Page 63 of Gift-Wrapped in a Kilt

Her skin crawled, and Gavin consumed another bite of sandwich.

Jamie slapped her hand on the ground. "Donnae ye have anything to say?"

"I'm letting you tell your story." He set down his sandwich. "Thought that was the right way to handle the situation. Keep my trap shut and let you talk."

His tone stayed mild to match his expression, though he seemed a touch befuddled.

She mumbled noises that didn't quite become words. What did she want from him? Anger? A passionate outburst against Trevor? She had no idea.

Gavin sighed and sat up, one hand flat on the ground to prop up his body. "I know you two broke up. Why don't you tell me what went down?"

"A month after I said yes," she told him, "Trevor announced I had to cut all ties with my family, quit university, and become a proper English lady. I would be a lady, officially. Lady Langley. He seemed to think I should be grateful he'd chosen me for the honor. Finally, I put my foot down. I would not give up my entire life for him when he gave up nothing in return. That's when he told me he'd made a great sacrifice for me. He'd asked a Scottish bumpkin to marry him."

Gavin's jaw tightened, and a muscle jumped there, but he stayed silent.

"For the first and only time in my life," she said, "I stood up for myself. I called off the engagement."

"Bet the English Ass loved that."

She made an irritated noise. "He'd told me I was good in bed but immature, the way I clung to my family. He'd made a terrible mistake, he said, believing a fling could become a relationship. It was time for him to find a more appropriate lover."

Gavin's eyes became slits, his mouth set in a dangerous line. He looked fit to throttle her ex-fiancé.

A thrill raced through her. She shouldn't enjoy knowing her current lover wanted to pummel her former lover, but she did.

"I found out," she continued, "Trevor had been pretending to like the Highlands, pretending to care about the things that mattered to me, planning to transform me into the kind of woman a baronet deserved. Like he was Henry Higgins and I was Eliza Doolittle." A hissing growl blustered out of her nostrils. "He made a fool of me."

After she'd ended the engagement, Trevor had felt the need to shame her. She remembered his words like he'd said them yesterday.

"Little Jamie," he'd said in a cloying tone, "I've had a rollicking time in bed with you, but sex is all we ever had. Your family has no title, no ancestral lands, nothing but a love of whisky and revolting sausage made from sheep stomachs. Did you honestly believe I enjoyed choking down haggis to make you happy? And your family, they are the worst sort of bumpkins I've ever met."

Bumpkins. Her family. No one had ever called them that in her life.

He hadn't ended there, though. "I've asked you many times to come live with me in London, but you won't leave the bleeding Highlands. You are a child, Jamie, and I doubt you'll ever wrench yourself away from your mother's apron strings. And your brothers…" His mouth took on an ugly slant. "As long as you cling to them, you will never grow up. I need a real woman, one worthy of sharing my title. You are not the one for me. You are not even a woman, but a wee lassie who has no conception of what love is."

Jamie told Gavin all of this. The words spilled from her lips like a spigot had been torn off and water gushed out of it. When she'd finished, she was staring numbly down at her lap while wringing her hands.

One of Gavin's hands settled over hers, stilling her anxious movements.

If she glanced up at him, she might burst into tears.

"You must have really loved him," Gavin said, his voice soft and gentle.

"What?" She lifted her head, searching his face. "Why would you say that?"

"Because you were willing to give up your family for him." His hand on hers stiffened. "I know how much your family means to you, so you must've really loved Trevor."

More than you love me. She heard the unspoken ending to that statement. He couldn't believe it, though. He knew how much he meant to her.

But would she give up her family for him? A huge part of her wanted to give him anything to keep him in her life, but she couldn't do it. Not again.

She took a few breaths before responding. "I'd convinced myself I loved him, but I was wrong. I've always loved the idea of being in love, but I never had a serious relationship until Trevor. I treated romance as a pastime, something to do for fun. Falling in love at every opportunity." She scoffed at her own tagline. "That's over. I'm done trying to please everyone else. I know what I need, and I won't settle for less."

"What exactly are you saying?"

"My family will always be important to me."

He kept his hand over hers, but he twisted his mouth into a half scowl. "I'm doing the best I can with your brothers. Me and Aidan, we're cool. Figure I'll try Lachlan next and save Rory for last."

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