Wedding Captives. Cassie Miles

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      Chapter Four

      Spence was a medical doctor, certified in search-and-rescue emergency medical procedures, and while he’d interned at Colorado University Medical Center in Denver, he’d spent months in the ER, where he repaired bone-deep gashes, probed for bullets and had once delivered twins. The sight of blood shouldn’t have affected him.

      But when he saw the stain on Jenny’s wedding gown, and yanked the gown from the garment bag, his gut wrenched. The filmy white fabric burned in his hands.

      From the moment he’d first seen the castle, he’d sensed something was wrong, and other things only kept piling on to confirm his instincts. The remote location. The butler’s shoulder holster. The bizarre request to leave behind all cell phones, which were useless anyway without cellular service in the area.

      Then, not only the absence of staff and servants, but Jenny’s failure to appear at all. Spence couldn’t even excuse Rosemont, who might be expected to keep to himself were it not the weekend of his wedding.

      Now this. The bloodstain on Jenny’s bridal gown caused all the vague threads to draw together, like blood fibrin congealing. They were all caught up and in danger—perhaps mortal danger.

      What had happened to Jenny?

      Both Thea and Travis looked toward him as if they expected Spence to have an answer, but there was no rational explanation. It didn’t take the training or standard operating procedures of the search-and-rescue unit to state the obvious. “We should call the police.”

      “Right,” Thea said, her features drawn tight in anxiety for Jenny. She darted across the room and picked up the bedside telephone and stabbed out 911. But when she listened for an answer and apparently got no response, her alarm notched higher. She shook the receiver, tapped the plunger button. Her gaze darted frantically around the room, bouncing off the obscene marble statuary. She met his gaze with her eyes wide. “The phone’s dead.”

      “What the hell is this scene?” Travis yelled. “If that bastard hurt my sister, I’ll kill him. Swear to God, I’ll tear his heart out with my bare—”

      “That’s enough!” Spence commanded. “You won’t help Jenny by falling apart. We have to find your sister.”

      Travis sank onto a plush purple chaise longue. Leaning forward, he ground the heels of his hands into his eye sockets. “It’s my fault. I should’ve taken better care of her.”

      For the first time, his voice held a surprising ring of sincerity. Though Travis was a brash, self-centered jerk, he might actually care about his sister.

      Spence hoped that was the case. If Rosemont turned out to be a bust, and it sure as hell was starting to look that way, Jenny was going to need her brother’s support.

      But where was she? Was she all right? Spence looked down at the gown in his hands and inspected the dried bloodstain, which was the approximate size of a postcard but irregular in shape. There were splatters. The fabric had not been torn.

      “This stain didn’t come from a wound.” He turned the bodice inside out. “You see? There’s no rip. And there’s less blood on the inside than the outside.”

      “What does that mean?” Thea asked.

      “Someone poured this blood onto the dress.”

      “But why?”

      “It might be a threat,” he surmised. “Maybe we were meant to find this dress.”

      She took his idea one step farther. “If someone wanted us to find the dress, it means the threat is directed at us. The wedding party.”

      “Bull.” Travis bolted from the chaise and got right up in her face. “This isn’t about you, babe. It’s all about my sister.”

      “Back off,” Spence warned.

      “You know what, dude?” Travis whirled and confronted him. “Who died and left you boss?” With a stiff index finger, he poked at Spence’s chest. “Why you? Huh?”

      Lightning fast, Spence clamped the younger man’s wrist in a vise-like grip. “Could be because between us, I’m the grown-up.”

      “Yeah, good old Spence. Manly man.” Through clenched teeth, Travis said, “You were at my old man’s funeral. Jenny said you were such a comfort. Said she couldn’t have made it without you. Well you know what? That should have been me.”

      “You’re СКАЧАТЬ