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“What…”
But before Eleanor could protest, Nathan had put his handkerchief over his mouth and nose and was running back inside.
Eleanor screamed. “Nathan!”
She tried to run after him, only to be grabbed and hauled away by Stewart.
“My lady, you need to keep back!”
“Let me go!” Eleanor wriggled, but her head was spinning from the exertion. She sagged in the footman’s arms. “Nathan!”
He couldn’t do that. The fire had taken hold of the house already. He and Bailey were going to be burned alive.No, not now. Please, not now.
“Come on, my lady.” Stewart eased her away. “Captain Reynolds will be fine. He’s fireproofed. Right now, we need to back away in case something else explodes.”
Something else explodes. Oh, God. Eleanor tried to get away again, but she had lost all strength. She could only allow Stewart to sit her on the curb, wrapping Nathan’s coat around her shoulders as she stared up at the building. Nathan couldn’t think he could get out of there. Bailey was a big, burly man. Nathan surely couldn’t handle him on his own. Could he?
After what felt like forever, time ticking away far too slowly, Eleanor saw a huge shape in the doorway. Several people gasped, and someone screamed. Then Eleanor almost burst into tears when she saw Nathan stagger out of the burning house, the hulking form of Bailey carried across his shoulders. Three men broke from the crowd, including Stewart, and helped to ease Bailey off Nathan’s shoulders and onto the ground. Bailey wasn’t moving, his face black with soot and his clothes singed. Stewart pressed his ear to Bailey’s chest. Then he looked up at Nathan and nodded.
Thank God. Bailey was alive.
Nathan’s shoulders slumped. He squeezed Bailey’s shoulder and said something Eleanor couldn’t hear over the noise. Then he hurried across the street to her. Eleanor reached for him, and Nathan knelt before wrapping his arms around her. Eleanor felt his embrace tighten as she buried her face in his neck, not caring if people could see them. He smelled of smoke, and the stench made her cough.
“Forgive me, I must smell awful.” Nathan drew back. “Bailey’s going to be all right. He was lucky.”
“But what about Leyton?”
“We’ll get him. He’s going to have nowhere to go once Simon and I have got things in order.” Nathan kissed her forehead. “Right now, my priority is to get you home.”
Eleanor was too worn out to argue. Home sounded like a good idea right now. She took Nathan’s hand.
“Will you stay?”
Nathan’s eyes glittered, and his hand tightened around hers.
“Try getting rid of me.”
* * *
Nathan’s lungs were burning, and his throat was still sore even after chugging down a jug of water. The stench of the smoke, and the taste of it, never got any better. There had been times when he had been fighting close to the cannons and he had ended up fighting with his eyes watering. He had a newfound respect for those who fired the cannons themselves; that seemed far more dangerous than being a foot soldier.
It seemed to have affected Eleanor as well. She was still rather pale, and she was shaking. But she was alive. That much Nathan was grateful about.
Once he got hold of Leyton, Nathan would make the cad regret going after Eleanor. He would make the man regret setting the house on fire to get rid of her. Leyton had to be out of his mind if he would set his own establishment on fire with the woman he loved inside.
But he had vanished. Simon and Nathan’s footmen had caught up with Nathan as Nathan was putting Eleanor into his carriage. Leyton had disappeared into the maze of houses, smoke still billowing from his clothes. Simon was still bewildered that the man had managed to get away from him after striking Simon with a poker; his face was still sporting a bright red streak along his cheek, barely missing his eye. Nathan had winced when he saw it.
Leyton had got some of his fighting spirit back, and he had run. Not for long if Nathan had anything to do with it. But Eleanor was his priority right now. He had taken her back to her house, where Baron Heavenly was beside himself not knowing where his daughter was. The older man looked like he was about to faint when Nathan came in, practically carrying Eleanor as she staggered. Then the baron had snapped into action, ordering Eleanor to be taken upstairs and for their physician to be sent. He didn’t even object when Nathan said he would be staying to know Eleanor was all right.
The two of them ended up in the study, not speaking for some time. Then when Heavenly had asked, Nathan told him what had happened. He thought the older man was going to collapse, going from shock to anger and back to shock again. Several times, he looked towards an empty-looking drinks cabinet with a woeful expression. Nathan remembered what Eleanor had said about her father’s drinking and began to wish he had done this in another room. But Heavenly managed to turn his back on the drink cabinet each time with a deep breath. He was resisting for now.
Nathan could only hope he stayed like this for now. Eleanor needed her father, preferably when he wasn’t drunk.
It was two hours after Nathan had brought Eleanor home that the door opened, and a servant beckoned for the Baron. Heavenly hurried across the room and ducked outside. Nathan rose to his feet, aware of the hurried whispers outside. Was Eleanor all right? She hadn’t taken a turn for the worse, had she? Nathan had witnessed soldiers who had succumbed to the inhalation of smoke, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.
Please, let her be all right.
Moments later, Heavenly came back into the study. He looked relieved, giving Nathan a smile. “Mr. Georgebright has just left. Eleanor’s with her maid now.”
