Page 13 of Gift-Wrapped in a Kilt

"Once we've had sufficient time to enjoy the idea on our own." He kissed my forehead. "We've only known for a week. Patience,mo gaoloch."

I loved when he called me his dear in Gaelic.

After he retreated into his office for a call with a client, I wandered down to the great hall to gaze out the large windows at the lawn. After a few minutes, I dialed up Calli to check in with her about the Gavin-Jamie situation.

"I talked to him earlier," Calli said. "For my big brother to come to me for advice, it must be a sign of the apocalypse."

"You're his family, of course he'd come to you. I had a talk with Jamie too." I swirled a fingertip on the windowpane. "I know these two belong together. Do you have any idea what Gavin's problem is?"

"He thinks he's over his divorce," Calli said, "but it's obvious he's not. He wouldn't have acted like such a moron with Jamie if he had gotten over it. The idea of getting married again terrifies him."

"You didn't tell him that, did you?"

Silence, then she coughed. "Kind of."

"Oh, Calli. Why would you do that?" I bumped my forehead into the wall. "Men don't like being told what they're feeling. It's a macho-pride thing."

"Aidan doesn't mind if I explain his feelings to him."

"Uh-huh. And are these sexy feelings you explain for your husband?"

Another silence followed by another cough. "Yeah."

I made a frustrated noise, bumping my forehead into the wall again. "Honestly, Calli, how can a woman married to a naughty man like Aidan be such an innocent?"

"I'm not innocent. But I'm twenty-six, and Aidan's the only man I've ever slept with or even really dated." Rustling suggested Calli was squirming. "Besides, I've never tried to give my brother advice before. I figured if Aidan's okay with it, Gavin should be too."

"Aidan's an unusual man. He has macho pride, but it's less pronounced than in men like Lachlan and Rory — and Gavin."

"I'm sorry, Emery. How bad did I screw this up?"

"Don't worry, it's fixable." I set a hand on the windowsill and leaned into it. "And I've got a plan. Want to help?"

"Absolutely. I'm in."

"It starts with Halloween…"

Chapter Seven

The sun had dipped low in the sky, descending through twilight toward night, by the time Gavin pulled up to Calli and Aidan's house in the pickup he'd borrowed from Calli that morning. No rental car for him. That would've been too comfortable. Given his current financial situation, he had no recourse except to let his sister take care of him.

And Calli wondered why he felt like a useless lump.

Gavin parked beside another vehicle, a rusty old Range Rover, and climbed out of Calli's pickup — a nice, new Ford Ranger she'd gotten her husband to buy because she wanted something American in their lives. Shutting the door, Gavin ambled toward the front door of the modest-size, two-story house. Aidan and Calli had bought it with the money she'd gotten in her divorce settlement when her jerk of a first husband finally released her from their green-card marriage. His baby sister, one of the two smartest people he knew, had married a man she didn't love so he could get citizenship. She'd committed marriage fraud, a crime in the US Gavin hadn't known a thing about it until Aidan came along, and Calli had to reveal all.

Her ex-husband had taken advantage of her kindness in the wake of their parents' deaths. Gavin should've been there for her, to make sure she didn't do anything reckless like that, but he'd been too consumed by his own grief to be any good to her. He'd failed Calli. How could he know for sure he'd handle marriage to Jamie any better? If things got tough, would he fall apart again?

Jamie deserved so much better.

But he couldn't live without her.

The front door of the white house swung open at the instant Gavin reached the wooden steps that led up to the door. Calli walked out, smiling with that sparkle she'd acquired since marrying Aidan.

A strange man followed her out the door.

Gavin scrunched his eyebrows at his sister.

She and the stranger stepped down onto the gravel path that connected with the driveway. Calli asked, "How'd it go with Jamie?"

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