Lucky Stars (Ghosts and Reincarnation #5)(49)

Then he closed the door.

Then she stared at it.

Then she looked down at Baron.

Then at Gretl.

When Belle’s attention turned away from him, Baron woofed.

When Belle’s attention turned away from her, Gretl licked her hand.

“For some reason,” she told the dogs, her voice still tremulous, her fingers moving to scratch behind their ears, “I think I’m in trouble.”

Baron woofed again and Belle could swear he was agreeing with her.

* * * * *

Belle walked on leaded feet to the breakfast table, dillydallying in the hopes that she’d sit down just in time for Jack to eat his last bite of toast. That way she could keep her promise without actually keeping her promise.

This was a risky endeavour.

The downside was Jack cottoning onto her game and getting scary angry.

The upside was Belle keeping her sanity.

For some reason, she lost it when she was with Jack.

All her life, she’d been a sane person. Very sane. In fact, her mother and grandmother might even say too sane.

With Jack, she was not.

Considering she’d soon be responsible for another living being, she thought it important to behave like a sensible adult, not a brazen hussy.

She was already losing the Mother of the Year award and she hadn’t even had her child.

She’d done everything she could do to delay her arrival at the breakfast table.

She’d showered, done her makeup and styled her hair all twisted softly back in big bun at her nape, a few tiny braids blended in, some wispy hairs here and there at her face and neck. Very romantic and innocent virgin looking.

Then she spent a good deal of time deciding what to wear.

Since the weather had been quite warm and sunny, she decided on a violet-coloured cotton sundress that she designed. It had an empire waist, a deep v-neck with a ruffled trim and a slight a-lined skirt that hit a couple of inches above the knee. She paired this with silver, flat Capri sandals with a rose at the toe.

Although the deep v-neck was slightly risqué, it was a sweet Audrey Hepburn type of outfit and everyone knew Audrey Hepburn was no hussy.

As she approached the door to the dining room, she saw movement down the hall and stopped in the door to watch Jack walking toward her.

Clearly her efforts at dillydallying had all been for naught.

He had a sleek, black mobile phone to his ear that looked like something George Jetson might own. He was wearing charcoal-grey trousers with an elegant pinstripe, a crisp, light blue shirt and a black, midnight blue and grey patterned tie was hanging loose from his opened collar.

His eyes were on her.

She felt a trill race up her spine that ran along her scalp and made her shiver.

She realised she’d frozen when he stopped close and put a hand lightly to her waist.

Only then did she understand her mistake. She should have been cool, calm and casual and given him a jaunty wave before entering the dining room.

Instead, she’d stood gawking at him like a lovesick teenager.

Proof positive that she lost her sanity around Jack.

“Right,” he said into his phone, his eyes never leaving hers. “E-mail it. I’ll be in the office this afternoon and we’ll discuss it then.”

He flipped his phone shut without saying good-bye and his gaze travelled the length of her.

When his eyes came back to her face, he asked softly. “One of yours?”

Belle, who had fallen into a Gentle Jack Trance, nodded.

“It’s lovely,” he murmured on a small smile.

“Thank you,” she murmured back and saw his smile deepen.

She was staring at his mouth, her own lips parted, her eyes glazing over, her body starting to lean into his magnetic pull when she heard her grandmother’s call.

“Morning kids!”

Belle’s body jerked and she snapped out of the trance. As she did this, she saw Jack’s mouth go tight and his head turned to look in the dining room.

Belle turned too and she saw everyone there, including Yasmin. And all of them were watching Jack and Belle like they were viewing an awe-inspiring, award winning play.

“Yasmin,” Belle smiled at the other woman shyly. She hadn’t seen her since that awful morning and she hoped her reaction to Belle being pregnant with Jack’s child and living at The Point would be a far sight better than Miles’s had been. “It’s lovely to see you.”

Yasmin responded as Jack’s hand moved to the small of Belle’s back and he guided her into the room.

“Not as lovely as it is to see you. After the drama and the resulting media brouhaha, I thought I might be persona non grata at your shop. Now, seeing as Jack got you up the duff, I can come shopping anytime.”

Belle did a little stutter step at her words and heard Joy emit a soft giggle, her mother laughed outright but her grandmother was glowering at Jack’s hand at Belle’s back.

Jack pressed more firmly into her back, his warm body got protectively closer and he led her to the empty chair to the right hand side of the head of the table. He pulled it back for her and she sat in it, looking up and over her shoulder at him as he assisted her with pushing it back in.

Then she watched him seat himself at the head of the table.

Then she recognised she was falling into another trance so she shook herself out of it and looked at the table.