Free Stealing the Bride by Brynn Paulin

 
     
     
     
    Chapter One
     
     
    Rivulets of sweat ran along Mara Nelson’s limbs and pooled on her torso as she lay naked on a picnic table beneath the wood dining canopy in her campsite. Despite being out of the direct rays of the unrelenting July sun, the ninety degree temperature and the high humidity were making her retreat from the world just about unbearable. What she wouldn’t give for her central air or even a fan right now. There would be neither. She was alone in this wilderness with a canvas army tent on a cement foundation, a wooden canopy under which she’d set up some of her gear, and a burbling stream running nearby.
    There wasn’t a soul for miles. Mara was completely alone with no electricity, no modern plumbing and no car to allow her to dash into town. Her cousin, who’d unenthusiastically assisted with Mara’s plan, had protested that it wasn’t safe for Mara to spend a week out here all alone. But Mara had insisted and her cousin had reluctantly relented and dropped her off three days ago with the promise to pick her up in a week.
    Now, Mara had to admit, she hadn’t considered this idea well enough. She hadn’t anticipated how the solitude would disquiet her. She didn’t like being alone with her thoughts and doubts about the future, but that was probably because of the unsettled urge to get moving that had dogged her since she’d taken this opportunity as a chance to slow down.
    Eyes closed, Mara tried to stay perfectly still and listen to the nature around her. After years in the rat race of New York City, she’d become unbalanced and lost her center. It easily happened in the constant throb of the civilization that refused to sleep. Out here, she couldn’t hear the perpetual buzz of humanity, a conglomeration of people, machinery, mass communication and electricity. But it wasn’t silent. It was different.
    Mara found the sounds of nature soothing. The bugs and frogs shared a symphony. Birds called to one another and rattled through the trees along with the squirrels and chipmunks that scampered around camp. Nearby, a stream bubbled, a gentle breeze set the trees to singing, footsteps crunched along the path—
    What the hell!
    She flew upright as she scanned the area. She’d been assured that this retreat in the middle of privately owned land was deserted and that she’d be utterly alone for the duration of her time here.
    Before she could dash for her tent, two men broke through the tree line surrounding the campsite. Fear slammed through her. Two men and she was all alone? And she was naked—clothes had been an uncomfortable nuisance in this oppressive heat so she’d dispensed of them, knowing the squirrels wouldn’t care.
    She pressed her legs together and drew them up to better hide herself, though there was no mistaking she was unclothed. Despite the heat, goose bumps prickled down her arms. She didn’t even have a weapon nearby.
    The first man pushed up the brim of his baseball hat and grinned, and she realized it was a very good thing she didn’t have a weapon. She’d kill him— both of them because, even without looking, she knew exactly who the other man was.
    “My name is Luke Skywalker, and I’m here to rescue you,” Daniel quipped.
    Scowling, she climbed off the table and crossed her arms over her chest—not to shield her nudity because these two had seen her naked plenty of times in the year they’d been her roommates but because she was pissed. She glared at the pair who’d dared to invade her vacation and her privacy. From the looks of their heavy backpacks, they planned to stay with her.
    Like hell.
    “Aren’t you a bit gay to be a stormtrooper?” she replied. She turned to Daniel’s companion and lover of five years, Jacob. “If he’s Luke, who are you? Yoda?”
    Jacob turned to Daniel. “Not happy to see us, she is.”
    “What are you doing here? Twelve hours from home? It’s not like you just happened to be in the neighborhood.” She’d