Graham and Simon were laughing as they turned their mounts into the drive of Lady Opal’s small but fine London home. Graham couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so light. He loved Adelaide, he had reunited with Simon and if all went well, he could even find a way to manage Opal so that Adelaide could still have some family. But as they approached the house, his smile fell.
“That’s James’s carriage,” he said, pointing at the stable, where a carriage was parked. There were no other servants around it, but he recognized the crest and his friend’s driver leaning against the wheel as he smoked.
Simon looked at him. “Would James have a reason to come here? Perhaps to talk to Lady Opal as we’ve planned?”
Graham’s heart had begun to pound as the two men swung down on the drive. “No,” he said softly. “I don’t think it’s James who had the carriage take him here. I think it’s Adelaide.”
Simon looked up at the house. “By now we should have had footmen coming down, the butler opening the door. It’s awfully quiet.”
“Too quiet,” Graham agreed. “Damn it, I hope she didn’t come here by herself. Her aunt is…troubled.”
“Is she capable of hurting Adelaide?” Simon asked.
Graham nodded and his chest hurt. “Yes.”
“Come on,” Simon insisted, taking the stairs up to the door two at a time. “No time to waste.”
Graham passed him at full speed and didn’t stop to knock on the door. He pushed at it and growled as he found it locked. He leaned back and kicked, once, twice, and the lock gave way, throwing the door inward into an eerily quiet foyer that was thick with smoke.
“Christ!” Simon said, waving his hand. “The house is on fire! I’ll have James’s man call for the brigade, then I’ll come in to help you search.”
But Graham didn’t answer. He leapt into the hazy foyer, ducking low to try to get beneath the worst of the cloying, choking smoke.
“Adelaide!” he called out, panic gripping him. She was here. He knew it, he sensed it down to his bones. She was here and this fire was no accident, not if the lack of servants was any indication.
“Adelaide!” he screamed, choking as the smoke filled his lungs. He rushed up the stairs, though he had no idea if she was up or down. But the smoke was filling the space, and he knew it would rise before it fully took over the lower levels. His best bet was to start at the top and hope.
He came around the corner into the hallway at the top of the stairs and skidded to a halt. A fire had been set right in front of a door, and it licked up the walls and across the barrier.
Adelaide’s room. He could have bet on it. He rushed forward, stomping at the growing flames as he tried to reach the door.
“Adelaide!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.
For a moment there was silence, and then a weak voice on the other side of the door. “Graham! Graham, please.”
He gave no more thought to the flames, to the danger. Adelaide was in that room and he rushed forward, ignoring the searing pain as the fire licked at his clothing and his skin. He kicked this door as he’d kicked the other, and it flew open.
What he saw inside nearly stopped his heart. Flames crawled along the walls, and in the middle of the room, tied to a chair, was Adelaide. Her blonde hair was down around her face, there was a huge cut across her temple that left trails of blood through the soot from the fire. She lifted her head, her gaze bleary from smoke and her injury.
“Help me,” she whispered, her voice almost not carrying in the hot room.
He leapt to her, untying her from the chair before he gathered her up against his chest and ran through the room, where the beams above creaked under the weight of their disintegrating wood, through the flaming door that was hot as hell. He ducked low, racing down the stairs and out the front door where he took in a gulp of air.
Simon was already outside helping neighboring servants as they fought the flames with a bucket brigade. Graham rushed Adelaide away from the house and set her down on the grass beyond the drive gingerly.
“She’s not breathing!” he screamed as the truth of it became clear. “Help me!”
Simon dropped down next to him, staring at the motionless body of the love of Graham’s life. He looked as helpless as Graham felt. “Lucas wrote to me once,” Simon said, his gaze lighting up. “About sharing breath with an injured person. Put your mouth on hers and breathe into her.”
Graham lifted her, positioning his mouth over hers as he gently blew air past her lips. Once, twice, but she didn’t stir. Three times as tears stung his eyes, dripped down his cheeks.
“Please,” he begged before he gave her one last long gust.
To his pure relief, she coughed, turning her head as she gasped and dragged in great gulps of clean air. He collapsed down next to her, pulling her against him, pressing kisses to her bloody and grimy face as the fire burned behind them and destroyed everything but the most important thing in the world.
Adelaide turned her head, and an explosion of pain worked through her entire skull. She moaned against it, lifting a hand to touch her face. She found it tender and carefully opened her eyes.
She was lying in a bed, propped up on the pillows, and next to her Graham lay on his side, facing her. He was asleep. His cheeks were streaked with soot and his hand rested on her stomach beneath the blankets.
