Page 12 of Fortune’s Final Folly

Grabbing the key from Kate, Joshua jammed it into the lock and twisted with such force that he worried the key would break in half. Despite it being rusted from disuse, it began to turn before halting.

Suddenly, Kate was at his side, attempting to help with the door.

“The key,” he warned. “It’s stuck.”

“It has to open.” She clawed at the door, utter terror distorting her face, her breaths leaving her in short, labored huffs. “We need to get out.”

Joshua stared around the darkened room for anything he could use to smash the key loose. He spotted the thick cane the vicar had used in his final years to help him walk the block between the parish and the schoolroom. It leaned against a wall, untouched by the blaze.

With both hands, Joshua moved Kate away and grabbed the cane, holding it over his head before he brought it down. The blow dislodged the metal, and Joshua turned the key, pulling the door open. He could feel the flames eating through the walls at his back, threatening the room in which they stood. Thankfully, the knob did not scorch his palm. Though in his haste, Joshua was not confident he’d have noticed if it had.

Their path was clear, and their freedom stood on the opposite side of the threshold.

Joshua pivoted back toward Kate, but she no longer stood there.

She’d crumpled to the floor in a heap, her nightgown covered in dust and soot. Her breathing was labored, made extra difficult by her exertion in trying to find the key and helping with the lock.

There wasn’t time to stop, no time to think—only react.

Joshua lifted Kate into his arms and pushed through the door and into the alleyway that extended in both directions. Smoke followed them outside. Sirens blared in the distance.

An alarm must have been sounded to call the fire brigade.

Joshua hurried down the alley to the narrow passage that would lead back to the main street and his office, Kate still held tightly to his chest. He needed to summon a physician to make sure she hadn’t inhaled too much smoke or had been burnt anywhere.

“My home?” she asked, lifting her head from his chest. Panic and disbelief narrowed her eyes as she attempted to gain sight of her schoolroom.

“The brigade is on the way,” Joshua soothed, hurrying down the passageway until he arrived at the main street, in the exact location he’d spotted Cuttlebottom disappear down earlier. A line of men, armed with buckets, had formed in the street leading down to Vicar Elliott’s old parish and the closest well for fresh water. Man after man transferred buckets full of water down the line until Joshua spotted his driver and stable hand at the front, attempting to stop the fire.

“Chapman! Chapman!”

His driver turned sharply. When he spied Joshua, he thrust his bucket into another man’s hands and hurried over. “M’lord. Ye building was locked up tight. We sent a lad fer the brigade but wasn’t certain where ye be.”

More men arrived to help put out the fire as Joshua continued cradling Kate. His driver removed his jacket and covered the woman’s exposed legs.

“She needs to be seen by a physician,” Joshua said. “Have Elmer fetch Dr. Brown and meet us at the townhouse.”

“Right, m’lord,” Chapman called over the shouting men. “I’ll tell Elmer and meet ye at the carriage.”

The water engine rumbled down the street, and men set about pumping the water that fed the long hoses with a steady stream of liquid. The streets were filling quickly with onlookers; the gossip mill already turning as people spied him, clutching Kate to his chest as they watched the fire slowly being extinguished.

“M’lord.” Chapman hurried back over. “We need to take Miss Kate away from the smoke.”

Her body trembled in his hold as the evening chill soaked through her thin nightgown and the coat his driver had laid over her. The fright had turned her skin clammy, dispelling the warmth from the fire.

Joshua hurried toward the passageway that led to his stables and his waiting carriage.

He deposited Kate on the seat across from him and fumbled to remove his jacket so he could wrap it around her shivering form. Her eyes were closed, but he sensed that she was awake.

“The brigade will have the fire out soon,” he whispered, adjusting his driver’s coat to cover her bare feet. “Just rest. Deep breaths.”

He sat opposite her, watching her chest rise and fall as her breathing slowed. He gently brushed the hair from her face. Her nightcap had been lost somewhere in their haste to free themselves from the building.

He’d been right to be worried about Kate and her safety. Could Cuttlebottom have set the fire? Indeed, he’d been angry, but enough to jeopardize Kate’s life?

“Thank you, Joshua,” she mumbled, her eyes remaining closed. “My father was correct about you.”

“Shhhh,” he called, sitting back as the carriage started for Cavendish Square.