Page 64 of Gift-Wrapped in a Kilt

"Because you hate him."

With a groan, he jerked his hand away. "I don't hate Rory. I hardly know the guy."

"You haven't tried to know him." She crossed her arms over her chest. "You expect me to accept Calli will always be your priority, but you can't even bother to speak to Rory."

"Calli is not my priority. She's my sister."

"Who can do no wrong." Jamie realized she was overreacting and behaving like a bitch, but she couldn't stop the words from tumbling past her lips. "Where do you live, Gavin? You said you're staying but didn't say for how long. Are you moving to Scotland?"

"We can talk about that later."

"Because the answer is no. You hate Scotland like Trevor did."

"I —" He flapped his arms. "I'm here, aren't I? I'm staying so we can work this out. I'm trying to make nice with your brothers. What more do you want from me? I haven't heard you say you'd be willing to pick up stakes and move to America to be with me. Seems like this is a one-sided thing. It's your way or no way."

She opened her mouth to say something she would probably regret as soon as she spoke it, but he cut her off.

"What are you willing to give up for me?" he demanded.

"Give up? I made that mistake once," she said. "No man is worth giving up my family, my home, my dreams. I wanted to become a schoolteacher, like Iain used to be but with children instead of college students. I never did find a teaching job. Trevor thought working with 'sniveling brats' was beneath me. Beneath him, actually. I let him rule my life. Everything I did was for him, to make him happy, to be good enough for him. If you can't accept me, accept my family, then we have no future together."

"Your brother stole my sister. I lost my family, but you won't even consider making a sacrifice for me."

"Stole your sister? Aidan and Calli fell in love."

"Yeah, and she had to move to Scotland to be with him. She made the sacrifice, not him." Gavin grabbed his sandwich and hurled it into the picnic basket. "Erica moved here for Lachlan. Emery moved here for Rory. I'm starting to see a pattern with the MacTaggarts. They seduce Americans away from their families to become part of their Scottish cult."

"Cult?" Jamie leaped to her feet. "Is that what you think of my family?"

Gavin jumped up too. He opened his mouth and then shut it, bowed his head and then scrubbed his face with both hands. When he raised his head again, he looked stricken. "God, Jamie, I'm sorry. We're both emotional after the things we told each other, but I don't know how this conversation got so messed up. We have issues about our families. That's not something we can work out today, it'll take time. You're right, I need to talk to Calli and figure out some things. But you need to figure out a few things too, like why you need your brothers' approval so much."

The conversation had taken a sudden and unpleasant turn. Maybe he was right. Confessing their darkest secrets had left them emotionally raw, and they'd taken it out on each other.

What if they couldn't sort this out? The question haunted her.

He took a tentative step toward her. "I love you, but if we can't work through this stuff, you're right. We won't have a future."

"I know."

Neither of them moved for a moment, their gazes bound to each other. Then they packed up their picnic and got back on their bicycles.

Nothing had changed, but somehow, everything had.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Gavin lay on his back on the bed, breathing hard, recovering from the incredible sex he'd just had with the incredible woman lying beside him. After their argument a couple weeks ago on the shores of Loch Fairbairn, they'd avoided mentioning their families. He didn't bring up Calli, and she didn't bring up her brothers. They hadn't resolved anything, but they'd taken time to enjoy being together. He followed her through the shops in the village, amazed and enchanted by the way she got so excited over trinkets and T-shirts with goofy sayings on them. When she'd spotted a Christmas tree ornament in the form of a bicycling Santa Claus, Jamie had jumped up and down giggling. Literally. She jumped up and down.

He'd bought her the ornament. How could he not? She'd been so adorably thrilled with it.

"Bicycles and Christmas," she'd told him. "My two favorite things. After you, of course."

That she still called him her favorite thing gave him hope. That she still wanted to have sex with him seemed like a miracle.

For once, he'd convinced Jamie to come over to Iain's place, since the odd Scot had gone out for the day to spend time with "a lass" he wouldn't name. The guy seemed to hook up with a lot of women, so maybe he didn't remember this one's name.

No, Gavin didn't believe that. Iain talked a good game, but the story he'd told about his long-lost love left Gavin with the impression Iain had lost interest in playing the field. It seemed more likely Iain had one lover he saw occasionally, or maybe he fibbed about his amorous pursuits and hadn't been with anyone lately.

Since Gavin and Jamie had the run of the house tonight, and Iain's permission to "have at it with no restrictions," they'd enjoyed themselves in every room except Iain's bedroom. Their last stop had been the guest room where Gavin had slept for the past few weeks.

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