Page 93 of Secrets of the Marriage Bed
‘Fire!’ someone yelled.
She looked up to see flames running along the floor catching straw on fire, little sparks and smoke dancing in the air.
‘The lantern,’ Luke shouted.
Isobel was backing away from the flames. ‘You idiot,’ she screamed. ‘You have ruined everything.’ She started reloading her pistol.
Luke rushed to Alistair’s side and knelt down.
‘Stay away from him,’ Julia said, her heart pounding with fear.
He glared at her. ‘We have to get him out of here.’ He grasped Alistair under the arms and began dragging him. Smoke was all around them. Flames licking at her skirts. Heat. Thor squealed and kicked at the walls of his stall.
Luke glared at her over Alistair’s inert body. ‘Run. Trust me, I won’t leave him.’
She saw truth in his eyes, the agony of loss, and ran for the faint patch of daylight already disappearing in a veil of black smoke.
Outside, she fell to her knees her eyes streaming, her throat burning. Gasping and coughing, she fixed her gaze on the open doors and the smoke billowing from within.
Where were they? Had she made a terrible mistake in trusting Luke? Moments seemed like hours and then Luke, carrying Alistair over his shoulders, staggered out. Behind him, Thor was screaming.
Luke turned to go back in. His mother came out of the smoke. ‘Don’t.’
He shook her off and, wrapping the cravat around his face, ran back inside.
‘No,’ his mother howled. ‘No. My son. The Duke.’ She plunged into the building.
Julia on the ground beside Alistair, pressing a handkerchief to his wound, could only stare in shock. A moment later, Luke bent double, his cravat now covering Thor’s eyes, came running out of the barn. He led the horse into the paddock, removed the blindfold and the panicky horse galloped off. Luke was staring all around him.
‘Luke,’ Julia called out. ‘Your mother. She followed you back inside.’
‘What?’ He strode towards the barn which was now a blazing inferno. Julia rushed to his side, held his arm when it looked as if he might try to dive in. ‘There is nothing you can do. Think of your sons.’
He sank to his knees. ‘Why did she do something so stupid? Blast it, she was safe.’
She put an arm around his shoulders. ‘She was never going to be safe.’
Eyes glittering in a soot-covered face, he gazed at her, then buried his face in his hands.
The heat from the barn was dreadful, even at this distance. And they needed to help the living. Now.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, patting his back. ‘But, Luke, we need to get Alistair up to the house. He needs a doctor.’
Servants came running—some from the house, others on their way home from the village inn. Without a word they formed a bucket brigade.
Julia sent one of the younger lads to fetch a doctor. Luke, with one last despairing look at the blaze, hoisted his brother over his shoulders and carried him up to the house.
* * *
Two days later, Alistair reclined on the sofa in the drawing room with an interesting bandage around his head, wondering where his wife had gone off to.
Not that he was worried she would gallop off to far distant climes. She had promised she would not. Not yet, at least. But she remained unhappy. And she had been gone a long time, having promised him a tisane for his headache.
The sound of footsteps in the hallway had him leaning back against the cushions. It seemed, from the heavy footfalls accompanying the lighter steps he recognised as Julia’s, that they had company. Dash it all, and they still hadn’t had a chance to talk. Now he was out of bed and dressed, he’d thought to have a discussion with her, lay all his cards on the table. And if she left him after that, he wouldn’t blame her. Indeed, he’d do everything in his power to make her life easy.
A hesitant Luke appeared in the doorway. His face showed relief when Alistair beckoned him in.
‘I won’t stay long.’ Luke turned his hat in his hands. ‘I wasn’t sure you’d see me despite what Julia said.’
