“What the f**k are you doing?” he clipped and her eyes flew to him. “You nearly fell over the cliff.”
She looked around her dazedly, not having time for the possibility that she nearly did herself, and their child, bodily harm.
She looked back at Jack and said in an urgent, frightened voice, “Jack, there are children in the turret.”
Jack’s head whipped around and up and when Belle’s eyes moved back to the window, the child ghosts were gone.
Jack turned back to her and Belle’s gaze met his. “They were there. I swear. I saw both of them!”
“Myrtle and Lewis,” Jack said and Belle’s mouth dropped open.
“Myrtle and Lewis?” she whispered.
“Who told you the story?” Jack asked.
“The story?” Belle repeated stupidly.
“Was it Yasmin?”
“Yasmin?” Belle parroted again.
His hand came to her jaw. “You can’t let it get to you, love. It’s just a ghost story. They aren’t real.”
“Ghost story?” Belle breathed in horror.
He grinned and she was certain at that point he was definitely mad. Mad enough to be locked up because there was nothing to grin about when there were ghosts haunting his castle.
“Trust me, I’ve lived here all my life and I’ve heard that story dozens of times and I’ve never seen them,” he assured her, still grinning like he thought she was hilarious.
“I just saw them,” Belle told him.
“No, you didn’t.”
“Yes, I did.”
He looked over his shoulder and up at the turret again then back at her.
“Are they there now?” he asked and, hesitantly, she glanced up but there were no ghostly children in the window.
“No,” she told him when she was looking at him again.
“Belle –”
It was her turn to talk over him. “I can’t live here when there are ghosts in the castle.”
“Belle –” he said again and this time his tone had changed significantly. It had grown slightly dangerous.
She put her hands on his chest and fisted his shirt in her fingers. “We have to move to the cottage,” she announced then added hysterically, “this instant.”
“Poppet –” he began but she kept talking.
“You can sleep with me,” she blurted then went on. “And you can bring the dogs.”
His arms slid around her and drew her to his body. She could feel his shaking, not with terror, but with laughter.
She tipped her head back to look at him and saw it was true.
He was laughing.