Felicity always hated to disillusion people. She really should have explained it all to them before she started. "It takes another whole day to make the prints, so I'll only be able to shoot the pictures today. I won't have time to actually develop them."
The groans of disappointment died away when Felicity assured them that Cody had taken an absolutely famous picture and wondered aloud who was going to be next. This time she had no difficulty securing a volunteer. She purposely did not look around. Whether Mr. Logan had come or not, she did not want to know.
Josh had watched everything thus far from the front porch of the ranch house. From a distance, the scene was almost comical, that little slip of a girl ordering around men twice her size and being obeyed with fierce devotion. Josh hadn't found all that much humor in it, though, especially when he saw the way she fussed over posing Cody. And the way Cody was following her around like a lovesick puppy dog.
"Ain't you gonna change your clothes?" Candace inquired from behind him.
Making a sudden decision, Josh turned to her. "I don't need to change my clothes to go to town."
"Town? What are you going to town for?" Candace demanded, outraged that he would even consider such a thing on an important day like this.
"It's Saturday, isn't it? I always go to town on Saturday," he explained reasonably. Besides, he did not intend to sit around the ranch all day watching the spectacle in the yard.
"You were just there day before yesterday," Candace pointed out.
"Yes, but I didn't get any supplies," he said, uneasily aware that his own impulsive trip to town to purchase clothes for the girl was probably the reason Candace had gotten the idea for pairing the two of them up in the first place.
"We don't need any supplies now," Candace said, but Josh was already on his way down the porch steps.
"Hey, Mr. Logan," someone called out. "You gonna be next?"
Felicity's breath caught at the sound of his name, and she turned slowly to face him.
"We're glad you decided to join us," she said, fixing her gaze on the third button of his shirt. She did not trust herself to look into those penetrating gray eyes.
"I'm not joining you. I'm on my way to get the wagon. Cookie, is there anything you need from town?" he said with creditable nonchalance.
Felicity stared at him in dismay. He was leaving! He wasn't even going to have his picture made! All her plans for repaying his kindness were shattered, but worse than that, all her hopes for showing him that his kiss had not affected their relationship were shattered, too. Not only was he avoiding her, he would not even look at her. Fortunately, her pride would not allow her to reveal how much he had hurt her.
Then Felicity recalled that her time was precious. She would not waste a minute of it worrying about Mr. Logan. Resolutely, she returned to the job of posing the cowboy named Gus. But suddenly she was all thumbs. When she adjusted the man's hat, it slid down over his eyes instead. When she propped his shiny Winchester beside his leg, it looked more like a crutch than a deadly firearm. Hastily rearranging the sitting, she forced herself to forget that Mr. Logan was nearby so that she would not completely ruin the shot. While she was mooning over Mr. Logan, her plate was rapidly drying, and she had best remember that.
At long last, the exposure was complete, and Cody helped her remove the plate holder and carried it back to the wagon for her. "Can I help you inside, too?" Cody asked with almost pathetic eagerness.
"There probably isn't room for two inside that wagon."
Josh pointed out sharply. Although he had finished his conversation with Cookie, he had lingered involuntarily to watch Felicity work, and a good thing, too. He didn't like the idea of Cody and Felicity being all alone inside that tiny space, in the dark, not when Cody kept looking at her like she was first prize at the county fair.
Felicity had intended to turn down Cody's offer, but Mr. Logan's obvious disapproval made her reconsider. Last night he had kissed her and then ordered her to forget it had ever happened. Now he was insulting her by leaving the ranch instead of letting her make his picture. To top things off, he wanted to impose his will on her behavior. Just who did he think he was to make her decisions for her? She briefly considered asking him but decided that this was too public a situation for any sort of confrontation. Instead she smiled sweetly at Cody. "It will be a little crowded, but my father and I used to work together all the time. If you'd like to learn how to develop the plates, you could do that while I prepare the next one, and we'd be able to do them a lot faster."
"That'd be great!" Cody exclaimed, and followed her inside.
Josh scowled as the door closed behind them. What was wrong with her anyway? Didn't she have a lick of sense? Didn't that father of hers teach her anything about men? Cody might look young and harmless, but there was nothing harmless about a male on the prowl, and Cody Wells was definitely on the prowl. If anything, what had happened to her last night should have convinced her to be careful, Josh thought acidly.
Aside from a few envious comments, the other men seemed to notice nothing peculiar in the new arrangement, and that irritated Josh even more. Of course, he was the one responsible for her safety, so he was the one who should be most concerned, he rationalized. And he was concerned. He realized now that he never should have let her stay at the ranch this long. The men were bound to start mooning over her, and that would cause no end of trouble. He'd been stupid to think he had to wait for Blanche to get home. He could take her into town. Mrs. Hankins, the storekeeper's wife, or any of the other women in town would take her in. He could make the arrangements today. Yes, that was the solution. He would take her into town first thing in the morning. Then life would get back to normal.
Without waiting for Felicity and Cody to finish their task, Josh left, going into the barn to hitch up the spring wagon. Just as he slapped the team into motion, he caught a glimpse of the girl coming out of the wagon, Cody at her heels. He forced himself to keep going.
Felicity heard the wagon rumble by, but she refused to look up to see if he was watching her. She had more important things to do than to worry about Mr. Joshua Logan.
"Where's Cookie?" Felicity demanded in her no-nonsense-tolerated voice. "He's the one I'm going to do next!"
That, of course, caused quite a reaction, both among the men, who were delighted, and with Cookie, who wasn't really all that sure he wanted to get his picture made at all. Everyone seemed to forget that Mr. Logan had left. Everyone except Felicity.
Josh managed to find a place on the busy street in front of the mercantile in which to squeeze his wagon. The town was bustling with activity from all the ranchers who had made the weekly trek in for supplies and socializing. Taking the steps up to the wooden sidewalk in one bound, Josh strolled into the store.
"Well, hello again, Mr. Logan," Mrs. Hankins called to him as he walked in the door. The storekeeper's wife waved him over to where she stood behind the counter waiting on a customer. When she finished, she turned to Josh. "How did your little houseguest like the clothes?" she inquired cheerfully.
"She liked them fine," Josh said tersely. Mrs. Hankins still believed, as Josh had led her to, that Felicity was a young girl. Somehow if he wanted her to take Felicity in, he would have to disabuse Mrs. Hankins of that notion.
"Did they fit her all right? I was so worried they'd be too big, but they were the smallest things we had ready-made…" Mrs. Hankins rattled on, to Josh's annoyance.
Fortunately, Mr. Hankins came in at that moment and rescued him.
"Yes, what are you going to do with the girl, Josh?" he asked.
Here it was, the perfect opportunity to make his request, but the words refused to come. "I'll take her over to Blanche Delano's in a day or two, when she's up and around," Josh said, wondering even as he spoke why it seemed important to give the impression that Felicity was still an invalid.