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. Decatur will soon find himself facing the challenge of his life, both on the battlefield and in the bedroom, as he contends with this misfit of a girl who has the audacity to believe herself the equal of any man.... Warmest wishes, Jane Feather P.S. Phoebe, the ''awkward'' one, will be next, in ''The Accidental Bride.'' Watch for it in early 1999.