Chapter 9

“But you—” Brett tried again, but this time was interrupted by Gabriel’s appearance. “Beloved Angel!”

“I apologize,” the Archangel began, but to Brett’s mind he didn’t seem all that sorry. In fact, if Brett wasn’t mistaken, there was a glint in the heavenly being’s eyes. “I had not realized Willow would be accompanied.”

“Uh.” Archangels did not make mistakes. At least not big ones. What the heck was going on?

“This is Jake Rushton.” Gabriel indicated the handsome cowboy still clutching the rim of the cot, seeming not to be paying any attention to Brett, the Archangel, or in fact anything going on around him. “I would be grateful if you would act as Mr. Rushton’s guide.”

“Uh,” Brett repeated. He’d only been asked to be a guide to a human once before, and that had been Dennis. What was going on? “But…” Shouldn’t he have been given prior notice to prepare to…?

Gabriel didn’t answer, merely dissolved in a swirl of colored light and, of course, the obligatory odor of rose petals.