Spellbound Falls [5] For the Love of Magic by Janet Chapman

Rana released a heavy sigh. “Very well,” she said, opening her door to get out. “I’ll ride in back.”
    Titus caught her door and slowly closed it. “I wouldn’t dream of interrupting your test drive. I’ll ride in back with young Murdoc.”
    “Good heavens, no,” Peg said, unfastening her seat belt and opening her door. “There’s barely enough room for my kids back there. You ride up front.”
    Rana grabbed Peg’s arm the moment Titus headed around the rear of the truck. “You drive, Peg, and I’ll ride in back with Charlie.”
    “I’m not putting you in the backseat, either.” Peg patted Rana’s hand on her arm. “Hey now, you’re driving like you were born holding a steering wheel. And this is your chance to wear a proud-of-yourself grin of your own.”
    Glancing in her side mirror to see Titus had stopped and was studying the rear fender of the truck, Rana scowled at Peg and let go of her arm. “Well fine then, I’ll drive the friggin’ truck.”
    Peg spun back with a gasp, her hands going to her mouth.
    “What?” Rana asked, looking around for more two-legged trees or protestors.
    “I’ve corrupted you, too!” Peg splayed her hands over her face and shook her head. “I’m going to hell for my contagious cussing.”
    “There is no hell,” Rana snapped, twisting the key to start the truck, “unless you count being married to a friggin’ magic-maker for forty years.”

Chapter Seven

    Titus couldn’t remember the last time he’d spent a more enjoyable afternoon, although some of that may have had to do with the fact that he couldn’t remember the last time he had seen his wife so flustered. In truth, she reminded him of a beautiful young maiden he’d known long ago who had found herself the sole focus of a man determined to make her his queen. At present, however, he was more interested in wooing the even more beautiful woman back into his bed.
    Rana had left it to Peg to carry most of the day’s conversations, although that hadn’t appeared to be a problem for Duncan’s wife, who had more questions than a three-year-old about the magic in general and how a new god was called forth in particular. Titus had remained vague in his answers, often suggesting she ask her husband, even as he’d worried he might develop a permanent crick in his neck from constantly smiling into the backseat as Peg had excitedly told him about the colonists running around dressed like trees. And the protestors. And the giant
real
tree with a face that had slammed into their truck—the latter relieving Titus of the worry that Rana was responsible for the dented rear fender.
    Not really being dressed to appear in public, he’d offered to stay with Murdoc while the women did their shopping, assuring them he was fully prepared to entertain the young highlander when he woke up and help him drown a tree if need be. And if Peg had been excited before, she had become downright exuberant on the return trip when Titus had directed her attention away from the magic by asking what names she and Duncan were considering for their new twin sons.
    Confirming their genders had gotten him a grateful smile from Rana.
    But despite the pleasantly relaxing afternoon, Titus found himself yawning as he got out of the truck in Rana’s driveway. He was surprised he was tired, since he’d taken a nap with Mur after he and the boy had wolfed down a large takeout meal at one of their many errand stops. Not that Rana had ever returned carrying any packages, whereas Peg was in danger of sinking her pontoon boat with all her purchases—including several bags of grain—when she crossed the fiord to go home.
    He hadn’t been aware the MacKeages owned a veritable zoo of farm animals, which had Titus worried that he
had
been too self-absorbed lately to notice the simple, everyday happenings around him.
    “Let me go get my clothes,” he said as Peg climbed behind the wheel of her truck, “and I will follow you to the marina and