Beauty's Cursed Beast Read online

  Adam’s throat had gone dry, but he snapped to life when he saw Belle shiver, and wrap her arms around herself. “Lucien, fetch two bathrobes from my bedroom. One for me, and one that might fit my nurse.”

  Lucien bowed, casting Adam a relieved look that he was making an effort to think of others. “Very good, Master.” He blew on the fire, coaxing the flames higher, and then scurried out to do Adam’s bidding.

  “I’m sorry,” Belle said, still unable to look at him. “All my things were in my suitcase, which is in my car, covered in snow by now.”

  Adam shifted to the left and pulled the comforter off her bed, crooking his finger to her to beckon her forward. “Here. Until the bathrobe comes.” He wrapped the thick warmth around her body, rubbing her arms through the downy fabric as she shivered before him.

  She glanced at his leg with a frown. “I was working my way down to the cut on your thigh next. Can you take off your pants, or do you need help?”

  He stood and unbuttoned his pants, bending, but stopped short when he winced. “Actually, yes. Would you mind helping me with these? The cut on my leg is starting to itch, and I’m freezing.” He narrowed his eyes to his staff. “Out.”

  The staff obeyed, shooting each other gleeful looks of anticipation.

  17

  Bathrobes and Bedtime

  Belle shut the door, leaving them alone with Simone, who closed her doors to give them the appearance of privacy. “Hold still.”

  Belle set the comforter back onto the bed, shivering as she unzipped his pants. Though she’d helped hundreds of patients undress before, she was acutely aware of just how exposed her breasts were to public view. She was careful as she bent down and peeled off his pants, discarding them in the bathroom where her ruined scrubs rested in the sink. She tried not to think about his navy cotton boxer briefs and raised her chin with the air of professionalism.

  When she turned to come back into the room, her vision blurred, and she grabbed onto the doorjamb to steady herself, closing her eyes.

  “Are you alright?” Adam asked, not holding back his worry.

  Belle held up her hand to stop him from getting up. “I’m fine. Just hit my head, is all. I have an inner ear issue that sometimes acts up and messes with my balance.”

  Adam had the comforter wrapped around his hairy shoulders. “Come here and warm up.”

  “Your leg is cut. I have to fix it.”

  “My leg can wait until you don’t look so dizzy. Sit with me, Belle.” He opened the blanket, taking in her hesitance as she stepped closer, glancing toward the door to make sure it was shut.

  Both of them sighed with contentment that ran deep when Belle sat next to him on the mattress, allowing him to drape the blanket over her shoulders, leaving his arm to coil around her hips.

  The perpetual knot in his sternum began to dissipate when she moved to rest her head on his shoulder. He kept her wrapped in the warmth of the comforter, hemming her in so that he felt her breasts against his skin. Though he’d been positively icy minutes ago, finally he began to thaw, his knees weakening when her unsteady hand reached up to stroke the fur on his broad pectoral. Moments like these had long since been considered extinct by him after he’d been cursed, and yet, here she was, pressing her body to his and trusting him enough to allow him to warm her.

  “You’re an ice block,” he commented in a quiet voice. His hand rose to rub circles into her lower back, pressing her more tightly to him. He coveted the small of her back and didn’t bother chastising his hand when it found its way there.

  Belle’s body was pliable with weakness, but her voice was firm – exhibiting that strong softness that did him in every time. “I wouldn’t have been this cold if you hadn’t sent me out into the worst snowstorm this country’s seen in years.”

  Adam stiffened. “Those letters weren’t for you to touch. And now Rory’s read them all.”

  Though Belle was intent they would duke this out, she couldn’t bring herself to pull away from him. The hair on his chest was soft and thick, giving her something to hold onto while she shivered against him. “You left your mail on the dining room table, so I was bringing it up to you. I wasn’t trying to hurt you by helping.”

  “You shouldn’t have been in the West wing!” he argued, irate that she was sneaking in valid points.

  “Well, you should learn to control your temper!” she spat back, her cheek lifting from his shoulder so she could glare up at him.

  Adam took in her frustration and measured it against his own. He tilted his head to the side, unsure what to do with a roommate who stood up to him and didn’t cower to his temper. “Yes, well, I may have heard that a time or two before.”

  Belle dropped her anger a few notches and chuckled. “You don’t say.”

  When Lucien came into the room dragging a sack with the two bathrobes, the etchings over his eyes raised at catching the two in an intimate embrace. “Here you are, Master. I’m so glad you’ll be staying here, Belle. For the few hours you were gone, the sun didn’t shine at all.”

  Belle glanced down at Lucien with a sadness she tried to temper so she didn’t seem like a pouting child. “I’ll be here until the roads clear up, Lucien, but then I’m going back to the West Village.”

  Adam stiffened. “Will you stay out of the West wing?”

  “Only if I miss the sound of you yelling at me.”

  He released her from the shelter of the blanket and reached down to grab the sack. He pulled out an emerald bathrobe that was thick, fuzzy and softer than a freshly shorn lamb. Instead of covering himself first, he wrapped her in the robe, silently chiding the cold for making it a necessity to cover her up. He threaded her arms through and cinched the belt around her slender waist, smirking at the sight of her in his nightwear. He threw his sapphire robe over his shivering form and then brought her to his side again, missing the feel of her so close. “I want you to stay,” he whispered, his large hand again migrating to rest on the small of her back.

  “You yelled at me, and then you fired me. I’ve never been fired from anything before.” She pulled away and motioned to the chair. “Sit down, so I can look at your thigh.”

  Adam obliged, and Belle took in the wince he gave when he lowered himself slowly onto the chair. It wasn’t just the bites that had injured him. She knelt down between his knees and started cleaning the wound, rolling up the too-long sleeves on her bathrobe while she worked. Whenever a swoon hit her, she leaned against his undamaged inner thigh to steady herself until the world came back into focus.

  She didn’t look up at him, so Adam pushed out a confession. “Rory and Henry are my oldest friends. She’s the Chancellor’s daughter, Aurora Johnstone.”

  Belle nodded, but kept to her task. “I know of her. The cursed Sleeping Beauty and all that.”

  “Then you know the only thing that could wake her was true love’s kiss. We all knew Cordray would be the one who could wake her, but she was scared as the deadline drew nearer. She came to me and Henry and begged us both to try.”

  Belle’s eyebrows quirked. “You’re in love with her?”

  “No. I love her, but not like that. Not in a curse-breaking way. I told her as much, but she still wanted us to try. Henry went to her hospital room the day she fell into her coma, but he couldn’t wake her. Cordray had been kidnapped, so he couldn’t even try to wake her.”

  “I remember the headlines when he was found. Good strategy on Malaura’s part – going after the cure instead of the cursed.”

  Adam kept his eyes away from Belle, for the first time admitting aloud his fault in the fight. “I waited four months before going to see her.”

  Belle paused her stitching to glance up at him with a tightness to her mouth.

  “Don’t look at me like that.”

  “Like what? Like you’re a tool for standing up your best friend when she told you she needed you? For making her rot in that hospital bed for four months while you did friggin’ nothing about it? Why would she be mad a
t you for that?”

  Adam glared at her. “You act like it’s easy for me to go out in public. I don’t look like Henry, or whatever boyfriends you’ve got pictures of in your yearbook. Rory knows who I am; she shouldn’t have expected me to be any different. I told her it wouldn’t work, and it didn’t. I was right.”

  “You were wrong,” Belle countered, giving her words a few beats to sizzle. “What you did was wrong, and you know it. That’s why you’re being such a baby about it now.”

  “Do you want me to throw you out in the snow again?”

  “What was in the letters I mailed out?”

  Adam’s expression grew sour. “Nothing important, which is why I didn’t want them mailed.”

  Belle tied off the suture and moved unsteadily over to the desk in the corner, pulling out a pen and paper and scribbling out a few sentences. “Here. Call Rory up. Read this to her, and then sit quietly and let her yell at you.”

  Adam scanned the page and glowered up at Belle from his seat. “You must be joking.”

  “I’m not. I’m the nurse, and I say this is what you need. It’s my unofficial prescription.” Belle postured, trying to look commanding in the oversized bathrobe. “Call her, or I leave right now dressed in this.”

  “No, you won’t. You barely escaped frostbite the first time.”

  Belle leaned over to the nightstand where Lucien had deposited his cell phone. “How many people are you going to hurt with your pride? You already took Rory down. Who’s next?” She touched his wrist, pressing a Pulse of Discernment through him.

  Adam’s nostrils flared at her challenge. “You don’t understand. She won’t forgive me.”

  “Good. She shouldn’t. I don’t care if she forgives you; I care if you’re a good man. I care if you fight for the important things in life, rather than just plain fighting.”

  Belle held his gaze long enough that Adam began to see that she meant business. His eyes narrowed at her as he dialed the number he hadn’t called in far too long. “Get out,” he warned Belle, who didn’t heed his instructions.

  Instead she leaned in and pressed a kiss to his temple while the phone rang, sending softness rippling through him. Then she seemed to catch herself in the act, and drew back too fast, her balance suffering as the room shifted at a dizzying speed.

  “Easy, now,” Adam cautioned, reaching for her as she stumbled. Before he knew what he was doing, he pulled Belle to sit on his uninjured thigh, coiling his arm around her hips. “Rory?” he said, his voice husky. There were so many things he wanted to say to the friend he’d left high and dry, but his pride shut his mouth.

  “Adam? What’s wrong? Henry told me you couldn’t find Belle. Did you find her? Do you want me to drive down the freeway and look for cars on the side of the road?”

  Adam closed his eyes, and though he knew Belle was Pulsing Discernment through him as she draped her arm around his shoulders, he didn’t need her Pulse to clearly see the error of his ways. “I found her. She’s a little banged up, but we’re back home and warming up. But I didn’t call about that.” Adam’s mouth went dry, so he read from the script that Belle had written out for him. “I’m sorry, Rory. You’ve always been good to me, and I was terrible when you needed me most. I shouldn’t have waited four months to try and wake you.”

  The silence that stung the phone gave him pause until Rory finally answered. “Adam? Are you alright? Does someone have a gun to your head?”

  Adam chuckled, and the sound felt like a breath of fresh air to him. “No. But Belle might murder me if I don’t apologize to you. For leaving you in that hospital bed for four months. For yelling at you this morning. All of it.”

  He had meant to stabilize Belle by bringing her close, but it seemed he was the one who needed steadying now. He squeezed her tighter, only drawing a full breath when her body curved into his.

  Without hesitation, Rory rushed out a breathy, “Adam, I forgive you. I always have.”

  18

  Don’t be Cold

  Chef Bouche sent over stew, and Audra brewed them enough hot tea to warm their insides to the point of sleepiness. The two didn’t leave Belle’s bedroom, but brought over the desk to the middle of the room and dined there, relishing the fireplace that made everything feel cozy. The sun was just beginning to set, and after the craziness of the day, the two were ready to turn in early.

  “I should probably get some sleep,” Adam said, wincing as he stood.

  “I’m not sure where you think you’re going with your bum leg, but it’s certainly not up any stairs.”

  Adam quirked his eyebrow at her. “That’s where my bed is.”

  “Unless Lucien can carry you, you’re not going up any stairs tonight.” She pointed to her bed. “You can sleep here. I’ll take one of your other many bedrooms.”

  “None of them have been cleaned yet. And have you forgotten your own injuries?”

  Belle’s mouth drew to the side in a frown. “I’ll sleep on the couch in one of the living rooms.”

  He shot her a baleful look. “Hilarious that you think I’d allow you to sleep on a couch.”

  Belle’s eyes widened that he cared about such things. “What do you need from your room? I know you’re too finicky to let me up to the West wing, but Lucien can get you whatever you want.”

  “I’m already in my pajamas,” he observed, looking down at the soft pants and long-sleeved thermal poking out from his robe. He hobbled to the door and called for Lucien. “Can you bring me a book from the study? Something from Poe.”

  Lucien scurried off and Adam made his way to the bed, taking Belle’s help in stride when she braced him so he could move without hurting his leg further.

  “Feel like a good murder mystery tonight?” she asked of his book choice.

  “No, but you do. I don’t care one way or the other, but your favorite book is out in your car. Thought you might want to read something at least in the same genre before you went to sleep.”

  Belle blinked at him, pausing after she helped lift his legs so he could sit in the bed with his back against the headboard. She tucked the covers over his lap, unsure what to say of the considerate gesture. “Thank you. The thought of my book out there in the cold just kills me.”

  Adam tugged on the sleeve of her robe, bringing her face closer to his. He took a chance, coming off the high of his vulnerable moment with Rory on the phone, and spoke from his heart. “The thought of you out in the cold killed me. I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” He stared hard into her eyes, summoning up courage he didn’t normally care if he possessed. “I’m sorry.”

  Belle met his eyes with a hardness that wasn’t ready to let him off that easily. “You said Prince Henry only hired me because he liked my ass. Is that true?”

  Adam shrank, his chin lowering. “No. I was angry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

  Belle swallowed, fighting through the urges inside of her to punish him further for being so terrible to her. There were several weighted seconds that passed between them before she decided that being livid required more energy than she could muster that evening. “Okay, then. I forgive you.”

  “Good. Then get into bed. I’ll not kick you out of your own room. We can be civil for the night. Besides, no bedroom will be as warm as this one. The fire’s been going for a while.”

  Belle was hesitant, her heart fluttering as she moved into the bed next to Adam, settling against him as he leaned on the headboard. She didn’t know why she was so nervous, but she realized when his arm wound around her back to pull her closer, she didn’t want to be anywhere else. The fur on his arms was warm and drew her in like the most cuddly kind of teddy bear. It had been a long time since she’d indulged in comfort like that.

  When Lucien opened the door to deliver the book, Belle shot out of the bed with a guilty look on her features. “Nothing happened!”

  Lucien looked shocked to have found the two of them in bed together, and grinned at Belle with a bow. “Of course not, milady. Bac
k under the covers with you. I’ll not have the lady of the house freeze under my watch.”

  “No, no. I’ll go sleep in one of the other rooms.”

  Adam’s expression soured. “Of course. You don’t want anyone to hear you’ve bedded the beast.”

  Belle ran her hand down her face. “Give me a break. That has nothing to do with it.” Her eyes climbed to the ceiling in frustration. “It’s that I don’t want anyone to think I got my job back by sleeping with my boss.”

  Adam froze as his unwarranted snarl evaporated from his face. His eyebrows lifted in surprise as the corner of his mouth quirked upward. “That’s what you’re worried about?”

  “Obviously.”

  “Who’s going to tell?” He motioned to Lucien, who mimed zipping his lips. Then Adam gave a shiver and grinned up at her with a hint of innuendo. “Perhaps this is the wrong time to ask for a head-to-toe physical.”

  Belle kept her eyes glued upward as she pinned her lips together to fend off her embarrassment.

  “Are you… Are you blushing?”

  Belle touched her heated cheeks with chagrin. “Oh, shut up.”

  Adam’s laugh turned into a cough that rattled the bed. The sound was deep and had a bark to it that drew Belle toward him. She felt his forehead with a frown. “You’re feverish. That’s not good. Maybe we were out in the snow a little too long.”

  Adam flipped back the comforter on her side of the bed once his coughing subsided. “See that more tea is brought in while we read, Lucien.”

  “Yes, Master,” Lucien said, and then excused himself.

  Without a word, Adam extended his hand, gently guiding her to lay next to him. Her movements were skittish as her eyes darted around the room, but eventually she sank down onto the mattress.

  Adam’s eyes widened with faux surprise. “Why, Nurse Belle, are you sure this is the normal routine treatment for the sniffles? Do all your patients have to lie in bed with you?” He moved her hand to his taut pectoral and gasped. “Nurse! Where are you planning on putting that thermometer?”