After an exchange that Sage was destined to lose, she reluctantly followed her mother out the back of the house where Laurie always parked her car. Lucky turned to Devon.
"That leaves you."
"I really should be getting back to Dallas."
"Mother obviously expects you to stay another night."
"How do you know?"
"She didn't say goodbye."
"She did so."
"That? That wasn't one of her formal good-byes. Her formal good-byes take forever. Lots of hugs and Kleenex and stuff."
"There's nothing to keep me here any longer, Lucky."
"Surely you can spare an hour for a horseback ride," he said cajolingly. "Besides, you can't leave the family without first going through the rite of a formal goodbye."
His smile was so disarming, she capitulated after offering only a few more token excuses.
"Give me time to wash off my black eye and change clothes," she said, heading for the stairs.
"Meet you in the stable."
* * *
Devon reigned in behind Lucky, choking on the dust his mount had kicked up. "No fair," she shouted. "You cheated!"
"Naturally," he admitted breezily as he swung his leg over his saddle and dismounted. "How else could I be guaranteed to win?"
Devon slid from her saddle and jumped to the ground. "Then Lucky is a misnomer. You win by cheating."
Laughing, he took the reins from her and walked both horses into the stable. Its shadows were cool and refreshing in comparison to the sunny heat of the afternoon.
"I've had my share of luck, too," he told her. Skillfully he removed the saddles from the horses, then began walking them up and down the center aisle of the stable to cool them off. Devon walked alongside him.
"Is that how you got your nickname?"
"Sort of."
"Who gave it to you?"
His tanned face broke into a wide grin. "Chase."
"Why?"
"Well, he and some of his buddies…" He paused and glanced down at her. "Sure you want to hear this?"
"I'm sure."
"Okay. Just remember you asked."
"It sounds sordid."
"It is. One night when I was about fourteen, I blackmailed Chase and some of his friends into including me when they took out one of the boys' family car. We ended up over in Kilgore at a bowling alley. They'd gone there looking for a woman."
"Just any ol' woman?"