Belle - Lesley Pearse [242]
Lisette leaned forward and kissed Belle on both cheeks. ‘The bad times are over for both of us now,’ she whispered. ‘You brought me Noah, and I hope you will soon see Jimmy is the one for you.’
Almost three hours later after a hearty meal and a great deal of wine, all the wedding guests accompanied Mog and Garth to the station to wave them off on the train to Folkestone. Mog looked like a fashion plate in a cream costume with a peplum waisted jacket and a straight skirt which just skimmed her new brown patent leather ankle boots with a small heel. Belle had made her cream felt hat with a plaited band of cream and brown ribbon.
As the train pulled out of the station, all the guests dispersed, mostly on to the other platform to await a train back to Charing Cross.
Jimmy and Belle walked back to the Railway Inn to pay off the caterers whom they had left clearing up.
‘It will be strange going back to Lee Park alone,’ Belle said as they walked out of the station. ‘I’ve got so used to Mog being there all the time.’
‘I think Annie hoped you’d ask if you could go back with her,’ Jimmy said. ‘She looked a bit forlorn when she said goodbye.’ Annie had left earlier, as she had to make dinner for her boarders.
‘I don’t think it was that, she was a teeny bit jealous of Mog. But wasn’t it lovely of her to make the shop happen for me?’ She’d told just about everyone about it during the wedding breakfast, and apart from her own delight it was good to be able to show her mother in a more flattering light.
‘No more than you deserve,’ Jimmy said. ‘You won’t know yourself, having so much room to make hats in. They are beginning to take over Lee Park!’
Belle had begun hat-making in earnest about six weeks ago, and with half a dozen sitting on blocks and boxes of trimmings and other materials piled all around, the living-room looked like a workshop.
They walked into the pub to find the caterers ready to leave. Jimmy paid them and thanked them for everything, then locked the door behind them.
‘Help!’ Belle made a pretend-horrified face. ‘I’m alone with a man!’
‘And I’ve locked the door,’ Jimmy said with a leer. ‘Now I’m going to ravish you.’
‘Please don’t, kind sir,’ she said, running out into the kitchen. ‘I’m just an innocent maid, and if you ruin me, who will have me?’ she called back over her shoulder.
He came running after her and caught her in his arms. ‘Unhand me, sir,’ she said.
She knew he was only playing, but his arms around her felt so right that her body just moulded into his and she put her hand on his neck, drawing his head down to kiss him.
His lips were tantalizingly warm and soft, and as the tip of his tongue flickered against hers, she felt a surge of desire she hadn’t expected. One kiss went into another, then another, and time seemed to stand still as they devoured each other.
It was Jimmy who broke away first. He was flushed and breathing heavily. ‘And you, maiden, must unhand me,’ he said, ‘or take the consequences.’
‘And what might those be?’ she asked, smiling coyly at him.
‘You will have to marry me.’
His offer to marry her months ago on the day out to Greenwich had been made lightly, and he’d said nothing more about it since. Since she and Mog had moved into the rooms in Lee Park and only saw Jimmy and Garth on a Sunday, Belle had really missed Jimmy, but she refused to believe he could ever be more than just a good friend.
But now, in the light of how his kisses had made her feel, she was no longer so certain of that.
‘I love you, Belle, I always have,’ he said softly. ‘I met other girls while you were away, but they meant nothing, you were the one that was always on my mind. But it’s time I walked you home now, I dare say we’ve both been affected by the wedding and drunk too much, and I’m not going to make a bigger fool of myself by pestering you.’
‘You aren’t making a fool of yourself,’ Belle said. ‘Just kiss me again before we leave.