Spellbound Falls (23 page)

Peg then thrust her hand out to Olivia. “And if you still
feel the same way in the morning when you are
perfectly
sober,” she said with a grin, “then I accept your offer of employment.” She used their handshake to pull Olivia closer. “But only if I get to take the guests on hikes,” she added over the eruption of her suddenly excited children.

“Yippee!” Charlotte shouted, grabbing Sophie’s hands to jump in place. “We’re going to be campers at Inglenook!”

Isabel grabbed Henry and hugged him so fiercely he yelped. “Henry-Henry-Henry!” she sang, nearly knocking them both over as she jumped up and down. “We’re going to see each other
every
day!” The girl kissed Henry right on his startled mouth. “You can be my boyfriend, and I can bring you to school for show and tell!”

Henry suddenly looked like
he
needed a good dose of wine.

And though Mac doubted young Pete and Repeat understood what all the excitement was about, the boys refused to be outshouted and started running around the patio like screaming little banshees again.

“I think this calls for a celebration,” Olivia said over the cacophony of screaming children and laughing men as she walked back to her seat and picked up the bottle of wine. “Damn, it’s empty.” She headed for the lodge, waving over her shoulder. “Don’t anyone move; I’ll be right back.”

Mac beat her there, but then had to grab her shoulders when she bumped into him. “Excuse me,” she murmured, clutching his arms—only to flex her fingers on his muscles as she blinked up at him. One side of her mouth lifted. “You want me to bring your jacket back tonight?”

Mac disguised his smile by sighing. “I wouldn’t mind getting it back sometime this century, but I’d rather have it returned when
you
are making the decision and not a bottle of wine.” He took hold of her chin and lifted her gaze that had dropped to his chest, which she was now kneading. “And I expect you to be wearing it when you do, and nothing else.”

He swept her up in his arms when she suddenly collapsed against him, and carried her into the kitchen. “Why
Miss Olivia, I do believe you just swooned like a
virgin
,” he said with a chuckle as he sat her on the island counter. He slipped between her thighs and took her face in his hands. “Do you have any idea the hell you’ve put me through this week, making me lie in my bed at night picturing you lying in yours wearing nothing but my jacket?”

She smiled smugly and nodded solemnly.

“If I finally kiss you, will you stop digging your tigress claws into my chest?”

She nodded again even as she pulled him closer.

But Mac stopped just short of kissing her. “Tell me what you want, Olivia.”

“You,” she whispered thickly, pulling on his sweater again.

And still he held himself away. “Have you decided yet what it is you’re afraid of?”

“You.”

He sighed, resting his forehead against hers.

Olivia slid her arms around his waist, pulling his hips more intimately against her as she brought her mouth up to just touch his. “But not nearly as much as I’m afraid of being lost in the shadows forever. Please, Mac, don’t let me disappear.”

Instead of kissing her, he took a step back but had to grab her arm when she nearly fell off the counter as he turned toward the door.

“Henry just announced it’s about to start raining,” Caleb said as he strode into the kitchen—only to come to an abrupt halt. “Oh, sorry,” he muttered, his face darkening even as his eyes lit up. “Um, if you could just tell me where the keys are to the van, I’ll get out of here and let you folks get back to whatever you were doing.”

“We weren’t doing anything!” Olivia cried.

“Yeah, okay,” Caleb said with a snort, giving Mac an apologetic look. “Are the keys in the van, Livy?”

“Why?”

“I’m going to follow Sam while he drives Peg home, so I can bring him back.”

“Why?”

He stepped closer. “Because Sam and I decided she shouldn’t be driving after drinking wine all evening. She’s not even close to drunk,” he rushed to say, “but we’d feel better making sure everyone got home okay.” He frowned at Mac. “Your kid just said we needed to get everything inside because it’s going to start raining in a few minutes.” He shrugged. “I hadn’t heard rain was predicted. But Peg said she needed to get going anyway, as it’s past her kids’ bedtime.”

“I believe we have a good half hour before the storm arrives,” Mac said, letting go of Olivia now that she was steady enough. “Only it’s going to snow, not rain.”

Caleb’s frown deepened. “How do you know that? Listening to the radio on the way up here this morning, I never heard a word about a snowstorm tonight.” He waved at the door behind him. “And it’s too damn warm to snow.”

Olivia answered before he could respond. “Mac and Henry just know that kind of stuff,” she said, hopping down off the counter only to stagger forward, forcing Mac to catch her again. “And if they say it’s gonna snow,” she continued, clutching his arm, “then you guys better take Peg home. The keys are in the van.”

“Maybe you should have someone take you home, too,” Caleb drawled.

She stepped away, smoothing down the front of her wine-stained jacket. “I’m not drunk, either.” She grinned. “And even if I were, I only have a short
walk
home.”

“I’ve heard those sneaky trees can jump out in front of a pedestrian as well as a vehicle,” Caleb countered with a chuckle.

The door opened and his crew came in laden down with the remains of their cookout. “The wind’s come up,” the backside-patting nephew said, setting his burden on the counter. “And I swear the temperature just dropped twenty degrees.”

“Mom, can I go sleep at Charlotte’s tonight?” Sophie asked, barreling through the door with Charlotte in tow.

“Not tonight, sweetie.” Olivia looked past her daughter when Peg walked in behind the girls. “But one night very soon.”

Sophie clutched her young chest with a gasp. “You
promise
?”

“I promise,” Olivia assured her, though she was still looking at Peg. “Because I do believe you’re old enough to go spend the night at a friend’s house.”

“And Henry can come for a sleepover, too!” Isabel cried as she darted out from behind her mother and ran up to Mac. Her bright blue eyes grew huge as she slid to a stop and craned her neck to look up at him. “Wow, you’re as tall as a tree.”

Mac immediately crouched to his heels. “And you’re as pretty as a mermaid.”

The girl’s eyes widened even more. “You know Ariel? I got her movie. Do you know Sebastian and Flounder, too?”

That should teach him to give a girl a compliment. “Sorry, I don’t know any of them personally,” he said with a chuckle. Though he did know the panicked look in his son’s eyes, as the boy stood behind Isabel silently pleading to be saved from his zealous young suitor. Mac gave Isabel a gentle smile. “Unlike Sophie, I believe Henry is still too young.”

The girl snorted. “I’m six and I’ve been going on sleepovers for years.”

“Come on, Isabel,” Peg said, picking up her sleepy-eyed older twin and setting him on her hip as she held out her hand. “We need to get home ahead of the weather.”

“But Mommmm,” Isabel whined, not budging an inch even as she wiped her own sleepy eyes, further smearing the chocolate that had missed her mouth. “If Henry can’t come to our house, then I want to stay here.”

“Move it, young lady,” Peg growled, pointing at the floor in front of her.

“Pssst, Henry,” Olivia whispered loudly. “You paying attention?
That’s
how real whining is done,” she said, gesturing at Isabel.

Mac stood, scooping Isabel up in his arms. He carried
the girl to Caleb’s nephew and handed her off just as thunder rumbled down over the mountains.

Caleb glared at Mac. “You’re joking, right? You were watching the weather channel earlier, and that’s how you knew a storm was coming.”

“The only televisions with satellite are in my and John and Eileen’s private quarters,” Olivia said, even as she also looked at Mac in awe.

He shrugged. “I didn’t create this storm, I just felt it coming.”

Sam walked in. “Are we leaving sometime tonight? There’s a distinct smell of snow in the air, and judging by that thunder I’d say we’re in for a wild night, so I’d just as soon get Peg home before it hits.”

Everyone moved at once: Caleb grabbing up Peg’s younger twin, Sam taking hold of Charlotte’s hand, Sophie running to her mother, and Henry giving a heavy sigh of relief as they all headed outside.

“It looks like everything got cleaned up,” Olivia said, glancing around the patio. She held her hands over the dying fire against the chill in the air. “Good-bye, Peg!” she called as Peg and her tribe and entourage of men headed down the path around the side of the lodge. “I’ll see you Monday morning.”

“I’ll be here bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!” Peg called over her shoulder with a wave. “Along with Pete and Repeat.”

Olivia plopped down in a chair next to the fire pit. “Good Lord, I swear this evening was more chaotic than when camp’s in full session.” She pulled Sophie onto her lap and smiled when Mac sat down in a chair next to them and did the same to Henry. “So, young Mr. Oceanus,” Olivia said, “did you see how whining and pouting is really done? I do believe you had the pleasure of witnessing a professional in action.”

Henry stopped in midyawn and blinked at her. “I really didn’t think it was the appropriate time for whining, Miss Olivia. Not with a storm coming. And I can’t quite see
myself pleading and pouting in front of others. It’s not very manly.”

Mac pulled his son against his chest with a laugh, tucking the boy’s head under his chin as he shot Olivia a smug smile. “That’s right, Henry; Oceanus men do not plead or pout or beg—especially to women.”

“You don’t have to be Isabel’s boyfriend, Henry,” Sophie said as she melted against her mother, her feet dangling nearly to the ground. “Isabel’s only chasing after you because she’s already scared off all the boys in her class. The next time she tries to kiss you, just— Mom! You’re hugging me too tight.”

“I’m sure Henry is quite capable of dealing with Isabel in his own gentlemanly way,” Olivia said. “And if he needs advice, he can get it from his father.”

Lightning flashed in the distance, silhouetting the mountains in a halo of white heat, followed shortly by a deep rumble.

“Mr. Sam said the air smelled like snow,” Sophie said, her gaze trained on the looming mountains shadowed by bursts of lightning. “Can it thunder when it’s snowing? I thought that only happened in the summer.”

“It can happen any time of year,” Olivia said. “Am I right, Mr. Mac?”

“I believe the conditions that cause lightning have to do with opposing pressure systems rather than with the time of year. It’s just more common in the summer, when a cold front bumps into a humid air mass.”

“But don’t all of our storms come from over there?” Sophie asked, pointing to the west. “That’s where the sky always gets dark in the summer and we have to get off the lake in a hurry.”

“This one is coming from the Gulf of Maine,” Mac said before Olivia could answer. Lightning flashed again, filling the sky overhead as it bounced off the roiling clouds. “I do believe it’s time Henry and I walked you ladies home,” he said, the last of his words lost in the ensuing thunder that gently shook the ground beneath their chairs.

Olivia set Sophie on her feet and stood up. “I do believe you’re right.” She grabbed the poker and stirred the dying embers, then placed a heavy screened dome over the top of the pit. “I don’t think this will last much longer once the snow hits it.” She took Sophie’s hand and headed toward the side of the lodge, but stopped next to the door and peered inside. “I’ve got a mess to clean up, but it’s nothing that can’t wait until morning,” she said, moving along.

Mac fell into step beside her, holding Henry’s hand and then taking hold of Olivia’s when she tripped in the darkness. “Your eyes will adjust in a moment,” he said, smiling when she curled her fingers around his and refused to let go.

“Mom, are you drunk?” Sophie asked, her tone curious rather than accusing.

“Almost, sweetie. How about you? Are you drunk?”

Sophie giggled. “How come you told Miss Peg that you don’t let Gram win every battle? You make it sound like you and Gram are always fighting.”

“It was a figure of speech. And you’re aware that Gram and I often butt heads when it comes to running Inglenook. In fact, you’ve been agreeing with me about our having horses, even though Eileen doesn’t think they add anything to her programs.”