Lucky Stars (Ghosts and Reincarnation #5)(138)

And with that bizarre, scary parting shot, he stalked between Jack and Yasmin and strode toward the castle.

“Jack, I think you should go after him,” Joy whispered, her voice trembling and Jack stopped looking over his shoulder at his retreating brother and looked to his mother.

“I will.” His eyes moved to Belle. “Please, love, get them inside.”

Belle nodded.

Jack glanced briefly at Yasmin before he turned and strode after his brother. Baron went with Jack. Gretl stayed close to Belle.

“Let’s do what Jack asks and get inside,” Belle urged softly, hooking her arm through Joy’s elbow and marching her to Yasmin while adjusting the rug under her arm so she could do the same with her friend. Then she led them firmly toward the castle.

“A third,” Yasmin murmured as they walked, all their eyes on Jack and Miles who were now having what looked like a very unhappy conversation beside Miles’s car.

“Do you know what that was all about?” Joy asked Yasmin.

“Some of it,” Yasmin muttered in a way that said she wasn’t feeling like sharing.

Therefore Belle quickly intervened by suggesting, “Why don’t we go inside, open a nice bottle of wine and talk about it where we’re comfortable?”

“Good idea,” Yasmin agreed as they watched Miles jerk open his car door that Jack immediately slammed closed.

Oh dear.

Belle hastened their step. “And let’s do that quickly,” she murmured.

“Good idea,” Yasmin agreed.

All three women raced up the steps where Belle, with effort, tugged open the heavy door and ushered them in.

“Fuck you!” she heard Miles shout, leaning in, his face an inch from Jack’s granite one and she closed her eyes, sent him strength and, for him but also for Joy and Yasmin, with effort, she shoved the door closed.

* * * * *

After a not-so-calming glass of wine and after Lila, who stood vigil at the window, told Belle that Miles was gone and Jack had “prowled into the house” (her words), Belle gave him some time.

Now Belle stood outside Jack’s study door and sought courage.

He loved her. He told her. He moved her into his home. He moved her into his room. He shared his dogs with her. And after she lost their baby, he didn’t leave her side.

And she loved him.

She could do this.

She closed her eyes, opened them, lifted a hand and knocked on the door.

She got no answer and still got no answer after a repeated knock.

She stared at the closed door wondering what to do next.

And as she stared, it came to her.

Jack was beyond that door.

And he was hers.

For three and a half weeks after she lost their child, he didn’t leave her side (well, most of the time, he did have to work).

Now he needed her at his.

Therefore she put her hand to the knob, turned it, opened the door and stuck her head through.

Jack was standing in the bay window looking out.

“Jack?” she called quietly and his torso twisted, his eyes coming to her.

“Belle, anyone else, they knock, I don’t answer, they go away. You do not have to knock.”

Belle wet her lips, buried a smile and walked in, closing the door behind her.

Yes, he was hers.

This unbelievably, criminally attractive man was… all… hers.

Jack watched her do this and when the door was closed he ordered her to do what she was going to do anyway.

“Come here.”

She went there and when she arrived he turned fully to her, his hands coming to her waist then sliding around to hold her loosely. She lifted hers and rested them lightly on his chest, tipping her head back to look into his troubled, green eyes.

“Are you okay?” she asked softly even though she saw he was not.

“No,” he answered harshly, giving her the answer she expected.

She moved an inch closer and his arms around her tightened.

“Are you going to be okay?” she asked.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked back and she nodded. Then he sighed before muttering, “Then I’ll be okay.”

That was such a Jack answer. So much so it made her heart and her belly warm.

So Belle moved closer and his arms got tighter, drawing her against him and her hands pressed into his chest.

“I’m sorry you had to endure another scene with Miles,” she said gently.

“And I’m sorry he got to you which should not have happened,” Jack returned again being very Jack, thinking of her and not himself.

“I promise, I’m okay. He just made me angry, that’s all,” she assured him. “And, um, now, what he’s done is making me worry about you.”

Jack took in her words and sighed again before saying, “Don’t worry about me, poppet. You know this isn’t the first time. I’m used to it.”

That didn’t make her feel much better.

“That was… it was… it seemed different.” She hesitated then asked, “What exactly was that?”

Jack lifted a hand to cup her jaw, his thumb moving out to stroke her cheek and his voice was not harsh in the slightest when he replied, “You know, my love, that Yasmin and I were once together. What you don’t know was, during a fight when Yasmin had broken it off with me in a way she did not intend to be permanent, Miles sought her out, got her drunk and had sex with her.”