Lucky Stars (Ghosts and Reincarnation #5)(40)
Author: Kristen Ashley

Then she spent a good deal of time deciding what to wear.

Since the weather had been quite warm and sunny, she decided on a violet-coloured cotton sundress that she designed. It had an empire waist, a deep v-neck with a ruffled trim and a slight a-lined skirt that hit a couple of inches above the knee. She paired this with silver, flat Capri sandals with a rose at the toe.

Although the deep v-neck was slightly risqué, it was a sweet Audrey Hepburn type of outfit and everyone knew Audrey Hepburn was no hussy.

As she approached the door to the dining room, she saw movement down the hall and stopped in the door to watch Jack walking toward her.

Clearly her efforts at dillydallying had all been for naught.

He had a sleek, black mobile phone to his ear that looked like something George Jetson might own. He was wearing charcoal-grey trousers with an elegant pinstripe, a crisp, light blue shirt and a black, midnight blue and grey patterned tie was hanging loose from his opened collar.

His eyes were on her.

She felt a trill race up her spine that ran along her scalp and made her shiver.

She realised she’d frozen when he stopped close and put a hand lightly to her waist.

Only then did she understand her mistake. She should have been cool, calm and casual and given him a jaunty wave before entering the dining room.

Instead, she’d stood gawking at him like a lovesick teenager.

Proof positive that she lost her sanity around Jack.

“Right,” he said into his phone, his eyes never leaving hers. “E-mail it. I’ll be in the office this afternoon and we’ll discuss it then.”

He flipped his phone shut without saying good-bye and his gaze travelled the length of her.

When his eyes came back to her face, he asked softly. “One of yours?”

Belle, who had fallen into a Gentle Jack Trance, nodded.

“It’s lovely,” he murmured on a small smile.

“Thank you,” she murmured back and saw his smile deepen.

She was staring at his mouth, her own lips parted, her eyes glazing over, her body starting to lean into his magnetic pull when she heard her grandmother’s call.

“Morning kids!”

Belle’s body jerked and she snapped out of the trance. As she did this, she saw Jack’s mouth go tight and his head turned to look in the dining room.

Belle turned too and she saw everyone there, including Yasmin. And all of them were watching Jack and Belle like they were viewing an awe-inspiring, award winning play.

“Yasmin,” Belle smiled at the other woman shyly. She hadn’t seen her since that awful morning and she hoped her reaction to Belle being pregnant with Jack’s child and living at The Point would be a far sight better than Miles’s had been. “It’s lovely to see you.”

Yasmin responded as Jack’s hand moved to the small of Belle’s back and he guided her into the room.

“Not as lovely as it is to see you. After the drama and the resulting media brouhaha, I thought I might be persona non grata at your shop. Now, seeing as Jack got you up the duff, I can come shopping anytime.”

Belle did a little stutter step at her words and heard Joy emit a soft giggle, her mother laughed outright but her grandmother was glowering at Jack’s hand at Belle’s back.

Jack pressed more firmly into her back, his warm body got protectively closer and he led her to the empty chair to the right hand side of the head of the table. He pulled it back for her and she sat in it, looking up and over her shoulder at him as he assisted her with pushing it back in.

Then she watched him seat himself at the head of the table.

Then she recognised she was falling into another trance so she shook herself out of it and looked at the table.

Everyone was watching her again.

She realised she didn’t reply to Yasmin and belatedly, she said softly, “You’re always welcome at the shop.”

“Goody,” Yasmin smiled. “I’m coming today. I hope you’re stocked up because I got my allowance from my trust fund last week and I can’t ask Daddy for a supplement unless I use every last penny.” She turned to Gram. “I do that every month. It drives Daddy insane.”

“I bet it does,” Gram mumbled but she was grinning.

“Well, he was practically absent during my childhood. He was two hours late to my first wedding because of some urgent meeting. And he didn’t show at all at my second wedding because someone was doing something in Geneva that he had to sort. A monthly supplement soothes the pain,” Yasmin blithely replied, her words meant to be amusing but Belle heard the hurt under them and her eyes slid to Jack.

Jack was watching Yasmin, a look of tender concern on his handsome face and at the sight of it, Belle’s stomach did another sweet, little dip.

Then his head turned, he caught her gazing at him, she felt the warmth hit her cheeks and she immediately looked down at her place setting.

“Belle,” he called and her eyes went to his ear.

“Yes?” she asked.

He didn’t speak for a moment then he said quietly, “Poppet, look at me.”

With some effort, her eyes met his.

And he didn’t look annoyed or impatient.

He looked amused and affectionate.

It was a good look.

She licked her lips.

Then he enquired. “What did you do with my dogs?”

“Your dogs?” she asked, forgetting entirely that he had dogs, that she liked his dogs, that she spent a good deal of time with his dogs and she also forgot her first name.

“Baron and Gretl?” he prompted, his mouth twitching. “I left them in your room this morning.”

She gave herself a mini-mental shake and told herself to pull it together.

“Yes, of course, um… I let them out.”

“Did they eat?”

“Eat?” she parroted stupidly as she’d again lost the thread of the conversation because she’d become fascinated with watching his mouth form words.

“Yes, eat,” his mouth said then he grinned.

She tore her eyes from his mouth and muttered, “No, I didn’t think of that.” Her gaze lifted to his eyes. “Do you want me to go do that now?”

He shook his head but looked like he was trying not to laugh. “No, love, you don’t have to feed my dogs.”

“Okay,” she whispered and for some reason this made him chuckle.

Belle hadn’t heard his chuckle in a long time and she forgot how very much she liked it.

Elaine, the housekeeper, came in at that point and as Belle and Jack ordered their breakfasts, Belle decided it was a much better plan to engage someone else in conversation before she made an even bigger idiot out of herself.