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eBook Category: Romance/Mainstream
eBook Description: Katelyn Devereaux needs a vacation. More than a vacation she needs to put Denver behind her as well as the man who wants her as his wife and the birth family who is insisting on finding her. A secluded cottage on a lake in Wisconsin sounds like the perfect spot to get away--or is it? Seth Miller knows the reason that he mistook Katelyn for Genean is his knowledge that his best friend's wife is searching for the twin sister who was adopted by strangers at birth. Of course he can't change the facts that Genean and Katelyn are sisters, especially after he learns that the company she wants to visit in Wisconsin is owned by Genean's brother, Randy, and her husband, Brad.

eBook Publisher: Midnight Showcase, Published: 2005
Fictionwise Release Date: August 2005

This eBook is part of the following series:

• Various Authors Midnight Showcase Series

19 Reader Ratings: Great Good OK Poor

Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [1.4 MB], eReader (PDB) [247 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [240 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [215 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [260 KB] - PocketPC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [246 KB], hiebook (KML) [626 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [309 KB], iSilo (PDB) [197 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [246 KB], Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [315 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [310 KB]
Words: 77341
Reading time: 220-309 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED
ISBN: 1-4116-4164-7

Sunlight shimmered across the lake. It glistened as though it had been scattered with diamonds. As she stood there in awe, taking in the view from the cottage, the dock invited her into the picture of beauty. Taking her sketchpad and pencil with her, Katelyn Devereaux walked across the lawn and sandy beach until she reached the pier. Settling into the deck chair, she gazed out across the water.

It was such a lovely morning. She was so glad she'd taken the advice of her friends and accompanied Suzie Branch to this beautiful Wisconsin lake. Katelyn had met Suzie while they were in college. They had become instant friends and now Katelyn didn't know what she would do without her. It had been at Suzie's insistence that Katelyn came with her to this secluded lake just outside of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. She certainly needed a vacation and could think of no place more relaxing than this quaint cottage hidden away in a different world.

In the distance, a loon called to its mate, waited for a few moments for a reply and called again. This kind of peaceful exchange soothed her and drew her attention to the fact that she hadn't taken the time to listen to it for months. She knew nature was all around her back home, but there never seemed to be time to sit and listen. In Denver, she was nothing more than a machine, pumping out sketches for her clients and on occasion playing the gracious hostess for Martin.

No, I don't want to think of the daily grind of running the Devereaux Agency, nor Martin Collier's marriage proposal. I need this time to figure out just who Katelyn Devereaux really is.

Katelyn turned away from the peaceful scene before her. Why can't my life be this peaceful?

You know why, Katie. The sound of her father's voice rumbled through her mind causing a tear to escape the corner of her eyes. She'd lost both of her parents at Thanksgiving and never really gotten over their deaths. The only thing that kept her from going completely over the edge was work, work and more work.

I don't think I can do this, Daddy. I don't love Martin. I haven't even given him an answer concerning his proposal. Maybe I'm not cut out for the wife thing. Even if I did marry Martin, I wouldn't be a wife, not in the conventional way. With him gone so much, life as his wife would be no different from life by myself.

Katelyn's thoughts came as a shock. Never before had she admitted her true feelings for Martin. More than anything else in the world, she wanted to be a little girl again without all the problems of being a responsible adult. Considering Martin was old enough to be her father, marriage to him would be a pretense.

Back home in Denver, her life had become too complicated to allow her to rest. For the past eight months she'd been running the Devereaux Advertising Agency and then there was Martin Collier's marriage proposal--which was further complicated when she discovered that she was adopted. Perhaps if her parents had told her the truth the shock wouldn't have been so profound but they hadn't. She'd learned of her adoption only days after their funeral.

A mallard duck swooped down and landed on the lake, leaving ripples in his wake. He made a perfect model for her to sketch. Opening her pad, she began to draw the duck's features.

"Genean? What are you doing here?"

The sound of a man's voice sent the duck away in frightened flight. Silently she cursed the intrusion on her perfect scene. "I beg your pardon," she said, getting to her feet. "I'm afraid you've mistaken me for someone else." Quickly she wiped the last of the tears from her eyes. Had he seen her crying? The last thing she wanted was to have some stranger feeling sorry for her. Besides, he did wreck the perfect setting the duck had created for her sketch.

Although he was less than twenty feet away from her, the sun at his back made it hard to distinguish anything about him. As she stood up, she shaded her eyes to get a better look at the face behind the voice. He stood well over six foot tall and could only be described as a blonde Adonis. He reminded her of one of the body builders she sketched while in college.

"I'm sorry. I can't believe the uncanny resemblance between you and my friend, Genean Karsten."

She watched him as he stepped onto the pier in order to get a better look at her.

"I'm Seth Miller. I live up around the point. Are you staying with the Branch's, Miss..."

"It's Devereaux, Katelyn Devereaux."

"Katelyn Devereaux," he repeated her name. She liked the way it sounded when he spoke it. "You don't look much like a Katelyn to me. Do you mind if I call you Kaye?"

Hearing him call her Kaye made her blood boil.

Don't get mad. He has no idea why the name of Kaye would upset you. Besides he is handsome and you did come on this vacation to make up your mind about a lot of things. He's certainly more interesting that stuffy old Martin.

"Yes, I do mind. I mind very much. Katelyn or Katie will do quite well. Anything but Kaye."

Without saying more, she sat back down on the deck chair and tried to concentrate on her drawing. Instead she couldn't help but stare at the man at the end of the dock.

"Wait. I didn't mean to offend you. What do you say we start over again?"

"I think not," she said, hoping her tone sounded as though she was teasing. "You scared away my duck." Even to her ears, the last words sounded tart, not at all the way she intended. They sounded angry. Inwardly she cursed herself for getting upset just because her model flew away.

"Your duck? I didn't know they belonged to anyone in particular."

She couldn't help but smile at his statement. At least he hadn't misinterpreted her meaning. For that she was grateful. She knew getting used to this vacation thing would take her longer than a few hours of sitting staring out at the water. Her sketch of the duck had been more for business than for pleasure, even though she promised not to think about any of her clients while she was in Wisconsin.

"They don't. I mean they don't belong to anybody. I was doing a sketch of him. I certainly didn't expect someone to come up and scare him away."

"That's better. I do like the way you look when you smile. I know how it is when you get distracted. I should be getting back to work before I get behind."

"Behind in what?" She couldn't imagine him doing anything but enjoying the sun. It had turned his skin a golden brown and gave him the look of a sun worshiper from Hawaii or California rather than Suzie's neighbor in Wisconsin of all places. "You look like a beach bum to me."

She was beginning to enjoy this game of cat and mouse. If the truth were known, she would enjoy getting to know this man.

"A beach bum?"

"Well, you certainly didn't get that tan being cooped up in an office all day."

"Hardly," he punctuated the word with hearty laughter. "I do woodworking in my home. When I have a beautiful day, like today, I enjoy taking my projects outside."

"Well, don't let me keep you." Katelyn realized she didn't mean the words. She wanted to continue talking to him longer.

"I hope I'll be seeing you again before you leave. I come this way every morning." With a wave of his hand, he turned around and began to run back toward where he indicated he lived.

Katelyn closed her eyes and tried to get back her inspiration for the picture of the mallard. To her surprise, the only vision to fill her mind was of Seth Miller. Opening her eyes again, she flipped to a clean sheet on her sketchpad and started drawing the strong lines of his face.

If he came this way everyday, she would definitely see him again. She wanted to get to know this man and decide once and for all if she wanted to live her life as a woman with a husband who traveled three hundred days out of the year or if she deserved more out of life. Suzie and Uncle Jack, her father's lawyer and the closest thing she had to any real family, both thought so and told her she was making a bad mistake on more than one occasion. Maybe they were right.