Then Joy hurried away in search of tequila.
Jack looked down at Belle and saw her face was pale and her eyes were locked on his mother’s departing back.
“Poppet,” Jack called and her head tipped to look up at him.
“Do you think the baby could withstand a shot of tequila?” She paused briefly before finishing, “Or three?”
“No,” Jack replied instantly.
Belle’s gaze dropped to his throat.
“I didn’t think so,” she muttered with disappointment.
In any other mood, Jack would find this amusing.
Considering he’d just been interrupted in his continuing efforts to win Belle’s trust at the same time making their situation significantly more complicated, so complicated it was a knotted mess from which she could never extract herself, he was not in such a mood.
Therefore Jack guided Belle back into the study wondering if he could politely rid The Point of his mother, Lila and Rachel without overly upsetting Belle.
At the very least for Sunday afternoons.
Chapter Twelve
The Thunderstorm
Belle
Belle stared out the window of Jack’s study, both her hands resting on her baby bump.
The white-capped waves were rolling out as far as the eye could see and the wind had picked up. Even though there were only fluffy, white clouds in the sky, Belle knew from ten years of living in England, five of those in Cornwall, that the weather was going to turn.
Jack had gone somewhere. He told her he’d return shortly but didn’t tell her where he was going.
Belle only hoped it wasn’t to break his mother’s fingers though she couldn’t imagine Jack would do that even though he sounded like he very much wanted to.
She was contemplating how she felt about her day with Jack (indeed, her last three days with Jack) and everything that had happened.
In other words, she was trying to figure out how she felt about the fact that Jack clearly didn’t dislike her frequent, quiet reveries. This was something Calvin hated and thought was weird and shared these thoughts frequently. Frequently enough for Belle to stop doing it when he was around.
In fact, Jack seemed not only to accept them but, on some strange level, to enjoy them. After Calvin’s persistent avowals of hatred for them, Belle couldn’t believe this was true. Nevertheless, the more she fell into them around Jack, the more she sensed Jack’s contentment when they happened.
She was also trying to figure out how she felt about Jack hiring a shop assistant for her, driving her to work and spending a day in her store not because he wanted to but because (she was certain) he was protecting her from the media.
This was beyond nice, polite, simply protecting the mother of my unborn child thoughtfulness. It was something else, something more.
Much more.
Additionally, she was trying to figure out how she felt about the fact that it was very clear…
No.
It was vehemently clear that Jack was thrilled he had fathered a child during a one night stand. Belle thought that was every man’s worst nightmare.
Not Jack’s.
But further, he seemed just as thrilled (if not more so) that he’d fathered that child through Belle.
Most men would not be thrilled about this in any way, shape or form.