Chapter 16

16

A s sure as Tabby had tried to pretend she was, she was not convinced that she and Logan could take the Missoula show until they got there.

It was a small, mostly-local competition, and just a one-day affair. Letisha was amenable to taking Franzi for the full day, but there was an awkward dance between Logan and Beau as he had to juggle giving Letisha last-minute human instructions and then shifting to be loaded into the trailer as a horse. Pulling out with an empty trailer was too much of a risk, in case Letisha was watching from the apartment window or someone else noticed at the fairgrounds when they arrived.

"Is that as boring a ride as I think it is?" Tabby asked as she guided Logan from the trailer.

He nodded and sighed.

"Maybe you can ride in the cab with me on the way home," Tabby suggested. "It can be your reward for winning, if you do."

Logan snorted a laugh at her and nuzzled her hair. Tabby told herself it wasn't an intimate action; horses did that all the time. No one would think it was weird.

They jumped the course without any faults, and riding Logan in public was even more fun than riding him privately. He was showy beneath her, but focused on their craft, and they very casually swept the competition. Logan didn't even break a sweat, and Tabby had never felt so at home in a saddle.

Tabby accepted the championship ribbon and check with a feeling of dizzy relief and minor guilt.

It hadn't been a terrible mistake to do this. Logan had kept his end up and Tabby knew she'd ridden well and showed him off in style. Their jumps were perfect and their teamwork was flawless.

Tabby thought that she might have won on a lesser horse; the competition was not that steep, and the course didn't seem that challenging. She led Logan off the field.

He pranced and arched his neck and did fancy dressage steps back to the barn for his rubdown.

"We did it," Tabby said in wonder as she took off the tack and stashed it in the trailer.

Logan's head bobbed up and down in agreement and he stomped proudly.

"This can't last forever," Tabby said regretfully. When she heard the words out loud, she wasn't sure if she was talking about competing with Logan or that giddy falling-in-love feeling she was wrestling to suppress.

Logan pressed his big nose into her arms and Tabby reached up to comb her fingers through the white streak in his forelock.

Neither one was forever.

Logan couldn't pretend to be her horse for very long. How did lifespans work for a shifter horse? Jumpers rarely showed for more than ten years because it was hard on the joints and a compassionate rider put their mount's health before winning prizes indefinitely.

And romance?

Tabby wasn't good at romance, proven by her own track record of divorce and disaster. The curious, magical connection she felt with Logan was all in her head, fleeting and just out of reach. If she was falling in love, it was a terrible mistake, and she'd be left with nothing but regret. Logan was a con man . Tabby knew his record, and she'd read the reports of the women he'd loved and left wanting. Maybe Franzi had some claim on his affections, but Tabby knew that his true heart was carefully guarded. He was a playboy, a heedless flirt, and she had no one to blame but herself if she ignored all his warning signs.

When he was a horse, it was easy to love him without reservation. He was beautiful and graceful. He carried her so lightly that Tabby felt like a Mongol warrior or an Amazon princess, powerful and unstoppable. They were so in tune that it almost hurt.

But it was just a horse and the girl who loved him.

It all went away when he was a man and she was a woman.

Oh, his glances were full of fire and lust, but Tabby knew a bad idea when it smacked her in the face. And Logan Kennedy was a bad idea.

She pushed his velvet-soft nose away. "I'm just doing this until we're established," she warned him. "To the Grand Prix this fall at the most." If they could do enough shows to get the points and save for the entry fee, winning the Grand Prix would solve all of her money woes.

Logan nodded, but pressed his face back at her and Tabby could not resist petting his nose and neck .

"You did great," she murmured. "So good."

For a long moment, she just stroked him like that, soaking in their triumph.

Did it matter that they'd never be closer than this? Why would she long for anything more?