him by surprise, which perversely made him wonder what
the hel cat was like in bed.
She was a local woman and a widow, raising her four
children single-handedly for the last three years, Mac had
told Duncan just before leaving him standing in the parking
lot bleeding al over his good shirt. After, that is, Mac had
subtly explained that he also felt quite protective of his
wife’s friend. A warning Duncan didn’t take lightly,
considering Maximilian Oceanus had the power to move
mountains, create inland seas, and alter the very fabric of
life for anyone foolish enough to piss him off.
But having been raised with the magic, Duncan wasn’t
inclined to let the powerful wizard intimidate him overly
much. He was a MacKeage, after al , born into a clan of
twelfth-century highland warriors brought to modern-day
Maine by a bumbling and now—thank God—powerless old
drùidh.
And since his father, Cal um, was one of the original five
displaced warriors, not only had Duncan been raised to
respect the magic, he’d been taught from birth not to fear it,
either. In fact, the sons and daughters and now the
grandchildren of the original MacKeage and MacBain time-
travelers had learned to use the magic to their advantage
even while discovering many of them had some rather
unique gifts of their own.
Hel , his cousin, Winter, was an actual drùidh married to
Matt Gregor, also known as Cùram de Gairn, who was one
of the most powerful magic-makers ever to exist. And
Robbie MacBain, another cousin whose father had also
come from twelfth-century Scotland, was Guardian of their
clans and could actual y travel through time at wil . In fact, al
his MacKeage and MacBain and Gregor cousins, whose
numbers were increasing exponential y with each passing
year, had varying degrees of magical powers. For some it
might only be the ability to light a candle with their finger,
whereas others could heal, control the power of mountains,
and even shape-shift.
Duncan had spent the last thirty-five years wondering
what his particular gift was. Not that he was in any hurry to
find out, having several childhood scars from when more
than one cousin’s attempts to work the magic had
backfired.
That’s why what had happened here last week wasn’t the
least bit of a mystery to the clans, just an unpleasant shock
to realize that Maximilian Oceanus had decided to make
his home in Maine when the wizard had started rearranging
the mountains and lakes to satisfy his desire to be near salt
water and the woman he loved.
Duncan sure as hel wasn’t complaining, since he was
benefiting financial y. Mac was building his bride a fancy
resort up on one of the mountains he’d moved and had
hired MacKeage Construction to do a little earth-moving of
its own by building the road and prepping the resort site.
Duncan figured the project would keep his fifteen-man crew
and machinery working for at least two years.
And in this economy, that was truemagic.
Spel bound Fal s and Turtleback Station would certainly
reap the rewards of Mac’s epic stunt, since there wasn’t
much else around to bolster people’s standard of living. Not
only would the resort keep the locals employed, but stores
and restaurants and artisan shops would soon fol ow the
influx of tourists.
It would be much like what the MacKeage family
business, TarStone Mountain Ski Resort, had done for
Pine Creek, which was another smal town about a hundred
miles south as the crow flies. Only it was too bad Mac
hadn’t parted a few more mountains to make a direct route
from Pine Creek to Spel bound, so Duncan wouldn’t have
to build a temporary camp for his crew to stay at through
the week. As it was now, they had to drive halfway to
Bangor before turning north and west again, making it a
three-hour trip.
Then again, maybe Mac didn’t want a direct route, since
the clans had recently learned the wizard was actual y
al ergic to the energy the drùidhs he commanded gave off.
And that had everyone wondering why Mac had decided to
live so close to Matt and Winter Gregor, who were two of
the most powerful drùidhs on earth.
Apparently the wizard’s love for Olivia was greater than
his desire to breathe.
Not that Duncan real y cared why Mac was here; only that
the money in his reputed bottomless satchel was green.
“Have ye recovered from your trouncing this morning,
MacKeage?” Kenzie Gregor asked. He looked toward the
Thompson family sitting quietly at their table and chuckled.
“I can see why ye were so soundly defeated, as together
the five of them must outweigh you by at least two stone.”
Wonderful; help a man rebuild his home after it was
nearly destroyed by a demonic coastal storm, and the guy
felt the need to get in a shot of his own. But then, Kenzie
was an eleventh-century highlander who’d only arrived in
this time a few years ago, so Duncan figured the warrior
didn’t know better than to poke fun at a MacKeage. Kenzie
might have his drùidh brother Matt to back him up, but the
sheer number of MacKeages was usual y enough to keep
even good-natured ribbing to a minimum.
“If you’re needing a lesson on defending yourself,”
Wil iam Kil kenny said as he walked up, a large tankard of
mead in the ninth-century Irishman’s fist, “we could go find a
clearing in the woods. I have my sword in the truck, and I’m
more than wil ing to show another one of you moderns the
art of proper fighting.” He looked toward the Thompson
table, then back at Duncan and shook his head. “It pains
me to see a man defeated by a wee slip of a woman and a
few bairns.”
“I think Duncan is probably more in need of dance
lessons,” Trace Huntsman said, joining the group. “Have I
taught you nothing of modern warfare, Kil kenny?” Trace
slapped Duncan on the shoulder even as he eyed Wil iam,
making Duncan shift his weight back onto his wrenched
knee. “Our friend here knows the only way he’s going to
defeat the Thompson army is to lure their leader over to his
side. And women today prefer a little wooing to feeling the
flat of a sword on their backsides.”
Wil iam arched a brow. “Then someone should have
explained that to his cousin, don’t ye think? Hamish
kidnapped Susan Wakely right out of Kenzie’s dooryard in
broad daylight, and rumor has it he wouldn’t let the woman
leave the mountain cabin he took her to until she agreed to
marry him.”
Trace gave Duncan a slow grin. “So I guess it’s true that
you first-generation MacKeages inherited many of your
fathers’ bad habits?” He shook his head. “You do know
you’re giving us moderns a bad reputation with women,
don’t you?” He nodded toward the Thompson table. “Maybe
you should go ask her to dance and show these two
throwbacks a better way to win the battle of the sexes.”
“And let her trounce me twice in one day?” Duncan
gestured in Peg’s direction. “I believe that’s bachelor
number five walking away now, looking more shel -shocked
than I was this morning.”
“Sweet Christ,” Wil iam muttered. “The woman just
refused to dance with a fourteenth-century king of Prussia.”
“Who in hel are al these people?” Duncan asked,
looking around Inglenook’s crowded dining hal .
“Friends of Titus, mostly,” Wil iam said, “who aren’t about
to incur old man Oceanus’s wrath by not showing up to his
only son’s wedding.”
“I can’t believe he dared to put time-travelers in the same
room with modern locals,” Trace said, also glancing
around.
“And serve liquor,” Duncan added, just before taking