Forever Safe (Beacons of Hope) by Jody Hedlund Page A

driver flew off and landed on his back near the horses, which were straining to move forward and kicking up sand. But the carriage was stuck and wouldn’t budge.
    Tom raced to catch up, but he was already spent and his lungs burned from the effort of running. He watched in frustration as the driver scrambled to his feet and started to sprint away. Thankfully, the man’s feet sank into the sand, slowing his progress. Even so, by the time Tom neared the edge of the beach, the driver had already reached the neighbor’s yard and was disappearing around the side of the house. Tom hesitated for only a moment before deciding to follow the driver. If he lost the man, he’d have no way of getting valuable information that could tell him who was behind the attacks, and why.
    Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the carriage door open and Victoria fall out onto the sand. She had her hand cupped over her mouth and nose, but blood dribbled between her fingers and streaked the front of her wedding dress.
    At the sight of her blood, Tom’s own blood ran cold.
    Immediately, he spun around. His feet couldn’t carry him fast enough through the sand. When he reached her side, he dropped to his knees. “Victoria.” His breath was ragged, and he could hardly speak past his air-starved lungs. “Where are you hurt?”
    From the amount of blood, he guessed she’d hit her nose. She wasn’t favoring any limbs, which hopefully meant she’d hadn’t broken a bone.
    He jerked his shirt out of his trousers and ripped off a swath of linen. Then he moved Victoria’s hand out of the way, used the fabric to stanch the flow, and pinched her nose closed.
    She winced.
    “Sorry,” he said.
    “It doesn’t hurt too much.” Her voice was nasally.
    But his apology went deeper than the nose bleed, especially as the reality of what had happened began to sink in. Victoria had almost been abducted. And it was his fault.
    “This shouldn’t have happened.” In the hot sand with the sun beating down on him, sweat trickled down his back.
    “I fell against the opposite seat,” she said.
    The maid hadn’t fared as well. She was sitting in the doorway. From the way she cradled her arm, Tom suspected she had a fracture.
    He could only shake his head in frustration. “I should have noticed that man wasn’t Davis.”
    Victoria pushed Tom’s hand away from her nose and took the ripped piece of his shirt from him. “He looked exactly like Davis. None of us noticed.”
    “I should have. That’s my job.” How had he missed it? His powers of observation were usually so keen. What had caused him to make such a terrible mistake?
    She dabbed at the blood still flowing from her nose. “Don’t blame yourself. At least I’m free. And you scared him away.”
    He’d been captivated by Victoria when she’d come out of the front door, and he hadn’t been paying attention to the carriage or Davis at that point. He’d been admiring her instead. Then she’d started to run away, and he’d been distracted while trying to calm her down.
    Inwardly, he groaned. He’d let his personal feelings and interactions affect his ability to do a thorough job for his client. Just as he had the night he’d almost kissed her. This time his ineptness had been disastrous. Victoria could have been taken away to only God knows where and held for ransom. Or worse.
    “Let’s look on the bright side.” Victoria smiled tremulously. “I’m perfectly fine, and once my bleeding stops, we can make it to the church without being overly late.”
    He raised a brow. He hadn’t expected her to want to continue on her way to the wedding so soon. He figured he’d have to send a messenger ahead and let everyone know about the delay and, more specifically, inform Mr. Cole about what had happened. “Your maid needs medical attention first.”
    “Yes, of course.” Victoria gave the woman an apologetic smile.
    “And I’ll need to find someone to help me pull the carriage back to the