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

Chapter Twelve

The dining-room door slammed shut after Jamie as she rocketed down the hall of the guest wing. Tears streamed down her face. Her eyes burned, and the tears blurred her vision. She clutched at her belly but couldn't stave off the ache there, the one that matched the pain in her chest. Gavin blamed her brothers for everything. How could he say that to her?

She stopped halfway down the hall. Sniffling, she swiped at the tears with the back of her hand. All right, she had to admit Gavin had a reason for laying part of the blame on Rory — but only for last night, not for what happened before that. She couldn't understand why Rory had invited Trevor to the party. What if Gavin was right? What if Rory wanted to chase him away?

If Rory wanted her to reconcile with Trevor, he should prepare for a verbal skelping. For the first time in her life, Jamie suffered an impulse to throttle him. She looked up to Rory, idolized him even. How could he have done such a devious thing to her?

"Jamie, honey, what's wrong?"

She sniffled again, mopping her eyes with her shirt sleeve to clear her vision.

Emery was hurrying toward her. When she reached Jamie, Emery clasped her upper arms and fixed her concerned gaze on Jamie's. "What happened? Mrs. D told me Gavin showed up."

"He says —" Jamie straightened and raised her head. "He told me my brothers are the problem. He thinks they want him gone, and that Rory tried to use Trevor to get between us."

"Rory does have explaining to do." Emery rubbed Jamie's arm. "Don't worry, I'll get the truth out of Rory before the day is out."

"It doesn't matter." Jamie swallowed, though her throat stayed tight. She would not cry anymore, would not act like a silly girl who couldn't control her own life. Not anymore. "Gavin hates my brothers. What does he want from me? Does he expect me to move to America with him and forget my family?"

Emery studied her for a moment, calculation in her gaze. "If you want to know what Gavin thinks, better ask him."

Jamie made an irritated noise that came out as almost a snarl. "I don't think he knows what he wants. When I met him, he was different. Strong and confident and sexy. He took my breath away. And he stood up to Aidan when my rascally brother teased him. Gavin pursued me, despite Aidan moaning about his little sister being defiled, and they even became friends." She screwed up her mouth. "Well, it was more like they agreed to a Cold War truce. The point is, Gavin has become… I don't know what. Not the man I fell in love with. I will not give up my brothers to please him."

She'd almost done that once before to please a man. Never again.

"You don't know that's what he wants," Emery said.

"Can't ask him." Jamie scrunched up her face. "Last night, I told him I want only sex from him, and that I'd call him when I want it."

"Oh Jamie, you and Gavin are such adorable idiots."

Jamie bristled, her spine snapping straighter and stiffer. "Idiot? Thought you were my friend, but you're calling me names."

"No, sweetie, I'm not insulting you." Emery hooked an arm around Jamie's shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "I love you, but like I said earlier, you need to figure this out on your own. In the meantime, maybe I should have a little chat with Gavin. Set him straight about a few things."

Jamie shot her a sidelong look. "How is that me handling this on my own?"

"Think of it as a jump-start." Emery withdrew her arm from around Jamie. "Once I get the engine running, it's up to you and Gavin to set the timing right."

"Please, no automotive metaphors."

"Sorry." Emery thought for a moment, her cogitation visible in the squint of her eyes and the way her fingers drummed in the air. "Here's a better one. Gavin is Steve Rogers, about to step into the scary machine that will turn him into Captain America. You are Peggy Carter, telling him everything will be okay if he takes the leap."

Captain America? Jamie shook her head, though she was more amused than annoyed by Emery's superhero reference. Her sister-in-law loved movies about muscle-bound men in skintight costumes.

"Trust me," Emery said. "Gavin isn't a lost cause."

"If you say so."

"Where did you see him last?"

"The kitchen."

Jamie watched Emery march off in search of Gavin. If he hadn't left already, he was in for an Emery Talk. The woman knew how to meddle without seeming like a busybody, but Jamie had her doubts about Emery's power to persuade Gavin to do… whatever it was Emery thought he should do.

Three weeks alone in this house. Three weeks to sort out this mess.

Bod an Donais.

*****

Gavin was still standing there like a mannequin in a museum when Emery waltzed into the kitchen. She had that knowing look on her face, the one that usually preceded a round of meddling.

He parked his butt on the stool Jamie had vacated. "She told you, didn't she?"

"That you blamed everything on her brothers? Yes." Emery braced a hip against the island a few feet from him. "You poor, deluded man. That's not the way to win Jamie back."

"I can't get her back. Jamie won't talk to me anymore after this. All she wants is a sex slave."

Not that he minded being enslaved to her passion. But still —

"Sex slave?" Emery said, and laughed softly.

He froze, the awareness of what he'd confessed to Emery hitting him like a snowball to the face. Fidgeting, avoiding her steady gaze, he mumbled, "Why did I say that?"

She laughed again, but as always, her amusement never seemed like scorn. Everybody talked to Emery, not solely because she liked to intervene in their lives. She was easy to talk to. Hell, any woman who could get under Rory MacTaggart's skin must have voodoo-level skills.

"Relax, Gavin." She nudged his foot with hers. "Jamie already told me about her offer. I know what she thinks. Now, I want to hear what you think, what you want."

"I want Jamie." He propped an elbow on the island and dropped his forehead into his raised palm. "That's never gonna happen now. She thinks I'm an asshole, and she's not wrong."

"You told her the problem is her brothers." Emery crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a you're a damn idiot look. "How did you think that would go over?"

Gavin slouched down, wishing he could disappear into the granite countertop. "I was mad. I heard she'd been talking to her ex, that suave English douchebag Rory invited to the Halloween party. Rory probably thinks Trevor is the perfect guy for Jamie, way better than me. And the English Ass begged Jamie to take him back. Since she doesn't want me, not the right way, she must want him."

Emery half stifled a laugh. "I think you're interpreting the gossip through the lens of your own insecurities."

Damn, she was right. So damn right it pissed him off. He wasn't angry with Emery, though. He hated himself for having these insecurities and feeling like a loser because he didn't have what the English Ass offered Jamie — financial security, emotional stability, and no baggage.

Trevor Langley was perfect. How could Gavin blame Jamie for preferring him?

Emery sighed. "Acting like a big old asshat won't help you win Jamie back. She doesn't want Trevor, but if you keep pushing her away, she might change her mind. Is that what you want?"

"No." Gavin kicked the wooden side of the island with the toe of one shoe. "I know it's not really her brothers' fault we're having problems, but they don't like me. Jamie needs her brothers to approve of me. I don't understand it. Why do we need their okay?"

"Yes, it's a mystery." Emery's lips kinked into a sly smile. "You don't care at all what your sister thinks of your life choices, do you?"

Gavin wriggled on the stool, lifting his head out of his palm. "You're really annoying, you know that?"

"Why? Because you know I'm right?" She rested a hand on the island, leaning into it. "I'm not emotionally invested in this thing. That's why I can see things you won't let yourself admit to."

"I care what Calli thinks. What's that got to do with the MacTaggarts?"

Emery studied him for a moment, as inscrutable as the Buddha. "Remember how you felt when you showed up at Calli's house to find Aidan living there?"

Oh yeah, Gavin remembered that. His sweet, innocent sister shacked up with a man she'd known for a week. A Scottish man. A guy who walked around half naked like he was the god of sex.

The man who'd seduced his baby sister.

Calli and Aidan were married now. He didn't hold a grudge against Aidan these days, not since he'd realized how much the guy loved Calli and that he'd do anything to keep her safe and happy. Still, he wasn't exactly friends with his brother-in-law.

"I didn't like him at first," Gavin admitted, "but I've gotten used to Aidan. I get why he and his brothers don't like me. Jamie's their baby sister. But I got over Aidan screwing my little sister, so why can't they get over me and Jamie being together?"

"Have you given them a reason to?" Emery tapped a fingernail on the island. "I met you when Rory and I came home, freshly married, and the whole family gathered in the garden to welcome us. You were there, but you hung back. Didn't talk to anybody except Jamie, Calli, and me. It's the same at every MacTaggart family get-together. You hang back and only talk to Jamie, Calli, or me."

"Yeah, okay, that might be true." It was absolutely true, but he couldn't bring himself to say so out loud. "The Three Macs don't exactly go out of their way to make me feel welcome."

"Three Macs?"

"Iain calls them that. Says they're a mafia."

Emery snorted with partially repressed laughter. "Mafia? No, sweetie, they're nothing more than three men who adore their baby sister."

"And hate me."

Her head fell back, and she groaned. "Honestly, Gavin, if you keep saying they hate you, then Jamie will never let you back into her life. It's a package deal, Jamie and her brothers."

He picked at the granite countertop, but like the Three Macs, it wouldn't give an inch for him. "Nothing I can do, then, is there? I've lost her."

"Gavin, stop being so obstinate. You are the interloper here, and as far as the brothers are concerned, you've been jerking their sister around for a year and a half." She speared him with a hard look. "Think about it. Jamie is more than their baby sister. She's the baby of the family, the youngest of six children, the one they've looked out for all her life. Lachlan was fifteen when Jamie was born, and Rory was eleven. With an age difference like that, of course they're overprotective of her. Think of how you feel about Calli and multiply it by ten. That's their relationship with Jamie."

Shit . Emery was right. Gavin had been a jerk for not figuring it out on his own. Not only was he reflecting his own insecurities onto Trevor and the MacTaggart men, but he'd underestimated how much Jamie meant to her brothers. In their situation, he would've beaten the crap out of any guy who treated his sister the way he'd treated Jamie.

"They'll always hate me," Gavin said, all but moaning the statement because he felt hopeless and whiny. "How can they not? I have jerked their sister around. Didn't mean to, but you know what they say about the road to Hell." He gave a bitter laugh at his own idiocy. "I paved enough roads with my good intentions to circle the globe five times."

"Oh, they don't hate you. This is fixable, with a little humility."

"Great, because that's my strong suit."

"Listen up," she said, edging closer to him. "Know what Jamie told me a few minutes ago? She said when you two met, you were strong, confident, and drop-dead sexy."

He aimed a quizzical look at her. "Jamie said drop-dead sexy?"

"I may have added the drop-dead part, but the rest she said verbatim." Emery touched his shoulder. "You swept her off her feet once, which means you can do it again."

"No frigging idea how."

Emery straightened and waved a hand in a get-up gesture. "Rise to the challenge, Gavin."

Grumbling, he got to his feet. "I'm up. Now what, Mistress Yoda?"

"I'm not green and wizened."

"No, you're hot and nosy and way too perceptive for everybody else's good." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm open to any nosy advice you want to give."

"You know what you have to do. There's no way you'll ever separate Jamie from her brothers. The question is, how committed are you to winning her back?"

Though he had a sick feeling he knew the answer, he asked anyway. "What is it you think I need to do?"

"You have to bromance the MacTaggart brothers."

Gavin curled his lip. "Bromance? What an asinine word."

"Call it what you like, but the fact remains. You have to win them over if you want to have any chance with Jamie."

He groaned, long and low and rife with all the frustration and resignation he'd experienced since his flubbed proposal. "I'm pretty sure your husband wants to throw me around like a caber."

She shook her head, tsking. "Come on, stop assuming you'll fail. Besides, Rory's a big old teddy bear."

"A what?" Gavin barked out a laugh. "Rory MacTaggart? A teddy bear? He's more like a polar bear stalking his prey across the tundra."

"Take it from me, the only one who knows him inside out." She slanted in a smidgen. "Rory is a teddy bear. Give him a chance, suck up to him good, and he'll show you his warm and fuzzy side."

"Not holding my breath for that one." Gavin twisted his mouth into a rueful expression. "Please tell me he won't, like, hug me or anything."

"Oh no, Rory doesn't hug anyone but me."

"Thank heaven for small mercies." Gavin rubbed his neck again, which suddenly ached whenever he thought about the herculean task of getting buddy-buddy with the brothers. "I'm never gonna be besties with these guys, but I guess I could try harder to make peace."

"Start with Aidan. He's predisposed to accept you, since he's married to your sister. Being nice to you makes his wife happy, and we both know how much Aidan cares about keeping Calli satisfied."

Gavin couldn't deny it. "Aidan has made Calli happier than I've ever seen her. And he'd do anything for her and baby Sarah. I have to give him props for that."

"There's your starting point."

"For what?"

Emery chuckled. "Getting into Aidan's good graces."

Gavin was supposed to tell Aidan MacTaggart he appreciated the way the Scot treated his sister and niece. Sounded easy.

The knot in Gavin's stomach belied that assumption.

He would try. No, he would do it. Whatever he needed to do, however much he had to humiliate himself in the process, he would make peace with the three Macs to please Jamie.

Then and only then might he have a shot in hell of getting her back.