Joy had gone directly to her room.
Lila made Rachel and Belle leave her alone. A half an hour later, Lila herself went up, taking a tray of soup, sandwiches and a bottle of wine with her.
By the time Rachel and Belle went to bed, Lila nor Joy nor James had emerged.
Now, somehow, James was in bed with her.
Belle reached out an arm, curled her fingers around the edge of the mattress, preparing to catapult herself from the bed.
Before she could succeed in this endeavour, James’s arm, resting lightly at her waist, became an iron band, hauling her into his hard body.
Belle froze and felt his face burrowing into her hair.
“We have to talk,” he growled.
Holy heck, her mind breathed.
“What are you doing in my bed?” her mouth asked.
“Containment,” he answered.
“What?”
“Containment,” he repeated. “Given the chance, you’ll escape. I’m not going to let that happen.”
Holy heck, her mind breathed again.
Belle had dealt with a number of different James Bennetts in the last three weeks. The jerky one (at their first meeting, post-fling). The demanding one (at the doctor appointments). The broody one (the times he wasn’t being something else). The impatient one, which was a variation of the jerky one (at the stables). The sexy one (also at the stables). And the loving one (again, at the stables).
This, she could tell, was an all new James Bennett.
Therefore she thought it best to proceed with caution.
“Can I please get out of bed?” she enquired.
His body moved away and she thought that was an affirmative response.
She was wrong.
His hand pressed her so her back was to the bed and he loomed over her, up on an elbow, his other arm resting on her midriff.
“No,” he replied unnecessarily.
She looked in his eyes to see they were still slightly heavy with sleep but nonetheless alert. She couldn’t read them but she felt a curl of fear all the same.
So her eyes moved to his ear.
When they did, he murmured, “That’s a good sign.”
She didn’t know what he meant but she also was not going to ask.
“Um, I’m finding this a bit weird,” she confided to his ear.
“Too bad. I have three things to say to you and you’re going to listen. Only then can you get out of bed and start your day.”
“Oh… kay,” she replied hesitantly, hoping with all her heart this would be fast and relatively painless.
He was weirding her out!