Chapter Twenty-Four

Henry saw the plume of smoke rising into the sky and broke into a run.

The streets behind him were gridlocked, carts and carriages trapped in place with nowhere to go, what with traffic being directed away from the fire at the Fairfax factory.

Henry had simply jumped out and begun to walk.

He’d gone to Jonathan and Louisa’s house first, determined to talk to Eleanor right away. He was told that she’d gone running out of the house, and they didn’t know where she’d gone.

Henry knew, though. Heart pounding, he’d climbed back in the carriage and immediately requested to be taken to the Fairfax offices.

Which were, it seemed, on fire.

The workers were clustered in front of the building, talking frantically. Flames were licking out of some of the windows, smoke pouring out.

A man that Henry recognized as the factory foreman came hurrying over, face white.

“Miss Fairfax is up there,” he gasped, pointing up at the highest floor. “She came in just an hour ago. I didn’t see her come down, but the fire bell started ringing up there.”

Henry sucked in a breath. “Someone needs to get to her.”

“I tried, your lordship! The stairs are ablaze.”

A cold chill ran through Henry’s heart. He swallowed hard, trying to stay calm.

A problem-solver. I’m a problem solver. I can do this.

“Which is the window to her office?” he asked, scanning the front of the building. There was a drainpipe running down. He could climb it. He could. Maybe.

“That one,” the foreman pointed.

Henry squinted through the stinging smoke. The wind was blowing the smoke towards them, and his eyes were already watering. The window the foreman pointed out was open, smoke pouring from it, but no flames yet.

And then a figure in the crowd caught his eye .

It was the man from before, the man with the patched coattails. He was watching the blaze with a half-smile, and Henry sucked in a breath.

“Stop that man,” he gasped, pointing.

The man met his eye across the crowd and paled under his layer of grime. Abruptly, he turned and fled, disappearing into the throng.

“What man?” the foreman asked, frowning. “I didn’t see him.”

“A dirty-looking man with patched coattails. He’s been watching this place, I’m sure he was. If this fire wasn’t an accident. He…” Henry took a step towards the place where the man had disappeared. He could chase him down, and probably catch him.

But what about Eleanor?

Swallowing, he glanced up at the burning building.

No .

Wordlessly, he stripped off his jacket, and handed it to the foreman.

“Your lordship?”

“Hold this. I’m going to climb.”

Without waiting for a response, Henry took a run at the side of the building, jumping up to grip the edge of a window frame. He hauled himself up, already six feet off the ground.

He could hear people shouting up at him and about him.

“What are you doing, sir?”

“Somebody get him down!”

“It’s dangerous.”

“Somebody stop him!”

“Sir! Come down!”

He ignored them, diligently pulling himself up and up. He didn’t look down, not even when he passed the first floor. It was choked with smoke, but as far as he could tell, the fire was confined to the next floor up.

He made the mistake of looking down, and the cobblestones swam far below.

No, no, no, he thought, wincing.

He hauled himself up further. The window was barely ten feet above him now, smoke billowing .

A little further still, and then Henry curled his fingers around the window frame. His instinct was to call for Eleanor right away, but he didn’t have the breath for it.

The heat struck him in the face when he pulled himself into the window. The room was full of impenetrable smoke. Choking, he pressed his arm across his face.

Where was she? He couldn’t see a thing and knew instinctively that any shouts would go unanswered.

Clenching his jaw, Henry slid into the room. The heat was intense, and the door was groaning menacingly, searing heat building behind it. In a moment, the door would crack open, and the fire would come spilling through the room and out of the window.

And then they’d both be dead.

“Eleanor!” Henry called, voice cracking. Already he felt dizzy from smoke inhalation.

Not daring to take his hand away from the window in case he couldn’t find it again, he felt around for an arm or leg.

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 tremendous whoosh , 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 the ground, 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 pr omised 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. I love you, Eleanor.”

***

“I just… I just want you to know that I love you. I love you, Eleanor.”

She struggled to find a response. Eleanor really did feel weak, her limbs like wet paper, her head pounding.

He loves me.

He’s not rich.

His father took away what ought to have been his, too.

Those ideas seemed ridiculous, and both at once… she pressed a hand over her mouth, smothering a gurgle of laughter.

Henry bit his lip, eyeing her nervously.

“If this is too much, Eleanor, tell me at once, and I’ll never speak of it again. I swear it.”

“I want you to speak about it again,” Eleanor gasped, more laughter bubbling up. “I want us to run the business together, money or no money. I love you too, you stupid man. I love you!”

Before Henry could respond, she lurched forward and kissed him, to the absolute horror of the people gathered around them.

When she released him, Henry looked like a rabbit cornered by a cat.

“Sorry,” she said, a little subdued. “That was… that was improper. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

Henry bit his lip, glancing around.

“We could always blame it on being light-headed. We did just inhale a lot of smoke, after all.”

She broke out in a smile. “I can’t work out whether I’m thrilled because I’m alive and you love me, or whether I’m just delirious from the smoke.”

Henry considered. “It could be both. And for what it’s worth, I intend for us to share the business. I always did. I’ll sign documents proving it before we’re married, if you like.”

She smiled, giddy as a child. “With the two of us working together, London had better watch out.”