BENNO SAW the flames long before he was halfway to the Lord house. He only hoped someone else in town had been so observant and had called the fire department. The high winds would fuel the fire which would then spread like anything. He drove as fast as he dared up the winding road.
A torch against the midnight sky, the house on the cliff lit his way.
Praying that Sydney wasn’t inside, Benno cursed himself bitterly for letting her out of his sight. He should have known she would do something desperate. She’d acted so odd after they’d made love that he shouldn’t have trusted her to have the good sense to stay put.
The next second Benno was castigating himself for his trying to make Sydney into some child who needed to be told what to do. She was a woman.
The woman he loved.
He’d only loved twice in his life. Nissa was long gone. Sydney couldn’t die, too.
If she did, he’d have another death on his conscience. He shouldn’t have encouraged her to go looking for trouble. He should have insisted on that private detective instead of tearing around the countryside with her. He was a jinx, no good to any woman. That’s why he’d never looked for love. Sydney had just happened to him.
Let her live, he thought fiercely. Let Sydney be somewhere safe.
He hadn’t been able to save Nissa, but he’d be damned if he’d watch Sydney die. He’d save her somehow. And if she never wanted to be near him again afterward, he wouldn’t fight her. He would be content that she was alive.
He hadn’t asked for much on this earth. Surely he was due one favor.
But as he pulled up the drive, Benno spotted Sydney’s car and he knew she was still inside. He didn’t see how she could survive when the entire house seemed to be wreathed in flames. He couldn’t give up. Wouldn’t. He would find her and bring her to safety if it was the last thing he ever did.
Benno jumped out of the car and wavered for a second, unsure of which direction to take until he heard Sydney’s screams.