Top Gun Guardian. Carol Ericson
they finished their breakfast, they said goodbye to the men still nursing their coffee in the corner. As Buzz swung open the door, a short, stocky man barreled through it, almost colliding with Buzz.
“Sorry…” The man trailed off and his eyes narrowed beneath his cowboy hat. “Buzz Richardson, hotshot pilot.”
His sharp tone cut across the café and Raven took a step back. Guess not everyone in White Cloud was friendly.
“Lance, how have you been?” Buzz stuck out his hand but the smaller man ignored it.
“Could be better, Buzz. Could be better.” He turned on his heel and stalked to an empty table.
With his jaw tight, Buzz ushered Raven through the door. They stepped into the chilly Oklahoma morning, and Raven pulled her coat around her body.
“What was that all about? I thought everyone in White Cloud was your best friend.”
“That’s Lance Cooper.”
“So?” She circled one finger in the air. “I’m supposed to know him?”
“He’s the brother of Josh Cooper, the man who was flying my parents in my plane when it crashed.”
Raven gasped. “Buzz…”
He shook his head and opened the passenger door of the truck. She understood that signal.
Raven cleared her throat. “When do the stores open? We’re going to have to get some basics and Malika and I need some clothes.”
His shoulders relaxed. “It’s Saturday. The stores open around nine. We’ll head out to the ranch first and make the place livable for the next few weeks.”
“Few weeks?” Raven buckled Malika into the seat between them. “Is that how long you think this is going to take?”
Buzz cranked on the engine of the old truck. “I’m not sure, Raven. We’ll see how things work out.”
In less than five minutes, they hit open road. Raven gazed across the flat landscape with a few low hills in the distance. The sky was wide open and looked as if it could gulp up everything in its sphere. The rising sun gleamed on the dusky browns and golds and then shimmered across an expanse of aqua blue, the color of Buzz’s eyes.
She tapped her window. “What’s that?”
“That’s Lake Unega. There’s a lot of activity around the lake during the summer—fishing, waterskiing, boating. Luckily this isn’t summer.”
Raven shivered and tucked her arm around Malika. “No kidding. It’s not going to snow while we’re here, is it?”
“We don’t usually get much snow, maybe a light dusting.” He tweaked the folds of her cashmere coat. “That old rag should do you just fine.”
“Don’t pull that down-home crap with me, Richardson. You’re the best-dressed cowboy I’ve ever seen.” His gloom after running into Lance Cooper seemed to have lifted, and she was happy to give it the heave-ho. This sadness was a new side of Buzz she’d never seen before.
“See many cowboys in New York City, do you?”
Malika bounced on the seat between them, enjoying the lighter mood. “Where is your hat? Where is your hat?”
Buzz laughed and the sound warmed up the car. “I have one at home, and I’m going to get you one, too. Would you like that?”
“Yes, and those, please.” Malika pointed to Raven’s high heels planted on the plastic mat of the truck.
“You’ll have plenty of time for those.” Grinning, Buzz met Raven’s eyes over the top of Malika’s head.
His smile encased her in warmth and she suddenly felt as if she had been locked in a deep freeze for a long time. Two years and eight months, to be exact. Since the day she’d left him.
Her bottom lip trembled, and she turned and pressed her forehead against the cold glass of the window. She hadn’t even been there for him when he’d lost his parents. “Almost there?”
“Willow Road Ranch is just around the next bend.”
“It has a name and everything?”
“Thought I told you all about it.”
His clipped words made her bite her lip. He’d told her all about the ranch where he’d grown up. The more he’d talked about it, the more evident it had become that he planned to stash her there after their marriage. So the more she’d tuned him out.
“Did you tell me why it was called Willow Road Ranch?”
“Wait and see.”
He wheeled the truck around the bend and turned down a paved road. One more turn and the asphalt gave way to something less civilized. The tires of the truck crunched and spewed gravel in a cloud of dust and then trundled between the reaching branches of a line of willow trees. The thin sticks, bereft of leaves, created a spiky tunnel toward the sprawling ranch house that lay ahead.
Raven pressed her nose to the window. “This must be beautiful in the spring when the trees have all their leaves.”
“It is.” He nudged Malika’s rounded shoulder. “Looks like she needs a nap before you go on your shopping spree.”
Sighing, Raven blew a puff of air against the glass. This hideaway was going to be a minefield of emotions for both of them. Buzz had wanted to have their wedding right here on the ranch…in the spring.
Buzz had invited her to White Cloud several times to meet his parents and his sister, but she’d always found some excuse. Now she’d never meet his parents.
The truck rolled to a stop around the circular drive, and Buzz tipped his chin toward a garage at the end of the property. “My truck should be in there, and then I can return this one to its rightful owner.”
“I still can’t believe he just let you take his truck.”
“That’s White Cloud.”
Raven left the door of the truck open as she leaned against the hood. “The house looks pretty good for being abandoned.”
“It’s not exactly abandoned.” Buzz ducked into the truck and scooped up a sleeping Malika. “My manager, Shep Ochoa, has been with our family for years. He takes care of the ranch, and one of his daughters makes sure the inside is habitable. So we should have clean sheets, warm water and a working furnace and electricity.”
Raven stretched. “Sounds like heaven about now. Keys?”
“Under the mat, of course.”
“I’ll unlock the door while you keep a tight hold on our precious cargo.”
Buzz adjusted Malika’s drowsy form so that her head rested on his shoulder.
Gulping, Raven crouched down and swept her hand beneath the mat. The man was a natural. The fact that some woman hadn’t snapped him up yet surprised the heck out of her. Surprised her and pleased her.
She jingled the keychain. “Probably right where you left them. Heckuva place, White Cloud.”
Opening the door, she stepped aside to allow Buzz through with Malika. As he crossed the expansive great room to a door just beyond the staircase, Raven dropped the keys on a table and took a turn around the room.
Raven didn’t know quite what she expected from ranch décor, but she knew it wasn’t this rustic room filled with charm and comfort. Sliding glass doors led to a wooden deck that commanded a view of the ranch, rolling hills fringing the landscape. A huge stone fireplace took up half a wall while Native American wall hangings graced another.
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