The Look-Alike Bride (Crimson Romance) by Kathryn Brocato Read Free Book Online

floor.
    The dinette window looked toward the lake where darkness was settling in. Only three or four fingers of orange remained on the darkening water.
    Leonie gave the view a cursory glance while she opened a cabinet door and located a pair of glasses. “It’s okay. I like the way the sun looks coming up between skyscrapers, myself.”
    “You don’t really mean that,” he observed, remembering her peaceful enjoyment of the sunset a little earlier.
    She brought the glasses to the table and regarded him with curiosity. “Why do you say that?”
    For once in his life when dealing with a woman, Adam found himself totally at a loss. He covered his temporary amnesia by removing the foil wrap from his tray of cookies and pretending to inhale the fragrance.
    “Do I look like a bird watcher or something?” She refused to let him off the hook.
    “You look like a woman who appreciates beauty wherever she finds it,” he said at last, and was rewarded by her appreciative grin.
    “That was fast thinking,” she approved. “I’m a city girl at heart, and you know it.”
    “Do I?”
    He knew Leonie Daniel lived and worked in Houston, but he didn’t know how she felt about it. Most of his colleagues in Dallas were always bemoaning their city existence and claimed they lived only for retirement when they intended to emigrate to a farm in the country.
    “Anybody who’s lived in Washington, D.C. and likes it has to be a city girl at heart.” Leonie poured two glasses of milk and set one before him. “Sit down and have some cookies. You baked them, so you should get the first one, hot off the tray.”
    She remembered her story tonight, Adam noted. He slid into the dinette, reached for a cookie and surreptitiously glanced at the bottom to make sure it wasn’t burnt.
    “You must like something about this area,” he said. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have bought this cabin.”
    “It’s an investment.” She slid into the seat opposite him and chose a cookie. “Everyone I know invests in vacation property as far away from D.C. as possible.”
    “In that case, why not buy yourself a condo on Lake Tahoe?” he asked, grinning.
    “My parents live in Shreveport,” she said with dignity. “They can drive here in half a day.”
    He had to hand it to Zara’s little sister. She had prepared to field anything he threw at her. Either that or she was skilled at making things up as she went along. He suspected the truth was a combination of the two.
    “You grew up in Shreveport?” He knew she hadn’t.
    “I grew up in Crockett, Texas.” She chose another cookie. “It’s a small town in the East Texas piney woods region—”
    “I know where Crockett is,” he interrupted, grinning. “I’ll bet you were the most popular girl in your high school.”
    “No, I—” She broke off, overriding herself with, “Well, I was elected head cheerleader and homecoming queen, but you know how that goes in a small town.”
    So. Leonie Daniel hadn’t been nearly as popular in high school as Zara. He wasn’t surprised. Zara had impressed him as a woman whom nobody ignored, including her high school class.
    He watched, fascinated, as Leonie subjected the cookie platter to deep scrutiny before selecting her third cookie. Obviously, Leonie watched her calories all the way down. From the few things Zara had said on the subject of food, she considered it some sort of duty to count every calorie and work hard at keeping trim.
    It was refreshing, he realized, to be with a woman who enjoyed eating, and who didn’t make him feel guilty about every gram of fat he ingested.
    “I suppose you left Crockett when you went to college,” he said. “Where did you go to school?”
    She laughed. “I went to the University of Texas, naturally. Would you like to hear all about my college career?”
    He smiled agreeably. Nothing interested him less than hearing all about Zara Daniel’s college days. Leonie’s days, however, might have held him