Kidnapped

Brielle hadn’t been thrilled to regain consciousness with a pounding headache to find herself tied up, again. Merton and his goons circled her like sharks around an injured animal to make sure she didn’t pull off any escapes this time. She’d stuck out her legs and tripped one of them out of pure spite, and Merton had barely managed to stop the man from striking her.

“We need her alive, moron,” he snapped. “We’ll only take pieces off her if the Duke refuses to cooperate.”

Brielle had been trying to use sheer willpower to make Merton drop dead when Jack burst through the door, startling her. She was worried about all the blood on his shirt but then he was untying her and pulling her from the house and stabbing Merton through the throat. Brielle didn’t have much time to process any of that because Jack was on the ground, looking far too pale and having the audacity to tell her to go home and leave him behind.

She tracked down Hugo, moving at a determined clip up the street.

“Jeanette-uh, Brielle. My lady? I’m not sure-“

“We have to help Jack,” Brielle interrupted. “He doesn’t have a lot of time.”

She kept walking, up to a house with a light on. Someone was peeking through the window when Brielle banged on the door. She banged again when the person inside didn’t answer.

“I know you’re there,” she called. “Please, I need your help. Merton can’t hurt you anymore, if that’s what you’re worried about. He’s dead.”

The door opened and a man peered out at her.

“My name is Brielle Montesse,” she said briskly. “I need you to help me save a man’s life.”

More lights were coming on and people were spilling into the streets to investigate the fire at the mill. As a crowd moved to put it out, the man in front of Brielle flagged down the town doctor and the kindly looking older man quickly followed her when she explained that Jack was dying. The man looked a bit ridiculous in his nightclothes with his bag of medical supplies as he knelt next to Jack. Jack’s breathing was labored and his eyes were closed.

“Oh, no. Absolutely not.” Brielle knelt on his other side, lightly smacking him in the face. Jack’s eyes startled open.

“S’that for?” he mumbled.

“You are not dying,” Brielle said firmly, even as tears gathered in her eyes.

“I might,” Jack said weakly. “I’m bleeding pretty-“

“No, that wasn’t a statement. It was an order,” Brielle said. She gently laid her hands on his face as the doctor began to clean the wound.

“You always were a little bossy,” Jack said, wincing as the doctor hummed quietly to himself and sanitized the wound so he could begin stitching it up. Brielle kept his face in her hands.

“I know it hurts,” she said. “But Dr. Drummond here has thirty years of experience and he’s going to fix you right up. And you’re going to keep your eyes open and on me while he works so I know you’re still alive.”

“Eyes on you, huh? Where do you think they’ve been all this time?”

“Shush. Stop being charming and noble and cute for five minutes, you idiot. Just be quiet and let the nice doctor work. If you really care about me you won’t die on me.”

“That’s-“

“I said shush.”

Brielle didn’t once move from his side while Dr. Drummond staunched the bleeding and stitched the wound closed. It was a long and painstaking process and Brielle thought her heart stopped for a few moments when Jack fell unconscious again.

“He’ll be okay,” Dr. Drummond quickly assured her when he saw her face. “He needs his rest now, but he’ll live.”

He let out a startled, “oomph” as Brielle threw herself at him and hugged him tightly.

“Thank you, Doctor. I can’t possibly ever thank you enough.”

“There, there. Now don’t cry, my dear. He’s going to be okay and you two will have a long life together.”

“Oh.” Brielle flushed faintly as she tried to scrub the tears off her cheeks. “Well, I mean. I don’t know if he really wants to spend his whole life with me,” she stammered. She hadn’t even realized that Hugo had come up behind her until he snorted lightly.

“I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to be rude,” he said quickly. Brielle stood up to hug him too.

“I can’t thank you enough either, for helping us,” she said.

“Oh, nonsense. I was happy to do it.”

The fire was put out now, but the sight of the flames and smoke and attracted a search party that had been out looking for Brielle and Jack. Among them were her father and brother, who looked about ready to collapse with relief upon seeing her. Theron pulled her into a hug that nearly crushed her spine and Byron lifted her clean off the ground.

“You're supposed to be on your honeymoon,” she said.

“I was, until we found out my best friend and little sister had gone missing and Nadine and I decided to postpone.” Byron’s gaze flicked down to Jack and his brow knitted with worry.

“He’s going to be okay,” Brielle said. “I fetched a doctor. He’s just been through a lot.”

“So have you, it would seem.” Theron gently touched the tender bruise on her face from where Merton had hit her.

“Jack came to rescue me. And Hugo helped him,” she added, gesturing to him.

“Well, then we are very much in your debt,” Theron said, clasping his shoulder briefly. “You’re welcome to come back to Willowgate with us and get some rest. We should be getting Jack and Brielle home now.”

“Of course,” Hugo nodded. They carefully maneuvered a still unconscious Jack into a carriage. Brielle fell asleep on Byron’s shoulder almost as soon as the carriage took off, too exhausted to explain everything right now. Georgiana and Nadine and Lady Dorrance sobbed all over them when they returned home, then helped Brielle get cleaned up while the men took Jack to another bedroom. She was about to fall asleep again standing up but she went to check on him anyway. Byron was sitting with him when she came in.

“You should be resting too,” he chided.

“I just wanted to make sure he was still doing okay.”

“He’s just asleep,” Byron assured her.

“I’m sorry I ruined your honeymoon.”

“What? Don’t be silly. Nadine and I will go when we know you two are all right. Now go get some sleep.”

Brielle nodded, casting another quick glance at Jack. Color was returning to his face and his breathing was normal now. Sure he wasn’t going to die in the night, she shuffled off to bed and slept til noon the next day. As soon as she was up, she went to find Jack. She was relieved to find him awake, sitting on the edge of his bed and gingerly tugging a fresh shirt over his head. His midsection was covered in thick bandages. He looked up and smiled when he saw her.

“Are you feeling okay?” Brielle asked softly.

“Who, me? Never felt better.”

She gave him an unamused look.

“Okay, I feel like shit,” he laughed. Then he winced. “But I’m alive, and it’ll heal.”

Brielle nodded. Then she moved across the room and gave him another light smack in the face.

“Hey!” he yelped. “What was that for?”

“The absolute nerve, telling me to just leave you there for dead.” Brielle scowled. Then she leaned down and kissed him. He started to put his arms around her but she stopped him.

“Don’t strain the injury,” she said. “You could tear the stitches.”

He looked a little pouty when she took a step back. Brielle lowered her gaze, suddenly feeling a little shy and unsure again. They were home now, no more running from bad guys and holing up in inns pretending to be married. She wasn’t entirely sure what would happen from here. She was trying to figure out how to bring it up when the door opened and Theron, Byron and Hugo crowded into the room.

“He lives,” Byron said, grinning and patting Jack on the shoulder. “Good to see you alive, buddy. You look like hell.”

“Shut up, Byron.”

Brielle scooted away and sat down in a chair in the corner, staring intently down at the carpet as Theron told Jack how glad he was that he was going to be all right.

“I also want to thank you for looking out for our Brielle,” Theron added.

“It was no trouble at all,” Jack said quietly.

“Well, then. If you’re up for it, I’d like to know just what the hell happened to you two.”