Page 96 of Gift-Wrapped in a Kilt

Emery had understood as soon as I'd told her. She'd done for me the same favor I was attempting to do for Gavin, though in a vastly different way. I'd needed a feisty woman to force me to accept love again and prove to me I deserved it. Gavin needed a different sort of proof.

If I could change, if I could come to like my wife calling me "sweet" and "adorable," then Gavin could certainly overcome his final hurdle to happiness.

And yes, caring about the happiness of the American who'd broken my sister's heart was a new experience for me. I had no doubt I'd been meant to find Emery. Maybe I'd also been meant to use my newfound outlook on life to help someone else.

Emery caught her lip between her teeth and traced a fingertip along my jaw. "About the baby…"

I stifled a groan when she rolled her hips into me, her softness meeting my hardness. "Christ, woman, yer a wicked angel for certain. Och, aye, we can tell the whole world about the bairn."

"Thank you." She unhooked the button of my pants. "You get a reward for being so good today."

Her fingers dragged the zipper down millimeter by millimeter.

I hooked a finger under her chin to make her look up at me. "What if I'm better later?"

"After I watch you do that test thingy," she said, her voice turning sultry, "I'm positive I'll be so hot for you it'll be a miracle if we make it into the garden before I throw you to the ground and ride you like a cowgirl on a bucking bronco."

I slid a hand into her hair to cup the back of her head. "I'll hold ye to that."

My wife spent the next hour rewarding me in many and varied ways. I rewarded her creativity in every manner I could think of, as much as Icouldthink with my naked wife sprawled on the kitchen island in front of me.

I was the luckiest bastard on the planet. Not only did my wife please me in the bedroom — and the kitchen, and the garden, and the bathtub, and everywhere else in the house and out of it — she also pleased me with her unwavering faith in me. She trusted my judgment about the test for Gavin.

Mere hours from this moment, the battle would commence.

Chapter Thirty-Three

When Gavin turned up at Dùndubhan that afternoon, he discovered a boatload of cars parked inside the walls on the gravel area behind the castle. More cars lined the driveway outside the walls, leaving barely enough room for Gavin to get the Jag through the gate. He located the last unoccupied bit of real estate inside the compound and stashed the car there.

Gavin and Jamie had bumped into Calli and Aidan in the village, and the couple mentioned they were heading this way to attend the mysterious event. Even his damn sister wouldn't clue Gavin in to the nature of the "test." Not even one tiny hint.

The sound of the passenger door opening yanked Gavin back to the present.

Jamie leaped out of the Jag, bending over to duck her head inside long enough to say, "I want to speak to Emery before the whatever-this-is starts. Are you all right on your own?"

"Sure, I'm a big boy." He gave her a sardonic half smile. "I can tie my own shoes and everything."

Jamie rolled her eyes the way Rory often did. "Sure you don't want to change your shirt?"

"Positive. This big boy can handle any amount of MacTaggart family harassment."

"I know you can." She shut the door and trotted toward the house.

He waited until she'd gone inside, mostly because he enjoyed the view of her backside. When the vestibule door closed behind her, he climbed out of the borrowed sports car. He really needed to buy his own wheels, considering he'd resolved to live in this country. Somehow, he'd make that happen. For Jamie. For their relationship. For their future.

No more shying away from humiliation. Iain was right, the path of pride led to nowhere. If he wanted a life with Jamie, he had to go straight down the road to potential disgrace and be prepared to prostrate himself before Rory the Magnificent, the superhero of Loch Fairbairn.

Cheers erupted from behind the castle compound, outside the walls.

What on earth was going on out there?

Rory had said Mrs. Darroch would tell him where to go. Gavin headed for the main door of the house, the one Jamie had disappeared into a minute ago. He pushed the doorbell button, knowing it would ring inside the kitchen. He expected to wait a few minutes for Mrs. Darroch to make her way to the door.

Two seconds after he rang the bell, she swung the door open.

"Gavin,mo luran," she said with a warm smile. "Rory told me to expect you. Everyone's out on the green."

Everyone? How many people had been invited to witness his humiliation?

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