Belle - Lesley Pearse [80]
That evening in the dining room with Etienne, Belle felt oddly lightheaded because she’d become resolved about her future. It was warmer, and she’d put on a lighter, pale blue taffeta dress which she’d been given in Paris and hadn’t worn before because it had been too cold. It was very pretty, with white lace ruffles on the bodice and sleeves, and she’d put a blue ribbon in her hair to match. When Etienne offered her some red wine, she accepted it eagerly for it was all part of moving on to her new way of life.
‘You seem different tonight,’ Etienne said as he poured it. ‘You aren’t planning to bolt the moment the ship docks tomorrow, are you? Only New Orleans is a very dangerous place for an unescorted young lady to be.’
Belle giggled. ‘No, I’m not going to bolt. That would be silly. I’m feeling better about everything now.’
He smiled, and put his hand over hers on the table. ‘I’m glad of that. You know I will do everything I can tomorrow to make sure they understand how special you are.’
Etienne went out on deck to smoke a cigar after dinner, and Belle went down alone to their cabin and lit a candle to undress by. She realized that she was just a little tipsy, but she liked the feeling, just as she’d liked the touch of Etienne’s hand on hers.
As she started to unbutton her dress she was thinking of what it would be like to be kissed by Etienne. Not a kiss on the cheek, but a real grown-up one on the lips. The thought made her feel all hot and shaky.
She glanced at his bunk, and suddenly she knew she wanted to be in it, with him. With trembling fingers she undid the remainder of the buttons and stepped out of her dress, then took off her boots. Her two petticoats came next, falling on to her blue dress in a white froth. She paused then in her chemise, drawers and stockings, wondering how much more she should remove. She liked the chemise, it was the one which had been given to her in Paris, soft white cotton with pin tucks and rows of lace around the low neckline. Decided, she whipped off her drawers and stockings, threw all her clothes up on to her bunk, and climbed into Etienne’s.
Her heart was thumping, every nerve, muscle and tendon braced for his return, but fortunately she didn’t have long to wait before she heard his familiar footsteps coming along the corridor.
The cabin door opened and he came in, then stopped abruptly as he saw her in his bed. ‘Now, what are you doing there?’ he asked. ‘Too tipsy to climb on to the top one?’
She liked that he hadn’t assumed she was in his bed to be with him. ‘No, I’m in here because I want your arms around me,’ she whispered nervously.
He took off his jacket and hung it on one of the hooks at the end of the bunks, then he knelt down by the bunk. ‘Beautiful Belle,’ he sighed. ‘You are enough to tempt even the most holy of men. But what makes you do this? Are you practising being a temptress? Or maybe you think if you do this I won’t be able to take you to the house tomorrow?’
‘I know you will still have to take me,’ she said, a little daunted by his concerned expression. ‘But Lisette said to me in Paris that if I found a man I really liked, I would change my mind about it.’ She didn’t know what word to use, she couldn’t bring herself to use the word sex, or fucking, and if there was a less graphic word she didn’t know it.
‘With a man you really like it is called making love,’ he said, leaning forward so his face was very close to hers. ‘I am flattered that you like me, Belle, I never met a young girl I liked more than you. I will hold you and kiss you but that is all, for I have a wife at home who I cannot be unfaithful to.’
He leaned still closer and his lips met Belle’s, touching them with the softness of a butterfly’s wings. Belle’s arms came up to hold him and his tongue flickered into her mouth, making a little tremor run down her spine.
‘How was that?’ he said teasingly. With only one candle alight she couldn’t see his face clearly. But she reached out her