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I hug Emery to my side again and kiss her cheek. Then I smile at her, strictly to convince Mrs. Darroch I genuinely care for my wife despite the fact our marriage is a farce.
Emery gazes up at me with a soft smile on her lips.
Mrs. Darroch snares my wife's hand. "I'll show you around your new home, Mrs. MacTaggart."
"Call me Emery."
"What a charming name." Mrs. Darroch tugs Emery's hand, luring her away from me. "Come, lassie. Cannae have ye getting lost your first night here."
I grab Emery's other hand, forcing the lass to stop. "Mrs. Darroch, I will show my wife the house. You should be home in bed."
"Tosh," she says, as she relinquishes my wife's hand. "It's early evening, and my home is behind the garden, not in Devonshire. Thought I should stay to be a neutral party, considering."
I halt on the threshold. "Considering what?"
She gives me a look that implies I'm a complete dafty. "Ye've forgotten, haven't ye? Jamie's here."
"Jamie—" Bloody hell. I mutter an oath and turn to Emery. "My sister Jamie has been living with me for over a year."
"It's no big deal, Rory. I want to meet your family. Might as well get started today and test the waters with one sibling, since I'll be meeting the whole gang tomorrow."
"Are you sure? Jamie can be…energetic."
"Oh, you mean like me." She tickles the soft underside of my chin. "If I can handle being me, I can handle your energetic sister."
"I imagine you can."
Mrs. Darroch retreats into the house, waving for us to follow. "Ye'll be wanting to see your new home. It's called Dùndubhan."
"What's that mean?" Emery asks while I lead her inside.
I answer her question. "It means fortress of the black water. Either that or fortress of the fishhook."
"Fishhook?" she says with a laugh. "Not very imposing."
Trying not to frown, I end up harrumphing instead. "You're in the vestibule of the not-imposing castle."
We trail Mrs. Darroch past the spiral staircase and out of the vestibule, entering the ground-floor hallway.
Someone shrieks.
Emery whirls to the right, straight into the path of my sister Jamie, who's barreling down the hallway. Her long, light-brown hair flies wild around her face. Jamie grins and shrieks again as she descends on my wife.
My sister flings her arms around Emery. "You must be her. Rory's wife, the one he met in America and couldn't wait to marry so he went on and did it and never told us until yesterday but—Oh! You must be exhausted from the trip, but how romantic and—"
"Jamie!" I shout.
Unfazed, my sister releases Emery only to snatch up my wife's hands and beam at her.
Aye, my sister and my wife will get on well. They're both barmy.
"Don't be a humbug," Jamie says to me. "I want to meet your wife."
I grind my teeth, and terse introductions are all I can manage. "This is Emery. And this is my youngest sister, Jamie."
Emery grins. "I kinda figured that one out, but thanks for the super-friendly intro."
What was wrong with what I said? I bar my arms over my chest, but none of the women surrounding me seem even the slightest bit intimidated.
