His fingers brushed over a smooth cheek, and Henry almost cried in relief.
Eleanor.
He longed to try for a pulse, but there was no time. He was getting weaker by the minute, and once the fire burst into the room…
He swallowed, not wanting to think about that. Henry hauled her over to him, manhandling her over his shoulder. She was worryingly limp.
Worry about that on the ground.
He gingerly eased them both over the window frame, and began the slow, torturous descent.
It was a hundred times harder to go down. Henry’s strength had been spent on the mad climb up, and he had Eleanor’s weight to think about now.
He was barely halfway down when there was a tremendouswhoosh, and tongues of fire shot out of the window. People in the courtyard cried out. Henry gritted his teeth and kept climbing.
He all but fell the last few feet, but was caught by half a dozen arms, the foreman among them. Henry collapsed to theground, coughing and spluttering. A mug of water was pressed into his hand, and he gulped it down eagerly.
Eleanor, pale and silent, was laid out on the cobbles.
“Is she… is she…” Henry gasped, choking on his own words.
“She’s breathing,” the foreman said, sighing with relief. “Somebody send word to Mr. Fairfax and his daughter, quick as you can.”
Eleanor groaned, eyes shifting under her lids. Henry shoved aside the mug of water and crawled towards her. Around them, now that it was clear that neither of them was dead, people were turning their attention back to the burning offices. Flames were licking out of every window, now.
“Eleanor?Eleanor!” Henry groaned. “I thought you were dead.”
Her eyes opened, and they were cloudy and unfocused.
“I have a sore throat.”
“I’m not surprised,” he murmured, smiling weakly. “How do you feel?”
“Weak. How did I… what…” she trailed off, taking in Henry’s soot-stained clothes and face, the smoke coming off him in wisps. “You saved me.”
He smiled. “Of course I saved you. I’m in love with you, you absolute fool.”
She swallowed hard. “I… but I was so unkind to you.”
He shuffled closer. His legs had gone to jelly, so he was obliged to slide himself over the cobblestones instead.
“I don’t care. I’ll leave the business if you want me to do that.”
“No, you mustn’t. Papa’s going to leave you fifty-one percent.”
Henry blinked. “Oh. Well, that’s irrelevant to me. Look, Eleanor, you must know something about me. You think I’m a rich man. I’m not.”
She frowned, propping herself up on her elbows.
“I don’t understand.”
“My father’s will was specific. To get my share of the inheritance, I have a year to marry. He was a cruel man, he… oh, that doesn’t matter. I want you to know that I don’t care about it. William and Katherine are going to give me the investment I promised for the business, and if you want me to prove to you that it’s you I want, not the money, I will wait until the year elapses before we marry. I just… I just want you to know that I love you. Iloveyou, Eleanor.”
***
“I just… I just want you to know that I love you. Iloveyou, Eleanor.”
She struggled to find a response. Eleanor really did feel weak, her limbs like wet paper, her head pounding.
