Page 15 of His Perfect Bride (Bride Ships: New Voyages #3)

Fifteen

“K idnapped?” The endless racket in Jackson’s head—the constant wrestling with himself over what to do about kissing Sage last night—came to a halt.

“What do you mean?” Sage’s voice filled with alarm. “That someone came into the house and took her against her will?”

“Aye, I believe so.” The cook’s French accent had disappeared, and a thick Scottish brogue rolled off his tongue.

Sage clutched at her chest, her face pale. “When?”

“It happened yesterday, not long after you left. I heard a screech followed by commotion upstairs, and by the time I came to check on Miss Lennox, a fellow was carrying her out to a waiting carriage.”

“Oh my.” Sage let her cloak sag to the floor. “Who would have taken her? And why?”

The same questions were swiftly rising inside Jackson, and his body was growing more tense with every passing moment.

“I don’t know. I tried to follow her, but the carriage was too fast, and I lost track of where it went.”

Sage’s eyes widened with growing horror at the unfolding situation.

“I went to the police station and asked for help,” Gustave continued. “They searched around Victoria, but they couldn’t find Miss Lennox either.”

“Perhaps you should start at the beginning, Gustave.” Jackson needed to remain calm, not just so that he could think straight but so that he could be there for Sage.

“That’s all I know.” Gustave shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry I don’t have more to share.”

Jackson scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Did you get a look at the kidnapper’s face?”

“Not much. From what I could tell, he may have been a fellow in his forties or fifties, with fair hair, maybe some gray. Long sideburns and a long nose. A real big guy and hefty, strong enough to hoist up Miss Lennox.”

“And you didn’t recognize him?” Jackson persisted. “He was no one you’d ever seen before?”

“I know plenty of the locals, but never once have I seen the likes of him in town.”

“Who would do this?” Sage cut in, her tone laced with angst. “Poor Augusta.”

Jackson hadn’t kept abreast of the Victoria news or his social circles to know if there had been dangerous criminals in town recently. But why would anyone want Augusta? Unless, of course, they knew about his family’s wealth and prestige and hoped to capitalize on that. “Do you think the fellow took her in order to get me to pay a ransom?”

Sage glanced around the hallway. “Maybe he left a ransom note.”

“I didn’t see anything,” Gustave responded. “But I wasn’t specifically looking for a note.”

Without a word, Sage crossed to the stairway and raced up, the tapping of her footsteps filling the silence of the home.

Jackson watched her climb all the way to the top until she disappeared from sight. No doubt she intended to search every inch of Augusta’s room to look for clues.

With a grave expression, Gustave waited, clearly expecting some direction or plan of action. But Jackson didn’t know where to even begin searching for his sister. Their only hope was that the kidnapper had left them some kind of explanation, his motivation, and what he would expect for Augusta’s return.

“Is there anything else you noticed?” Jackson had never paid sufficient attention to his surroundings and wouldn’t be able to tell if anything had changed between now and when he left yesterday. “Any other information that would be helpful as we try to determine what may have happened?”

“I’m sorry, sir.” Gustave shook his head. “I wish I did. But I’m baffled, that I am.”

As Jackson ascended the stairs, his feet dragged. His heart was already heavy from his thoughts regarding Sage. Now with Augusta’s kidnapping, his chest felt flat, as if his heart had fallen and been trampled.

If only he could find a way to ease the tension with Sage and go back to their previous friendship.

He sighed. After kissing her the way he had, he doubted he’d ever be able to return to thinking about her as just a friend—not that he ever really had considered her just a friend . He’d already been hopelessly enamored with her, and now he was even more so.

Yet after Caleb’s rebuke in the barn, he’d known he couldn’t pursue Sage. He’d had a restless, sleepless night, analyzing the possibility of having a relationship with her. Every equation added up to the same answer—he was no good for her. His personality was odd and unstable at times. He got too wrapped up in his projects. As a result, he invariably ended up hurting people.

He had only to review his relationship with Meredith to confirm that truth. From the start, he hadn’t been the kind of man she wanted. He’d tried to accommodate her by taming some of his eccentricities. Ultimately, however, he hadn’t been able to change enough about himself to satisfy her, just like he’d never been able to satisfy his father.

After the bridge accident, he was even more broken. Even if he was starting to emerge from the cave that he’d crawled into, he still felt like a monster. Guilt and fear and insecurity from all that had happened shackled him. And maybe those emotions would always be his burden to bear.

As much as Sage had brought light and hope into his dark world, she deserved a much better man than him, someone wholesome and solid, not one who could easily revert back to a beast at any moment.

He’d told himself over and over all last night and all morning that he had to let her go, that he would be selfish to hold on to her. He’d tried to convince himself they couldn’t have a life together, that they wanted different things, that they were from two different worlds. He’d even tried to persuade himself she’d be better off as a lady’s maid and as a spinster. She’d be happy enough, and Augusta would be good to her.

But whenever he looked at Sage, all his excuses kept collapsing like a bridge held up with rope instead of iron rods. The truth was, he was still obsessed with her, and after kissing her he was even more so.

She’d suggested they forget the kiss had ever happened. But that kiss was welded into his heart permanently. It was now a part of him.

As he reached Augusta’s chamber, the door stood wide, revealing a room in complete disarray. Sage was searching frantically through every item, picking things up and then dropping them. Clothes were strewn over the bed and floor, the bed was unmade, the stool at the dressing table was tipped over, and the dresser drawers were pulled out with items hanging from them haphazardly.

Augusta was normally a tidy and responsible person. She never would have left her room in such a state of disorder. Had the kidnapper rummaged through everything, looking for something that Augusta had that was valuable? “Do you know if Augusta was traveling with anything that was rare or costly?”

Sage paused in throwing back the covers on the bed, as if that would somehow reveal what had happened to Augusta. Her face was flushed from her efforts and her eyes wild. “She brought some of her jewelry on the voyage here, and most of it is still on her dressing table.” Sage nodded toward the elegant table where items were strewn. “So the kidnapper wasn’t interested in the thievery.”

“It would appear that way.”

Sage pressed her pretty lips together—pretty lips that had meshed with his so perfectly and so passionately, pretty lips that he loved seeing curled up into a smile, pretty lips that could also tell him hard truths he needed to hear.

He gave himself a shake. He couldn’t let himself start thinking about her lips. Not now, not when Augusta was in trouble and needed their help. He had to focus on rescuing her.

Sage righted the stool. “It doesn’t look like anything was destroyed.”

“I concur. It simply looks messy.”

“Like Augusta was in a hurry.”

“Perhaps.”

“But in a hurry for what?” Sage crossed to the armoire and rummaged through it. “Was she going somewhere? Did she take anything with her?”

He liked the logical way Sage’s mind worked. It was almost as if she was solving the mystery around Augusta’s kidnapping the same way she’d organized his study.

Sage moved to the bed again, knelt, and dragged out several pieces of luggage. She studied them then paused. “Her red floral-print carpetbag is gone.”

“You’re certain of it?”

“I think so.” She stood and once again searched the room. After a minute of retracing her steps through the mess, she halted. “It’s not here, which means she must have taken it with her.”

“In addition to the carpetbag, are you able to deduce if anything else is missing?”

Sage studied the dressing table, then the dresser, before shifting to look at the contents of the armoire. “Her lavender and rose gowns are gone, her nightgown, some of her personal hygiene items, at least one handkerchief, and her extra pair of gloves.”

“The items sound ordinary and necessary.”

“Her kidnapper clearly gave her leave to pack what she needed. We can be grateful for that.”

“But why would he take her?”

Sage’s forehead was wrinkled with worry. “What could she possibly have that anyone would want?”

“Unless he intends to hold her for ransom.” Jackson circled back around to the only reason that made sense, that someone wanted a share of his family’s wealth.

“If so, then there should be a note explaining the demands. But I’ve found nothing.”

“Maybe the note is in my bedchamber or my study?”

Together they searched his chamber and then went down to his study, but they didn’t find anything in either place. They scoured the hallway and the dining room and every other possible place where the culprit might have left a note itemizing his demands.

After they’d concluded that perhaps the kidnapper would send them a letter in the mail, Jackson returned to his chamber to change his clothing and freshen up after having slept in his current garments. Sage also reluctantly gave up the search for the time being to change.

He’d barely had time to unbutton his shirt when her voice came from down the hallway. “I found something on my bed.”

He threw open his door and stepped out of his room and nearly bumped into her.

Her eyes were alight, and she dangled a piece of jewelry from her finger. “It’s Augusta’s charm bracelet, and it was on my pillow.”

“Maybe she dropped it there in her haste?”

“No, it was positioned too neatly and strategically to be accidental.”

“Then you conclude that it is a clue to what happened to her?”

Sage held up the bracelet. All the charms were jewels except for the one Sage was fingering. “Look at what this charm says.”

He took it and read the neat print. It said only one word. “Hope.”

“Hope,” Sage repeated. “What does it mean? Is she suggesting we have hope that we can find her? That she’ll be okay?”

Why would Augusta leave a bracelet with the word hope on Sage’s pillow? Why not leave a detailed note? Unless the kidnapper hadn’t given her the time. Perhaps she’d only been able to sneak the bracelet into Sage’s room before being whisked away.

He could feel Sage watching him, waiting for him to analyze the word and draw his own conclusions. She was standing close enough that he could hear her exhalations and feel the tension radiating from her body.

Her proximity reminded him again of the previous evening in the barn, feeling at ease with her, as if he didn’t have to pretend to be someone he wasn’t. She accepted him for who he was, which wasn’t something many people had ever been able to do, especially not his father.

In fact, Sage had not only accepted him, but she’d also seemed to be able to step in and help him in his weaknesses, as though she was a piece of him that had been missing and now was found.

Why was he so set on keeping her at arm’s length and remaining alone and single? He’d had reasons a moment ago, but he couldn’t think of what they were now that she was so near.

“This is all my fault.” Her voice trembled.

“Your fault? Of course it’s not your fault. Why would you think so?”

“If I’d been here to watch over her—if we’d both been here—then maybe she’d still be here. At the very least, we would have been present when the fellow came into the house, and we could have tried to stop him.”

While Jackson wished he would have been home to help Augusta resist the intruder, he was relieved Sage hadn’t been present, that she hadn’t been taken too.

“Don’t blame yourself,” he said almost too severely. “She could have been kidnapped anywhere, even off a street.”

“But it’s my job to be at her side and help her.”

“It’s not your job to remain with her every second.”

Her head drooped. “Why, Jackson? Why her? She’s a wonderful woman—so kind and generous and helpful.”

He wanted to give Sage an answer and felt suddenly helpless that he couldn’t. “We’ll find her. I promise.”

She nodded gravely.

He had the strongest urge to pull her into his arms, hold her close, and simply embrace her. But he knew he couldn’t, not if he hoped to stay rational and level-headed.

She was quiet a moment before looking down the hallway past him. “Should we meet with the police and see if they’ve discovered any witnesses who saw her? They might have an idea of where the kidnapper took her.”

Where. Jackson looked at the charm dangling from the bracelet again.

Hope.

What if that was why Augusta had left the bracelet for them? Because she’d known the kidnapper was taking her to Hope which was on the mainland of British Columbia?

Was that it?

Maybe he was only imagining a connection. But it was worth exploring. “I have an idea of where she may have gone.”

“You do?” Sage lifted her beautiful wide eyes, and they practically pleaded with him to find Augusta.

“Hope is a little town up the Fraser River in the mountains.”

“Do you think that’s where her kidnapper took her?”

“It’s possible.” What if he was wrong? What if Augusta had left the bracelet as a gift for Sage and it wasn’t a clue?

“How far is Hope from here?”

“At least a day by steamboat.”

“Should we go look for her there?”

He wanted to say no, that he couldn’t do it, that it simply wasn’t possible for him. He hadn’t ventured up the river on the mainland since the accident. He hadn’t wanted to go back anyplace near the bridge, not until he had a solution to the engineering problem and could fix it.

Even as protest pulsed through his muscles, his love for Augusta pulsed harder. She was in trouble, and she’d possibly left the clue for them so that they would be able to help her. Although he wasn’t ready to return anywhere near the site of the accident, he had to do it for his sister’s sake.

With Sage watching him expectantly, he finally nodded. “Let us pack our bags, and we shall attempt to find a steamer that is leaving today.”

As it was Sunday, the task would be difficult, since most of the commerce was at a standstill on the day of rest. Perhaps he’d have to hire a captain to privately take them. If only Jonas was available for the job, but the young captain had probably already returned to Salt Spring Island.

Whatever the case, they would have to pray that they could rescue Augusta from danger before it was too late.