Page 74 of Gift-Wrapped in a Kilt

Damn, she was hot when she got pissed off.

"For the record," Jamie told her brother, "who I shag is none of your business, Rory. You fuck your wife in every room in this castle, and the outdoors, and the backseat of your Mercedes when it was parked in downtown Loch Fairbairn."

Lachlan and Aidan burst out laughing.

"She's got ye there," Aidan said. "My wife and I are witnesses, along with half of the villagers. I had to cover Calli's eyes. She's too innocent to see that sort of debauchery."

Rory's expression blanked. "We were parked in an alley."

"But ye weren't quiet about it," Aidan said. "Your wife's screams could be heard in Ballachulish."

Emery grinned. "We did have fun that day."

Rory's hands fell to his lap. Rather than seeming embarrassed, though, he smirked. "Emery is rather vocal in her passion."

His wife poked him in the side. "Like you aren't."

Jamie pounded her fist on the table, rattling silverware all the way down to Rory's end. "Quiet! I'm talking to Rory."

Silence.

"I'm listening," Rory said.

Jamie straightened, smoothing her dress and tugging her cardigan back into position. "I am with Gavin. When or if we get married is our decision, not yours. I love him, and you will not chase him away. Not if I have anything to say about it." She jabbed that finger at Rory again when he seemed about to speak. "And I do have a say. The only one that matters. Keep your opinions to yourself, Rory. Gavin is my boyfriend until I decide otherwise."

She held her ground, unmoving, her gaze nailed to Rory.

No one spoke for a minute, maybe longer.

Then Rory sighed and said, "As you wish."

Jamie's eyed widened for a fraction of a second like she couldn't believe she'd won the argument. "Thank you."

Another minute or so elapsed with Jamie not moving and everyone growing uncomfortable, fidgeting in their seats and exchanging confused glances.

"Are you planning to stand for the whole meal?" Rory asked mildly.

"No." Jamie chewed her bottom lip. "But I need a piss."

She trotted out of the room.

Gavin hesitated for about a second before he excused himself and took off after her.

And he swore Rory smirked.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Jamie raced down the stairs and straight to the ground-floor bathroom. She did need to pee but not as badly as she'd let everyone think. She'd needed to escape. Thanksgiving dinner had mutated into a right rammy between Rory and Gavin, and she had told Rory off. Sure, she'd stood up to him before, but not like this. And for too long lately, she'd let everyone else tell her what to do. The time had come to assert herself. Toreassert herself.

Christ, what had she done?

After relieving her immediate need, she loitered in the enormous bathroom. The claw-foot tub took up most of the space. Everyone knew Emery and Rory had a poke in that very tub the morning after their second wedding, the public one they'd staged for their families though they'd been married for weeks already by then. The MacTaggart and Granger mothers had insisted on a real wedding since their first ceremony had taken place in a magistrate's office with no family present.

The families got an earful that morning.

Rory, the man who'd cherished privacy more than anything and despised making a spectacle of himself, had noisily taken his wife in the bathroom. He'd done more since, seeming to have no shame about where and when he kissed, fondled, or had a poke at his wife.

If Rory, the uptightest of the uptight, could overcome his past and find happiness, maybe there was hope for Jamie and Gavin.

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