"You'll never beat me," she whispered and felt his smile against her lips.
"So that's a yes?"
She winked at him just before he backed out of the stall and left her to mount up.
Buster was antsy, probably feeling the tension she carried in her entire body.
They exploded from the starting line when the pistol cracked.
The cowboys broke into a gallop as one, everyone neck and neck until they cleared the last building in town and spread out.
She broke away from the pack, Adam tailing her.
And then he winked and doffed his hat before spurring his stallion into a canter. He quickly outpaced her, but that was okay. She'd planned her race and wouldn't allow him to derail her now.
He was disappearing over the horizon when she realized he'd never mentioned what she would win if she beat him to Chicago.
What was her prize when she won?
He'd told her in plain terms that he couldn't stay in Wyoming, not with his father so ill.
It'll work out, he'd said.
How could it, when they both had separate ways to go?
He'd trusted her to lead yesterday when they'd saved Scar-face. Been at her side and instrumental in getting the man to shore.
Could she trust him to lead in this? In whatever next step would come for their relationship?
Breanna wastwo miles into the last leg of the race when Buster came up lame. His limp was pronounced. She didn’t want to push him for more than a walk back to town, for fear he’d be injured worse.
She was somewhere in the middle of the pack of riders. She'd trusted that her gelding would make up time as each horse's endurance was put to the test.
But her ride was at an end. She would never kill her horse trying to win.
Archie Johnson rode past her, raising his hand in a half wave. He didn't even slow.
Adam might win. She hadn't seen him since this morning, when he'd ridden away first thing. He was somewhere ahead. He wouldn't even know she'd lost until he reached the finish line.
She led Buster by his reins in a slow walk back toward town. A few hours and they would reach it. She could take the train to Chicago, maybe meet up with Adam there.
And then...
Go with him to Philadelphia?
Maybe it was better this way. The wager had seemed ridiculous at the time, because she'd been so certain of winning.
But if Adam won, the decision would be out of her hands.
He'd promised he wouldn't pressure her to stay. Had her previous visit been colored entirely by her grandfather's rejection?
What if she could find happiness there?
What if everything happened the way she'd imagined since she'd met Adam? Fancy ladies rejecting her outright, Adam becoming ashamed of her.
It could be awful.
Or it could be wonderful. Like dancing in the rain. Like kisses at sunrise.
