23

H ow long he stood there on the side of the road he didn’t know, but a sudden movement near the back of the remaining ambulance caught his eye.

Blair! She was all right.

He covered the distance between them in a matter of seconds, reaching to take her into his arms and to confirm for himself that she was okay. Her face was smudged with soot, her clothes also, and the indentation of an oxygen mask on her face left him in no doubt she’d been in terrible danger not so very long ago.

Blair batted away at his hands as he sought to touch her. Shoving hard at him when he tried again to hold her.

“How could you?” she rasped, her voice raw and tears tracking pale lines down her face. “Was this what you meant when you said you’d make me stop working? Was it?”

She was hysterical with grief.

“Blair, no. How could you think such a thing? I would never do something like this to you. Never,