Page 68 of Gift-Wrapped in a Kilt

It was true, Jamie realized with a start. Aidan and Gavin had become friends.

She bounced on her toes, smiling at each man in turn.

Aidan waved for them to follow. "Come on, or you'll miss the meal."

Gavin clasped Jamie's hand and led her up the stairs behind Aidan.

As they mounted the stairs side by side, Jamie glanced at Gavin sideways. He acted like nothing had gone on between them two weeks ago, but she supposed he didn't want to ruin Thanksgiving by bringing up their rammy.

Yesterday, Trevor had knocked on the door of Dùndubhan. Mrs. Darroch had answered the summons and promptly retrieved Jamie from the sitting room where she'd been thumbing through a boring legal journal to avoid thinking about Gavin. It hadn't worked, of course. When Mrs. Darroch tromped into the room, her chin high and wearing her best disapproving look, Jamie had known what the housekeeper would say.

"Heis here," Mrs. Darroch told her.

Jamie set the journal on the table, sliding forward until her feet cleared the sofa and touched the floor. "Who?"

"Him. The scunner who wants to come between you and yourleannan."

Trevor would be the scunner, and she couldn't argue the man had become a right nuisance lately. Herleannanwould be Gavin, though Jamie wasn't sure if he was still her sweetheart after the rammy they'd had. Though they'd enjoyed good times together since, the issues raised by their argument hadn't been resolved, or mentioned at all, since that day.

Jamie rose with an unladylike groan. "Guess I'd better see him. Where did you leave Trevor?"

"In the vestibule." Mrs. Darroch spoke the statement as if she would never have left Trevor anywhere else.

"All right," Jamie said. "I'll deal with Trevor. Thank you, Mrs. Darroch."

"If you need help getting rid of the scunner, give a shout. I'll be in the kitchen."

With that, Mrs. Darroch exited the sitting room.

Jamie wandered through the house to the vestibule where she found Trevor leaning against the railing of the spiral staircase. He had one hip cocked, one arm draped over the railing while the other arm hung loose at his side.

"There you are, lovey," he said when she entered the vestibule.

"I'm not your lovey." She halted barely inside the door with the width of the entryway between them. "What do you want today?"

"To make an offer."

She didn't even try to hold back her annoyed grumble. "We are not getting back together. I'm with Gavin."

"I'm not here about that."

A sense of impending disaster weighed down on her as she wondered what he was here to discuss, what kind of offer he intended to make. She ought to shove him out the door and order him never to come back. She'd done that repeatedly, though, and he kept coming back. Her curiosity got the better of her this time.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"I told you, to make an offer." He held up a hand to silence her before she spoke again. Pushing away from the railing, he ambled across the vestibule to her. "I've mentioned to you I'm buying an old distillery. The sale went through, and I am now the owner of the former Loch Fairbairn Whisky Works. I intend to refurbish the property and reopen it as a tourist attraction, a museum of Scottish whisky history."

"Bully for you."

He reached for her hand.

She yanked it away.

With a soft laugh, he shoved his hands in the pockets of his khaki pants. "I want you to be my general manager."

Jamie blinked rapidly, certain she'd misheard him. "What? I know nothing about running a museum. You should ask Iain or Catriona, they're the historians in the family."

"I'm asking you."

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