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 cle**age, 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.
He should be locked up in order to save all of womankind from his stupefying appeal.
He was, Belle convinced herself, dangerous, he was so darned good-looking.
When he’d first touched her, first spoken to her, she’d actually felt her body moving toward him of its own volition like she was made of metal and he was magnetic.
After that happened, she decided she wanted nothing to do with him.