campfire.â âI havenât done that in forever. Itâs the reason I wanted to come home. I canât wait.â âWeâll take our horses in my trailer.â âWhatâs your horseâs name?â âPersey, after the Perseus constellation. I guess I donât need to ask the name of your horse.â âIâm embarrassed to tell you.â Luckey grinned. âSilverâs a great name. Bring one of your masks, too.â âDonât you dare tell your friends about that.â âWhy? Itâs a charming story told by a loving parent. What did you do with your pony when you left for China?â âWe stabled Silver with some neighbours.â âMy friend Vic will be there with his wife and son. Jeremyâs the one having the birthday. He has a pony and a miniature horse.â âOh...a toy horse? Iâd love to see it.â âIâll give Vic a call and see if heâll bring both.â âThatâll be so fun. Thank you, Luckey. Now Iâd better not keep you. Good night.â She hurried up the steps to her front porch and disappeared in the house. He got back in his car, but sat there for a minute in a daze. For the first time in years he was going to go to a party with a most incredible woman.
Chapter Four Early Friday evening, Ally watched for Luckey from the front porch of the ranch house, wearing her black cowboy hat and cowboy boots. Sheâd dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved black Western shirt with silver fringe. Ally was so excited to be going with him she couldnât stand still. At four on the dot he drove up in a four-door dark red Dodge Ram 3500 truck pulling a two-horse trailer. She hurried down the steps to the vehicle, while Luckey opened the passenger door from inside so she could climb in. The gorgeous man wore a white Stetson and cowboy boots. There was no guy on earth who could equal his rugged good looks. âYouâre right on time!â she blurted, with too much excitement. âIâve been looking forward to this outing since the other night and donât want to miss a second of it.â His eyes played over her. âBlack on black. I like it. The only thing missing is your black mask.â His gaze missed nothing. She swallowed hard. âKeep winding down this road and weâll eventually come to the barn.â âI want inside that tack room. Maybe weâll find one of your masks.â Her cheeks felt warm. âDad was just kidding.â Luckey drove past the corral to the front of the barn. After pulling to a stop, he got out to open the rear of the horse trailer. Ally joined him. âSo this is Persey.â The horse nickered, causing her to chuckle. âYouâre a handsome specimen.â The golden palomino had a lustrous white mane and tail and was every bit as magnificent as his owner. âIâll have to bring you some treats.â âDid you hear that?â Luckey had entered the stall to speak to his horse. âWeâre bringing you a girlfriend. Her name is Silver. Weâll be right back.â He patted his horseâs rump and followed Ally into the barn. She led him over to the stall where she kept her Morgan. Luckeyâs knowing eye inspected the mare. âYouâve got a true black Silver here. Beautiful with that silver mane and tail.â âYouâre my sweetheart, arenât you?â She hugged her horseâs head and kissed her. âWeâre going on a ride with Luckey and his friends.â Silver nickered. âLet me show him my gear and then Iâll take care of you.â When they reached the tack room he turned to her. âIâll carry out your stuff while you load him.â Ally grabbed some Buckeye Carrot Crunchers and led her horse out to the trailer. She talked in soothing tones as she walked Silver inside and gave both animals a treat. While they chomped on their