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He sneezed

“Oh!” She nearly leaped out of her skin “You’re alive!”

“Unfortunately,” he said, trying to sit up and groaning aloud with pain “What the hell happened?”

“I think Hal hit you” She sounded breathless “He and Jed are gone, but they’ve set the building on fire”

He could ser They probably didn’t have ainst her as she also stood up She gasped Visions of Jed hitting her, too, filled his pounding head An icy rage flooded him

“What is it?” he demanded, more shaken by the possibility of her injuries than his own “Are you hurt?”

But her voice was strong “Just a bruise By the way, they bolted the door when they left We’re locked in”

Sebastian began feeling his way over the fraainst it, kicking hard, but it didn’t do ave hiain This ti of the wood The third ti drunkenly onto the landing

Downstairs was a chaos of flames and smoke

Francesca started to cough He caught her hand in his and squeezed it hard, to gain her attention “Followdown the stairs, feeling the heat of the flames as the fire licked at the banister Sparks landed on the eyes he ran for where he thought the door should be

Fortunately Jed hadn’t thought it necessary to lock it, and they staggered out into the night, gasping in the cold, fresh air

He spied the horse trough on the opposite side of the yard and, dragging Francesca protesting after hie his head into it The water was icy, but it did the trick He was alert again, and thinking He shook hi

“Your head…” Francesca atching hi eyes, her face flushed and streaked with soot

He reached up cautiously and discovered a tender lump at the back “It’s too hard to break,” he said wryly “He must have hit me with the butt of the pistol”

She shuddered and half turned away, and that hen he realized the heht, she’d be alight Burning He reached out and grabbed her