Suddenly in Love (Lake Haven#1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

carved into the gables above. The central part of the house was fairly plain and flat, but the wings that stretched out from either side had balustrades on the roofs, verandas along the front, and each ended in big round rooms, sort of like castle turrets.
    Lake Haven hadn’t become a fashionable summer getaway for the East Coast elite until somewhere around the fifties, about the time Grandma and Grandpa had opened the East Beach Lake Cottages. The houses built on the lake since then had big windows and rooms set at angles designed to capture the best views. But Ross house had its own unique charm. Once you entered through the stone gate, you knew you were entering an area of wealth and refined taste. You’d expect to find the woman of the house in Ralph Lauren, perhaps on her way to a golf game. You would not expect to find Nancy Yates.
    Not until you walked inside.
    Mia opened the front door a small crack. As she expected, the two little fluffy white dogs with coordinated fashion collars burst into frantic yapping, apparently having forgotten meeting her only moments ago. “Okay, all right,” she said, sticking her boot through the door first. “Come on, guys, you know me now,” she said, and inched her way in, nudging the little beasts away.
    When she’d squeezed herself inside, the dogs backed up, still yapping, but then suddenly, as if they’d assured themselves she was who she said she was, they turned and trotted like a pair of soldiers off to the big farmer’s kitchen and their bed.
    “Little beasts,” she murmured. She glanced around her. It always took her a moment to adjust to the interior—inside is where the early American style turned completely and utterly deranged.
    Quite honestly, the interior of this grand house looked as if a merry band of clowns with disparate tastes had come through and partied. Mia had never seen a more curious mix of styles and colors, and she’d gone to art school.
    The house had the soaring ceilings and elaborate crown moldings one would expect, as well as tall windows with views of the woods and the lake. The floors were marble and, in many rooms, the original wood. One would assume a house of this stature had been properly put together, that some historical buff or East Coast designer would have made it a showpiece.
    Nothing could be further from the truth.
    The conflict of styles and colors exploded in your brain after one walk through. In the dining room, bright blue wallpaper with enormous black palm leaves in velvet relief clashed with a small faux-oak table and massive crystal chandelier overhead. In the living area, oriental accents stood beside art deco and antique finishings. Vintage wallpapers competed with clear plastic shelving and modern mirrors. Rooms that hadn’t been papered had jarring color palettes.
    “This house needs a lot of work, but the bones are good,” Nancy Yates had said the first day they’d met. “I learned that on HGTV—you have to have good bones. Then you renovate. But if you don’t have good bones, renovations will get very expensive.”
    “This renovation is going to be expensive no matter how good the bones,” Aunt Bev had whispered into Mia’s ear as Nancy had shown them around.
    “It was built by an industrialist, you know,” Nancy airily continued like a museum docent, gesturing to the ceiling in the dining room, the wainscoting, the window casings.
    “Malcolm Ross,” Aunt Bev had said. She took pride in her knowledge of local history. She’d pulled her standard Chico’s-issue jacket around her generous frame. “He built it for his wife, who wanted their ten kids to have plenty of places to run and play. The village of East Beach grew up around this house, did you know that? There are Rosses everywhere now—Ross Hardware, Ross Elementary, Ross Insurance, Ross Medical Group—”
    “Well, anyway,” Nancy had said, interrupting Aunt Bev, “this place needs a complete overhaul. Just look at this kitchen!” she’d