danger?'
'Don't you see, John? If you put yourself in danger, you might as well be putting me in danger? It's the same thing.' John didn't see, but he didn't want to deal with it while she was lying all warm and soft in his arms. 'Didn't you say that you wanted to forget about our problems for a few hours?' he reminded her softly.
'Yes, I guess I did. But it's hard, isn't it?' John's hand strayed to the abrasion on his arm where a bullet had grazed him earlier in the week.
'Yes,' he said darkly. 'It is.'
Chapter 16
Morning came all too quickly, and Belle soon realized that she was going to have to return home. She pulled on her clothes quickly, still not quite able to believe that she had sneaked into John's room the night before. She'd certainly never thought of herself as the reckless, daring type. She sighed to herself, supposing that women did desperate things when in love.
'Is something wrong?' John immediately inquired, pulling a white shirt over his arms.
'What? Oh, it's nothing. I was just thinking that I never want to climb a three-story tree again.'
'Amen to that.'
'Not that getting up the tree was so dreadful. But inching along the branch to your window-'
'It doesn't matter,' John cut in firmly. 'Since you won't be doing it again.'
His concern for her was so plain that Belle forgot to be outraged over his high-handed behavior.
As they quietly made their way through Da-mien's house, Belle wondered at the wisdom of their walking back to her home by themselves while their enemy remained at large. She mentioned her worries to John when they reached the front steps.
John shook his head. 'He strikes me as the cowardly type. More likely to move under the cloak of darkness.'
'He attacked me during the day,' Belle reminded him, stubbornly halting in her tracks.
'Yes, but he used hired thugs, and also you're a woman.' John could see that Belle was about to make a protest at being dismissed so casually, so he added diplomatically, 'Not that I think you're less than capable, but you must know that most men wouldn't see you as much of a threat. Besides, there is no reason he'd be up and about this early in the morning. Why should he wait out here if I'm probably going to be in bed for several more hours?'
'But he might have seen me last night. And then he'd know that you would have to take me home.'
'If he had seen you last night, he would have grabbed you.' The thought sent a shiver of fear through John and strengthened his resolve to put an end to this episode as soon as possible. His chin set determinedly, he took Belle's hand and led her down the steps. 'Let's be on our way. I'd like to get you home before noon.'
Belle took a deep breath of the crisp air. 'I don't think I've ever been out this time of the morning. At least not on purpose.'
John offered her a rakish grin. 'And would you say it was on purpose that you're out now?'
'Well, maybe not exactly.' She blushed. 'But I had been hoping…'
'You're shameless.'
'Perhaps, but you'll note that this story has a happy ending.'
John's thoughts turned to the mystery man who had attacked them both. 'Unfortunately, this particular chapter has not reached a conclusion.'
Belle sobered. 'Well, a happy middle, then. Or whatever it is one calls the part right before the climax.'
'I rather thought we climaxed last night.'
Belle's cheeks reached unparalleled heights of pinkness. 'I was speaking in literary terms,' she muttered unnecessarily.
John decided to stop torturing her and shut his still smiling mouth. After a suitable interlude, he asked, 'Do you think Persephone will have risen yet?'
Belle frowned and looked at the sky, which was still pink and orange with the last stripes of dawn. 'I'm not certain. She's a strange bird. I never know quite what to make of her. Besides, I'm rarely up at this hour, so I wouldn't know if she's an early riser.'
'Well, for your sake I hope she's still abed. The only thing she could really do is insist that I marry you, which wouldn't be a problem because I plan to do exactly that and with all possible haste. All the same, I'd like to avoid screaming and swooning and all that female nonsense.'
Belle gave him a sharp look at the 'female nonsense' comment and muttered, 'I imagine that Persephone and I will manage to comport ourselves in a manner so as not to offend your masculine sensibilities.'
John's lips twitched. 'See that you do.'
Belle was spared from further comment by their arrival at her front steps. She had had the foresight to bring a key with her the previous night, and they slipped silently inside. John immediately made as if to leave, not wanting to create a scene.
'Please don't go yet,' Belle said quickly, placing a gentle hand on his arm. Amazingly, none of the servants had witnessed their clandestine entrance. 'Wait for me in the library. I'll run up and change into something more suitable.'
John regarded her masculine attire with a smile and nodded as Belle scurried up the stairs. She stopped on the landing, looked back down with an impish grin, and said, 'We have much to discuss.'
He nodded again as he saw himself into the library. He trailed his fingers along the spines of the books until he found one with an intriguing title and plucked it off the shelf. He browsed through it lazily, not paying much attention to the words. His thoughts rested stubbornly on the fair-haired angel just upstairs from him. What on earth had possessed her to climb a tree to his third-story window? Not that he was displeased with the results, but still, he'd kill her if she tried something like that again. He sighed as his body grew warm, not with desire but with contentment.
She was his. He still wasn't certain how it had all come about, but she was his.
Belle reappeared dressed in a pale pink frock which brought out the natural rosiness of her cheeks. Her hair had been hastily pulled back into a loose knot which, while no one would mistake the style for fashionable, was at least presentable.
John raised a brow at her speedy transformation. 'Only five minutes, my lady. I am stunned… and impressed.'
'Oh, come now, it's not that difficult to get oneself dressed,' Belle said.
'My sisters could never accomplish it in less than two hours.'
'I suppose it all depends on how badly one wants to get where one is going.'
'And did you want to get where you were going very badly?'
'Oh, yes,' Belle breathed. 'Very badly.' She took a step toward him, and then another and another, until they were quite close. 'I think you've made a wanton out of me.'
'I certainly hope so.'
Belle noticed that his breathing had grown slightly ragged and smiled. It was nice to know that she could affect him the way he did her. 'Oh, by the way,' she said offhandedly. 'It usually does take more than five minutes for a lady to get changed.'
'What?' John's eyes had glazed over with desire, and his mind absolutely refused to comprehend her statement.
Belle turned around. 'The buttons.'
He sucked in his breath as he gazed at her smooth white back, laid bare by her gaping dress.
'Would you mind?' she asked softly.
Wordlessly, John slipped her buttons into their buttonholes, his fingers straying to her warm skin at every possible occasion. When he reached the top one, he leaned down and dropped a tender kiss on the fragrant skin of her neck.
'Thank you,' Belle said softly as she turned around. Every nerve ending on her neck and back felt as if it had
