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

enthralled, but he figured he had little chance of hearing about them.
    For a moment, he toyed with the idea of telling her he knew she wasn’t Zara. He discarded the thought because he was having too much fun with the situation as it stood.
    “I’d better not ask,” he said. “Otherwise, I’d have to retaliate with a year by year account of my own college career. I wouldn’t want you to fall face down in these cookies I worked so hard to bake.”
    She cast a chagrinned glance at the half-eaten cookie in her hand. “I forgot to thank you for these delicious cookies.”
    “No thanks needed. It’s easy enough to see you’re getting the proper enjoyment from them.”
    Leonie nodded with vigor and applied herself once more to the cookie. “Oh, I am. You don’t know how good something homemade tastes. I’ve been so busy lately I haven’t done anything in the kitchen beyond open the refrigerator for a glass of milk.”
    “You’re on vacation,” Adam reminded her. “However, if you feel like reciprocating, I happen to like pecan cookies.”
    He wondered if she’d take the hint. An interesting vision of how he’d like to thank her for the pecan cookies arose in his mind.
    “I’ll have to rest up a while,” Leonie said. “Paint a few rocks, swim a few laps, watch a few more sunsets . . .”
    “By all means.” He couldn’t help but laugh, she looked so wary. “I felt the same way, myself. Fortunately, I’ve been here a few days longer than you have.”
    She put on a face of supreme understanding. “Believe me, I know exactly what you mean. The lake is so peaceful, it only takes a few days to feel thoroughly rested.”
    • • •
    Leonie couldn’t believe she was conducting such a ridiculous conversation in Zara’s cabin kitchen with a man like Adam Silverthorne. Worse, she knew Zara probably baked cookies just as she did everything else, with exactitude and perfection.
    Leonie, on the other hand, wasn’t much of a baker. The oven had to be watched too closely, and cookies burned if you left them in the heat half a second too long. That was why she stocked her refrigerator with grapes and other fruits that needed only washing. Fruit she could handle, even if it needed peeling.
    If Adam wanted cookies, he’d get a fruit basket—if she really went so far as to reciprocate, and if he was crazy enough to want her to.
    She shot him another suspicious glance from beneath her lashes and prayed to hear from Zara that night. Obviously, Adam and Zara had a lot more going on between them than Zara had seen fit to mention. Either that, or Adam had, for some reason, waited until now to make his move on Zara.
    What wonderful timing, Leonie grumbled to herself. She was collecting on something owed to Zara, and Zara was not going to be happy. Leonie couldn’t blame her.
    But Zara was a fair woman. Surely, she’d realize neither she nor Leonie had any control over when or how Adam chose to exhibit his interest.
    Leonie cheered up. Perhaps Zara would be so excited to learn Adam was interested, she’d forgive Leonie for inadvertently receiving his attentions.
    “Why are you looking at me like that?” Adam asked.
    Leonie flushed. “I’m sorry. I was thinking of something else.” She shoved back her chair and almost pushed it over backwards in her haste to rise. “Would you like some more milk?”
    “I’m crushed. A beautiful woman looks at me and thinks of something else.” He laughed outright. “It’s probably my aftershave. I’ll have to find another brand.”
    Leonie turned away so he wouldn’t see her face looking like a tomato. “Switch to Old Spice cologne. No woman can resist it.” She opened the refrigerator door and leaned inside in hopes the coolness would reduce the glow of her heated cheeks.
    “Maybe I’ll investigate an expensive designer cologne.”
    “I don’t know, Adam.” She turned back with a fresh milk carton in her hand. “You might look awfully funny with all those gorgeous