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

Chapter Forty

Everyone gathered at Dùndubhan for Christmas like they had on Thanksgiving. This time around, though, Emery didn't randomly seat people. She let each couple sit beside each other, with the exception of her and Rory since Rory once again occupied the head of the table. A trio of large turkeys on large platters sat evenly spaced along the table's center awaiting the feast to come.

Gavin found himself situated between Jamie and Emery with Rory smiling at him from the end of the table beside his wife. Yep, Rory was aiming a genuine smile at Gavin. He'd gotten used to this new friendliness from the formerly stern solicitor. Gavin's soon-to-be brother-in-law had even slapped him on the back when Rory and Emery greeted him in the vestibule earlier. Gavin had managed to squeeze out the proper response, in spite of his shock, when Rory grinned and boomed "Happy Christmas" with enough enthusiasm his words reverberated in the stairwell above them.

Jamie had grinned too, and despite her giggling, shouted "Happy Christmas" with slightly less volume than Rory had achieved.

Voices from further up the spiral staircase had hollered the same greeting.

Everybody was beyond happy today.

Gavin couldn't stop smiling either or laughing at any silly joke told by anybody. He'd thought he'd lost everything and might never see Jamie again, much less marry her. Though she'd vowed she'd move to America to be with him if Rory couldn't undo what Trevor had done, Gavin hadn't wanted to think about that possibility. Her family was in Scotland. So was his — both his sister and the new family that had welcomed him into their clan. After finding his place in the world, he didn't want to give it all up because of one English prick.

Luckily, the English prick lost the battle and the war.

Gavin had rejoined the MacTaggart clan and the ranks of the blissfully happy.

Even the sole single person at the gathering, Iain, joked and laughed. Nothing much bothered Iain, as Gavin had realized over the past couple months. Despite Iain's unshakable demeanor, Gavin got the impression one thing did unsettle the odd Scot — his lost love, the unnamed American woman he'd fallen for more than a decade ago. Gavin planned on talking to Iain about that later. Maybe the guy needed a neutral party to kick him in the butt and encourage him to go after what he clearly wanted.

Over dessert, things got really interesting.

Jamie leaned close to whisper in his ear. "Should we tell them yet?"

"Sure. Want me to do it, or would you rather?"

"You should do it."

He laid a hand on her thigh under the table. "Anything for my girl."

Gavin pushed his chair back, rose, and tapped his fork on his wine glass.

All eyes focused on him.

"Jamie and I have an announcement," he said, rolling his shoulders back. "We're getting married on January twenty-sixth."

A round of clapping and a few whistles ensued.

Jamie beamed up at him.

He beamed right back at her.

"About bloody time," Lachlan said with a teasing quirk of his lips.

"Sure you're legal?" Aidan said. "Can't have the groom arrested at the altar."

"He's legal, Aidan," Rory said. "Can't say the same for you, though, after seeing your pickup in a no-parking zone in Loch Fairbairn."

"I didnae see the sign," Aidan replied with a tone and an expression of mock innocence.

While everyone else teased and joked, Gavin sat down again and spotted Lachlan and Erica engaged in a secret conversation several chairs away. After a moment, Erica tapped her wine glass with a fork. Once all gazes gravitated to her, she seemed to lose her nerve, biting her lower lip.

Lachlan hooked an arm around her shoulders and whispered something in her ear.

Erica shook her head. She sat up a little straighter and said, "I hope we aren't horning in on Jamie and Gavin's news, but we couldn't wait any longer to tell you guys. I'm pregnant again."

Cheers. Whoops. Glasses raised and clinked in a disorganized toast.

Aidan, seated next to Lachlan, grasped his brothers shoulder and shook it. "Good going, Lachie. Keep your woman by keeping her pregnant. She'll be too busy herding your bairns to get bored with you."

Calli elbowed her husband in his side. "You should talk."

Silence fell over the group as Gavin and apparently everyone else in the room wondered what Calli had meant. They needed to wait only a moment.

Aidan took his wife's hand and kissed it. "Tell them."

Calli bumped her shoulder against his and then faced the crowd. "I'm pregnant again too."

More cheers. More whoops. Another disorganized round of raised and clinked glasses.

"Jeez," Gavin said, shaking his head at Aidan, "let my sister have a break sometime, will you? She just had a baby and now you've got another bun in her oven."

"I am not an oven," Calli said. "Though Aidan is hot as an oven, and I can't stay out of the kitchen."

"Yuck," Gavin said, curling his lip in overly dramatic disgust. "I don't need to hear about your sex life, C."

Rory thumped his fist on the table, rattling the glasses and plates. Once everyone had quieted down and turned their attention to him, Rory said, "My wife has an announcement too."

Emery stared at him wide-eyed for a couple seconds, then her surprise melted into a brilliant smile. "Now is the time?"

"Yes, m'eudail . Can you think of a better time?"

Her grin widened. She clasped her husband's hand and told the group, "I'm pregnant. With twins."

The whoops and cheers that erupted deafened Gavin. The volume of joy for this announcement made the previous ones seem like nothing. Not that the family wasn't equally happy for Jamie and Gavin, Lachlan and Erica, and Aidan and Calli. They were, of course. But everybody knew how long Rory had waited to find the right woman and how long he'd wanted to have a family of his own. Emery had waited a long time too, though with a lot less trauma and angst than Rory had endured. Their love story was epic and fast becoming a legend in the village of Loch Fairbairn.

The other members of the American Wives Club, Calli and Erica, leaped out of their chairs to descend on Emery, encompassing her with their arms and babbling about how wonderful this was. Rory observed with an expression Gavin had never seen on the man before. He looked contented, completely and serenely. Adoration for his wife glowed in his eyes and in the smile that slowly overtook him.

Emery glowed too, even as the other MacTaggarts swarmed around her and Rory. Emery couldn't make it out of her chair while overrun with thrilled relatives, but Rory shot up from his seat before anyone could pin him down. His brothers hugged him and slapped his back, and even Iain hurried over to offer congratulations.

When Gavin finally pushed through the crowd to grasp Rory's hand, the room went silent. Everyone stopped moving.

Rory scowled at Gavin, his grip on Gavin's hand firm. "Did ye think ye'd get away with it?"

"Uh, get away with what?"

A grin broke across Rory's face. "Congratulating me with only a handshake."

That's when Rory did something Gavin never would have imagined in a million-billion years. Emery had assured him Rory never did this to anyone but her. Even his wife, apparently, didn't know everything about him because Rory did it.

He pulled Gavin into a hug.

"You're family now," Rory said. "Act like it."

The silence morphed into the sounds of a boisterous family gathering once again.

By the time the festivities petered out, and everyone had exchanged gifts, Gavin wanted nothing more than to get Jamie alone and give her the one present he'd withheld from public viewing. And yeah, he wanted to get her naked too. They had a lot to celebrate. Thankfully, Rory and Emery excused themselves as soon as the guests had departed, hurrying up to their top-floor sanctuary. Soon, they'd move into their new, smaller home. Not long after that, they'd have twin babies.

Rory might need some Xanax to deal with that chaos.

Gavin remembered what Emery had said earlier when he congratulated her on the baby news.

"My husband almost passed out," Emery told Gavin, "when he found out it's twins. Took him all day to recover from the shock."

"He seems really happy about it," Gavin had said.

"Oh, he is. And so am I." She'd turned to Jamie then and asked, "When will it be your turn?"

Jamie's eyes had flared wide. "We aren't even married yet."

"Erica got knocked up before she married Lachlan. So did Calli."

Luckily, Emery's sister, Hadley, had interrupted at that point, determined to discuss with Emery the challenges of having twins.

Gavin's thoughts returned to the present, and he drew Jamie close to murmur in her ear. "Meet me in the sitting room in ten minutes."

"Why ten minutes?"

"Need to prepare your surprise."

Her voice dropped to a throaty purr. "A sexy surprise?"

"You'll find out in ten minutes."

With a lot of effort, he tore himself away from her luscious body and ran to the sitting room.

*****

Jamie counted the minutes and seconds on the old-fashioned clock on her bedside table. Her foot tapped the floor faster than the second hand ticked. Her pulse quickened too with an excitement that seemed out of proportion with what Gavin had promised her. A surprise. A sexy one, she'd wager. Why should the prospect make her knees weak and her body warm and wet in the best places? She'd been with Gavin many times, but this time felt different.

They'd celebrated their first Christmas as an engaged couple, and after so many months of wondering if they would stay together, they'd set a date for the wedding. No more wondering. No more fears about a man trampling her again. She controlled her own destiny.

She belonged with Gavin. Nothing would tear them apart again.

When precisely ten minutes had elapsed according to the clock, she raced down the hall to the sitting room. As the door clapped shut behind her, she froze a few feet inside the room, stunned by the sight before her.

Stunned in a wonderful and silkily warm way.

Gavin lay stretched out on a plush rug in front of the fireplace. He'd shut off all the lights, and the only illumination came from the flickering fire and the candles he'd placed on the mantle and the coffee table as well as the sills of the tall windows. Outside the window, snowflakes floated down toward the ground. The golden glow of the flames in the sitting room danced over Gavin's skin and the sculpted muscles of his chest and abdomen. The kilt Rory had given him covered Gavin from his hips down to his knees, though with one knee bent, the fabric had ridden up one thigh to expose nearly all the thick muscles of his leg.

Bod an Donais . He was beautiful — and hers.

He patted the rug beside him. "Come on over here and unwrap your last present."

The sensual rumble of his voice made her skin tighten, her breasts too. She moved closer, anticipation tingling through her. As she lowered onto the rug, her legs tucked under her, she skimmed a hand along the center line of his abs until her fingers met the plaid. "I've never had a present gift-wrapped in a kilt."

"I've never worn a kilt before, so we're even." He took hold of her hand, shifting it down to cover the hard line of his erection. "Better unwrap me quick. I've been lying here thinking about what I want to do to you, and I'm about to lose it just having you this close."

She slipped a finger inside the waist of his kilt, only to discover he had done a slapdash job of securing it. Since he'd never worn a kilt before, she cut him some slack. Besides, his lack of finesse with the plaid made her job easier. She peeled the kilt away from his hips, letting it spill across the rug.

His rigid cock waved in front of her.

"I'm liking this gift," she said, and closed her hand around his shaft, pumping slowly.

"Ah," he hissed, his face pinched. "Jamie, I need —"

She released him and shed her clothes. Naked beside him, she laid a palm on his chest and gave it a little shove. "Lie back. This is my gift, and I mean to take full advantage of it."

"Yes, ma'am." He rolled onto his back and clasped his hands under his head. "I love a bossy Scottish lass."

"And I love a bossy American man." She straddled his lap, towering over him on her knees. "But I absolutely adore a man who lets me have my way with him."

"Guess you lucked out, because I give you both."

She bent to rasp her tongue over his nipple, delighted by his sharp intake of breath. His reaction spurred her to swirl her tongue around that nipple and then take it between her teeth and tug. When he choked back a gasp, she raked her nails down his chest, over those defined abs, until he groaned and wriggled.

"Still like a bossy Scottish lass?" she asked.

"Always." His voice was rough with a need that matched the throbbing heat in her sex. "But if you don't do me quick, I really will lose it — all over this nice, new kilt."

She grasped his shaft, positioning it for penetration, and sank down onto his length inch by inch, loving the sensation of his hardness gliding into her. When she'd taken his girth as deep inside as possible, she settled her palms on his chest and gazed into his gorgeous, golden-brown eyes.

He looked at her with such a potent combination of love and lust that her heart thudded and pleasure jolted through her. He groaned, his eyes drifting half closed. "You feel so good."

She lunged down to take his mouth in a tongue-tangling kiss that left them both breathing hard.

His eyes shot wide, and he grasped her hips as if to lift her off him. "Jamie, we forgot the condom."

"I was thinking…" She averted her focus to his chest, suddenly anxious about what he might say to her suggestion. "How would you feel about getting started on our family plans tonight?"

"Family plans?" He gazed at her with confusion.

"You want to have bairns, don't you?"

"With you, yeah, of course." His hold on her hips slackened, though his hands stayed in position. "You really want to start trying tonight?"

"If you do, I do." She placed her hands over his on her hips. "It's become a MacTaggart tradition, men getting their women up the duff before the wedding."

He laughed, the sound resonating in his chest. "I'm assuming 'up the duff' means pregnant."

"It does."

"Guess we shouldn't break the tradition, eh?"

She loved that naughty tone in his voice. She loved the feel of him inside her, the weight of his hands on her hips, the sensation of all that muscle beneath her and the thought of what that body could do to her. She loved him .

Keeping her hands over his, she began to move, rocking slowly, rising up and gliding back down his shaft, over and over in a sweetly erotic rhythm. He groaned and grasped her hips a little tighter, binding her to him while he bent his knees enough to get leverage and rock up every time she slid back down, melding their bodies in the most intimate and satisfying way. She let her head fall back, her hair cascading behind her and teasing her skin with feathery brushes. Her sensitized skin heightened every tiny sensation, from the caress of her own hair on her back and shoulders to the heat and firmness of his shaft and the flexing of his muscles as he met her movements with his own.

No more fear. No more barriers between them. This moment, this act, it united them completely in body and heart and soul.

"Oh Gavin," she moaned, eyes half closed, lost in the bliss of their joining, "we're making a baby tonight. I can feel it."

"Me too." He slung his arms around her and surged up to kneel on the plaid. Sitting back on his heels with her balanced on his lap, he rumbled, "Hook your legs around me, baby."

She locked her ankles behind his ass. With his hands on her back anchoring her, she leaned back farther, and together they moved. He thrust deeper, pulling her toward him. She moaned louder and flung her arms around his neck, her hands linked at his nape, her body still angled away from him. Her breasts bounced as he plunged in harder, faster, yanking her hips into him with each thrust. She lunged forward to cling to him, her arms tight around his neck, her breaths blustering against his ear. The pleasure escalated inside her like a spring coiling tighter and tighter, exerting a pressure that promised to blast her apart in the most incredible way.

He growled near her ear, his pace accelerating, plowing into her with unbelievable power and control. "Come for me, baby. Come for me now."

Those words, spoken in a voice roughened by passion, broke the coil. Her climax exploded through her, hot and strong and overwhelming in the ecstasy it unleashed. She clenched him so tightly with her legs and her arms, with her whole body, that he gasped into her ear.

She threw her head back and let the pleasure erupt from her in wild cries.

Gavin rolled forward, pinning her to the plaid on her back, and punched into her with reckless need again and again. His release jetted into her deepest places, hot and powerful, branding her with the essence of him. He thrust once more, his cock pulsing deep within her. Spent, he rolled off her body to lie alongside her on the tartan kilt. They both breathed hard, struggling to regain their equilibrium after the world-tilting experience they'd shared. Sex had never been like this before, not even with him.

He spread a hand on her lower belly, his fingers over her womb. "I hope we did make a baby tonight. It seems right that we should. A baby would be the best Christmas present ever."

"Our bairn won't be born on Christmas. Pregnancy lasts nine months, not twelve."

"But we'll know we made a baby on this night." He kissed her tummy and rested his chin above her navel. "I got everything I want for Christmas. What about you?"

The hint of anxiety in his expression made her chest ache — in a good way. She loved knowing he cared so much about her happiness as much as she cared about his.

She threaded her fingers through his hair. "This is everything I wanted too."

He pulled the tartan over her like a blanket. "Gotta keep the mother of my child warm and safe."

Movement outside the window drew her attention, and she studied the big snowflakes swirling beyond the glass. Christmas. Snow. Gavin. A baby. What more could she want?

Nothing, she mused with a soft smile. Nothing at all.

"What's that smile for?" Gavin asked, cuddling closer, enclosing her with his body.

"Mm, I was thinking…" She ran a hand up and down his bicep. "If you want to keep me warm and make sure we made a baby, you'd better do that again. Maybe twice more. Just to be sure."

"Anything for my girl."