Moth to the Flame Read Online Free PDF Page A

She had, however, found a good friend in the girl who was rooming next door to her, Emily White, a gregarious, out-going girl from Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
    Luckily for Alicia, Emily had very quickly seen through the charade of pretty little rich girl, to the dreamer with shy personality which lay beneath, and had automatically taken Alicia under her wing. No sooner had Alicia got in and dumped her case on the floor than the door burst open behind her. The girl who erupted through it was tall, ginger-haired and wildly waving a hockey stick. Her watery blue eyes widened. ‘Oh it’s you,’ Emily panted. ‘I thought you’d gone home for the weekend. When I heard someone moving about in here I thought you had burglars.’
    Alicia laughed. ‘I did go home for the weekend. But no one was there . . .’ Her explanations trailed off as she spotted a movement behind her friend’s shoulder in the open door way. Her eyes widened, then she blushed. Vividly.
    Emily had not been alone, it seemed. She’d always had a succession of boyfriends, which had at first surprised Alicia but now only amused her. Yet it still made her feel embarrassed about her own virginal state, when Emily so obviously had the modern-woman scene down pat. And the latest of Emily’s men was . . . well, frankly he was gorgeous.
    Once again her eyes strayed to the stranger in the doorway, and Emily, spinning around, suddenly laughed. ‘Oh. Right . . . er . . . ?’
    â€˜Jared.’
    â€˜Right, Jared. I forgot about you. Sorry, you must think I’m mad. When I bolted for the door like that. I mean, it’s just that I knew no one should be in here, so I thought I’d come and investigate the noises.’
    â€˜So I gathered.’ He stepped further into the room, shutting the door behind him, and his presence suddenly filled the small room. He was much taller than Alicia, who at only five-feet-four found most people towering over her. He had masses of nut-brown hair, which framed his head in wave after wave of healthily shining richness. His eyes were of a similar rich darkness. Like melting chocolate. His chin had a slight cleft.
    Alicia felt her breath catch. Emily gave a swift double-take, looking from Jared to Alicia then Jared again, and began to grin, her freckles glowing. ‘Alicia Norman, this is Jared . . . ?’
    â€˜Cowan.’
    â€˜Right. Jared just dropped by to ask if I’d be interested in helping him set up the Easter Play.’
    Alicia blinked blankly. Seeing her confusion, Jared shrugged and smiled. ‘At the end of every Hilary Term the St Bede’s Drama Group put on a play in the theatre. This year, for my sins, I’ve agreed to set it up. Somebody told me Emily here had had a bit of previous experience in theatre work, and since I needed all the help I could get . . .’ He shrugged again, his eyes glued to Alicia’s expressive face.
    â€˜Oh,’ Alicia said, and Jared saw her glance at her friend nervously. She was everything he’d expected of her, seen close up, and more, and he could feel his heart start to thump in his chest. He sternly told himself not to be ridiculous.
    She was way out of his league.
    Jared had first spotted her last term, apparently along with the rest of the male population of St Bede’s. It hadn’t been hard to milk the grapevine for relevant details, and what he’d heard hadn’t been encouraging. Her family was strictly top notch, with old money connections and literary pretensions. For a working-class boy from Bicester, whose elder brother was currently in jail for burglary, and whose parents were frankly bewildered by their younger offspring’s foray into the world of academia, it had not encouraged Jared to make any moves in her direction. He didn’t need anyone looking down her nose at him. Even a nose as shapely as hers.
    He’d been walking across the croquet lawns when he’d first seen