The Personal Librarian

Belle quickly secures the da Costa hours by threatening to tell others that it may not have been created by Memling. She feels powerful as she flexes the respect and money working for J.P. gives her. She later meets up with Bernard, who is enchanted by her negotiating skills.

Belle and Bernard begin traveling through Italy as a couple. In Verona, they are powerfully moved by the art they see. When they return to their hotel, Jacques Seligman, a New York dealer who knows both of them, sees Bernard exit their carriage. Belle is forced to drive around the city to avoid detection. That night, she and Bernard have sex for the first time. Bernard cries out in another language—Russian, perhaps—when he climaxes. He refuses to tell her what the words mean. Belle shares that this is her first sexual encounter, a disclosure that shocks Bernard since he assumed her flirtatiousness meant she was experienced. Belle realizes that she and Bernard know very little about each other.

Bernard is a jealous man. When Belle begins writing one of her long work reports to J.P., Bernard accuses her of having a physical relationship with him. Belle teases Bernard by insinuating that he is correct.