The Runaway Bridesmaid. Kaitlyn Rice
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time by working in the office, or I could do legwork for the wedding. I could make favors and decorations. I could help with anything!”
“Isabel! Really?”
“Of course. This would be great for both of us,” Isabel said. “I’d get the kind of adventure I’ve always wanted, and you’d get to keep your summer wedding.”
“And Roger might get inspired,” Darla added. “Are you sure you can get away from him and those kids? I know they depend on you.”
Yes, they did, especially during the summertime. The school break coincided with Roger’s busiest season.
But Isabel was nothing more than a casual girlfriend to Roger. Callie had pointed that out recently. And Josie had mentioned that Isabel and Roger didn’t even go on dates, anymore. Their relationship had become more of a doing-what-we’ve-always-done type of arrangement.
As a consequence, she was nothing to Roger’s kids, either. Merely a friend who cared about them.
The thought saddened her. She felt connected to the Corbetts, at least emotionally. “Yes, they do depend on me,” Isabel said in a low voice. “Maybe they shouldn’t.”
“Right.” Darla’s tone was gentle, as if she expected Isabel to abandon the entire idea at this first snag.
She couldn’t do that.
Isabel didn’t want to hurt Roger or the kids, but she didn’t want to be taken for granted forever, either. She was determined, this time, to do something different.
Something daring.
Isabel felt excitement bubble up in her chest. “You know what? R.J.’s almost twelve. He’s old enough to help his dad around the farm this summer, or he can ride his bike to the local pool or to visit friends. He’ll be fine.”
“What about the little girl?” Darla asked.
“Angie presents more of a problem,” Isabel said, thinking about options. “Her mother works sixty hours a week, but maybe she and Roger could coordinate their schedules.”
“I’d think they could. She’s their daughter.”
“I know. I feel kind of bad for Angie, though,” Isabel said. “Hopefully they won’t argue in front of her, about who has to have her when.”
“They’d do that?”
“They have before.”
Darla hesitated, then said, “Things are awfully hectic around here once the camp is in session, but of course she’d be welcome, too, if it came to that.”
“Didn’t you tell me once that you catered to adult visitors only, during the camp weeks?” Isabel asked.
“Yes. And usually we limit ourselves to repeat guests who know the place well and don’t mind the chaos. Teenage boys tend to be loud, hungry and surprisingly needy.”
“Then Angie would be in the way.”
“I want you to come, so we’d work something out,” Darla said. “There’s just one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“How can Roger realize all you do for him if you help him long distance, my dear?”
“I’m hoping I won’t have to,” Isabel said. “Besides, the idea is for him to miss me more than my child care skills.”
“I’ll tell you what,” Darla said. “We’ll just keep you locked away in our comfortable lodge until he charges out here on his trusty steed to demand your hand, your heart and your body for all time. Sound good?”
Isabel tried to imagine her even-tempered Roger doing anything so wildly romantic. Her mother would have laughed at the very thought.
But her mother had been wrong to suggest that men in general were lazy. Roger was anything but. Maybe he would come whisk her away, if he missed her enough. “Sounds wonderful,” she murmured.
“It sure does. How soon can you get here?”
Chapter Two
Trevor Kincaid backed his foot off the gas pedal when he noticed the tan four-door pulled over on the shoulder, fifty yards ahead. What a rotten break, to have car trouble on this remote mountain road. Few cars traveled up here this early in the morning. Most of the tourists wouldn’t be out and about quite yet, and the natives would be headed down to the cities to work. But someone else would see the car—maybe a county sheriff. Trevor was running late.
That car looked ancient. Small wonder it had broken down. The driver was probably another kid, arriving in the Colorado Rockies to live out his dream. They arrived in droves out here, with a few dollars in their pockets and no clue about where they would sleep at night.
All kinds of colorful characters lived off these less-traveled roads, too—mostly dreamers from the past who’d found the means to stay. Hell, some stayed without the means. Vagrancy was a real problem in the area.
Lord knew what kind of person might stop if Trevor didn’t. He slowed further. He didn’t have time to check a neglected engine, but he could give the kid a lift to the Lyons garage, along with a lecture about clean living and safe travel.
After he parked his Jeep behind the car, the driver of the sedan opened the door and got out. It wasn’t a kid, though. It was a woman, mid- to late-twenties and pretty, with long dark hair.
The woman waved at him, and a gust of wind lifted her already-short skirt.
Those legs were long and sexy.
And those frou-frou shoes would have been worthless if Trevor hadn’t stopped and she’d needed to hike a few miles to get help. What genius designer had decided to put high heels on flip-flops? Trevor’s female students wore the dang things all the time, too, but at least their treks were across the groomed grounds of the Boulder campus.
He got out of his vehicle and met the woman between their bumpers.
“I’m so glad you stopped,” the woman said as she pressed a palm to her heart. “I wasn’t sure if what people said about strangers was true.”
“Depends on what you’ve heard people say.”
She studied his face for a moment, her expression pensive. She must have decided he was okay then, because she dropped her hand. “Guess that’s true.”
Another half second, then she chuckled. “There’s not much up here, is there?”
Trevor gazed around at the scenery. They were standing in a canyon a few dozen miles east of Rocky Mountain National Park. Massive rocks towered to the sky on their left. A brook flowed by thirty feet down on their right. The spruce and pines were especially fragrant this time of year, making the earth smell clean.
He loved this area. He’d grown up exploring this wilderness. The woman’s idea of not much was a far cry from his.
Apparently, she’d understood his thoughtful perusal of the land, because she opened her eyes wide and said, “Oh, it’s beautiful out here. I meant there isn’t much civilization. I was hunting for landmarks, but I kept seeing that rock wall on one side and the river on the other. I’m trying to find Longmont. Do you know it?”
Oh. So she was lost, not stranded. Great, he’d give her directions and get on his way. “I traveled through there a few minutes ago, which means you’re headed away from it. Turn around, and you’ll see a sign fairly soon. Take a left toward town. Then you can’t miss it.”
She frowned. “I’m not so sure. I must be lousy at directions. I stopped a half hour ago to ask at a convenience store, and look what happened. Would you mind showing me on my map?”
That would mean he wouldn’t get to the lodge as early as he’d hoped. But the woman acted so…innocent.