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“All right, don’t wander around for too long,” she said. “The ball is only just getting started.”
The guilt he felt for lying to her wasn’t as strong as he knew it should be. It was overshadowed by the urge to see Hannah. As he made his way through the doors he came, Stephen let that urge consume him until it was all he could feel.
* * *
He hadn’t shown up today. Potent disappointment came over her in dizzying waves and Hannah struggled to keep herself from sinking into sadness. It was madness being so affected by only one man, a man she hadn’t known had existed a week ago. She was not going to let herself despair just because the entire day had gone past and he had not come to see her.
Hannah hated the hope she held in too while they had supper. The Stanton family decide to have it in her room again since Stephen was not around to carry her downstairs and Robert’s bad back made it impossible for him to try. They were their usual amicable selves and if they thought that something was wrong with Hannah, they didn’t say anything about it.
Once supper was over, she realized that she had held on to that hope for nothing. She brushed down the sheets over her leg, listening to the bustle downstairs as the Stanton family began to wind down. Soon they would all be going off to bed and Hannah would have to go to sleep knowing that she had waited the entire day for a man on the foolish belief that he was falling for her.
Those kisses must have rotted my brain.
The bitter thoughts did nothing to dim the displeasure, even though she knew that he had his own life.How can I expect him to come see me every day?
The bustle seemed to grow louder. Hannah settled down into the bed. If she went to sleep then she wouldn’t have to suffer with her troubled mind any longer.
Footsteps neared. Hannah closed her eyes. She didn’t feel like talking. Whoever that was, they would think that she was sound asleep and leave her be.
The door opened. She didn’t move. Footsteps drew closer. She could sense someone standing right over her.
“Your eyes are fluttering.”
Belle’s eyes shot open. Stephen stood above her, grinning.
She nearly sat upright and resisted the urge. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you, of course.” He sat in the chair by her bed.
Belle sat up slowly, taking him in. He was in a large overcoat that covered everything he was wearing underneath. And…he no longer had his beard.
As impossible as it seemed, Stephen had become even more handsome without it. She’d seen his lips clearly now and the sight of them had her toes curling beneath the sheets.
“It’s late,” she said dumbly.
Stephen’s grin widened. “I know. But I did say I would stop by as often as I could, didn’t I?”
“You could have simply waited until tomorrow.”
His smile faltered. “Would you rather I leave right now then?”
“No!” she said quickly. “I mean…that’s all right. It wouldn’t make any sense for you to leave now when you’ve already come all the way here.”
When his smile returned full force, Belle gave him her own.
“You shaved your beard,” she pointed out.
Stephen rubbed his jaw and chin. “I thought it was time I got rid of it. It was making me look a little too scruffy.”
“It was very fitting,” she said, and when she realized how bad that sounded, she hurried to rephrase. “I only mean that you looked very handsome with it.”
“So, I don’t look handsome without it?” he asked with a crooked brow.
Belle sighed. “No, of course not. With or without the beard, I think you look handsome.”
“Is something wrong, Hannah?”
“Why do you ask?”
