Gift-Wrapped in a Kilt (Hot Scots #4)

Chapter Three

Jamie MacTaggart sniffled and swiped tears from her eyes as she barreled down the sidewalk, head down, unsure of where she was going. Rory's office was two blocks away. She could go there and… What? Rory had never accepted Gavin.

But her brother loved her. Rory had let her live with him for more than a year and would've let her stay even after he brought home his new wife. Emery was wonderful, but Jamie hadn't felt right about living in their home when they'd just married. She lived with Aidan and Calli now, and their baby daughter, Sarah. Jamie could've talked to Calli about Gavin's credit card, except Calli and Aidan were both at the offices of their construction company today. The office in Ballachulish. Half an hour's drive from Loch Fairbairn.

Tears streamed down her cheeks. She stopped walking and mopped at her eyes with the hem of her shirt. She needed to talk to someone now, not in thirty minutes. Could she drive safely in this state, anyway? Crying. No, weeping was more like it. How had she let this happen again? The first time, with Trevor, had been bad enough. She hadn't thought about him in years, not since she'd realized what a scunner he was. She hadn't thought about him until last week, that was. He'd sent her an email asking how she was doing these days and would she like to meet for coffee sometime since he'd be visiting Inverness on business this week. Away and boil your head , she'd wanted to tell him. Instead, she'd deleted the email.

At least no one realized what Trevor had done to her or what a fool she'd allowed him to make of her. She hadn't loved him half as much as she loved Gavin. He'd made an even worse fool of her than Trevor had.

How could Gavin have done this to her? How could she have let him?

A credit card. Bod an Donais. Could he honestly think she wanted a piece of plastic? Besides, she and Gavin both flew to each other on the jet Lachlan and Rory shared. Everyone called it Rory's jet, though. With free air travel, why in heaven's name would Jamie need a credit card to earn her frequent-flyer miles?

She lifted her head, and her eyes widened. She'd stopped right in front of Rory's office. Not that she planned to walk in there looking like a pathetic mess, like a pathetic lass who'd lost her boyfriend because he was, apparently, the biggest idiot on the face of the earth.

Eighteen months. She'd wasted all that time with Gavin, and for what?

A credit card.

She leaned against the building, out of sight of the sole window on the front of Rory's office. Jamie stayed there, breathing deeply and slowly, until her tears dried and she'd blown her nose five times. Halloween decorations festooned the window on the inside — fake cobwebs, hairy spiders with big eyes, a witch on a broomstick suspended from the window's top edge. Rory hadn't cared for holidays in years, not since before his first wife. Emery, his fourth wife, had transformed him into an aficionado.

Jamie smoothed her blouse and her hair, squared her shoulders, and forced a smile. Jamie MacTaggart forcing a smile. No one would believe it. She was the one who smiled no matter what, who kept a positive outlook no matter what, and here she was faking it.

A credit card, Gavin?

Her heart hurt recalling the incident.

She marched into Rory's office.

The reception desk in the small outer office stood empty, as always, though a figurine of a ghost occupied the desktop. Why Rory had a reception desk but no receptionist, no one knew. Emery probably knew the answer. She knew everything about her husband, even the things he wouldn't tell anyone else. Through the open door to the inner office, Jamie spied Rory hunched over his desk studying papers. Little pumpkins with silly faces painted on them were stationed at all four corners of the desk.

When she tromped inside and flopped into the wooden chair across from him, Rory peered at her over the tops of his reading glasses.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Not sure." Jamie slouched in the chair.

Rory took off his glasses and plunked them down on the desk. "Where's Gavin?"

She shrugged.

"How was lunch?"

She shrugged again.

He frowned. "What's the bod ceann done?"

Jamie shot upright in her chair, hands on the arms. "Don't call him a dickhead, Rory."

Even if Gavin had acted like one, she wouldn't have her brother insulting her boyfriend. That was her job.

The brother in question drummed his fingers on the desktop, his lips pursed. "He's hurt you again, I can see it. Jamie, you have no talent for hiding your feelings. Tell me what the b — what Gavin has done, so I can batter him with a caber."

"Would that be the one Emery pulled out of your erse a few months ago?" Jamie couldn't help brightening at the chance to tease Rory. He'd been so serious and sad for such a long time, and it turned out all he'd needed was a good, strong woman to love him with all her heart and soul. Love changed people, but the effect had been lost on Gavin. The thought of him made her a little queasy, so she focused on tormenting her brother. "Do you still have wood splinters in there?"

Rory's mouth twisted as he tried not to smile, or maybe scowl, at her. "Cabers are for tossing, you cheeky bairn. Now tell me what Gavin did."

Some people might've found Rory intimidating — the big, braw solicitor who brooked no nonsense from anyone except for his wife, who loved silliness. Jamie had always adored Rory, though, because he'd always looked out for her. The baby of the family had needed protecting, according to her brothers. Lachlan, as the oldest child, had been the referee between all his siblings. Aidan, the youngest brother and second-youngest sibling, had been her best friend and playmate. Rory, the serious one, had served as her guardian. One stern look from him and any laddie who tried to make time with her fled in terror.

"Tell me," Rory insisted gently.

"He —" Ugh . How could she talk to Rory about this? She rubbed her palms on her thighs and bit her lip. "Um, where's Emery? I'd rather talk to her."

Rory sank back in his chair, sighing. "Naturally. Everyone talks to my wife."

"She listens without growling or scowling, that's why."

"Hmm." He picked up a pen, twirling it around his fingers. "Emery drove to Ballachulish to help Calli with her office computer." Rory glanced at the clock on the wall. "She's probably done by now and on her way home."

"I'll meet her there."

Jamie rose, and so did Rory. She raised her brows.

He grabbed his keys off the desk. "I'm driving you."

"But my car —"

"I'll ring Aidan and ask him to pick it up." Rory strode around the desk, gesturing for her to exit the room. "You're upset. I'm driving, no arguments."

Resigned to the fact no one argued with Rory successfully, no one except his wife, Jamie followed him out of the office and to his Mercedes S-Class parked along the curb. Much more posh than her old car, for sure.

Her brother stood by the passenger door until she'd climbed in and buckled her seatbelt.

As they drove down the streets of Loch Fairbairn, they passed the cafe.

Jamie tried not to, but her eyes insisted on searching for Gavin there. The table where they'd eaten lunch was empty. Gavin was nowhere in sight, and neither was the pickup truck he'd arrived in, the one he'd borrowed from Calli.

He hadn't come after her.

What had she expected? The man was an ex-Marine. He wouldn't rush after her to beg forgiveness and plead with her to marry him. Not the manly thing to do. Maybe he didn't want that, anyway. She no longer had any idea what he did want from her — or what she wanted from him.

Another man had made a fool of her. Would she never learn?

Jamie slumped into her seat, her head against the window, and watched the miles speed by in a blur.