But Kate found something about this young woman sly. And smug. Julianna's comments rang not of naivete but of nastiness. Kate decided she didn't like Julianna Starr at all.

"We didn't find her, Julianna. We adopted her through a very reputable agency."

"Grill's hot," Richard announced, rubbing his hands together as he entered the kitchen. He crossed to the platter of Brie, strawberries and crackers and sliced himself a wedge of the cheese.

"Kate and I were just talking about adoption. I think it's so wonderful that you were able to adopt Emma."

He beamed at the young woman, and Kate nearly choked on a strawberry. Obviously, her husband did not feel the same way she did.

"We think so, too," he said. "In fact, we consider it a kind of miracle." Richard turned to her. "Don't we, hon?"

Kate smiled at her husband, loving him so much in that moment it took her breath away. "That we do."

"Why don't you give Julianna a tour of the house while I cook the steaks?"

Giving Julianna Starr a tour of her home was the last thing Kate wanted to do, but she saw no graceful way out of it. As they moved from room to room, Kate had the strangest feeling that Julianna had been here before, that she knew the layout of the house already, that she was familiar with the room designations, the decor.

Unsettled, Kate hung back slightly to see what Julianna would do. As Kate had suspected she would, Julianna took the lead, and Kate experienced the oddest sensation that she was being given a tour of her own home. The sensation made her skin crawl.

"And this is Richard's study," Julianna murmured. She moved into the room, and closing her eyes, breathed deeply through her nose. "It smells like him."

The hairs on the back of Kate's neck stood up. "Excuse me?"

"He's a wonderful man," Julianna said, looking at Kate. "You've been very lucky."

"You make that sound like my luck's about to change," Kate murmured, forcing lightness into her tone.

"Did I? Sorry." Julianna moved her gaze over the room, then fixed it on Kate once more. "I'd love to see the nursery. It's just down the hall, I'll bet."

"It is. But I'm sure there's nothing of interest-"

"Don't be silly, Kate. I have to see precious Emma's room."

She smiled at the infant, and Kate shifted her daughter to her opposite shoulder, the one farthest from Julianna. "All right, then. It's this way."

Kate led her down the hall to the nursery. When they reached it, Julianna rushed into the room, making a sound of pleasure. "It's a little girl's dream room," she said. "All pink and pretty."

She crossed to the dresser and the framed photographs that decorated the top. She inspected each, unabashedly curious. After a moment, she looked over her shoulder at Kate. "There are none of Emma and her daddy."

Kate stared at her, a chill moving up her spine. "We had one," she murmured, her mouth dry. "It was stolen."

"Stolen?" Julianna repeated, bringing a hand to her chest, looking horrified. "You mean someone broke into your home? How awful."

Kate laughed a bit self-consciously. "I should say, maybe stolen. Maybe misplaced. Suddenly, it was just gone."

"That happens to me all the time. I just hate it." Julianna shook her head. "I'm sure it'll show up."

Kate said she hoped it did, then having finished the tour of the upper floor, which served as the main residence, led the other woman downstairs to her studio. Julianna wandered through, touching this and that.

Kate let her wander, using the moments to study her. Richard had said that Julianna reminded him of her. At first, she hadn't seen it. But now she did. Gazing at Julianna was like gazing at a distorted image of herself in a fun house mirror. Julianna wore her hair the way she did; her dress, though made of different fabric and in different colors, was the same style as hers; Julianna's smile, laugh, the way she gestured, all reminded Kate of herself.

Kate swallowed hard, unsettled. It was almost as if the woman had crept into her bedroom in the middle of the night and borrowed her identity.

She wondered what else of hers the young woman might want.

She glanced at her watch. "I'll bet the steaks are almost done. Why don't we go check on Richard?"

Julianna acted as if she hadn't heard her. "I wanted to be an artist," she confided. "But I…" She let her words trail off and picked up Kate's autographed copy of Dead Drop. "I just read this. Have you?"

"Not yet, no."

She opened the book and read the inscription. Again Kate had the urge to snatch something of hers out of the girl's hands.

"You and Richard know the author?"

"Yes. He's an old friend of ours." Kate crossed to her and held out her hand for the book. Julianna handed it over, and Kate laid it back on the shelf. "Now, we really must go upstairs. I'm certain Richard's waiting."

Hours later, after Julianna had left and Emma was soundly asleep, Kate stood in front of the mirror in their master bathroom, thinking of Julianna Starr. Richard was already in bed, going over his notes for court the next day.

She glanced his way. "I don't like her, Richard."

He looked up. "You don't like who?"

"Julianna."

He looked completely astounded. "Why on earth not?"

"There's something about her…" Kate looked from him to her own reflection, recalling the sensation of Julianna having stolen her identity. "A secretiveness. I don't think she's told you everything about herself."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Of course she hasn't. I'm her boss, remember?"

Kate frowned. "That's not the way she looks at you."

"For Pete's sake, Kate. She's-"

"You don't see it." Kate squeezed toothpaste onto her brush, then waved it at him. "She looks at you like she'd like to eat you up."

He burst out laughing. "Now there's a thought."

She glared at him. "I'm serious about this. Did you see the way she looked at Emma. As if Emma was hers, not ours." She began to scrub her teeth, then stopped. "When I walked her through the house she all but drooled." At his amused expression, she added. "She acted like she had been here before. Like she knew this house."

"She probably has been, Kate. In her dreams." At her look he lifted his shoulders. "What kid starting out hasn't looked at what we have and drooled? Or maybe fantasized about how someday this would all be theirs? A beautiful home, nice things. A great marriage, successful careers." He smiled softly to take the sting out of his words. "Instead of being suspicious, maybe you should be flattered."

Flattered? She felt threatened. "It wasn't like that," she said, frustrated. "You didn't see it."

"No, I didn't." He patted the bed beside him. "Come to bed. You're exhausted and overwrought. In the morning you're going to feel pretty silly about being so suspicious."

But in the morning, Kate didn't feel silly. She felt uneasy and unsettled. She hadn't slept well, tormented by dreams of being stalked by a creature she couldn't see but knew was deadly. A creature who threatened to consume her and all she held dear.

As Kate sat in her kitchen sipping her coffee and trying to shake the cobwebs from her head, she acknowledged that urging her husband to hire Julianna Starr might have been a mistake.