Page 3 of Gift-Wrapped in a Kilt

The expectant look on her face made his gut clench.

She wanted a proposal. She'd never told him that, but he knew. Mostly because his sister told him. Calli had punched him in the arm and said, "Ask her to marry you already."

Gavin had come here to do that. He wanted to ask. He'd wanted to pop the question for months, but something always held him back. A week ago, he'd committed to doing it, but his enthusiasm for proposing had fizzled when he got the downsizing email. If he didn't ask her soon, she might leave him. If she found out he was unemployed, she might leave him.

His hand slipped into his pocket like it had a mind of its own, and his fingers curled around the velvet ring box.Do it, moron. You love her, so do it.

Did he have any right to do this to her? Ask her to bind her life to his when he had nothing to give in return? A cold panic gripped him, paralyzing his body and mind. Memories barreled through him, as real as the moment they'd happened. Leanne standing in the doorway, the sunshine streaming over her as she hovered on the verge of walking out the front door.

"I need to find myself," she'd said, "and I can't do that with you stifling me. I gave you everything, held your hand through it all, but I can't do this anymore."

Stifling, she'd said. Like he'd held a pillow over her face or something. He'd done nothing wrong as far as he could tell, nothing except stick to the wedding vows. Love, honor, cherish. If Leanne could walk out with no warning, no hint of anything wrong…

What if he'd been the problem after all?

Jamie wasn't Leanne. And he'd changed, hadn't he?

The question paralyzed him again, his muscles stiff and his heart pounding. The ring box felt cold in his hand. Cold and hard and… final.

His throat constricted, his mouth went even drier, like sandpaper.

With no conscious thought for what he was doing, Gavin shoved his other hand in his other pocket and pulled out the other item he'd intended to give Jamie. After the proposal. After she was blissfully happy.

He thrust the credit card at her.

"This is for you," he said, his heart pounding harder and a cold sweat beading on his brow. "It's so you can get miles to use for travel expenses."

Jamie took the credit card between her thumb and forefinger, holding it as if the thing was infected with the Ebola virus. "I don't need miles. We both fly on Rory's jet."

Duh. Gavin knew that, so why had he gotten her the credit card? He'd come up with the moronic idea the card would be a joke — but he'd planned to give it to her after he asked her to marry him.

His fingers, clamped around the ring box, began to ache from the pressure he exerted on it.

In his mind, he'd rehearsed the proposal so many times. All his practice, the speech he'd worked out during the long plane ride, disappeared like a flame doused with water. Instead of a vow to love her forever, the wrong words tumbled from his stupid, stupid lips. "I got one of those credit cards where you earn miles with every purchase. Made you an authorized user on it. This'll, uh, help pay for — expenses. When you visit me."

"You said this already." Her lips quivered. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, but anger tightened her jaw. "And I reminded you I don't need a bloody credit card. Is this why you brought me here? To a romantic restaurant? This is the important thing you needed to tell me? After eighteen months together, this is all you think I'm worth."

Oh shit. What had he done? Still time to fix it if he brought out the ring box and —

Tears spilled down Jamie's cheeks even as anger flashed in her eyes. "You're an eejit, Gavin. Abod ceannand an eejit, and I'm done."

She'd called him a dickhead in Gaelic, and he deserved it.

Fix it now, you moron."Jamie —"

The love of his life jumped out of her chair so fast it toppled over, then she hurled the credit card at him. It tumbled onto his lap. "I cannae do this anymore, Gavin. It's over."

"What?"

"I'm breaking up with you." She enunciated each word with knife-like precision. "Goodbye, forever."

Jamie MacTaggart stomped out of the cafe, down the street, and out of his life.

Gavin wanted to run after her, tried to get his ass out of the chair, but his entire body had turned to stone, rendering his feet too heavy to move. He buried his face in his hands and cursed himself far worse than Jamie could have even in the worst Gaelic imaginable.

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.

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