Lucky Stars (Ghosts and Reincarnation #5)(4)
Author: Kristen Ashley

She’d stopped her car, torn out and dove into the freezing sea to save the lives of seven schoolchildren and the bus driver who she’d plunged after, again and again, to pull from the bus.

Two children had swum free themselves, two children had drowned. Both drown victims Belle had pulled from the watery wreckage and one she was still giving CPR when the paramedics finally arrived.

This was all caught on other onlookers’ phones, both in photos and video. They did not help Belle Abbot. No. Instead they sold their photos far and wide. Photos of her dripping wet, diving, breaking the surface with a child’s arm wrapped around her neck, dragging the child behind her, kicking toward the shore.

The press had made a meal of her, as they would because the story was, frankly, astounding.

They hadn’t, however, as the months passed, lost their interest.

Mainly because, when Belle Abbot wasn’t cold, wet and saving lives, she was exceptionally pretty.

Not beautiful, her nose was too pert, her skin was peaches and cream, she was not petite but also not tall.

But she was uncommonly pretty with shining, unbelievably thick, dark blonde hair streaked with honeyed highlights. Her body was perfectly proportioned and lusciously curvaceous. Lastly, she had a classic, elegant style, a bearing that was nearly regal and she was way too photogenic for her own good.

Further, she was an enigma. In a time when instant celebrity was coveted to the point of obsession, she didn’t speak to the press. She didn’t sell her story. She didn’t do television interviews. She didn’t pay any attention to the media at all. She kept her eyes averted, head bowed and went about her daily life as if she hadn’t committed an act of selfless altruism. An act which had already, without Belle Abbot’s input or approval, been made into a television movie.

Her head turned and her grey eyes hit him and Jack felt as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to his gut.

He was wrong.

Perhaps she wasn’t as photogenic as he thought.

In the photos, she was not beautiful.

But in the flesh, she was a knockout.

It struck Jack that she was with a man, a man who was holding her close and Jack’s eyes moved to the man.

They did this as Yasmin breathed, “I don’t believe it.”

When Jack saw his brother Miles holding Belle Abbot, his still body went rock-solid.

He felt Yasmin’s hand clutch his forearm as Miles turned to look at what had caught Belle’s attention.

Jack watched as Miles’s face took on an expression Jack knew very well. Indeed, Jack had seen it time and again for as long as he could remember.

It was the look Miles got every time Miles engaged him in a competition which happened often between the two brothers. Over the years Jack had vigorously participated, until recently, after their father died (but even before) when Miles’s obsessive competitive streak had turned to unhealthy compulsion.

The look on Miles’s face was filled with triumph.

Jack knew at that moment that Miles was not with Belle Abbot because she was graceful, stylish and extraordinarily sexy.

He was with her to rub Jack’s nose in it.

“Jack, is Miles with Belle Abbot, The Tiny Dynamo?” Yasmin whispered.

“Yes,” Jack’s deep voice clipped tersely.

“My God.” Yasmin was still whispering, this time in shocked horror as Jack watched Miles break away from Belle but he held her close to his side as he guided them their way. “He’s going to eat her alive,” Yasmin finished.

Her words were Jack’s thoughts precisely.

Jack didn’t move as Miles and Belle walked the short distance. Only his eyes cut to Belle who was looking at Yasmin then she looked away not even sparing Jack a glance.

“Jack!” Miles greeted him with a handshake even though this was rude. Any gentleman knew he should greet Yasmin first.

However, he wouldn’t have called Belle’s attention immediately to Jack if he had demonstrated good manners.

And called it he did. Jack watched as her head moved and she lifted her eyes to him.

Fifteen feet away, Jack thought she was a knockout.

Two feet away, her stormy grey eyes on his, she was phenomenal.

“Belle, I’d like you to meet my brother, James Bennett. And his girlfriend, Yasmin Delacourt,” Miles introduced them.

She lifted her hand for him to shake rather than her cheek for him to kiss.

For some reason this irritated Jack to an irrational extreme. Such an extreme, it brought him to the point of action.

Therefore, when his hand closed around hers, it did it powerfully and he used it to pull her closer to his body. Taken by surprise, she came up to her toes then over, moving toward him and lifting her hand at the last minute, bracing herself by resting the champagne glass she held against his arm.

He put his other hand, which also still held his glass, to her waist and he bent his head. He brushed his lips against her cheek at the same time he smelled her subtle, complex perfume. Instead of releasing her and letting her pull away, he lifted his head and looked into her eyes.

“Belle,” he murmured.

“James,” she murmured back, her eyes caught on his for the briefest second before they moved over his shoulder, her hand tugging at his, her body tense and trying to move away.

“Jack,” he corrected, his hand in hers pulling her closer, his other hand curving slightly around her back so she was, effectively, in the circle of his arm. Their hands held between their bodies, her br**sts nearly, but not quite, close enough to brush his chest.

Her remarkable eyes skittered back to his.

“I beg your pardon?” she whispered.

“My friends call me Jack,” he told her softly.

Her eyes grew slightly wider and her mouth parted deliciously when she breathed, “Oh.”

His eyes locked on her lips.

With an intensity that startled him, Jack felt the urge to kiss her. This urge was so intense, his hands on her actually tensed as if to pull her closer just as she leaned in slightly. His gaze moved to hers and he saw she was also staring at his mouth, her face soft, her eyelids heavy, her desire to be kissed was written on her features in unconcealed temptation.

Good f**king God, he thought right before she was pulled away by Miles and Jack lost hold of her.

Miles positioned her firmly and pointedly at his side.

This sudden movement surprised her and her head came up, her expression cleared of desire and she looked charmingly cross for a moment before she was able to control it.

This almost made Jack laugh, however the scheming yet annoyed look Jack caught on Miles’s face wiped away all thoughts of laughter.