Belle returned with a new glass. Setting it on the table, she joined him on the sofa but gave him some safe distance.

"Let me do that," he offered to pour some wine for her before doing so for himself.

He saw her lift the glass to her lips and waited patiently for her to have the wine. His hands felt clammy as nervous guilt took over him.

Belle gulped all of her glass content in one drink. She reached for the bottle to pour herself another glass, she had no trouble ...