Chapter 32

CHAPTER 32

Two Months Later

Gabriel dodged a snowball, then dove behind the yew hedge, and clumped the snow in his hand to make another. The girls were far too quick, and he was outnumbered.

“We’ve got him now, girls. He’s at our mercy. Charge!” Elsie cried.

Big, fat snowflakes fell from the sky, sticking to his eyelashes as he sprang to his feet and roared, chucking the snowball not at Lorna but at Elsie, knocking against her shoulder. She fell back a step, then whipped her stare at him, furious.

“Gabriel MacInnes, so help me, if ye hit me again with a snowball…”

“Ye joined in,” he shouted, jumping out of the way as Maisie threw three snowballs in quick succession.

“Uncle, stay still. I can’t hit ye…” Lorna threw her hands on her hips, determination etched on her brow. She looked more like Tavish each day.

“I’ll hold him down, go ahead, Sister. Hit him and hit him hard! Ye dinna trifle with the MacInnes sisters, Uncle,” Maisie yelled, springing at him and knocking him off balance .

Gabriel tumbled to the ground, falling back first into the deep snow. Maisie jumped onto him, giggling when he groaned as she settled against his gut.

“Surrender, Uncle. Say it and we’ll free ye.”

He propped one eye open, expecting another snowball to the face, but instead, she bent down and dropped a kiss on his forehead. “Be a good prisoner, and I’ll give ye an extra biscuit with dinner.”

“Biscuits?” His stomach rumbled.

Two weeks ago, he had another cooking range sent over from France to install at the castle, and Kate had been insatiable. Pies, both sweet and savory, cakes, and all sorts of treats. He was certain he would grow sick of all the sweets, but it hadn’t happened yet. In fact, perhaps it was because of who was baking the treats, but he had developed something of a sweet tooth.

Fitting, considering he craved her just as equally.

Liar.

More.

Gabriel craved his wife and their life here at Dunsmuir Castle more than anything. Never once did he anticipate caring for his nieces or the castle or the rest. He certainly hadn’t counted on falling madly in love with a stubborn Englishwoman who kissed him back in equal measure of reverence and need.

“Maisie, let up on your poor uncle,” Kate’s voice cried from the castle. “He needs food, let him live.”

“Ye heard the woman,” Gabriel grumbled, picking up his niece and tossing her over his shoulder. She squealed as he ate up the distance between him and Kate in the courtyard by the kitchen.

“Never surrender!” Lorna cried, jumping, trying to free Maisie.

Another snowball whizzed past his head. “Elspeth!”

“I dinna wish ‘em to melt.”

“Melt? In January? Ye’re funny.” Lorna doubled over, laughing.

And all the while, Kate watched from the kitchen, Gabriel’s plaid wrapped around her shoulders. She leaned against the door, a shy grin on those lush lips of hers.

“You will freeze if you don’t come in soon.” Kate chuckled, pushing off the door to flag them all in. Oscar poked his head out, then retreated back into the kitchen. The stubborn dog refused to be out in the snow unless it was necessary.

The girls rushed inside, leaving Elsie and Gabriel to walk in alone. The castle towered over them, disappearing into the clouds as snow cascaded down and swept in a lulling hush over Dunsmuir.

“I wanted to ask, Brother,” Elsie said, slowing her pace. “Would ye be cross at me if I stay a bit longer?”

Tavish might have said aye . He was too caught up in his power and then his grief. And though Gabriel had never thought Elsie would return after what had happened between her and Finn, he was glad to have the chance to know his sister. They had spent too much of their life vying for their parents’ attention and then to win Tavish’s favor. But he was discovering family was not meant to be a competition. It was supposed to be a sacred space to grow and love without judgment.

He had wasted years searching for something that he could never have. And he had returned from Paris determined to save the castle and expand the distillery, without ever considering that he wouldn’t be granted his father’s approval. He was working for ghosts.

No, he had a chance to start again. For him. For the family he created. And it wasn’t what he expected, but as Kate tipped into the doorway and curled her finger toward him, he knew he wouldn’t be sorry for it.

Not for a moment.

“Nae need for ye to leave, Elsie. The castle is plenty big. I would like ye to stay. We all would.”

“But you and Kate certainly have your mind on the nursery.”

He met Kate’s heated gaze from the doorway. And those eyes that looked like the fog that settled over the loch on a cold morning. Eyes that saw him for him and only ever had.

“Aye.”

And he thought, then, as he closed the distance between them and took her into his arms and kissed her, not caring that Mrs. Malcolm balked about them behaving as they did in the kitchen, that she might agree.

“Come in,” she whispered against his ear. “You’re cold.”

To think he could have lost her to Duncan McQuarrie? Not now. Duncan was in Calton Prison, where he would be for many years for his crimes. Gabriel was free to do as he wished with the whisky business.

The girls danced and sang around the kitchen as Kate ushered everyone in and set tea on the table.

Gabriel stomped off the snow on his boots and paused. There, not far from the hearth where Oscar curled up to sleep, was a saucer of milk.

“Kate?”

She stopped humming as she uncurled wet scarves. “Hmm?”

“What’s that?”

She hung up the snow-wet scarves, then held up her hand, retreating to the corner for a moment before she turned, revealing a small gray cat snuggled in her arms.

“Katherine?”

She laughed. “The poor dear found us. I swear it.” She swayed over to him, leaning up to drop a kiss on his cheek. “Can’t turn away the little puffball in a snowstorm, now can I?”

“A kitten!” the girls chorused, swooping over to see.

“Ye’re a menace, Kate MacInnes.”

“And isn’t that the best?”

He scratched the kitten’s head and was rewarded with a warm purr. “I’m thankful every day.”