A Daring Vow (Vows) Read Online Free PDF Page B

fresh pot.
    “More, hon?”
    Taylor shook his head. “I’ve got to get to the office.”
    Sarah Lynn didn’t take the hint. She didn’t even know the meaning of the phrase. She slid into the seat opposite him. “Not before you tell me all about Zelda,” she said, clearly in the mood for a long chat. “I heard you were out at her house first thing.”
    “Because I’m handling her mother’s will,” he pointed out, not liking the way she seemed to have transformed his purely professional visit into something personal. If it hadn’t been for that damned will, he wouldn’t have been within a hundred miles of the Lane house, at least not with Zelda in it. Sarah Lynn ought to know that about as well as anyone. She’d been there for Zelda, when the girl had been spitting mad and hurt because Taylor’d walked out on her. She’d given him her two cents on the subject, listened to his pitiful explanation, then somehow managed to stay loyal to both of them.
    “Don’t try to turn my stopping by on her first day home into anything else,” he warned.
    Sarah Lynn looked unconvinced. Still, she kept her opinion of his defensiveness to herself. “Whatever,” she said blandly. “How’s she look?”
    Before he could muster a disinterested reply, a knowing, delighted grin spread across Sarah Lynn’s round face. “Never mind, I can see by the look in your eyes that she must be as gorgeous as ever. She still gets to you, huh?” she said, rubbing it in.
    “You two were hotter than a bowl of five-star chili once upon a time. It’s damn near impossible to put out that kind of a flame. I oughta know. I’ve never forgotten that gorgeous Texan who swooped through town and swept me off my feet forty years ago. Talk about fireworks! You and Zelda used to get that exact same look in your eyes when you’d spot each other and thought no one else was looking.”
    Taylor scowled at her but tried to keep his irritation out of his voice. It wouldn’t do to overreact. It would just set more tongues wagging. “Sarah Lynn, honey,” he teased, “has anyone ever told you you have an overly active imagination?”
    “No one whose opinion I trust,” she smart-mouthed back. “Why don’t you bring her on by for lunch?”
    At her assumption that he and Zelda would pick up right where they’d left off, his fragile hold on his patience snapped. “If Zelda wants to eat here, she knows the way,” he reminded her irritably as he slid from the booth. “Frankly, I’m not all that sure she’ll be around long enough.”
    Sarah Lynn chuckled, obviously putting her own interpretation on his sour attitude. “Bye-bye, hon. You have a good one, you hear.”
    Taylor doubted any day that had started out with one of Sarah Lynn’s inquisitions about her silly, romantic imaginings could possibly turn out to be good. The walk down the block to the old clapboard house that served as both his home and his office was short enough to be uneventful, but also too short to improve his mood.
    Inside the office, the normally effusive Darlene Maitland greeted him with a subdued expression. Darlene was twenty-two, recently married and could type with fervor, if not accuracy. She was the only person in town who’d applied for the job of secretary when he’d posted a notice on the bulletin board at Sarah Lynn’s. Since she was known for her bubbling enthusiasm—she’d been head cheerleader every year in high school—Taylor had a feeling her downcast look did not bode well for the rest of his morning.
    “Guess what?” she said, following him into his office and plunking a handful of pink message slips onto his desk.
    “What?” he said, in no mood to play guessing games.
    “I’m pregnant!”
    He regarded her as if she’d just announced that a bomb had arrived in the morning mail. Obviously he could not voice his real reaction to the news. “Congratulations!” he said with what he hoped was enough sincerity to cover his dismay.
    If Darlene sensed