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Pippa giggled. “Now you’re just being silly.”
“A natural state of affairs,” Donella said. “Now, we have time for one drink before dinner. Cook has gone to a great deal of trouble to make a special dinner for Grandda and Kade, and we mustn’t spoil it.”
“Oh? I thought their arrival was a surprise?” Braden casually asked. “When did Mrs. Brady have time to pull together a special dinner?”
If he hadn’t been watching her closely, he would have missed his sister-in-law’s slight wince.
“That’s why we had to set dinner back. Mrs. Brady had to reorganize the menu a bit,” she said.
“Then we’d best get to it,” Angus said. “I’m that eager to try the new brew.”
While Logan poured the drinks, the rest of them chatted about the new batch from their brother’s distillery, and the general state of affairs in Clan Kendrick. It was as pleasant a family scene as one could imagine. While it might be a cold and gusty evening in late November, in the house all was warm and inviting.
Too bad his blasted family was up to something. Now he had to figure out what it was before they embarked on one of their typically deranged—if well meaning—plans.
When a glass appeared under his nose, Braden glanced up to see Logan regarding him with a quizzical expression.
“You look rather lost in thought,” his brother said.
“Oh, thanks.” He took the glass. “Just thinking about the family.”
Angus heaved a dramatic sigh. “It’s not much time ye have for us. We never see ye, what with yer doctorin’ work and them bodies ye like to cut up for fun. Ye’d think ye love those cadavers more than ye love us.”
“What’s a cadaver?” Pippa asked.
Braden shot his grandfather an irritated look. “I do not cut up dead bodies for fun. Besides, Kade’s away far more than I am. We barely know where he is from one day to the next. Which is perfectly reasonable,” he hastily added. “He’s building his career as a pianist, just as I’m building my medical practice.”
“Aye, but ye—”
“Braden’s right,” Kade said. “If you’re going to bite off anyone’s nose for flying the coop, it should be mine.”
“Aye, but yer in London or on the Continent. Our laddie here is only a few hours away from Glasgow, yet he canna find the time to visit his own family. And the laird himself—that would be yer brother, Nick,” Angus pointedly said to Braden, “is worried about ye.”
“I know who the laird is,” Braden dryly replied.
“Everything is fine, Grandda,” Kade said. “Stop fussing.”
Angus subsided with a mutter.
“By the way,” Braden said, “where’s the rest of the family spending Christmas this year?”
“Oh, at Kinglas, I suppose,” Kade vaguely replied.
“You suppose?”
Angus frowned. “Of course they’ll be at Kinglas. Where else would they be?”
“All of them, including Graeme and Sabrina?”
“Aye, unlike some people we willna mention.”
Donella jumped up. “More whisky, anyone? I can fetch it.”
Joseph frowned. “But Mamma, you said there was only time for one glass, remember?”
When Donella sighed, Braden was tempted to laugh. His family’s clumsy charade was falling apart before his eyes.
“We’re not sure about Graeme and Sabrina,” Logan hastily put in. “Awfully long trip from Lochnagar to Kinglas at this time of year.”
