Chapter 2

2

T abby wondered if she was making a terrible mistake. Buying this horse would clean out her savings account, but she was confident that this was the horse that could set her dreams in motion.

She'd never seen an animal like Better Behave. Terrible name aside, he was tall, springy, smart, and motivated. His gaits were perfect, his manners impeccable. A swirl of blowing leaves that might have spooked a high-strung mount was completely ignored.

Clancy rode him around the ring without a saddle to prove that he wasn't going to become mysteriously lame under the weight of a rider. The vet took x-rays in his mobile shop and declared him sound, quietly admitting to Tabby that he was a prize for the price.

Better Behave jumped like a rabbit, strutted like a dressage horse, cornered like a rodeo barrel-racer, and Tabby guessed that he could pull like a Budweiser Clydesdale. His calmness suggested he'd be a good trail horse once he retired from jumping.

He was gorgeous, a deep bay with a curious white streak in his forelock. There were no other white markings and Tabby wondered if it was a throwback to some ancestor that didn't show in his papers (which were probably forged), an old injury, or just an odd genetic fluke.

His attention to Tabby was almost uncanny, and Tabby wasn't too proud to admit that she fell utterly in love with him at first sight.

Love was an awful basis for a business decision, and she could hear her mother tsking a warning in her ear. You have terrible judgment, her mother's ghost reminded her. You've lost your shirt before by trusting pretty men.

But Jason Commingson wasn't particularly pretty, and Tabby didn't trust him an inch. She was one hundred percent positive the dying mother was fictional and knew that papers could be faked, but she wasn't interested in pedigree, only in performance, and Better Behave was so gorgeous and graceful that she was completely willing to do business with a snake oil salesman to get him.

It almost looked like the two were tussling when she returned to the yard with a pen to sign the papers, like the big horse was trying to herd the man back into the shabby stock trailer and "Jason" was arguing with him out loud.

"Would you relax? You know how this goes. It's fine. You'll keep your nuts. She's coming right back, knock it off, you buffoon."

Better Behave—she was going to have to find something better to call him—gave a snort and stomped one hoof in the dirt, narrowly missing Jason's foot as the man looked up with an expression of dismay.

"Oh, Miss Swiftwater. Let's make this official." Jason took the pen and retreated to the cab of the truck.

That left Tabby alone with the horse and he gave a tired sigh of defeat and hung his head.

Tabby could not resist touching him, stroking his silky hide and feeling the smooth, strong muscles under his flawless skin. "You're a beauty," she murmured. He really was. He was a shining dark mahogany brown, broken only by that brilliant half-white forelock.

"Here we go," Jason said. He gave her the papers and waited expectantly.

Tabby looked through the papers as carefully as she could, verifying that it hadn't been altered from the version she'd seen earlier, then took a deep breath, signed them and pulled out her phone. It was the largest wire she'd ever sent.

Jason's face was suspiciously bland. "Call me in the next few days if anything comes up, but I'm confident that you'll be wildly happy with this fine stallion."

Better Behave gave a snort that was almost a laugh as Jason tipped his cowboy hat at Tabby and took his copies of the contract. The horse sidled back from the truck and trailer even before it was started up.

Tabby wasn't sorry to see the man leave and gave a sigh of relief.

She'd gotten her horse.

"Let's go get you fitted with some tack," Tabby said, guiding him with a simple hand at his neck. "I cannot wait to have you between my legs."

Better Behave tripped on nothing and caught himself immediately.

It was the first time she'd seen the elegant animal stumble, and for a moment, Tabby was afraid that she really had been fleeced. Then he snorted and shook his head, following her willingly to the barn without further hesitation.

Tabby had a close-contact saddle big enough to span the horse's broad back, and he stood patiently while Tabby settled it on and tightened the girth. He didn't attempt any tricks to make it loose or try to sidle away. He took the bit and bridle with an almost human eye roll, and then Tabby was leading him to the mounting block and stepping into the stirrup to swing herself over with the reins in her hand.

He moved out at the tiniest squeeze of her calves, flowing into an impulsive gallop for the far side of the field.

"Whoa!" Tabby called, tugging at the reins and sitting back in the saddle. His cool conduct hadn't prepared her for outright disobedience, and she began to wonder if his name was more appropriate than she realized. He circled and lined up for the jumps, and Tabby gave him his head, settling herself in the saddle as he stretched out for the obstacles.

It was like riding on a thunderstorm or a tidal wave. He was power and precision, and he was mathematically perfect with every step. Seeing him jump in the videos that Jason sent had been one thing. Watching him in person was a second level of joy. But riding him?

His takeoffs were smooth and his landings were flawless. It was like flying, or being struck by lightning. It was everything she'd ever dreamed of, with a partner under her who intuitively understood exactly what she wanted of him, and delivered it with flair she'd never imagined.

He circled to take them again, and Tabby turned him towards the gate, instead. She'd spent most of her day buying him already, but she could indulge in a short trail ride before she got back to her other work, and there was nowhere she wanted to be more than on his back. They deserved a victory lap.

He stood stock still while she bent to release the gate latch, and when they were through, he backed up so that she could secure it again behind them like he knew how the mechanism worked. It must have been something he'd been trained to do with his previous rider. He didn't get worked up as they passed the barn, though as a stallion, he must have scented the mares inside. His manners were irreproachable.

And he was a joy to ride, with a smooth, light-footed gait down the trail. He didn't shy at the rustling autumn leaves or sighing grasses, and he launched over the little creek and downed trees with delight. It was midmorning and the sun had burnt off the frost in open places, but it still sparkled in the forest shade. Tabby couldn't resist a quick canter when the path was good, but she'd test a longer gallop when they had more time and space. She turned them reluctantly back to the ranch at the first branch in the trail. He huffed in disappointment, as if he knew it would circle them back, then went willingly.

If he had been the tiniest bit less well-trained, he'd be a disaster, with his independence and strength. Instead, he was gentle and clever. He was everything she'd ever hoped for in a horse.

Was it cheating to ride him in competitions, when he was so absolutely perfect out of the box? It wouldn't be a true testament to her training skills. But now that she'd ridden him, Tabby could not imagine a better mount.

Tabby got him a fresh net of hay at the barn, topped off his water, then shut his stall door firmly and set the security system at the outer stable door as she left. Maybe she was being unreasonably suspicious of Jason; she'd paid a fair price for a great horse, and if he embellished his story a little, well, selling horses came with a certain amount of theatrics at the best of times.

Tabby rushed through dinner and other duties, attended to her boarders, and lingered over Better Behave. "You don't deserve that name," she told him, brushing him unnecessarily. "You need a magnificent name. Something regal. King? Duke? Not Duke. And I won't name you after a food. Maybe Beau. You're a heartthrob, for sure."

Out of fairness, she gave the other horses a little extra attention, too, then dragged herself to bed feeling triumphant and optimistic.

The next morning, her first sign that something was wrong was that the security pad at the barn was greenlit. The door slid open without requiring the code and Tabby bolted in to find that Better Behave was gone.

Tabby checked every stall, as if she might have forgotten which one he had been in, and verified that every one of them was still latched tight. Trudy, Oreo, and Angus were all placidly in place, so it hadn't been a general heist. Tabby went back to Better Behave's stall. She'd had clever horses before, and knew how to keep a stable secure. The door was solid, with bars above that a horse couldn't fit its nose through even if he could wrangle a simple latch.

He was simply gone.

The stall was secured from the outside. Nothing was broken. There was no way that he could have gotten out of his stall and latched it behind him again without human hands. And the barn security system had been disarmed from the inside . Even if Better Behave had been the smartest horse in the history of the universe, the keypad required fingers.

Tabby sank down on the bench outside the barn.

She'd spent all of her money on a horse, and her greatest grief was not losing her shirt, but losing that gorgeous animal. She didn't consider herself a sentimental person, and she certainly didn't believe in fairy tales, but she'd utterly lost her heart at the first sight of that horse, and now she'd lost him.

A few hot tears slipped down her cheeks. She worked hard and tried to be a good person. She paid her taxes and only sped a little when the roads were safe. She treated people well and tipped generously. It wasn't fair that this had happened to her. It wasn't fair to have all her hope snatched away from her again.

Tabby only allowed herself a moment of self-pity before climbing to her feet and wiping her face. She wasn't going to let this stop her. She was going to find that sonuvabitch if it took her last pennies, and she was going to get her horse back.