Read Project: Runaway Bride for Free Online Page B

her, made sure she was okay. He could go back to New York now and report as much to her family.
    But he wouldn’t. He would stick around and make her just a little bit miserable first. At least if his arrogant, uninvited disappearance into the cabin was anything to go by.
    Juliet considered staying outside. All night, if necessary. Frankly, if the keys to her BMW hadn’t been on a hook in the kitchen—oh, so far away—she would have jumped in the car and raced at sixty or seventy miles per hour in the other direction.
    With a sigh, she began to wonder if she would forever feel like running away. And if there was anywhere far enough away to truly escape the myriad problems surrounding her like quicksand.
    The smart thing to do would be to face those problems head-on, but no way was she ready for that. Not yet. It was too much, happening all too fast. She still needed time to work it out for herself, let alone figuring out how to tell the rest of the world—or the few people directly involved, at least—what was going on.
    Taking a deep breath, she moved the rest of the way around the house, climbing the wide plank porch steps to the front door. She didn’t know what Reid wanted, exactly. Other than finding her, as her sisters had asked, he really didn’t have any reason to stick around. But she knew him well enough to realize he wouldn’t leave until he was darn good and ready.
    So she would play along. She’d become a rather good actress over the past several months.
    She would simply do the same now, until Reid tired of toying with her and decided to leave her alone. Blessedly alone.
    Pulling open the screen, she stepped inside, closing the heavier wood-and-beveled-glass door behind her. Across the way, Reid stood at the kitchen island, making himself at home by pouring himself a glass of orange juice—one of the few things Juliet had picked up at the small general store in town on her way to the cabin. He took a few long swallows before returning the carton to the refrigerator.
    Crossing the wide-open space of the living room with its floor-to-ceiling windows facing the lake, she pulled out a stool and took a seat directly across from him, keeping the width of the island between them.
    She had to bite her tongue to keep from asking why he was there, what he wanted from her, why he wouldn’t leave. But she knew if she spoke first, she would lose what little solid ground she currently possessed. Better to remain silent and let him steer the direction of their conversation so she at least had a clue of what was going on in that labyrinthine mind of his.
    The seconds ticked by. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Then he pulled out a stool of his own and sank down as casually as though he’d lived there all his life.
    That had been something else about him that attracted her. How comfortable he seemed to be, no matter his surroundings. Of course, she supposed a man like Reid had earned that right. An ex-army ranger. A self-made millionaire. He’d been everywhere, done everything.
    She didn’t think he was afraid of much, either. Which wasn’t to say that he let his guard down. If anything, he seemed to be always on the alert, hyperaware of what was going on around him. Another trait that had made her feel safe when she was with him.
    When he finally spoke, his deep voice filling the quiet, yawning space of the house, Juliet jumped.
    “So...you want to tell me what’s going on?”
    She licked her lips, buying time while her mind raced and her pulse returned to normal. “Nothing’s going on. I just needed to get away for a while.”
    One dark brow winged upward. “You needed to get away,” he repeated. “In the middle of your wedding ceremony. Isn’t that what the honeymoon is for?”
    Technically, it was before the wedding, not in the middle, but she could hear the bitterness in his tone as he muttered the word honeymoon, so she decided not to split hairs.
    Her own stomach roiled at the thought—of being married to