Dear Reader,Here is the first of my new "Brides" trilogy, in which three unconventional young women vow they will never marry--only to be overtaken by destiny.  Bride #1 is the outspoken Portia....It's bad enough that seventeen-year-old Portia Worth is taken in by her uncle, the marquis of Granville, after her father dies.  As the bastard niece, Portia knows she can expect little beyond a roof over her head and a place at the table.But it truly adds insult to injury when the Granvilles' archenemy, the outlaw Rufus Decatur, hatches a scheme to abduct the marquis's daughter--only to kidnap Portia by accident.Portia, who possesses more than a streak of independence as well as a talent for resistance, does not take kindly to being abducted--mistakenly or otherwise.