Moth to the Flame Read Online Free PDF

her—hurrying through Becket Arch, dressed in the black-and-white ensemble known as sub-fusc. She’d been on her way to the First Year Matriculation Photograph session, which traditionally took place in the Fellows’ Garden. Even at a distance, the long black hair streaming out behind her had caught his attention. Her eyes, he noticed now, were china-blue, big and dark-lashed.
    â€˜I did a few plays at my old school,’ Emily was saying brightly. ‘The lead in the last one. You looking for a leading lady, Jared?’ she teased, and Jared dragged his eyes away from Alicia. He looked vague for a moment, then he nodded.
    â€˜Leading lady, an assistant director, a writer, a props manager, painters, lighting engineers—you name it.’
    Emily laughed. ‘Never mind. You’ve got a while. It’ll come together. You’ve put notices up?’
    Jared nodded. ‘I’ve got friends in the Engineering department who can help me with sound, lighting and so on, so that shouldn’t be a problem.’
    Emily, still shooting amused looks at her shell-shocked friend, suddenly snapped her fingers. ‘Don’t tell me! You’re the J. Cowan with those magical two letters after your name. The name I see every now and then on the notice boards’?’
    Alicia glanced at her friend, wondering how she could burble on so blithely and brightly, no doubt impressing their handsome visitor with her effervescent personality, when all she could do was stand their in tongue-tied silence. Thinking how gorgeous he looked.
    â€˜Two magic letters?’ Jared echoed, puzzled.
    â€˜Yes. E X. You are an Exhibitioner, aren’t you?’
    He looked slightly embarrassed for a moment, then nodded.
    Alicia was even more impressed. Every year, each school—be it English, History or Engineering—awarded its top two pupils a Scholarship and an Exhibition.
    Brains as well as so much male beauty. It wasn’t fair that some people seemed to have it all. She shook her head in bemusement and finally slipped off her coat, revealing a cashmere jumper of finest pale blue wool, and expensively tailored navy blue slacks. A thick gold chain hung round her neck. She pulled the silk scarf from her head, and as she did so masses of raven-sheened black hair cascaded down around her shoulders, reaching almost to her waist.
    Emily watched Jared like a hawk, not missing the slight paling around his lips, the reflexive widening of his eyes, the sudden tenseness of his body. Oh yes! Emily fought back a sense of excitement. He was smitten! But he was also looking extremely wary.
    It was not really surprising. The first day they’d met, Emily herself had been totally taken in by Alicia’s chic clothes and unconscious air of breeding, and had thought dismally to herself that it was just her luck to be given a posh, stuck-up, literary toff from Stratford-upon-Avon for a neighbour. But as early as the second day, that opinion had been totally revised. Alicia might look like one thing, but was, underneath, totally another. Now, as she watched Jared Cowan take a few mental steps back, she cursed silently.
    What her friend needed was a man in her life. A new start, not just in Oxford, but in her very way of thinking. And Jared Cowan was definitely attracted.
    â€˜Well, I won’t keep you any longer,’ Jared said casually. ‘Once I’ve got the production side lined up, I’ll get back to you . . .’
    â€˜Hey, wait a minute,’ Emily all but grabbed him as he turned to move away. ‘We haven’t even got anything settled yet. And if you’re to have a play up and running by Easter we have to get cracking.’ And so do I, she thought gleefully. Getting these two together was going to be a cinch, once she got them over the first major hurdle. ‘What play is it?’ she asked, deliberately walking over to the bed and bouncing down on it. She looked all set to stay