Chapter 19
Or rather, he was cheating on the strict standards Jade had set. Not about intercourse. Belle wasn’t about to let him go all the way without that oval ruby engagement ring and diamond wedding band she was constantly nattering on about. But he had become a party to Belle’s defiance of the “No Señor—No Monsieur” policy.
Instead of going to the library or the movies, as they told Jade they were doing, they would sneak over to the manor house to drop off a little memento of Belle’s affection for Señor or to Belleville for afternoon tea with Monsieur, whom Belle called “the Grand Pear,” after grand-père. He looked like a pear, all right, a prickly one—short, bottom-heavy, with a pointed nose and half-glasses he used to look down on everything and everyone, save for the French food
