Page 33 of Gift-Wrapped in a Kilt

"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."

---