. “Your babies wil be

fine. They have the movies Mom brought that they can

watch together, and if those fail, Dad’s one hel of a

storytel er.”

“Actual y, it’s your parents I’m worried about,” she said

with a sigh. “Peter and Jacob like to pretend they’re each

other just to mess with people, and sometimes Isabel can

be … wel , Isabel.”

“I believe they can handle your heathens,” he drawled as

he turned the truck onto the main road and accelerated.

Peg folded her hands on her lap so he wouldn’t see them

trembling as she once again reminded herself this was not

a date. “They real y didn’t have to stay a day longer than

they’d planned. My mother-in-law said she could watch the

kids tonight.”

“Mom and Dad are in no hurry to leave.” He smiled over

at her. “When Dad saw my crew returning this evening, he

said he wanted to stay and watch the big boys play with the

big toys tomorrow.”

“I can’t believe he got down in the dirt to help the twins

expand the town they’re building. You said he’s eighty-two.”

Peg shook her head. “I think that’s a flat-out lie, because

that would mean he was what … nearly fifty when you were

born?”

“Forty-eight, actual y. Dad is Mom’s second husband and

I’m her second family. In fact, Alec’s mom is my half sister,

which makes my mom his grandmother and me his uncle.

And his dad and my dad are cousins, so Alec and I are

also cousins.” He grinned at her again. “We’re al just one

big happy clan. Now, about your new house; have ye

decided yet to let me build it?”

“You don’t think you’d be spreading yourself too thin,

what with building a road and then the resort site itself up

on the mountain for Mac?”

He waved the fingers on his hand holding the steering

wheel. “I can do it al . Like I said, the men wil welcome the

extra income. And I agree you should set the new house on

the tote road overlooking the fiord. The old site was good,

but that was before you had oceanfront property.”

Peg leaned back against the headrest with a sigh. “Yeah,

I like the idea of building it there so we’l be able to watch

the sunrise from our kitchen table.” She glanced over at

him. “And with the insurance money, I might be able to

afford to have you build a house for me. As long as you let

me do the electrical wiring,” she added, smiling when she

saw his jaw go slack.

But then he snorted and shook his head. “Why am I not

surprised?” He held his hand toward her. “Okay then, deal?

I’l build your house.”

She also reached out, but stopped short of actual y

shaking on it. “It’s a deal if the bid you give me is in line with

Grundy Watts’s.”

He snapped his hand away. “You’re taking bids?”

Peg looked down to hide her smile and brushed

absolutely nothing off her jacket. “Is that a problem?”

“No, it’s not a problem at—” He stopped in midsentence

and frowned into the rearview mirror. “Do ye recognize the

truck pul ing up behind us?”

Peg craned around in her seat to look out the rear

window and also frowned when she saw the old pickup

closing in on them rather quickly. “It … I’m pretty sure that’s

Chris Dubois’s truck.” She spun around with a gasp when

Duncan put on the brakes with a muttered curse to avoid

hitting another pickup that suddenly pul ed out in front of

them. It straddled the center of the road, and she saw the

brake lights come on as it slowed down enough to make

Duncan brake again.

“Check that your seat belt is secure,” he growled as he

quickly glanced in his rearview mirror before stepping on

the gas again. “Christ, it’s an actual ambush. Hold on.” He

pressed the accelerator to the floor and the SUV surged

forward.

Peg grabbed the handle above her door with one hand

and covered her mouth with the other so she wouldn’t

scream when Duncan drove the SUV’s right front bumper

into the left rear fender of the pickup in front of them. With

the sickening sound of metal making contact overriding her

scream, he then cut the wheel to the right without letting up

off the gas until the pickup started to fishtail. He

immediately slammed on the brakes only to step on the gas

again, pul ing around the pickup when it swerved toward the

ditch, his eyes going to his rearview mirror with another

curse.

Peg looked out her side window as they sped past the

now stopped pickup to see Aaron Jenkins’s widened eyes

staring back at her. She craned around to look between the

seats to see Chris Dubois speeding toward their rear

bumper, Aaron pul ing back onto the road behind him.

“I can’t believe they’re doing this!” she cried, turning

forward and grabbing the handle over her door again as

Duncan floored the SUV. “Why on earth are they attacking

us? Oh God, Duncan, can we outrun them?”

“Not by the sounds of that motor in the truck behind us;

it’s obviously been tricked out, and I told ye this one was

bought for its economy.”

Not that her poor beautiful truck seemed to know it was

supposed to be a dog, she thought hysterical y as the trees

zoomed past her side window. “Why is Chris doing this?”

she repeated without real y expecting an answer.

“What do ye know about the bastard?”

“Um, he was a year ahead of me in school, and he tried

to get me to date him, but I already had my eyes on Bil y.”

She snorted. “Chris was a braggart and a sleaze even

back then. He’s also Spel bound Fal s’s most notorious

criminal, although he never seems to get caught. But if

there’s a way to make money, il egal or not, he’l have his

hand in it. I heard in town that he and Aaron Jenkins—he’s

the guy in the other truck—are al fired up over the resort,

claiming it’s going to end their logging business. I suspect it

was one or both of them who spray-painted my van,

because I know they were in town that day. Chris has

always been pissed that his mother sold Bil y and me the

pit, because he thought he should get it.”

Peg realized she was on the verge of hysteria when she

couldn’t seem to stop babbling. “Chris started dropping by

not six months after Bil y died, trying to get me to go out