Along Came a Spider

By Delilah Devlin

After Spider follows a fellow SEAL's advice to take some downtime and try fishing to get over his restlessness after back-to-back missions, he finds himself even more irritated until his fishing lure gets caught in the bushes, and while trying to free it, he notices men armed with tactical equipment moving through the forest. Curiosity piqued, he follows and is just in time to prevent the men from harming a lone female camper.

Jessie Tamberlin hoped to hide out in the woods until after her wedding to a billionaire, following her discovery that he is an illegal arms dealer. However, she knows secrets he's determined to keep silent; he's never going to let her go. When she finds an ally in the woods, who helps her escape, she has to make an on-the-spot decision to trust him.

Together, they work to stay one step ahead of her ex-fiancé while trying to ignore their growing attraction for each other.

Note: This novella was previously published in the Men in Uniform anthology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Delilah Devlin
• Release date: Sep 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223646532

Delilah Devlin

Always a risk taker, Delilah Devlin lived in the Saudi Peninsula during the Gulf War, thwarted an attempted abduction by white slave traders, and survived her children’s juvenile delinquency. In addition to Saudi Arabia, she has lived in Germany and Ireland, but calls Arkansas home for now.

Book preview

Along Came a Spider

Along Came a Spider

Delilah Devlin

To my best friends: the Red-Headed Hellion, who helps me keep my focus on the end game; and my sister, Elle James, who inspires me to be a better writer every day. I couldn’t do this without either of you.

About the Book

All this SEAL wants is time alone to recharge after a grueling mission, but what he gets is caught in the crossfire of passion and danger.

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After Spider follows a fellow SEAL’s advice to take some downtime and try fishing to get over his restlessness after back-to-back missions, he finds himself even more irritated until his fishing lure gets caught in the bushes, and while trying to free it, he notices men armed with tactical equipment moving through the forest. Curiosity piqued, he follows and is just in time to prevent the men from harming a lone female camper.

---

Jessie Tamberlin hoped to hide out in the woods until after her wedding to a billionaire, following her discovery that he is an illegal arms dealer. However, she knows secrets he’s determined to keep silent; he’s never going to let her go. When she finds an ally in the woods, who helps her escape, she has to make an on-the-spot decision to trust him.

---

Together, they work to stay one step ahead of her ex-fiancé while trying to ignore their growing attraction for each other.

Contents

Along Came a Spider

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Guarding Hannah

Chapter 1

Also by Delilah Devlin

Along Came a Spider

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

Delilah Devlin

Chapter 1

Spider Longren knew his reaction was way out of context with the situation, but looking down at the crushed metal tackle box gave him grim satisfaction. The solid punch had left his knuckles tingling, which reminded him he was among the living.

So, the lock probably hadn’t been stuck in the first place. Maybe it had only needed a jiggle to free it. He’d buy his buddy Tank a shiny new one to replace the dented old box. At least, now, he could see the hook he needed. It was on the ground, along with all the scattered, colorful flies and shiny weights.

Selecting a hook, he settled back into his folding chair and reached for the box of worms he’d bought at the bait shop at O-dark-thirty that morning. He grimaced as he impaled a large wriggling worm. The moment had arrived. The moment Tank had described as one of pure bliss as he gently flung back his pole then jerked it forward to cast, the sweet sound of the reel whirring a sure path to inner peace.

Spider’s line landed limply about ten feet from his chair. Well, hell. That’s what the weights are for. He turned the handle on the reel, and the hook whizzed closer. A mindless task. Annoying as hell.

He rifled through the spilled contents of the tackle box, looking for one of the small brass weights. Pain stung the end of his index finger, and he jerked back his hand to find a large drop of blood bubbling up from a puncture. An ISL bullet hadn’t managed to sideline him for more than a month, but now he wondered whether some flesh-eating bacteria might find its way inside the small wound, so he rifled some more to find a tube of antibacterial cream. Wound treated, he returned to the task of finding a weight and tying it next to the hook, trimmed the excess line with the K-bar knife from his web belt, then stuck another worm onto the hook and prepared to cast his line, again.

But first, he needed a few deep breaths to calm the anger that had him itching to get up from his seat on this small rocky outcrop that jutted into a fast-moving river, the outcrop forming an eddy Tank had promised would yield a fish or two.

Ever since they’d returned from their last rotation, this time in northern Syria, Spider had been edgy, unable to relax, terse with his friends—to the point they’d told him he needed to get laid or go a round with someone who’d kick his ass good in a boxing ring. Tank had cleared his throat after that last suggestion and recommended his own favorite stress break: a weekend of fishing, alone in the wilderness. No voices. No sounds other than the swishing of the trees as the wind filtered through their branches, the gentle burbling of the water, the occasional warble of a bird…

The thought of isolating himself in the forest, on purpose, as a way to let go of the tension that kept him wound tight, had sounded like a slice of pure heaven. After getting the GPS location of Tank’s favorite watering hole, he’d left Little Creek last night, arriving in the North Carolina national forest in the early morning hours at a roadside motel Tank promised didn’t have bed bugs. He’d dropped his gear in his room, which turned out to be exactly as his buddy had promised—old, but clean. The slight smell of mildew in the bathroom was kind of comforting in its own way.

He’d headed out on foot, following his GPS into the woods, just a flashlight to guide him, a fishing pole and his folding chair slung over his shoulder, the tackle box under his arm, and a cooler carried at his side. Watching the sunrise from the rock outcropping that stretched nearly to the center of the river had further heartened him that he’d chosen well because, during that last hundred miles of driving, he’d wondered if he shouldn’t have chosen door number one and simply gotten laid.

Well, he was here now. It was Saturday morning, and he had until Monday to return to base. All he had to do was follow Tank’s simple instructions—hook a worm, cast, wait until something happened, pop the tab on a beer, wait some more, reel in the line, and then hook another worm. Rinse and repeat. The path to nirvana. Catching a fish wasn’t the actual goal.

He reached back and cast his line again then watched it sail far out toward the center of the river, but a sudden gust of wind pushed it back toward the bank on the other side of the eddy. He jerked his pole, but the hook had caught on vegetation. Huffing a breath, he pushed up from his chair and jerked harder on the line.

A metallic tinkling sounded. What the hell? he whispered under his breath. He tugged again, this time more gently. The sound repeated, but more muted this time.

Since fishing wasn’t nearly as interesting as exploring the source of the sound, he walked back across the rocks, climbing down to the river bank, then cut through the woods in the direction he’d heard the tinkling sound.

He pushed through a thicket of bushes then happened to glance downward. A nearly invisible filament, thicker than a