are you in the mood for?â
âAnything.â
He smiled. âThen letâs go to The Grove and sit on the deck.â
âI love that place. All those huge trees.â
âThe Italian food isnât bad, either.â
Before long they reached the restaurant and were shown to a table. Once the waitress took their orders, Ally handed him the binder. He thanked her for it, but didnât open it.
âWhen I get home tonight, Iâll spend hours digesting this. But right now I want to ask you a question.â She looked so beautiful in her filmy, short-sleeved blouse and white skirt. He hadnât been able to miss the fact that every guy who walked past their table openly checked her out.
âWhatâs that?â
âIs there an important man in your life? Am I treading on any toes?â
Her eyes seemed to turn a deeper blue. âNo.â
âNot even someone back in China?â
âI dated several American men while I was there. There was one I was pretty serious about. His name was Jack Reynolds. He was a judge advocate in the Marines Corps, working in international and operational law. I came close to marrying him.â
âWhy didnât you?â
âIt would have meant living all over the world. Iâm afraid Iâm a Texas girl at heart, despite spending so many years overseas. When you asked me why I didnât stay in China with my friends, the truth is, I was homesick for the ranch.â
âDid you have opportunities to ride over there?â
âYea, but it wasnât the same. Hunan Province has great beauty, but it doesnât have hot spots of bluebonnets you canât wait to run through. We always came home in April so we wouldnât miss them in bloom.â
âI take it youâre happy to be home,â Luckey murmured. The dreamy expression on her face said it all, and a vision filled his mind. He could see her riding through purple-blue fields with the wind blowing her lustrous black hair back from her face.
âOh, yes. Iâm never leaving again, except to go on vacation.â
While her pronouncement trickled through Luckeyâs awareness like mist, exciting him, the waitress brought their dinner.
âIâm a Texas man myself.â
Ally flashed him a smile that blew him away. âI would never have guessed. Since weâre exchanging information, are you involved with someone who wouldnât like it that youâre having dinner with me tonight? Even if it is because of the case youâre investigating?â
He put down his fork. âFor me it stopped being about this case the moment you opened your office door and we ran into each other. Does that answer your question?â
âNot all of them,â she said unexpectedly. Her smile had faded. âIf you told me youâd never been in love, I wouldnât believe you.â
âI fell hard for a woman in college and married her. We were both twenty-two. But when I was taken on as a Ranger, our problems began. I thought she understood what it meant, but I was naive. Within two years we divorced, and she went back to Houston, where she lives now with her new husband and two kids. He sells insurance, a nine-to-five man.â
âNot every woman could handle what you do for a living. I was surprised my mother could handle the life she shared with my father.â
Luckey was extremely interested in the answer to his next question. âWhat do you think was the key?â
âWhen I asked her, she said, âAlly? I fell in love with a cowboy and that never changed, because no job can ever take the cowboy out of a real man.ââ
âYour mother sounds a lot like mine.â
Ally cocked her head. âIn what way?â
âBoth my parents came from ranching families whoâve done it for generations. Dad was a rancher before he became a police officer and eventually the sheriff of Travis County. Mom got her
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