“Nae. Water won’t help,” Fiona said over the crackle of the flames. Sitting at each side of the bench were four metal buckets filled with sand. “Take that one,” she said to Edward, pointing toward the end closest to the door. She hefted a bucket on the other side, dumping the sand across the base of the flame. The movement sprained her hurt wrist and she winced. She grabbed a second bucket as Edward, following her lead, grabbed his own, throwing the sand at what remained of the fire. Within seconds it was out.
Fiona sagged against the wall, bent over, hands on her knees, her loose hair falling in front of her face. She heaved in breath after breath, not sure if she was winded from the run or from the panic at seeing her work on fire.
Her work. Good God. She was meant to be presenting to Lord Chester in a week and a month’s worth of work had gone up in flames.
“Are you all right?” Edward asked from the other side of the bench where he, too, was dragging in deep breaths.
She slid down the wall until her arse thwacked on the floor. Her hands rested on her drawn-up knees. “Fine. You?”
He nodded. “Fine.” He looked at the debris on the floor, the shattered glass, strewn sand, and puddles of chemicals. Then he looked at her bare feet, a frown appearing.
He crossed to her, bending down on his haunches to examine the soles of her feet.
“Truly, I’m fine,” she said, drawing them away.
He cleared his throat in the I’m-not-actually-listening-to-you manner that drove her mad. “Fetch MissMcTavish a pair of slippers and a bandage,” he said to one of the footmen standing by the door, whose mouth was agape with astonishment.
“I dunnae need a bandage.” There were only a couple of cuts on her feet and they were tiny. They’d already stopped bleeding.
He sighed. “A fresh handkerchief then.”
The footman nodded and tried to exit with his eyes still fixated on the scene in front of him, which was why he collided with William as Will barreled into the room. Charlotte, wrapped in her dressing gown, was close on his heels.
“What the devil was that?” William asked as he straightened from the collision. He looked at the charred wall and sand-covered workbench, and then to Edward. And then to Simmons. And then to Fiona, his eyes widening as he took in her state—hair loose from its wig, in a thin shirt, collar open, cleavage no longer bound. “Again. What thedevil?”
“Surprise?” she said weakly.
“Finley?” Will asked.
“Fiona, actually,” Charlotte said, her tone superior. No doubt she had interrogated the staff the moment she returned from the ball to find out just who the woman she caught kissing her brother was.
“Youknew?” William looked more affronted at his sister’s knowledge than he had at the sight of Fiona’s deception exposed.
“Youdidn’t?” Charlotte asked, as though she’d known all along and hadn’t, in fact, found out only a few hours earlier.
“I think I need to sit down.” William staggered to the chaise longue at the other end of the room and collapsed into it, fingering a hole in the fabric where glass from the explosion had lodged into the arm. He dug out the fragment and held it up to the light, Simmons having lit the lamps in each corner of the room.
Charlotte joined him, looking at the walls closely as she moved. “The wallpaper is ruined. We’ll need to redo this room.” She sat next to her brother, spreading her skirts out neatly, and looked expectantly at Fiona and Edward.
Technically, this debacle was Fiona’s fault. She was the one who’d dressed up and then failed to reveal herself to the siblings when she met them. But she was going to let Edward handle the situation. That’s what he liked, wasn’t it? Control of a situation?
The sardonic look he gave her called her a coward. “The emergency is over,” he said to his staff. “Everyone as you were.” He crossed to Fi and took both her hands in his to help lever her up off the floor. The footmen trailed out, Simmons closing the door as he left.
Fiona dusted off her pants and readied herself for the inevitable interrogation.
“You’re a girl,” said William.
“I am.”
“But you came with me to White’s.”
“I did.”
“And we played hazard.”
“We did.”
“And…you’re agirl?” He fixed his eyes on Edward. “And you knew?”
