One look at Kelly's affectionate expression, and I realized that this was the Raven she'd meant to rendezvous with in the supply room. My heart started pounding so loudly I was afraid everyone else would hear it. What a huge relief. All those awful judgments I'd been torquing myself over just rinsed out of my mind. It was so nice to realize that Raven wasn't irresponsible.

"I love trying to sound Hollywood," she joked.

"Anything else, kid, or can Joslyn and I get back to work?"

"Nope, hop to it. Things to slash after all."

"No one better to do it," I kidded.

When Kelly and Ray left, I didn't realize I was staring at Raven until she glanced back at me with a penetrating look.

"What?"

I shook my head to get back into a professional mode rather than revel in the feeling of extreme relief. "Nothing.

She favors you."

58*

Her face broke into a proud smile. "I know, it's weird.

My brother and I look nothing alike. Whenever we go out, people think she's my daughter."

I laughed at the silly notion. "C'mon, what, they think you had her when you were five?"

"Flatterer!" she accused with delight. "Fifteen, thank you very much."

Automatically, I ran through the math in my head; a fifteen year difference put her at or near my age. She definitely looked younger than mid-thirties, but if I believed what others told me, so did I. "You're close, obviously?"

"No way I could hide it. She was the first baby I'd held, the first diapers I'd changed, the first emergency room visit for a skateboarding accident, and the first confidante I had in the family. We're it for the female Pauls, so I needed her to grow up quickly."

"And now she wants to be an actor and she thinks your name is too Hollywood? That's pretty funny."

"She insisted on being called Ray from the time she was twelve. People used to tease her that Raven wasn't a fitting name for a brunette. They'd ask if her parents were colorblind."

"Well, that's ignorant." I couldn't help offering my opinion.

"And insensitive, yes."

"Especially since Raven means dark haired or wise, either of which would make it fitting. Not that parents are always concerned with the origin of a name before choosing one."

Her interest turned into amazement. "You are a smart cookie, aren't you? What, pray tell, does Joslyn mean?"

"Lots o' resources out there for you to find out, my dear." Once the words slipped out, I felt immediately uncomfortable. I'd let the relief of finding out that Raven wasn't sleeping with her a.s.sistant push our banter to a more familiar footing. She'd laughed at my suggestion, but I *59 wanted to move away from that friendly term of endearment and into something safer. "Where is she going to college?"

"USC. I tried to talk her out of it, but it's got a great drama department with lots of support from the movie studios. She's very hopeful."

"She's certainly gorgeous enough to be a movie star. I hope it works out for her."

"Thank you, so do I." She gave me a grateful smile.

"What about you? Did you always want to be a business consultant or were movies in your future, too?"

"G.o.d no, to both questions actually. I definitely couldn't handle the attention that comes with fame, and no one grows up wanting to be a business consultant." She chuckled at my certainty. "No, from the time I was five, I always wanted to be an accountant."

Her chuckle turned into another laugh, and I let the sound settle in with the relief I felt. So, she wasn't reckless or unethical, but she couldn't possibly be as great as she seemed. I'd find a flaw somewhere to prove that she was human at some point.

Chapter 9.

W hen I turned onto the gravel driveway, I double checked the address before allowing my pickup to crunch farther up the pathway. Evergreens, birch trees, maples, and various shrubs shrouded the property within. Like mine, the length of the driveway indicated multiple acres to Raven's home.

I'd been both looking forward to and dreading today since she issued the invitation last weekend. The scales tipped toward excitement after realizing that she wasn't having an imprudent affair with her a.s.sistant, but I still couldn't forgive my usual guarded nature crumbling whenever I spent time with her.

The driveway switched back and again before her house came into view. The barn and corral were off to the right and in immaculate order as if the prior owner planned to live there instead of the ranch house. Neither building matched in style or era. The barn looked like a timber ski lodge and far more modern than the fifties style ranch house.

Pulling in behind her BMW, I shut off the engine. My dogs made excited sounds from the truck bed. They'd been my idea to bring, both for their exercise and for the extra buffer. They could hardly wait for me to step out of the *61 truck and bring down the gate before bounding onto the ground beside me.

"Oh, wow!" Raven's voice boomed out from the barn door.

Her words echoed inside my head when I caught sight of her. She wore dark jeans, a pale yellow shirt open but for two b.u.t.tons over a white tank. Well used cowboy boots looked like slippers on her feet and an Aussie style cowboy hat dangled halfway down her back from the thin leather strap at the base of her throat. She looked like she'd been working a ranch her entire life.

With purposeful strides, she made it over to me in a flash. The look in her eyes intent and, for a moment, I thought perhaps bringing the dogs had startled her. "A '56 Chevy? How many more of these beauties do you have?"

Keeping her eyes on the truck, she reached out to greet the dogs swirling around both of our legs.

"I have a thing for cla.s.sic cars."

"We're like kindred spirits." She touched the side panel of the truck bed then whipped around with a panicked look and struggled with something to say. She didn't have time to find the right words before my dogs darted in between her legs, causing her to lose her footing and grip the truck to stay upright.

"V, Stus, Eras!" I snapped my fingers to get them to heal.

"I'm sorry, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I wasn't paying attention to them." She knelt to give each dog another pat. "Let's hear their names again?"

On cue, the pointer stood for her introduction. "V, here, is short for Octavia, then we've got Augustus, better known as Stus, and finally, Eras, short for-"

"Erasmus," she finished for me, spotting my historical trend.

"I thought they'd enjoy a walk with the horses."

"And your other two?"

62*

"Alexandria and Medici, both too small to keep up so I left them with the run of the house. I'm not sure they'll let us back in when we get home."

"They're that clever, eh? Well, these three will have a grand time. Come meet my horses." She reached out as if to take my hand but changed the motion to gesture toward the barn. Two magnificent animals waited inside tied to the stalls and already saddled. Both Paints, one black and white the other brown and white. One female, one male, both gentle and eager.

"They're beautiful." I patted the neck of the closest horse. Black swirled evenly among the white on his coat, whereas white splotches showed through on the other mostly brown horse.

"That's Fate," she indicated the one I was petting, "and this is Calamity."

A laugh escaped before I commented, "Ironic, that's great."

"Why do you say that?" She stared quizzically at me.

"I a.s.sume they're mates, and you've given them names that most would consider antonyms."

"Most? But not you?"

"Or you. They have vastly different connotations but are still synonyms."

"I didn't think anyone would ever get that." Amazement took over her expression.

I flushed with pride. "You need to hang out with more nerds."

She gave me a wide smile, allowing my self-deprecating description. From her earlier statement, she clearly thought we were alike in many ways. Maybe she thought of herself as a nerd, too. Although, the way she looked now went against nerd type. "Ready to ride?" She didn't bother to contain her excitement.

Swinging my backpack onto my shoulders, I nodded, matching her excitement. "Whom do I get?"

*63 "Calamity loves making new friends." Raven moved with me to the brown horse. She kept a hand on the mare's neck as I swung up into the saddle. "No hat?"

I shook my hatless head, ponytail swishing back and forth. "I've got sungla.s.ses and sun block. Do you need any?"

"I'm all set." With practiced ease, she swung up into the saddle and had Fate in motion simultaneously.

Calamity started forward a couple of steps behind. One whistle and my dogs were trotting along with us. Raven slowed Fate so that we could ride side by side. She tugged on the leather strap to grab her hat and set it on her head.

Ranch hand look complete, she took us toward the far fence along her property.

The scent of fresh pine and majestic scenery kept us silent for quite a while. I didn't realize it until Raven pointed off toward one of the foothills. A doe with two fawns stepped away from the sheltering shrubbery to extend long necks down to the babbling brook at their feet.

"Marvelous," I breathed, astounded by how delicate the deer seemed despite knowing how large they actually were.

When I didn't offer anything else, Raven smiled wistfully. She seemed glad that I recognized the majesty in wildlife. "We get a lot of animals around here. My neighbor told me he's seen black bears roaming the hills."

"Oh my." A small part of me wished we could be treated to that sight, but my practical side knew it would be troublesome for our little gathering.

We rode on with only the sounds of the horses' snorts, hooves scuffing, and playful nips that my dogs took at each other accompanying us. Normally, I would have filled the silence with small talk or polite queries, but I didn't feel that urgency with Raven. She was really easy to be around.

When we'd gone a ways longer, she turned us toward the large foothills edging her property. Leaning forward, Calamity and I hiked our way up the trail behind Raven and 64*

Fate. The dogs took their time scampering along behind. At the crest of the ridge, we high-stepped over some boulders and made our way to a clearing.

"Feel like some lunch?" She stopped Fate and dismounted with a proficiency that made me think she'd been born on a horse.

"Sure." I realized how hungry I felt now that the suggestion had been offered. I slid from Calamity with much less grace and found my legs slightly bowed when I hit ground. Oh, goody, it wouldn't just be my b.u.t.t that hurt tomorrow.

Tying Calamity's lead to the nearest tree, I reached for Fate's to do the same. Raven dug into the saddle bags from each horse while I took out a plastic bowl and water bottle from my backpack and filled the container. The dogs made sloppy work of gulping down water, thirsty from their trek.

When they'd finished, I refilled the bowl and took it to the horses.

"Oh, thanks, I usually let them stop by the creek on the way down." She laid out a blanket on the soft gra.s.s and placed some plastic containers and water bottles on top.

"You thought of everything. I didn't know if we'd go this long, but I packed some pasta salad and coffeecake just in case." I brought out the food from my backpack.

"Now, we definitely have everything." She sat cross-legged on the tartan blanket, pulling off the covers of the plastic containers.

As I took a seat, I plucked out three chew bone treats and tossed them to the dogs. When they were met with doggie glee, we laughed. Hers sounded throatier than I remembered, and I found myself searching for the source again. Realizing that I'd been staring at her mouth, I dropped my gaze and took a bite of the sandwich she'd given me. A burst of flavor met my tongue, forcing me to sift through the various ingredients to tackle the taste *65 mystery. "Honey mustard, but there's something else," I guessed.

"Bourbon."

"Bourbon chicken with honey mustard, delicious combo."

"Thanks. I don't dare bring your pasta salad near Amalia. She'll want to serve it at her restaurant."

I laughed at her exaggeration. "My dad's recipe."

"Your dad was the cook in the family, eh?"

"It was him or me, and he didn't like to do dishes." That was the deal we'd struck as soon as I could wash more dishes than I broke.

"Your mom?" Her brown eyes showed great concern.

For once I didn't feel awkward with the question, nor did I feel like giving my standard brush-off reply. "She fell in love with a guy when I was eleven, followed him to New York, and didn't fight my dad for custody."

Unlike others who'd heard some version of this story, Raven didn't respond with pity. She gave it due consideration before offering, "That must have been tough."

"Actually, I know this may sound cold, but it's the best thing that ever happened to me. For the next three years I had to spend summers with her in New York where I didn't know anyone, couldn't earn any money like I did working for my dad, and had to deal with diapers of the twins she had a year after leaving my dad. I learned to adapt, learned to be independent, and learned that parenting is the hardest job anyone can have. Not all kids get to see that."

"That's an upbeat way of looking at what must have been a painful time for a young girl." She didn't have to know me well to guess that those first few years after my mom had left were incredibly difficult, dealing with missing her and with my dad's sadness. After a couple of years, it became easier and my dad and I built a great life based on trust and love.

66*

"Are your parents still together?" My curiosity helped move us off the sometimes p.r.i.c.kly subject.

"Yep, I'm very lucky. With most of us working for the family business, you can probably tell that we had an 'it takes a village' att.i.tude about raising the kids in the family. I spent almost as much time at my uncles' houses growing up as I did at my own."

"Hence the bossing Robert around comment?" I teased.

"He's the youngest of the cousins. He had to take c.r.a.p from everyone, but only because he deserved it." Her eyes twinkled.