Harlequin Historical: August 2022 Box Set 1 of 2 by Louise Allen

Author:Louise Allen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

It took almost three days for Frances to make up for the time she’d lost and when she eventually fell into bed on the third night, long after the clock had struck twelve, she was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Too tired even to dream, she lay perfectly still beneath the covers, dead to the world until something roused her groggily from the deepest reaches of sleep.

Unwilling to open her eyes, she wondered with vague irritation what had disturbed her. Even without looking she could tell the room was still dark, dawn hours away and her snug little bed as warm and comfortable as ever, and she was about to turn over and retreat back into unconsciousness when a movement at her feet made her sigh.

‘Ah. It was you, was it? Go to sleep, Gyp. It’s not time to get up yet.’

Pulling her covers higher, Frances waited idly for the dog to settle. It wasn’t like him to wake her, though, and when he pawed at her leg again, this time with a low, worried whine, she sat up.

‘What’s the matter?’

She peered through the darkness at the dog’s white face—darkness that somehow wasn’t quite as complete as it should have been. A strange glow peeped in at the edges of her curtains and before she’d even flown out of bed to rip them open she knew what it meant.

‘No!’

A cry froze in her mouth as leaping flames reflected in her bedroom window. The whole yard was lit by the fire raging from the stable at the far end. Smoke curled towards the sky, orange tongues dancing above the roof and the smell of burning wood filling the air, although Frances hardly noticed as she fled for the stairs, slamming her bedroom door behind her to keep Gyp from following. Distantly she heard him set up a howl but she didn’t stop, not even to throw on a pair of shoes as she ran barefoot through the kitchen and out into the blazing night.

‘It can’t be...’

She stood for a second, staring up at the glowing building with wordless horror squeezing her in a merciless grip. Silhouetted against the starry sky, the stable looked monstrous, its window like a single flashing eye daring her to come closer, and for a moment she faltered before its mocking glare.

What should she do? Anguish rising, Frances wavered, trying desperately to think clearly. Her first instinct was to rush inside and drag Apollo to safety but her legs felt like water, fear coursing through her veins alongside a ferocious kind of energy she’d never felt before. If she didn’t make up her mind soon it would be too late—but then she heard the sound that tore the decision from her hands.

She caught the horse’s screams even above the crackle of the flames, high and terrified, and turning her blood to ice. If she didn’t get him out he’d die alone, thrashing and burning until his last breath, and without another glimmer

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