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then added, “No way, Silly.”
    Jen’s amused tone alerted Sam to the palomino’s expression. She stared spellbound at the horses on the trail below as if they were performing just for her.
    â€œI know,” Sam said.
    The stallion must have heard Sam’s voice, because he stepped away from the mare’s groomingnibbles and stared up the hillside. Sam didn’t move, but her heart rejoiced. Just days ago, the Phantom couldn’t have heard a thunderclap. Now he recognized her voice and stood waiting for some sign between them.
    Zanzibar. Could the stallion’s secret name float like a feather on a gust of wind, leaving her mind to drift to the wild stallion’s? As if it could, he tossed his heavy mane back and pawed the mountain path.
    But then, it was as if Sam had vanished.
    The stallion had no more time for humans. The mare beside him must be added to his herd. Now.
    This time the stallion flattened his ears. Then he lowered his head and snaked it close to the mare’s mahogany legs, threatening to nip.
    For the first time, the mare’s ears lay back along her neck and she returned the warning with a clack of her teeth.
    Startled, the Phantom looked back over his shoulder, as if she couldn’t possibly be snapping at him.
    â€œWe really should go, but this is too good,” Jen said, covering her lips against a laugh.
    Should Sam feel sorry for the stallion?
    No, she thought in the next instant. He’d just begun to flirt.
    Arching his neck and tucking his chin until it bumped his chest, the Phantom showed off hisprance. Then, with ears still laid back, he rocked into a lope. If he could have seen the newly risen sun glinting off the dapples that glittered beneath his hide like silver coins, he would have been even more arrogant.
    â€œIt’s not going to work,” Jen said.
    It turned out she was right.
    As soon as the Phantom lowered his head again, the mare’s ears flattened into her mane and her tail swished in irritation.
    Fed up with her stalling, the stallion tried to bully her. His silver shoulder struck her chocolate one. She gave a high-pitched squeal before kicking out a hind hoof.
    The stallion shied, then circled her at a slow trot.
    â€œI can hear him thinking from here,” Jen joked. “He can’t believe it. The almighty Phantom’s getting the cold shoulder.”
    Rejection didn’t sit well with the silver stallion.
    His trot lengthened, and then he was galloping, tightening his circle around the mare. She shifted and gave a nervous nicker. When he heard her uncertainty, the stallion charged.
    Was he planning to ram into the mare, push her off the path, and propel her through the brush, back to his herd? If he collided with the mare’s hind-quarters, she’d have no choice.
    The chocolate mare didn’t feel like taking his orders.
    When two hind hooves lashed out just beneath the stallion’s nose, he slid to a stop.
    â€œThat woulda hurt,” Jen said as the Phantom veered away.
    Still moving at a trot, the mustang shook his head, clearing the ropey mane and forelock from his eyes.
    â€œHe’ll leave,” Sam said. “He can’t take a chance on being injured.”
    For the good of the herd, he had to stay strong.
    Suddenly, the Phantom wheeled away and crashed into the brush at the side of the trail. The herbal scent of crushed sagebrush filled the air as he stopped and looked back at the reluctant mare. He gave a buck, and powdery soil swirled around him. As the dust cleared, he tilted his head to one side and his mouth was open.
    To Sam, he looked playful as a pup.
    Follow me and you won’t be sorry, he seemed to say.
    But the mare couldn’t know about the secret green valley with its cold stream and soaring red rock walls. She stood her ground, watching him.
    Giving arrogance one last try, the Phantom rose into a rear. His strong front legs struck at the air.
    How could she resist? Sam