arched a brow at her. “You do know you’re about six months shy of deer season, don’t you?”
Her face went from blistering red to nearly white even as her chin lifted defiantly.
“And they probably heard that gunshot clear into town,” he continued when she remained mute. He canted his head. “Then again, maybe you aren’t worried about the hefty finefor poaching because you’re sleeping with the local game warden.”
She gave him a thunderous glare and pivoted on her heel and walked away.
Duncan dropped his head with a muttered curse, wondering what he was doing antagonizing her. But dammit, he was still angry from thinking she’d been shooting at him. His stint in the military had ended over five years ago, but some instincts—say, the instinct to survive—didn’t go away when a man took off his uniform.
He sighed to expel the last of his anger, and watched Peg Thompson skirting her flooded gravel pit on her way to her house. “Bring back some plastic bags and any bins you might have,” he called after her. “And a hacksaw,” he added when she stopped and simply stared at him in silence. “You want to stand there and think it to death,” he continued, “or let me help you get this guy cut up before school gets out?”
She continued staring for several more seconds, then turned and started running. Duncan dropped to his knees with a snort and pulled the knife out of his belt. He hoped like hell she
was
sleeping with the game warden, because if he got caught butchering an illegal deer, he was taking the hefty fine out of her first check. And then he intended to take being labeled a poacher out of the contrary woman’s decidedly feminine hide.
Chapter Four
Peg slammed into her house and immediately ran into the bathroom and threw up, then collapsed onto the edge of the tub to hug herself. She didn’t know which had rattled her more, that Duncan MacKeage had scared the daylights out of her or that he’d caught her poaching. Low-life criminals shot deer out of season, and if Duncan didn’t turn her in to the authorities he would at least run back to Inglenook and tell Mac and Olivia that he now had proof she was crazy.
Except he’d told her to get some bins and a saw, so did that mean he was going to become an accomplice to her crime? Or was he just being nice to get her gravel?
Only she didn’t have any gravel to sell him, did she, since that stupid earthquake had flooded her pit with seawater. For the love of God, there were actual
tides
.
Peg stood up and stepped over to the sink to splash water on her face and rinse out her mouth. Why in hell did she keep thinking she should know someone named MacKeage from Pine Creek?
She’d been to TarStone Mountain Ski Resort in Pine Creek—twice, actually. Once over February vacation her senior year, when their high school basketball team had been so bad they hadn’t even made it to the tournament, and all theseniors had decided to go skiing as a consolation prize. And she and Billy had honeymooned at TarStone, which they’d been able to afford only because it had been off-season.
Peg walked to the kitchen, deciding she must have heard the name MacKeage on one of her trips. And she did recall a good number of people at the resort and in town spoke with a slight Scottish brogue like Duncan’s, and that she and her girlfriends had found it quite sexy—although Billy hadn’t been amused when she’d asked him to please roll his
R
s on their honeymoon.
Peg picked up her pace when the cuckoo clock her in-laws had given them for a wedding present announced she only had four hours before she had to catch the school bus in town on her way to her mother-in-law’s to pick up the boys. She dug through the pantry for a couple of bins and grabbed the box of freezer bags she’d bought specifically for the deer. Setting the bags in the bin, she added a large cleaver—because she didn’t have time to hunt through the garage for a hacksaw—then
Her face went from blistering red to nearly white even as her chin lifted defiantly.
“And they probably heard that gunshot clear into town,” he continued when she remained mute. He canted his head. “Then again, maybe you aren’t worried about the hefty finefor poaching because you’re sleeping with the local game warden.”
She gave him a thunderous glare and pivoted on her heel and walked away.
Duncan dropped his head with a muttered curse, wondering what he was doing antagonizing her. But dammit, he was still angry from thinking she’d been shooting at him. His stint in the military had ended over five years ago, but some instincts—say, the instinct to survive—didn’t go away when a man took off his uniform.
He sighed to expel the last of his anger, and watched Peg Thompson skirting her flooded gravel pit on her way to her house. “Bring back some plastic bags and any bins you might have,” he called after her. “And a hacksaw,” he added when she stopped and simply stared at him in silence. “You want to stand there and think it to death,” he continued, “or let me help you get this guy cut up before school gets out?”
She continued staring for several more seconds, then turned and started running. Duncan dropped to his knees with a snort and pulled the knife out of his belt. He hoped like hell she
was
sleeping with the game warden, because if he got caught butchering an illegal deer, he was taking the hefty fine out of her first check. And then he intended to take being labeled a poacher out of the contrary woman’s decidedly feminine hide.
Chapter Four
Peg slammed into her house and immediately ran into the bathroom and threw up, then collapsed onto the edge of the tub to hug herself. She didn’t know which had rattled her more, that Duncan MacKeage had scared the daylights out of her or that he’d caught her poaching. Low-life criminals shot deer out of season, and if Duncan didn’t turn her in to the authorities he would at least run back to Inglenook and tell Mac and Olivia that he now had proof she was crazy.
Except he’d told her to get some bins and a saw, so did that mean he was going to become an accomplice to her crime? Or was he just being nice to get her gravel?
Only she didn’t have any gravel to sell him, did she, since that stupid earthquake had flooded her pit with seawater. For the love of God, there were actual
tides
.
Peg stood up and stepped over to the sink to splash water on her face and rinse out her mouth. Why in hell did she keep thinking she should know someone named MacKeage from Pine Creek?
She’d been to TarStone Mountain Ski Resort in Pine Creek—twice, actually. Once over February vacation her senior year, when their high school basketball team had been so bad they hadn’t even made it to the tournament, and all theseniors had decided to go skiing as a consolation prize. And she and Billy had honeymooned at TarStone, which they’d been able to afford only because it had been off-season.
Peg walked to the kitchen, deciding she must have heard the name MacKeage on one of her trips. And she did recall a good number of people at the resort and in town spoke with a slight Scottish brogue like Duncan’s, and that she and her girlfriends had found it quite sexy—although Billy hadn’t been amused when she’d asked him to please roll his
R
s on their honeymoon.
Peg picked up her pace when the cuckoo clock her in-laws had given them for a wedding present announced she only had four hours before she had to catch the school bus in town on her way to her mother-in-law’s to pick up the boys. She dug through the pantry for a couple of bins and grabbed the box of freezer bags she’d bought specifically for the deer. Setting the bags in the bin, she added a large cleaver—because she didn’t have time to hunt through the garage for a hacksaw—then
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