She sighed and let it go.
One thing she learned from Calvin was to pick her battles.
And she was not going to have words over champagne.
The bartender held out the glass to her but Miles leaned in and took it, moving it the scant inch between the bartender’s hand and Belle’s as if Belle was above doing such common things as accepting a glass of champagne from a lowly servant.
This act so surprised and irritated her, she very nearly said something.
Of course, she did not.
Instead, she clenched her teeth a moment before she lifted the glass and sipped.
“Oh there’s Adele!” Joy cried suddenly, glancing across the room. “I must go say hello.” She turned to Belle. “Now that you have refreshments, I can leave you to it.” Her eyes moved upwards to her son. “Now Miles, don’t let Belle get drunk and dance on any tables,” she ordered and the very idea of Belle “Meek and Mild” Abbot dancing on a table made Belle burst out laughing.
When she’d controlled her hilarity and her gaze focussed on Joy, the woman’s blue eyes were studying Belle and they were shining with an odd, soft light.
Then she leaned toward Belle and whispered. “You should do that more often, darling.”
Then without another word, she was gone, melting into the crowd.
Miles moved her away from the bar so others could order drinks and Belle braced because she was certain she was going to have to start mingling.
Belle hated to mingle. She had no talent for small talk and found the effort gruelling.
They did not, however, sift into the crowd. Instead, Miles’s hand at her waist curled her body toward his and then in so they were hips-to-hips and belly-to-belly.
Startled, Belle looked up at him.
Firstly, they were too close, loverly close. It wasn’t seemly and, furthermore, they weren’t lovers.
Secondly, they’d shared some kisses but she hadn’t even let Miles get to second base and he’d tried on every date they shared, even the first one. She was uncomfortable with this casual but extreme closeness which gave the wrong message.
They certainly were not at a point in their relationship where he would hold her that close in public.
In fact, Belle wasn’t entirely certain there ever would be a time in any relationship where she’d allow a man to hold her that close in public.
Not before Calvin.
Not during Calvin (not that he was that way inclined, fortunately).
Not after Calvin.
She put her hand to his bicep and leaned against his arm, tipping her head back to look at him.
She opened her mouth to ask him to move away when she felt it.
A trill shot up her spine causing the small hairs at the hairline of her neck to rise and she felt her belly dip right before it warmed.
Of its own accord, her head turned to the side, her eyes moved instinctively and locked on a man across the room.
He was an unbelievably handsome, green-eyed man who stood straight and tall, his body, even at rest, clearly at his command and his gaze was riveted on her.
Belle’s knees went weak, heat hit her cheeks and her fingers clutched Miles’s arm as she looked upon the indecently attractive James Bennett, in the flesh, for the very first time.
* * * * *
Jack