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Stricken, Jeannie twisted around to face him. “David, of course you want to marry me. After all, you kissed me.”
He emphatically shook his head. “No, you kissedme.”
“But you didn’t push me away,” Jeannie said with a frown.
“I didn’t want to hurt you,” he exclaimed.
“A likely story,” Graeme retorted. “Why else would you come up here with her?”
“I came up here to fetch a book her ladyship said I could borrow,” David protested. “Miss Jeannie followed me.”
Graeme snorted his disdain for that explanation.
Angus elbowed him. “Leave off. Yer actin’ like a complete booby.”
“I’m sure you find this vastly amusing, Grant,” Sabrina said in a stern voice. “But will you please do something with your idiot twin?”
Grantdidlook like he was stifling laughter, but he went over and dropped a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Come on, old son. Let’s leave the ladies to it.”
“Absolutely not.”
Grant began to look irritated. “Can you at least stop growling like a tiger with a thorn in his paw? You sound ridiculous.”
His twin cast him an incredulous glance. “This situation doesn’t bother you?”
“What bothers me most is that you’re distressing the ladies.”
Since Graeme winced, that was obviously a home hit.
“As Kathleen said, I’m sure it must be a misunderstanding,” Grant added.
“It’s not,” Jeannie stubbornly put in.
“I know you want to protect him, lass,” Grant replied in a kind tone. “And that’s a generous instinct. But Vicar Brown is a grown man, many years older than you. He’s well able to speak for himself.”
“I won’t let anyone hurt him,” Jeannie said.
“No one will. You have my word.”
“We’ll see about that,” Graeme retorted.
His twin gave him a sharp elbow in the side.
“That actually hurt,” Graeme muttered with a scowl.
Grant ignored him. “I do believe we need to hear from Mr. Brown, and without any more declarations or threats.”
Since Jeannie was clearly beginning to waver, Kathleen took her hand. “I think David is embarrassed by what’s happening here, love. I’m sure you don’t want that.”
Jeannie glanced over her shoulder at the vicar, who now appeared to be praying for a miraculous escape from the humiliating scene.
“All right,” she reluctantly agreed. “But nobody’s to start yelling at David again.”
“No yelling allowed,” Kathleen replied in a soothing tone as she gently pulled her sister away from the object of her devotion.
David breathed out an audible sigh of relief and made an attempt to straighten his mangled collar.
“Go on, lad,” Angus said in an encouraging voice. “We’re listening.”
