An eerie feeling wafted through Cate, as if this wasnât real.
As if she was looking into the mirror and seeing into the past.
Joan cleared her throat, her nervousness growing. âCan I help you?â
Cate kept looking at the woman in the bed, searching for some foolproof sign. All the while knowing that there wouldnât be one. âThat all depends.â
âOn what?â Joan whispered the words, now clearly fatigued.
Cate took a step toward her then stopped. She was afraid that the woman would pass out if she came any closer. Did she know? On some instinctive level?
Cate put her thoughts into words. âOn whether youâre willing to admit that youâre my mother.â
Dear Reader,
The Signature Select aims to single out outstanding stories, contemporary themes and oft-requested classics by some of your favorite series authors and present them to you in a variety of formats bound by truly striking covers.
We want to provide several different types of reading experiences in the new Signature Select program. The Spotlight books offer a single âbig readâ by a talented series author, the Collections present three novellas on a selected theme in one volume, the Sagas contain sprawling, sometimes multi-generational family tales (often related to a favorite family first introduced in series) and the Miniseries feature requested previously published books, with two or, occasionally, three complete stories in one volume. The Signature Select program offers one book in each of these categories per month, and fans of limited continuity series will also find these continuing stories under the Signature Select umbrella.
In addition, these volumes bring you bonus featuresâ¦different in every single book! You may learn more about the author in an extended interview, more about the setting or inspiration for the book, more about subjects related to the theme and, often, a bonus short read will be included. Authors and editors have been outdoing themselves in originating creative material for our bonus featuresâweâre sure you'll be surprised and pleased with the results!
The Signature Select program strives to bring you a variety of reading experiences by authors youâve come to love, as well as by rising stars youâll be glad youâve discovered.
The excitement continues!
Warm wishes for happy reading,
Marsha Zinberg
Executive Editor
The Signature Select Program
Dear Reader
What if, one day, you wake up to discover that everything you believed to be true, wasnât? That the parents youâd always loved really werenât your parents? How would you feel? These are the emotions that FBI Special Agent Cate Kowalski finds herself facing. Sheâd gone into law enforcement to honor and emulate the father sheâd always adored, the father who was killed in the line of duty while she was still in her teens. Now, she finds the very reason for who and what she is has been based on a lie. This is the premise behind Searching For Cate. It is Cate who is searching for herself, the way that, in part, we all search for ourselves, except that in her case she has to begin from scratch. The search for her birth parents brings her to Southern California and eventually, into the life of Dr. Christian Graywolf, a selfless physician who is also one of the walking wounded. Together, slowly, they each heal the gaping hole in the otherâs soul.
I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. And, as always, I wish you love.
To Marsha Zinberg, who asked, and Patience Smith, who said yes.
Thank you.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Bonus Features
âWhat do you mean itâs not compatible?â
Special Agent Catherine Kowalski stared at the short, husky lab technician before her. A basket filled with vials, syringes and other blood-letting paraphernalia was looped over his arm and he looked at her as if she were a deranged troll who had wandered out of a fairy tale.
The drone of voices in the hospital corridor outside her motherâs single-care unit faded into the background as she tried to make some kind of sense of what the man had just told her.
Itâs a mistake, a voice whispered in her head. But still, there was this terrible tightening in the pit of her stomach, as if she was about to hear something she didnât want to hear.
This was absurd, she thought. Just a small foul-up, nothing more.
âSheâs my mother. How could my blood type be incompatible with hers? There has to be some mistake,â Cate insisted.
There was no sympathy on the technicianâs rounded, pockmarked face, just a weariness that came from doing the same laboratory procedures day after endless day. There was more than just a touch of indignation in his eyes at being questioned.