Page 14 of Just One Look

“I need to make sure everyone is all right.” Glancing over his shoulder, he looked left then right and pulled the car over to the curb.

The concern in his eyes would have been obvious to any idiot. Though she had no idea what he could do that the firemen and EMTs weren’t already doing, she nodded and unfastened her seat belt.

“No. You stay here.”

“If there’s anything I can do, I want to do it.”

Already standing outside the car, he tapped the roof and nodded. “Thanks. I’ll be back in a minute.”

From where she stood, she saw him cross the barricade the emergency vehicles had set up, and a fireman with a walkie-talkie at his mouth stop him. There seemed to be some vehement words as arms moved and pointed and chins jutted forward. Reaching into his breast pocket, Devlin waved his wallet in the man’s face. Suddenly, the wide ranged arm motions stopped and the fireman turned his back to Devlin, pointing in a different direction.

Apparently, there were more perks to being a Baron than she’d figured on. What else was there about the Barons, especially Devlin Baron, that she didn’t know about?

Not that he could replace the firemen or the EMTs, but Devlin was a Baron, and sometimes, that made things happen faster or more effectively than they might under ordinary circumstances. Promising the captain he would stay out of the way, the man finally gave in and told Devlin that everyone had been evacuated safely, and pointed to where they were being triaged on the other side of the fire trucks.

Looking back to where he’d left the car, he could see Liz on her feet, straining to see what was going on. Bless her, she’d stayed back as he’d asked her to, but he couldn’t leave her there and check on what he wanted to. Trotting back to the car, he grabbed for her hand. “Come on. It looks like everyone’s out, but I still want to see for myself they’re all right.”

Slamming the door behind her, she hurried after him, matching her gait to his longer one. Deep down he knew he should slow down, but he needed to make sure Stuart and all his staff were safe and had all they needed.

Hurrying around the cluster of firetrucks, he ducked behind the first EMT truck. A woman sat on a stretcher, inhaling oxygen, with one EMT monitoring her while his partner checked another woman sitting on the floor. The lady on the floor seemed to be in better shape than the woman with the oxygen mask. “Have you seen Stuart?”

“He was the last one out.” The girl, probably in her early twenties and a newer server since Dev didn’t recognize her, pointed over her shoulder. “He’s being difficult.”

That’s just one of the things Devlin was afraid of. Forcing himself to walk at a reasonable pace, he didn’t let go of Liz’s hand. He had no idea if she cared or not, but right now he had a singular focus and didn’t want to add worrying about Liz to the list.

“Is that him?” Liz waved her free arm near another EMT truck.

Lifting his gaze in the same direction Liz pointed, he spotted a tall male figure shouting and waving his arms, clearly giving the EMT a hard time. “Yep. That’s Stuart.”

He’d taken one step, maybe two, when he heard shouting and spotted the firemen hurrying away from the building as a loud crunching sound echoed around them. Looking up at the old restaurant, the flames shot up higher than he’d ever seen. A boom followed the crunch and bursting flames, and in the blink of an eye the roof collapsed.

There was no mistaking the echoing sound of a male voice, probably the captain, shouting for his men to report in. One by one he heard the muffled voices of men identifying themselves. Another moment and there was more frantic yelling, a hose shifting to pour water at a different spot, and another few breathless moments and two firemen came out the doorway under a rush of water, one leaning heavily on the other.

Dev could almost feel the sigh of relief embrace him as more firemen ran and the one man, pulling away from his partner, limped over to the waiting EMT.

“Oh, thank god.” Shaking her head, Liz pressed her lips tightly together before facing him again. “It’s a miracle no one got hurt.”

“I was just thinking the same thing.”

“I’m fine, damn it.” Stuart’s voice climbing over the hum of noise around them snapped Devlin’s thoughts away from the building collapse and back to the scramble of restaurant staff.

“Stuart,” Devlin called out as he and Liz trotted over to him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I need to get to the hospital.”

“That’s what we’ve been telling him,” the EMT fighting with him shouted over the noise around them.

“Not me.” Stuart practically growled at the man. “They’ve taken half my people to the hospital.”

“Just as a precaution. There are no serious injuries, except for your arm. Now will youpleaselet me take a look?” The EMT reached for Stuart’s right arm.

The fabric was torn and it was clear his arm was badly burned. That had Dev’s gaze drifting to Stuart’s other arm. The shirt also torn, his hand had less severe burns. “What the heck happened?”

“I had to get everyone out. Sarah was petrified. Literally. She stared at the flames in the storage room and wouldn’t move. I had to douse us in water and practically carry her out.”

“And then he ran back in to make sure no one was left behind.” One of the regular waiters that Dev recognized came to stand beside them.

“How ya feeling, Tom?” Concerned with his employee, Stuart forgot about the EMT and let the guy check his arm and his vitals.

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