Beauty's Kiss Read Online Free PDF Page A

Taylor’s brother, even as he noted the five missed calls, and text after text.
    Not doing so good.
    Need to talk to you.
    Call me.
    Why won’t you answer?
    Troy’s brow creased, concerned. This didn’t sound good at all.
    He glanced at the time on the phone’s display. It was quarter past eleven. If he drove the phone back to Marietta, he wouldn’t arrive until close to midnight. How could he knock on the Jones’ front door at midnight?
    But then, reading the desperate texts, how could he not?
    Troy returned to the house for his coat and wallet. He told Dillon he’d found a phone in the car and had to return it to town. Dillon suggested Troy just stay in town at the hotel. No reason to drive all the way back so late.
    Troy thought it made sense and said goodnight, letting his brother know he’d be back before noon to spend the afternoon with Dad.
     

     
    Taylor woke up to Kara clicking the light on in Taylor’s bedroom. “You’ve got a visitor,” Kara said, covering her yawn.
    “What time is it?” Taylor asked,
    “Eleven forty-five.”
    Taylor’s mind cleared, and she sat up abruptly, immediately thinking of Doug as she groped for her glasses on the nightstand. “My brother?” she asked, settling her glasses onto the bridge of her nose.
    “No.” Kara pushed a tangle of dark blonde hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear. “Your knight in shining armor. Troy Sheenan.” She saw Taylor’s baffled expression and added. “You didn’t even have to track him down in the morning. He found your phone in his car and has brought it back.”
    Relief flooded Taylor. She’d discovered she’d lost her phone minutes after Troy had left and didn’t know how to reach him, or track down Jane for Troy’s number, without her phone. “It’s awfully late to return it, though,” she said, pushing back the covers and swinging her legs over the side of the bed.
    Kara shrugged. “Apparently he was worried about some of the messages. He thought they might be... urgent.”
    “From Doug?” Taylor asked, immediately on her feet and reaching for her thick flannel robe from the foot of the bed.
    “Sounds like it.”
    Rattled, Taylor stuffed her arms into the sleeves and tied the belt around her waist. What had happened? Was Doug in trouble? Had he gotten into it with someone... gotten into a fight or thrown out of the bunkhouse?
    She hated the cold queasy uneasiness filling her, hating that just hearing her brother’s name made her worry. Worry was a terrible feeling, and it seemed like she lived in a perpetual state of anxiety over her brother these days. She needed him to get better. Needed him to own his life, his health, his mind, his future. Four years ago when she’d made the commitment to help him she hadn’t known how hard this would all become... harder as time passed and mistakes kept getting made.
    But she wouldn’t give up on Doug. There was no reason to give up yet. He was young and learning and he was going to get better. And he was already better. He’d held down his current job for six months. That was huge— huge .
    “Where is Troy?” she asked, combing her fingers through her long hair, trying to smooth and untangle it in one quick motion.
    “In the living room. It was the warmest room.” Kara gave Taylor a pointed look, her eyebrows arching. “Although maybe that didn’t matter, because he’s so hot.”
    “Is he?” Taylor asked, feigning indifference, refusing to acknowledge that her racing pulse had anything to do with Troy Sheenan.
    “Seriously hot,” Kara drawled.
    Taylor rolled her eyes. “Is every woman in this town crazy about him?”
    “Every woman with a pulse.” Kara winked, and headed back to her bedroom.Taylor found Troy standing in front of the living room fireplace studying the framed photos on the mantle. She hesitated in the doorway, watching him examine the photos of Kara and her brother growing up.
    His dark hair was cropped clean at his nape, showing