Belle’s eyes came to his and he thought he saw a hint of gratitude at his change of topic before they moved swiftly away.
“Yes,” Miles stated, curling Belle possessively closer, his head bending in an openly intimate way toward hers, both actions gave his words more meaning. “We’re staying until Monday.”
His insinuation was not lost on anyone and Belle’s cheeks flamed.
“Joy tells me you’re in separate bedrooms,” Yasmin remarked, boldly calling Miles out on his nonverbal lie. Jack would have laughed but Belle’s eyes flew to Yasmin and she looked mortified.
She turned into Miles and tipped her head back. “You know,” she said softly but somewhat desperately. “I think I need to go fix my lipstick.”
It was clear she was desperate to escape.
Clear to everyone but Miles.
“Your lips are perfect, gorgeous,” Miles replied and Jack watched as something crossed her face. Even in profile he could see it and it looked like she flinched as if she’d been struck.
Jack found her look both stirring and upsetting.
He didn’t have time to try and understand this reaction, Yasmin moved forward.
“Yes, her lips are perfect, Miles. But mine aren’t,” Yasmin declared and linked an arm through Belle’s, forcibly moving her away from Miles before she continued. “Now, as you men know, we ladies have to visit the little girl’s room in pairs so I’m claiming Belle as my second. We’ll be back.”
Before anyone could say a word, Yasmin led Belle from the room.
Belle, Jack noted, didn’t look back.
Both Miles and Jack watched them leave.
“She’s something, isn’t she?” Miles asked Jack, his eyes still on the door the women had walked through.
Jack clenched his teeth as anger surged inside him.
In a low, displeased voice, Jack demanded, “Give it up, Miles.”
Slowly, Miles’s head turned and he looked at his brother.
Jack saw a sly look in Miles’s eyes, a look that Jack also knew very well as he’d seen it countless times. It was the look Miles assumed when he knew he was going to lose (which was frequently) and decided to do whatever he had to do to win no matter how devious or underhanded it needed to be.
“Give it up?” Miles repeated, his face changing to false innocence.
“Yes, give it up,” Jack returned. “Play your games on the pitch, in the board room and with women who know the score. Belle Abbot clearly doesn’t know the score. Fucking with that woman’s head, Miles, is lower than you’ve ever sunk. And you’ve sunk pretty damned low.”
Jack watched the red creep up his brother’s neck, signalling his anger.
He leaned toward Jack and clipped, “I saw the way you were with her. You’re not asking me to give it up for Belle’s sake. You’re asking me to step aside because you want a crack at her.”
Jack’s first response to his brother referring to anyone having “a crack” at Belle was the nearly overwhelming desire to put his fist in his face.
With effort, he quelled this desire and realised what Miles said was both right and wrong.
Jack Bennett did, indeed, want “a crack” at Belle Abbot.
Actually, when it came to Belle Abbot, Jack found he wanted a number of things.
He wanted to see if he could break through her obvious, nearly crippling shyness and get her to respond to him. He wanted to hear her soft, sweet voice utter more than a few words. He wanted to teach her to look in his eyes not at his ear. He wanted to see what would happen to her timidity when he kissed her. He wanted to know if what he read behind her stormy eyes and if the promise of her tempting body proved true when he had her naked underneath him.
And he decided instantly he was going to do all of those things.
Every last one.
What he would not do was break her in order to do it.
Something which Miles would not hesitate to do.
Therefore, he had no other choice really.
Thinking of Belle’s lips parting on her soft “oh”, Jack wouldn’t have even considered another choice.
But knowing his brother, he definitely had no choice.
And, his decision made, his eyes focussed on Miles, Miles read what was in Jack’s eyes and then Jack watched his brother smile.
Then Miles’s eyes began to burn with an unhealthy fire that made Jack’s gut get tight and his brother whispered hungrily, “You’re on.”
Chapter Two
James’s Tour
Belle
Belle wandered down the long hall looking for escape.
But escape wasn’t easy to find.
There were people everywhere.
Joy must be much loved for the castle was enormous and in every nook and cranny there were people.
And Belle needed to escape people.
She’d just spent the three most excruciatingly uncomfortable hours of her life amongst a stifling clutch of people and she needed somewhere where she could be alone and just breathe.
Her night was uncomfortable for three reasons.
Firstly, Miles was intent upon being way too close at all times and introducing her to everyone who came within shouting distance.
And this he did with alarming zeal.
Secondly, both Joy Bennett and Yasmin Delacourt were acting as if she was a long lost daughter (Joy) and a best friend from high school lost for decades and now joyfully reunited (Yasmin).
Belle already liked Joy but it seemed the lady was protecting her. More times than Belle could count, Joy materialised at Miles and Belle’s side in order to curb Miles’s wild enthusiasm at breathing Belle’s air. This she did before she had to go off and be the guest of honour that she was, which as the hours passed she seemed to do with more and more trepidation.
With time Belle got over Yasmin’s overwhelming friendliness not to mention her startling frankness and began to like her. However, Belle noted, Yasmin seemed to do the same thing as Joy in the same protective way.
The striking, leggy, curly redheaded, barely clothed Yasmin, at first, terrified Belle. She really liked Yasmin’s turquoise satin slip dress but with the deep cleavage, deeper back and short hem even if it left very little to the imagination. Then again, if Belle had a body like hers, she might consider wearing the same thing (who was she kidding, she’d never consider it).
But she was clearly a very nice woman who’d been around the family for some time and also seemed to be regarded as a kind of daughter.
Regardless, Belle thought Yasmin and Joy’s behaviour was beyond odd. Although, she had to admit, she was grateful for it. Miles was driving Belle up the wall.
Lastly, and most importantly, until about a half an hour ago when he’d thankfully disappeared, James Bennett was always there.
Always.
He wasn’t close but he was also never far and often she’d feel that weird trill up her spine, the hairs on the back of her neck would stand up and her belly would melt. She’d look around and, every time it happened, she’d see that he had his amazing jade green eyes on her.
She did not understand why he was watching her.
It was simply bizarre.
What was more bizarre was Belle’s reaction to him.
Okay, so he was the very definition of masculine beauty.
And there was the fact that she was shy and nervous, not just at the worst of times but all the time.
But James Bennett utterly and completely petrified her.
He was way too attractive. No one should be that attractive.
In fact, Belle thought being that attractive should be against the law.