Seducing the Ruthless Rogue (44 page)

“Cassie!”
 
The only thing that greeted him was the snapping and sizzling of the wood.
 
“Dammit, Cassie, where are you?”
 
He yelled, coughing harshly.
 
Mack quickly searched all the ground floor rooms and found all of them empty of his wife.
 
Errant flames had begun to catch the furniture on fire on the lower levels.
 
Soon the house would be an inferno, and he refused to leave without Cassie.
 

Mack started cautiously up the stairs to look in their room once more.
 
Both the wall and bannister were alive with flames.
 
Several times he had to stop to slap out flames that tried to spark on his wet coat.
 
Just as he reached the top of the stairs, he heard a loud creak.
 
Mack dove into his bedroom just as a large, burning beam crashed under the stress of the fire.
 
He thought he heard a yelp, followed by hoarse coughing.

“Cassie?”
 
Silence greeted his ears.
 
“Dammit, Cassie, I’m not leaving without you!
 
Do you hear me?
 
We’ll die together!
 
Today!”
 
The sound of a cough greeted his ears once more.
 
Where is she?
he thought frantically.
 
He stood and moved further into the room.
 
He checked beneath the bed, and every corner of the room.
 

“Mack,” he heard her call his name.
 
He looked and saw that she had wedged herself in the fireplace.
 
Smart girl.
 
She was surrounded by stone and likely the fireplaces would be the only part left standing of this house.
 

“Cassie, I’m here,” he rushed over to her.
 
“We have to get out of here.”
 
Their eyes met, and he could see the look of horror in hers.
 
“Cassie, I’m not going to let anything happen to you.
 
You have to believe me.”
 
A loud crash sounded and a burning beam fell across the bedroom door, blocking them in.
 
He looked back at her.
 
“I’ll get us out of here, trust me.”
 
He held out his hand to her, and she reluctantly placed her hand in his, as coughs racked her body.

Mack helped her stand, and they moved across the room to the window.
 
This was one that had not yet exploded.
 
He quickly raised it and looked outside.
 
The rain continued to pour, but the thunder and lightning seemed to have lessened.
 
“Help me move the bed closer to the window,” Mack instructed.
 
She pulled while Mack went around to the other side and pushed.
 
“That’s good.
 
Take the sheets off the bed.”

Mack ran back around the bed, took the sheets from Cassie, and tied the two corners of the two sheets in a tight knot.
 
Then he got down on the floor and tied one end of the chain of sheets to the leg of the bed.
 
He stood and threw the other end out the window.
 

“You’re out of your bloody mind,” Cassie said, horrified.

He grabbed her upper arms and squeezed tightly.
 
“This is our only chance, do you understand?
 
Look,” he pointed towards the door.
 
“Everything is on fire and soon this area will be as well.
 
Do you want to be burned alive?
 
I hear it is one of the most horrific deaths known to man.”

Silent tears rand down Cassie’s cheeks.
 
“I hate heights and storms.”

“I’ll go down first and promise to catch you should you fall.
 
We don’t have any more time.
 
I’m going out that window, and you’re going to follow me.
 
Understand?”

“Yes,” she said.
 

Mack crawled out the window and lowered himself down the make-shift rope and to the ground.
 
He waited a few seconds, and began to panic when he saw no sign of his wife.
 
“Cassie!” Mack called her name when she did not appear directly after him.

“Coming!”

“What are you doing?
 
Get yourself out that window, right now!
 
Dammit, Cassie, I swear I’m going to beat you!”

“I said, I’m coming,” she yelled back, and he saw her lean out the window.
 
“I can’t do this.”

“Cassie, look at me,” he ordered.
 

She did.

“You can do this.
 
Don’t leave me alone with Chang and John.”
 
He watched her take a deep breath and start coughing uncontrollably.
 
She disappeared from the window.
 
“Cassie!”
 
Nothing, not even the sound of her coughing.
 
“Dammit, I’m coming back up!” He had to back up, run, and leap for the sheets.
 
He pulled himself up two feet when he finally heard her sweet voice.

“I’m coming,” she called.

Mack dropped to the ground once more and took several step backs.
 
She threw one pant encased leg out the window followed by the other.
 
He watched her shimmy out the window.
 
She hung there for a moment, flames on either side of her and above her.
 
“Remember everything that Chang has taught you.
 
You can do this.”
 
She slowly began letting herself down the rope Mack had made.
 
She had almost reached the halfway point when she dropped a little, not of her own accord.
 

“Mack!”

“The sheet must be coming loose.
 
Just slide down the sheet.
 
I’ll be here to catch you!”

Mack watched her slide.
 
Just before she reached the bottom the sheet came with her.
 
He caught her, falling backwards with her, but taking the brunt of the fall.

“Let’s get the hell out of here!” he yelled.

Chapter 24

The rain had lightened, but lightning and thunder still punctuated the air about them once in a while.
 
Mack had wrapped Cassie in his sodden coat and held her close the entire trip, feeling the tremors wrack her body.
 
Chang watched her worriedly from across the carriage.
 
The trio, having left John behind to deal with the insurance man and the fire brigade, arrived bedraggled at Hawkescliffe’s London house.
 

“Wait here,” Mack ordered the two of them and disappeared from the carriage.

“Missy Cassie, you all right?”

“I won’t lie, Chang, I’ve been better.”
 
A laughing sob escaped her.

“There, there,” he reached over and patted her leg just as the carriage door flew open.

“What’s wrong?” Mack’s stern voiced demanded an answer.
 

“Nothing,” Cassie sniffed and dashed at her watery eyes.
 
“Well?”

“Mikala almost beat me for leaving you in the carriage.”
 
Cassie gave him a smile that warbled to a harsh, broken sob.
 
“Chang, I’ll send a man to help you with the bags and to pay the driver.”

“Go, go,” the little man said, making a shooing motion with his hands.
 

Mack picked up his wife and carried her down the sidewalk towards the house.
 
Lightning faintly lit up the sky and thunder sounded far away, but that did not keep Cassie from squeezing his neck until he thought it might break. “Cassie, love, I can’t breathe,” he managed to croak out.
 
She loosened her grip slightly, but he could still feel the sobs that wracked her body and the tears that ran down his neck, mingling with the drizzly rain.
 
“Shhh,” he tried to soothe her.
 
“Everything will be all right.”

In response, she just sobbed harder.
 
He entered the house to hear his sister-in-law call, “Up here.”

“What’s going on?” Gabe’s voice echoed off the marble floor in the entry hall.
 
“What have you done to her?”

“Nothing.
 
Can you pay the driver and send a man to help Chang with the bags?”

“Bags?”

“Gabe, it’s all right,” Mikala said from above.

Mack did not stay to see Gabe give him a querulous look, but instead moved up the stairs with his precious burden in his arms.
 
He entered the room and looked nervously around.
 
Everything looked so pristine and they were both filthy and soot-covered.
   

“Put her on the chair.”
 
Mikala waved at a chair in the corner of the room.

“But…”

“It’s new and holds no sentiment.
 
Now set her down and leave her with me.
 
I promise I’ll take excellent care of her.”

Mack did as directed and knelt in front of Cassie.
 
He pried her arms from around his neck, and she looked at him, tears spilling down her cheeks.
 
“Mikala is going to help you with your bath.
 
I’m not going but down the hall to get cleaned up as well.
 
All right?”

She nodded, unable to speak.

Mack brushed a kiss on both her knuckles, then leaned in and gently brushed a kiss across her lips.
 
He tasted her tears on them, and he felt his gut clench.
 
He made himself stand, and he squeezed her hands before he let go of them.
 
As he turned to leave the room, he paused and addressed Mikala, “Take care of her.”

“I will.”

***

Mack was clean and in a set of Gabe’s borrowed clothes.
 
His boots were drying and they didn’t wear the same size shoes, so Mack was forced to walk around in stocking feet.
 
He went down the hall and heard water splashing, soft feminine voices and a lack of sobs.
 
He took it as a good sign and went in search of his brother.
 
He found him in the study and knocked on the door.

“Mack, come in.
 
Can I get you something to drink?”

“I could use a whisky,” the man who seldom drank requested.

Gabe poured them both a drink and then walked over to his brother and handed him the glass.
 
“Let’s have a seat, and you can tell me all that happened.”

Mack threw back the liquor and enjoyed the slow burn down his throat to his gut.
 
He rested his elbows on his knees and rolled the empty glass back and forth between his hands.
 
His mind kept replaying his frantic search through the house looking for Cassie.
 
Then when he waited outside and it seemed forever when he finally saw her throw a leg encased in a pair of his pants through the window.
 
“I think we ruined your carpet,” he mundanely said.

“Easily remedied,” Gabe replied.

“Sir Graham’s been murdered.”

“You jest.”

“No, Gabe, it’s no joke.
 
Sir Graham was shot sometime last night in his workshop.
 
I took Cassie to see the body—she insisted.
 
We returned home, and the storm happened.
 
She was just telling me how I should look into terminating our marriage because she feared for my life.
 
Told me she is ready to disappear.
 
Then there was a lightning strike so bright and thunderclap so loud that I thought the skies were falling down around our ears.
 
The lightning hit the house.”

“And?”

“Gone, or I assume it’s gone.
 
I left John behind to deal with the insurance men and the fire brigade.
 
Has he arrived yet?”

“No.”

“Chang?”

“Cleaning up and being fed.”

“Thank you.”

A timid knock sounded on the open study door.
 
Gabe’s butler stood in the doorway.

“Yes?”

“Mr. Bartlett has asked to speak to Mr. McKenzie.”

“Send him in.”

The man entered shortly after the butler left.
 
Mack stood and placed the glass on his brother’s desk.
 
“Well, John, how bad is it?”

“Your Grace,” he bowed towards Gabe before turning and addressing Mack.
 
“A total loss, sir.
 
Everything is gone.”

“I had guessed as much.”

“The insurance man said he would be by here or your office tomorrow.
 
His name is Williams.”

“Thank you, John,” Mack walked over and took the man’s hand in a firm grasp and slapped him on his upper arm with the other.
 
“Now, go get cleaned up and get something to eat.
 
You look like hell.”