ROMANCE: His Reluctant Heart (Historical Western Victorian Romance) (Historical Mail Order Bride Romance Fantasy Short Stories) (155 page)

              “You are beside yourself with hysteria, my love.” Edgar seemed rattled by this insistence. “But given your present state, it may be better to have you accompany us. Though I am tempted to call for Doctor Watley and have him give you something. I worry you’ll worsen. It’s likely they simply want a ransom. I’ll pay it- it’s no matter at all, my dear.”

              “I shall take charge of Miss Sarah,” Montgomery suggested. She blushed at his recommendation. It wasn’t the first time a man had said words like this- what woman hadn’t heard men say similar things? But for the first time, perhaps, she felt a rage grow inside at the thought that she must be treated as a child, that her feelings were somehow less than a man’s. With worry over her sister threatening to genuinely push her to tears, she mustered the strength to resist any such show of emotion.

              “Gentlemen,” she stonily intoned. “If this bickering over who will ‘mind’ me results in any harm coming to my sister, I will place the blame entirely upon your heads. We must leave. Now.”

              “Very good, Woods,” Harrison agreed. He turned and hurried past them. “She is correct, gentlemen. We are wasting time.”

              As Harrison and Edgar led the way out to the carriage, Montgomery whispered to Sarah, “Forgive me if I offended. I too have a sister, and she very much reminds me of you. She is certain of her mind and will not be put off once she has made up her mind.”

              “It matters not at all. All I care about is finding Beth, whole and sound.”

              “Courage, Miss Sarah. Together, we four will find her.”

              The seamen’s hired carriage set out to the spot where the girls had been abducted. Sarah was unsurprised to see it was at the small woods they’d passed on the way into town. There was enough cover there to allow a few bold men with guns to attack a passing carriage. Already, groups of men were setting off into deeper woods and across snowy fields with lanterns and guns in hand.

              “Highwaymen are exceedingly rare about here.” Edgar explained to the sailors. “Even with the hunger, we’ve been astonishingly fortunate until now.”

              Sarah blanched and Harrison quickly amended Edgar’s statement. “Luck shall hold with us, Mr. Jackson. I have every intention of recovering Beth and bringing these men to justice.” He pointed across the fields to a small clutch of men. “Before we returned to you, I sent a messenger to town. Those are the men of
The Duke of Norcastle
. Trust one of them to set this wicked deed to rights.”

              They drove the carriage on towards a place in the road that was closer, they judged, to the dark Suffolk woods than the other places in the road. Leaving the semi-warmth of the wooden coach, the foursome set off into the trees, the men carrying pistols at the ready.

              “We must spread out and look for tracks,” Harrison told them. “Stay within sight on one another and go a fair distance apart from one another. In this way, we’ll cover more ground.”

              “You have experience in these matters, Captain?” Edgar asked. Even now, he sounded mocking. Perhaps tiring of the goading, Harrison fairly snapped in his response.

              “On land, you are no doubt used to commanding many men. You will do as I say without question, Mr. Jackson, or you will kindly leave the three of us to do this task alone. Am I clear?”

              Edgar said nothing, instead stomping away a fair distance as suggested. Sarah and Harrison set off to the left of Montgomery. In softer tones, Harrison addressed Sarah.

              “I would set your mind at ease in this matter, Miss Sarah. I have, unfortunately, been forced to search for men whose courage failed them and who attempted to leave his Majesty’s service. This is not new to me.”

              They spread out as suggested, so that Sarah could only see Harrison in the visible distance. She felt herself shaking with fear for her sister. The snow all along the way she travelled seemed too pure; nothing had been by other than small animals. Finally alone with no one to see her, she allowed tears to flow. Aggressively, she wiped them away. She needed to see clearly, to not miss a thing as she scanned the ground.

              Then she spied it. “Captain! Captain, I see something here!” A small bit of light blue lace was lying on the ground beside snow that had been shifted. A small group must have walked through this way, and she recognized the lace from Beth’s dress.

              Harrison shouted to the others and ran down to her. He spotted the tracks immediately. “Wait, wait.” She almost began to sprint in that direction, but he stepped in her path. “There may be many of them. Give Woods and Mr. Jackson a moment.

              The others joined them and the moment Edgar arrived, they began to hurry along the clear path left by the abductors. After a long, stumbling trek with their lanterns into the depths of the woods, they came across a rise in the forest. In the distance, Sarah thought she heard laughter.

              Harrison must have heard it too, for he motioned for the party to stop. “Cover your lanterns. We mustn’t be seen.” They did as he suggested. “Sarah, be so good as to wait here with Edgar. We’re going ahead to determine the danger.”

              The two sailors proceeded up the hill as quietly as they could, leaving Edgar and Sarah alone together. He cleared his throat.

              “I’m sure she’s fine,” he suggested. When she said nothing, he continued to fill the silence between them. “Look, I know I lost my temper a touch. You must admit you were being difficult. If you’ll be so good as to think about my feelings-”

              “I couldn’t care less about that.” She replied icily. “Or about how you feel.”

              “Very well. If that’s how you feel, perhaps we should call off the engagement.” He folded his arms, sniffing. “I prefer a virtuous bride, at any rate.”

              She slowly, coldly turned to face him. “Edgar, I forgive you for that comment. I forgive you all you have said and done. Is that better? Is that what you need to hear?”

              He shrugged. “You have your brave captain, your champion. I’ll leave you to rescue your sister. You clearly don’t need me.”

              “Wait!” she called as loudly as she dared, clutching at his arm. “Please. Don’t do this. Let us part as friends. I need your help in this.”

              He pulled her hand off him. “I wish you luck. I didn’t really want to confront hardened thieves anyway. Without my paying their ransom, I expect they’ll kill you all. Here- you may need this.” He laughed morosely and shoved his pistol into her hand. With that, he turned and left her alone in the dark.

              It wasn’t many minutes before Harrison and Montgomery returned. “Five men. Beth is all right. If we surprise them - what is this?” Harrison saw the pistol in her hand and saw she was shivering and horrified. “Where is Mr. Jackson?”

              She handed him the gun. “I can’t use this. I don’t know how, or I’d have shot the coward myself. Please, sir, can we still take them?”

              He considered it and pressed it back into her hand. “Yes. But we’ll need to use subterfuge.” Quickly, he showed her how to fire the gun and explained his plan.

              “You’re quite sure you can do this?”

              “Yes. You may trust I’ll do my part, Commander.”

“Please- you must call me Harrison, ma’am.” He turned to Montgomery. “Ready?”

              “Yes, sir.”

              “Then we’ll take our positions.”

              Minutes passed and Sarah found herself standing alone at a new position near the top of another hill. She could see the small camp in a hollow below, where Beth was lying a little outside of the light of a fire. The men were busy roasting potatoes and meats, food that had been stolen from their coach for the return to the farm. Beth appeared to be either asleep or unconscious. It was only by the word of Harrison that she knew that she was alive, for he’d seen her turn over in her rest.

              As the men ate and chatted, a shot rang out. One of the men fell over, dead. A second shot came from another hill opposite the camp, wounding another man in the arm. Harrison leapt up from the top of the far hill where he’d been hidden. He pointed his pistol menacingly at the group who were frantically trying to gather up their weapons.

              “Stand! We have you surrounded!”

              One of the survivors scoffed. “I counted two shots.”

              Taking that as her cue, Sarah pointed her pistol into the air and fired. The men appeared startled.

              “That was a warning. You will all four of you leave this place at once, or my men will be charged with burying you. That camp will be your grave. Go!”

              The men considered the situation briefly, and then took his advice, fleeing through a break in the hills. When they were sure they were all clear, Harrison, Montgomery, and Sarah scurried down from their respective positions and found Beth. She looked up at them and winked.

“I was playing dead. Did I do good, Sarah?”

              Sarah threw her arms around her and wept tears of joy. “You did so well, little sister. I’m so proud of you, so very proud.”

Chapter 8: Australia-Bound

The Indian Ocean

April 20, 1817

Sarah woke with a start in the middle of the night, darkness all about her.
The Duke
rocked gently beneath her, a feeling she’d sensation she’d come to welcome after the first long month of mal-de-mer had finally gone away.

              “Harry. Harry.” She shook her husband awake. He was laying in the hammock next to her. It had been an uncomfortable arrangement at first, one he had promised they’d remedy with a proper bed once they reached Perth.

              “Hmm? Oh, dear. It’s quite late,” Commander Harrison Hargrove coughed.

              “I know. Harry, I can’t sleep.”

              He turned over slowly and embraced Sarah. “You’re thinking about Sarah and Jane again, aren’t you?”

              “Sarah, Jane, even Aunt Mary. I will miss them so terribly.”

              He nodded. She could barely make out his features in the cabin with the moonlight streaming through. “It was the right thing to do, though. Australia will suit us better, I should think.”

              “You don’t mind resigning your commission? I can scarcely imagine you no longer being a sea captain.” She’d asked him this many times to be sure of his mind, but he only laughed gently.

              “Not at all. It’s time for change. There are excellent opportunities to be had in mining, ranching, any manner of trades. Monty and I agreed we’d do something along these lines one day. With whatever money we make, we shall travel as I promised. We’ll even return to England if you like. It’s really not so bad, is it my dear? Louisa is coming with us, after all.”

              “I know. I just worry. I can’t help it. So much has changed in the past few months, my head practically spins.”

              He caressed her cheek. “We haven’t changed, have we?”

              “No. That will never change. I promise.”

              He began to kiss her gently, reassuringly. As they kissed, she felt excitement rising within her. He thought to pull away, but she held him close, their passion growing in their warm embrace. Instead, she guided his head down to an exposed breast. His lips and tongue found her and she smiled, her lips parting with pleasure.

              There was little bedclothing between them. She draped a leg over him, pressing close and feeling him hard against her as they lay on their sides. Whatever modesty and resistance there had been within him melted. Though Sarah did want a bed and at times felt overheated by snuggling into a hammock with her husband, she couldn’t deny that these shared circumstances had encouraged passion between them on many of these near honeymoon nights. Tonight, she wanted the reassurance of his love.

              Their kissing and touching shifted over the midnight minutes to soft gasps and groans. Moving together, she guided his hips and thrusts hungrily. She smiled and leaned down to kiss his neck as she ran her hands along his strong back muscles. He was deep inside, lost within her.

              Their sex reached an intensity and friction that distracted her beyond thought. She no longer noticed the heat of the cabin, the lurching of the big ship on the waves, the snores from the adjoining rooms. In the darkness, she felt her hips and leg muscles tighten as she neared climax.

              “More. More, Harry!” she whispered frantically. He drove into her and she forgot to be quiet, crying out with release.