Then he took it from his ear and Belle, a hint of accusation mingling with the embarrassment in her voice, didn’t hesitate in saying, “I thought you said you were sleeping with me.”
Jack controlled his desire to laugh at her disgruntled discomfiture at the same time he fought against catching her in his arms and kissing her breathless.
“I did,” he replied.
She looked down the hall then at him and asked, “Well?”
“I’ve got a call, poppet,” he told her unnecessarily.
Baron and Gretl were pressing for her attention and she bent to give them pats while looking down the hall again.
Then he watched her wet her lips.
Then she looked at his shoulder then his nose then his ear.
Then she took in a deep breath and what she did next stunned him to immobility.
She pushed through him and his dogs, walked into his room and around his bed to what had become her side. Once there, she pulled back the covers and slid between them.
With some effort, Jack forced himself out of his frozen stance, put the phone to his ear and shut his door.
He talked on the phone while she hung over the side of his bed, petted his dogs and then cooed to them to lie down which they did.
He finished his call while she settled in, facing the windows.
He turned out the lights, slid in behind her and pulled her to him.
When her body relaxed, Jack thought it only fair to try one more time to calm her fears. “Love, you do know there are no such things as ghosts.”
“I know,” she lied and he bit back his laughter but not his smile.
The smile died when her arm came to rest on his at her waist, her hand over his at her belly.
He closed his eyes and pressed his face into her hair.
Minutes later, he felt her drift into sleep.
Minutes after that, he did the same.
He knew the minute she woke.
He waited while she hesitated for long moments, lying awake in the curve of his body and it cost him to let her go when she eventually slid out of bed and left the room.
But Jack was not going to move too quickly and make the same mistake twice.
This time he was going to earn her trust and, when he knew he had it irrevocably, only then would he make her understand she was his.
For he already knew it.
He’d known it since their first night.
She appeared at the breakfast table five minutes after him.
After breakfast, she caught him and his dogs on the way to the stables and told him (or, more to the point, she told his ear) that she was taking a walk.
Jack had intended to ride.
He allowed himself a moment to consider taking Belle with him.
Jack would very much enjoy riding with her in front of him, taking her along the coastline he knew she loved for she walked it nearly every day. His horse, Shadow, could take her farther than she could walk, showing her more than she’d seen and Jack knew Belle would like that.
As pleasant as this thought was, he didn’t want her riding while pregnant even on Shadow who he knew would take care of her. So he changed his morning plans and walked with her.
This did not go exactly well.
His first mistake was to explain to her, when she’d quietly asked about him driving to and from London in a day, that he didn’t drive.
He told her that he flew.
That didn’t garner a reaction until he further explained that he not only flew, he piloted the plane.
This garnered a response.
She stopped, frozen and stared, open-mouthed.
Then she asked in a voice dripping with horror, “You flew the plane?”
Understanding her reaction, Jack got close to reassure her. “Belle, I earned my pilot’s license when I was twenty. I’ve been flying for eighteen years.”
She blinked then repeated, “You flew the plane?”
“Belle –”
She cut him off, “Do you have, um… a qualified pilot with you?”
Jack again bit back laughter and explained, “I am a qualified pilot.”
“Yes, okay,” she replied swiftly. “But, when you fly, do you have another one, in case of emergencies?”
To win her trust, unfortunately, he had to be honest.
Therefore he answered, “No.”
“Oh goodness gracious,” she breathed.
“Belle –”
To his amused surprise, she shook her head sharply, put her hands over her ears and chanted. “La la la, not listening. This conversation didn’t happen. La la la.”
He noticed she had pink to her cheeks, either a reaction to her embarrassment at their conversation or her chanting of denial or both.
She dropped her hands and started walking again, her pace picking up significantly, her bearing stiff and uncomfortable looking.
He lengthened his strides to keep up thinking not only that he thoroughly enjoy seeing her blush, he’d never forget how adorable she was when she let her fear break down her guard.
His second mistake was only ten minutes later when he took her hand and slowed their pace.
Then he asked, “Have you hired another shop assistant?”
He felt her hand jerk in his and she looked up at him in surprise. “No, I haven’t had time.”
Jack looked down at her and enquired with what he thought was a good deal of patience, “I thought I explained I want you off the shop floor.”
Her eyes widened the moment before she bowed her head to study the rocky path they were traversing.
“You can’t hire a shop assistant in two days.”
“Yes, you can,” Jack replied because he knew you could.
She looked at him again, her eyes now narrowed with either annoyed confusion or confused annoyance, he couldn’t decide which.
Either one, Jack thought, on Belle was cute.
“No, you can’t,” she told him.
“I can,” he told her.
She stopped walking and started speaking. “Jack –”
He pulled at her hand and kept walking, taking her with him and, he thought, ending this particular conversation by saying, “I’ll call Olive. She’ll have someone at the shop tomorrow.”
She tugged at his hand to halt him but he ignored it and kept them moving.
“Jack,” she called, her voice definitely moving toward annoyed rather than confused. “You can’t call Olive. It’s Sunday.”
“I can. She’s available twenty-four seven.”
Belle’s hand tugged his with a force he couldn’t ignore. He stopped and looked down at her.
“She’s available twenty-four seven?” Belle asked with obvious disbelief and possible accusation as if he was a slave driver cracking a nasty whip.