Always a McBride by Linda Turner Page A

loved him. Because of Sara, she’d spent the rest of her life without him.
    Nothing he could do now could change that or the heartache his mother had suffered. He still intended to tell Sara just what kind of man her deceased husband was, if for no other reason than it was time the truth came out. The only problem was…she was on her honeymoon and he didn’t know when she was coming back. It didn’t matter, he decided. He could wait.
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    â€œOh, Phoebe, they’re adorable!” Merry McBride Kincaid cooed as she cuddled one of the puppies thathad showed up under Myrtle’s back porch earlier that morning. “Are you sure you don’t want to keep one? It seems like fate that they ended up here, almost as if they’re supposed to belong to you. Maybe you should reconsider.”
    â€œOh, no you don’t!” Phoebe laughed. “Don’t even think about trying to pawn one of them off on me. They’re just as sweet as they can be, but a puppy’s the last thing I need.”
    â€œBut it would be such company for you,” Merry said, her blue eyes twinkling. “C’mon, Phoebe, at least consider the idea. You know you want to. There’s no better way to get unconditional love.”
    Phoebe didn’t doubt that—and there was nothing she loved more than a puppy—but the timing was all wrong. Her future was up in the air, her plans too uncertain. If working at Myrtle’s bed and breakfast turned out to be half as enjoyable as she knew it was going to be, then she had some major career decisions to make when she went back home. If she decided to follow her heart and open her own bed and breakfast, she’d have to find the appropriate location, sell her father’s business, move, get the business up and running. And she couldn’t do that with a puppy underfoot.
    â€œNice try,” she said with a grin, “but it’s not going to work. I’ve got too much going on right now. Maybe next year.”
    â€œGive me a call when you’re ready,” Merry said, understanding, as she returned the puppy she held to the box where his brothers and sisters were sleeping. “Someone’s always bringing me a stray litter of puppies.”
    â€œYou’re the first person I’ll call,” Phoebe assured her as Merry hefted the box of puppies and started downthe central hall to the front door. “Here, let me get the door for you.”
    Pulling the door open for her, she pushed open the screen door and stepped out onto the front porch, only to find herself face to face with Taylor as he came up the steps to the porch. “Oh!” she said, startled, frowning as her heart skipped a beat at the sight of him. Why did she always have this crazy reaction whenever she laid eyes on the man? She didn’t even like him! “I thought you were at the library.”
    â€œI found everything I needed,” he replied, and glanced past her to Merry, who’d just stepped through the front door with the box of puppies.
    Phoebe saw him catch his breath and wasn’t surprised. Everyone reacted to Merry that way when they met her for the first time. She was drop-dead gorgeous…and one of the nicest women Phoebe knew. Like all the McBrides, she would give the shirt off her back to someone in need.
    â€œMerry, this is my first guest, Taylor Bishop,” she said, breaking the silence that had fallen with Taylor’s arrival. “He’s a writer. He’s doing a book on the ranching families that helped settle Colorado.”
    â€œOh, really?” Smiling easily, she said, “Then you need to talk to my mother and brothers. And Janey, too,” she added. “She did the family genealogy and traced the McBrides all the way back to Scotland.”
    Still dazed, Taylor hardly heard her. This was his half sister? This was unbelievable. She was beautiful. She was—
    â€œTaylor? Are you all