Free The MacGregor Brides by Nora Roberts

“You wouldn’t.”
    She kept that smug smile on her face as she strolled to the door. “Don’t bet on it.”
    But because she adored him, Laura hurried down the stairs before her grandmother could come up. They met on the landing with a long, tight hug.
    “I wish you’d told us you were driving up. I never would have gone out.”
    Laura eyed the small mountain of shopping bags. “Busy morning?”
    “I’m determined to have my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving this year.” She slipped her arm around Laura’s waist and led her to the parlor. “Let’s sit down. I’ll ring for some tea.”
    “I’d love some tea.” Laura sat, watched as Anna called for the housekeeper to brew a pot.
    So lovely, Laura thought, as she always did. So sturdy. She thought of her grandmother as a trailblazer, a woman who had pursued her dream of practicing medicine when such careers for women were either laughed at or frowned upon.
    She’d not only made the dream reality, she had triumphed, become one of the top thoracic surgeons on the East Coast, while raising a family, making a home.
    “How do you do it, Grandma?”
    “Do it?” Anna sat, sighing a little as she set her feet on a hassock. “Do what?”
    “All. How do you do it all?”
    “One step at a time. Oh, I swear, there was a time a morning of shopping wouldn’t wear me out.” She smiled. “I’m so glad you’re here. Now I can sit here and be lazy for a while.”
    Instantly concerned, Laura sprang up. “Maybe you should lie down. You shouldn’t do so much.”
    “Laura.” Her voice was serene, warm as sunlight. “My feet hurt, that’s all. Now sit. Tell me, did you drive all the way up here to shout at your grandfather?”
    “I …” Laura huffed out a breath. “You know everything.”
    “I know he’s been meddling, and expected you a week ago. Royce Cameron must have had quite some effect on you, for it to have taken you this long to figure it out.”
    “He’s gorgeous.”
    “I’ve seen that for myself.”
    “I just told Grandpa I’m going to have a mad, torrid affair with him.”
    “Oh.” Anna sighed and wiggled her toes. “I suppose he deserved that.”
    “But I am.” Laura wondered how many women could say such a thing to their grandmothers. “I am going to have an affair with him.”
    Anna said nothing, grateful that the rattle signaled the tea trolley being wheeled down the hall. She waited until the housekeeper left them alone, and poured two cups of tea herself. “I don’t have to tell you to be careful. You’re a bright, self-aware young woman.” Then she sighed. “I’ll tell you to be careful anyway.”
    “I will. Please don’t worry. I’m … powerfully attracted to him. I’ve never been so attracted to anyone. And I like him. I didn’t think I would. In fact, I was sure I wouldn’t, but I like him a lot.”
    “And obviously he feels the same way.”
    “Yeah.” She sipped at her tea, then set it aside. “You know, men drive me crazy. I really had no intention of— I’ve got so much I want to do, and I just don’t have time for this kind of complication. Then Grandpa hires him. Hires him, for heaven’s sake. You laugh.”
    “I’m sorry, darling. I shouldn’t.”
    “It might be funny ten or twenty years from now,” Laura muttered. “Right now it’s just humiliating. And then Ian decides he needs to play chaperon and won’t give me five minutes’ peace. And you’d think Royce was his best pal ever since he punched him.”
    “Ian punched Royce?”
    “Other way, but it was a misunderstanding.”
    “Naturally,” Anna said calmly, and drank her tea.
    “And then Dad barges into my office this morning.
My
office, and bares his fangs just because Royce was kissing me.”
    “Oh.” Anna’s smile warmed. “Poor Caine. His baby girl.”
    “I’m not—”
    “You’re his baby girl and always will be,” Anna said gently, interrupting her. “I suppose you argued.”
    “We shouted at each other for a