The Road to Scandal is Paved with Wicked Intentions (The May Flowers Book 6) by Merry Farmer

Author:Merry Farmer [Farmer, Merry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-09-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

If Danny hadn’t fallen asleep so quickly and thoroughly after what was absolutely the best experience of love-making he’d ever had in his life, he would have seen the ominous orange glow through the uncurtained windows of his bedroom.

“Fire?” He dragged himself into full wakefulness, in spite of his body urging him to stay nestled under his covers with Phoebe, and leapt out of bed. Instead of rushing to answer Umbridge’s banging on his door, he flew to the window and peered out, craning his neck toward the front of the building and his beloved pub across the street. “Dear God.”

Not much was visible from his bedroom window, which looked out on a side street, but even without a clear view, he could see the flickering orange and red, and when he threw open the window, he could smell the acrid stench of smoke.

“I’m coming!” he shouted to Umbridge. “Stay here,” he ordered Phoebe, whirling back into his room and lunging for his wardrobe. The fancy ball things that were scattered across the floor of his room would never do for the mission he was about to embark on, so he wrenched open his wardrobe and put on whatever clothes came to hand, regardless of whether they went together or not. He cursed every long second it took to put his shoes and socks on, but as soon as the laces were tied, he leapt away from his bed and Phoebe—who had a look of determination in her eyes that he wasn’t sure he liked as she got up and gathered her ball things—and dashed into the main room.

Umbridge was pacing the hallway anxiously when Danny threw open the door. “It happened suddenly,” the man said as Danny charged down the stairs with him. “Bob had closed up less than an hour before. The place was empty, thank God, but the way it all went up so swiftly.”

“The flats above the pub,” Danny said, voicing his deepest concern. “Did the people get out in time.”

“As far as we know, they did,” Umbridge said. “Which is all on Bob. He hadn’t gone to bed yet and smelled the first of the smoke. Says he saw four men running away from the place too.”

Dread clenched Danny’s gut as he and Umbridge shot out of the building of flats and into the street. Men running away from the scene of a fire meant arson. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind.

His stomach lurched at the sight that met him. The street was bright as day as flames engulfed the entire building housing The Watchman. More than one fire brigade had already arrived—although it looked as though they had only just arrived and were still in the process of unfurling their equipment to pump water from the tanks on their carts—and lines of people with buckets had already formed in an attempt to douse the conflagration and protect the buildings to either side. Already, the fire looked as though it would catch on those buildings, potentially destroying the entire side of the street.

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